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

very good

a different and very interesting take on a dungeon core book. I like the main character even if it if a little slow to start.

Hidden Gem

I was really impressed by this book. After reading the summary, I was expecting just a fun revenge fueled gamelit story. However, I was presently surprised by Author’s character development of human/dungeon core hybrid protagonist (“Fred”). That is to say, the author actual develops Fred’s personality as being raised as a dungeon core but having the body of a human. It is fascinating to see how Fred develops as he learns more about what being human is. This hidden gem makes the book substantially more engaging and enjoyable than most other gamelit books I’ve listened to.

Additionally, the gamelit elements are also well executed as I found that they are on the “just right” side of being informative without going into painful detail (i.e., not tortured by damage calculations).

The Narrator does an excellent job. He speaks crisply without stuttering or slurring and is otherwise easily to understand and follow. Additionally, the Narrator uses enough unique voices for the various characters that the story flows well without confusion. Finally, the narrator does an excellent job I believe in capturing Fred’s character.

This books is a must for any gamelit book collection.

Great story, clean

Loved this new dungeon core series, can't wait for book. Author kept the language clean and it was entertaining for me. Nothing overly gorey that made me feel like I had to turn it off when the kids were around.

Good story, a bit too much stat blocks

Good story, a bit too much stat blocks, If you like the book but want less stats, in book 2 you can skip them as they are in chapters now.

Great story

This book is an awesome style of dungeon core writing . The characters and development in the start of the book seemed a bit slow for my liking but by the end of the book I’m left wanting more of the story . I can’t wait for the second book to come out and continue to follow Fred on his journey.

Amazing story and fun read!

The story was really fun and totally sucked me in. The author has created an interesting world that I enjoyed!

Great first book.

Listening to the second book now. Great writing combined with the narrator being perfect for this series. I can't wait for the third book.

Glad I finally got this

I procrastinated a long time to get this title until I finally decided to get it when it went on sale. I think I was just getting dungeon core story fatigue and I'm just about done. I'm glad I did though since this wasn't how I expected it to go. Now I'm rather invested in the main character and I'm curious as to where he goes from here. On to book 2!

First foray into LitRPG

This was an interesting and fun twist for the fantasy genre from a worldbuilding perspective. I like the story, like the concept, and while I could hear what others didn’t like about him… liked the narrator as well. This story is not going to change the world of fantasy but it was enjoyable and fun. I would say my only gripe is reading what I assume are star blocks. They’re fairly redundant and take up a couple 1 - 3 minutes each time. I don’t think that was a wise choice for this format, but they’re shippable.

I don't know how he did it.

Writing about a dungeon in a world of millions of dungeons and he made it work.
The MC and supporting characters are fleshed out well.
There are well done battle scenes and he doesn't over do it.
Brooks really brought me into this world which is exactly what I wanted. As a first book in the series this is what I expect. The introduction and building up of the characters are done so well that you want to keep traveling with them into the next book.
I've read a couple of Brooks' books and really enjoyed them but I was skeptical that this series would be as good. I would go so far as to say that this book is on par with the first book in Dakota Krout's dungeon series. I'm hoping the rest of the series will be as good.
Meili does an amazing job as usual. He does a solid 4 to 5 star job in bringing this story alive in your mind.
If you are a dungeon core and LitRPG lover this book, and hopefully series, is for you. Definitely worth the time you'll miss sleeping or doing the dishes.