Dungeon World

A Dungeon Core Experience

By: Jonathan Brooks

Narrated by: Miles Meili

Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

In a distant world five times the size of planet Earth, dungeons and their dungeon cores have become the top of the food chain.  

Millions of dungeons inhabit the planet, utilizing the various human kingdoms as a source of much-needed mana to facilitate their own growth; in turn, the humans delve into the dungeons and acquire their own power in the form of essence, which allows them to develop and enhance themselves in a multitude of different ways.  

It is a symbiotic relationship that has lasted centuries and has brought about a measure of peace.  

Far in the Northern wilds where no humans (and therefore - no dungeons) regularly frequent, a young man is left alone when his parents are murdered suddenly and unexpectedly.  

Now, without friends, family, or even supplies, he embarks on a journey to find out who targeted his parents - and upon whom he needs to enact his revenge.  

Along the way, he discovers something about himself that his parents said was impossible from the moment he was born.  

Will he learn to control the new powers he has gained, or will his newly awakened dungeon core abilities consume him?  

Contains LitRPG elements such as statistics and leveling. No harems and no profanity.

©2019 Jonathan Brooks (P)2019 Jonathan Brooks

twist on a core

First like everyone has stated it is a twist to dungeon core books.. A fantastic twist in my books. Very unique in its "stats" and skills. Reading this had me asking at the end of every chapter what could happen next.

The characters in this book felt real like they had purpose even the bard maid or a street runner not random nameless npcs.

Unfortunately the only problems I had were some time skips I wish didnt happen just for my own greed of knowledge and wanting a 20 hr+ fantastic read... The 1st book is definitely a sey up to the series i will be waiting for anxiously daily.

Disappointing

The premise is interesting, and the author has done some interesting world building to expand on the dungeon core premise. Unfortunately, that seems to be where the work stopped. Everything else RPG-related seems just crufted on. There's very little depth to anything that isn't dungeon core related, and that includes the characters. I kept wondering if this was meant to be teen-lit litrpg, but then the story ends before it really even starts. As for dialog, it is really stilted. I can't believe this was the author's twelvth book; it feels like a first book in strong need of a good editor.

Then there's the gaps in time. There's a three month fast-forward towards the end which really feels like "insert book two here". That's after there's already been a gap halfway through the book which is variously described as 12, 15, 18, or 24 months long, followed soon after by another 1 month gap. Basically, any time the character might do anything solo, it just gets skipped.

The stats also get quite annoying. They should come when actually needed, not as often as they do here. As example, on the single dungeon dive that occurs, stats are given beforehand, after each and every *room* of the dungeon, then again afterwards. Take the nine hours runtime and figure this in; I'd guess that at least an hour is simply the stats being read over and over again.

This *could* turn into a good book, but it's all premise, no story. It sets up a quest for the main character, but never advances along that quest. He is given so many unbalancing skills that he's the ultimate cheat character right from his first day dungeoneering. The world could be interesting, but the story set in that world is so barebones, I have no investment in it.

summary sucks

the summary really does not explain this book is or what it's supposed to be when I read the summary I was not going to get this book but I said screw it I need a new book and I can always return it if it's not good but this book is actually really good surprisingly I wish she explained a little more and how he was made and more about his parents but maybe in the second book will find out more

Too short

A fair addition to litrpg libraries and an interesting take on dungeon core stories. My only real complaint is that it feels like the end of the book should be more of a middle. Too often it seems that authors are now splitting what would be a decent length book into several installments... it's too bad.

Worst narrator I've heard in a while.

The narrator ends nearly every sentence with an upward intonation. I can't even hear what he's saying over that pattern, and it drives me insane.
Can't really rate the story accurately, since I couldn't pay attention.

Fred's Recombinant Core is Funner Than Common Core

First, props to Jonathan Brooks for creating an ingenious take on dungeon delving along with writing a captivating story to go along with it. Also, Miles Meili narrating performance is very enthusiastic and lively.

The only downside is the stats sections that all litRPG novels include which tend to interrupt the flow of the story telling. Actually, in the written form, the stats sections wouldn't be too bad since a reader has the ability to either spend the time to delve into them to gain a deeper understanding of the various attributes or quickly skip over them. With audiobooks, this is much more frustrating since the narrator simply spews them out in a fluid manner that makes it difficult for a listener to gain much understanding of them all and skipping forward is a tedious series of fast-forwards/fast-reverses until they eventually reach the end without missing the story continuation. It is for this reason that, while I enjoy the newer genre, I'm often hesitant in choosing it as an audio format. Note: Jonathan Brooks is the first author I'm aware of who understood this problem and found a great way to solve the problem in book 2. More on that in Book 2's review.

The character development for the Fred is understandably fairly extensive considering that he's the MC and Eisa's, while not as extensive a backstory, is sufficient to make her an interesting tier 2 character. The rest of the characters are adequately defined to provide a clear understanding of their roles. World building is not overly done and the many dungeons and their cores are well described.

I enjoyed the story and it was a pleasurable listening experience.

The fantasy genre I didn't know I needed!

I love all manner of fantasy novels and rpg/mmo games but I didn't know about the Dungeon Core genre. Little did I know how perfect this genre is for me.

This was a fun listen and great intro in the genre. I impatiently await the next book in this series!

Excellent idea with lots of potential

Dungeon world combines the world of adventurers and dungeons in a way that I didn't think would work until I listened to it. I really enjoyed the how innocent the main character seemed while getting up all sorts of shenanigans. This book was more of a set up book than I usually like, but having read further into the series, it is worth it.

better than expected

it takes a bit of a different twist on the dungeon core style of books and I really enjoyed it. Cant wait for the next book in the series. plus there was no harem content which seems to be everywhere right now

This is a great spin on a dungeon core world.

I loved this book, the narrator was great. The world is a new spin on the dungeon core world. I would highly recommend this book. It is great to see a new spin on this type of book.

A very easy and enjoyable listen.

Thankfully this book does NOT contain the erotica that other LitRPG authors are fond of.

poor choice in narrator

The stilted reading makes it hard to listen and the character voices are monotone, not a good listen even if the plot seems okay

dungeon core

A dungeon core fan dream!

a book written by a dungeon core fan for dungeon core fans.

Disappointed

The concept and the general layout of the book had so much potential. I think this is why I am so disappointed with how boring and unengaging the MC is.
Hopefully someone can use the concept and portray the MC better. I found Eisa far more engaging and yet she was a footnote.

Good litrpg, bad delivery

If all you want is a romp over tropes then you’ll enjoy this book, but even among litrpg on the Audible c-lists the writing comes over as amateur.

I wish the author the best, and maybe in a couple of years he'll be ready. However if you're after anything other than tropes then even compared to the other things at the bottom of the barrel on Audible I can't recommend spending money here.

A gamers book, brilliant!

New to LitRPG and dungeon-core hooked in a single listen, left wanting more. Awesome book.

Wow!

Slow start but what a great tale! Loved the setting and the story. Give it a go you'll like it.

Great dungeon core story,

Though it took a little while for me to get into it, I m very glad I persevered. Great wold building, looks like its going to be an awesome and interesting series. Can't wait for book two.

Very interesting but lots of statistics

I received review copies of the books in this series and this review is for all of them. I very much enjoyed this series, the author provides a great deal of statistics, which I am not convinced suit an audio format, but these are mostly restricted to specific chapters making so they do not impinge on the story too much. The world itself is interesting and the mechanics of the cores themselves are well done. My only criticism would be that the supporting character are almost more interesting than the main character and I would have enjoyed having more of the story focus on them and their actions along with their interactions with the main character.

excellent

was a little different from the other book I have listed to over my time on audible but all in all I am very pleased to say I enjoyed it greatly.
Well read and story kept me thinking what's next and just wanting to listen to next chapter.
All I can say to the author is thank you for a great story.