Dungeon Lord

The Wraith's Haunt: A LitRPG Series, Book 1

By: Hugo Huesca

Narrated by: Jeff Hays, Annie Ellicott

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Dark forces have extended Edward Wright an offer of incredible power at a terrible cost...and Edward has chosen to make them regret it.

When Edward is swept into the world of Ivalis as a Dungeon Lord, the Dark's most powerful servant, he has no servitude in mind. He'll oppose the evil plans of the Dark god, Murmur, whatever it takes.

Through only his wits and his guts to help him survive a weakened arrival, Edward must rise to power if he is to earn the right to live another day. But in the battle between Dark and Light, what can Edward choose if both sides are cruel, uncaring monsters? Cold gods laugh in the distant world of Ivalis. Heroes chase after power and experience, while Kings send their armies to their deaths in the name of the Dark and the Light.

But no one expects the rise of the Dungeon Lord.... And in the world of Ivalis, maybe a single man can forge his own path.

With the One Man Theater himself at the helm, joined by the sensational Annie Ellicott as two of the most disturbing monsters ever produced by Soundbooth Theater, we hope you never forget this horrifying LitRPG experience.

The Soundbooth Theater team for this production:

• Jeff Hays - Narration, Characters, Production Supervision
• Annie Ellicott - Amphiris the Spider Queen, Ilene the Mindbrood
• Dalton Lynne - Proofing, Editing
• Alex Tate - Production, Editing, Mastering

©2017 Hugo Huesca (P)2018 Soundbooth Theater

The dark never felt so good...

If you are a fan of the Literary Role-Playing Game (LitRPG) genre, you will enjoy listening to "Dungeon Lord" which is the first book in what appears to be a future series of books taking place in this new and unique fantasy world. Hugo Huesca does an exceptional job in crafting a world full of fresh, different, believable and multi-dimensional elements; both characters and environments. Add in the amazing production quality and narration from both Jeff Hays and Annie Ellicott of Soundbooth Theater and you are given the best of both worlds. Jeff and Annie do not overpower the story, but instead both story and narration come together to form an amazing fantasy tale that keep me entertained and surprised along the way.

What happens when a group of people from the same office are a part of an online guild where one's physical world boss takes out his gaming frustrations on the staff when they mess up? This is where one of our characters early on takes matters into his own hands and unbeknownst to him, he discovers he is given the option of working for the side of dark or potential long-term impressment. I do not want to spoil the story, so you will have to read of this sounds interesting. What complicates matters even more is that Ed (our main character) has always battled the dark and has been a hero of light in all his gaming. Once injected into this fantasy world, mimicking the game he was playing online, he need to make the right decisions as this is no longer simply a game, but truly a battle for both life and death. This new game Ed has been placed within only has the option of "perma death", so there is no return when you make the wrong choice. Will he continue to fight for the side of evil or will his light side win over the day?

For me the book's opening, world, and characters made it a listening pleasure. I'm not one for books that are focused solely on the darker side of fantasy (I always played the Paladin), yet the author includes a fair amount of humor, light-hearted antics, and even some romance to break up the mood when needed. The book itself did not feel overly dark nor gloomy, but there was always the pull between the two forces upon our main character; think Luke Skywalker from StarWars. I enjoyed a few of the characters that are often classified as being more on the side of evil such as witches, but we are also given a few that are not including a bard; yes, a bard. When Edward begins to build his new party, one is reminded more of the island of misfit toys than a band of heroes; which is not a bad thing for this journey. Each of the characters needs to depend on the other strengths and weaknesses for them to survive. The author did a great job of integrating the various characters along with their many quips into this band waning to save the land from a much more powerful and menacing creature; the mindbrood. I often found myself laughing out loud observing the actions and interactions between the drone creatures and the other characters.

There is a fine-line one needs to walk when they have the desire to be both a hero and a instruments of the dark. Early on when you are trying your hardest to make friends and alliances while always being challenged by others for the podium of evil, the struggle is real for Ed. In this book, not only is the mindbrood one of the big encounters, but also the many encounters with hordes of spiders (I do not like spiders) and a few other evil classed monsters. For me the book set up the situation quite well and at times felt predictable, yet in the end, the author did a good job of surprising me with the unexpected. I very much enjoyed the premise and the view we are given into the birth and difficulties of establishing a new and power dungeon that will be able to hold off the forces of future adventurers and heroes. There was always this feeling of gloom throughout the story but is did not feel oppressive. One gets a good sense of changes occurring in the world and with the main character as the dark weighs on his heart and soul. The question of will he succumb to the dark or be able to overcome its pull and follow the light? This and much more is answered in the past of this book.

If you are at all familiar with Jeff Hays and/or Soundbooth Theater productons, you know what to expect from one of their releases. The audio is some of the best available and the team ensure that they only give the best to their listening customers. I liked the inclusion of some of the sound effects which were not overdone and helped make the book pop. It is the little subtly things that make Soundbooth Theater one of my favorite audiobook publishers, they focus on what is important to listeners and make sure everything to they do is right. I did not notice any audio artifacts and both characters narrated their parts very well. If I had one suggestion, it would have been to have the spider queen's voice a bit slower as it was more difficult to comprehend if you are one who listens to audiobook at more than their normal speed; like myself.

For parents and younger readers, this book includes a plethora of vulgar language. There are also scenes of sex and humor incorporating sexual innuendos. If you are easily offended by either of these, I would suggest you find a different series to listen too.

In summary, when I was done with this book, I wanted to jump right into the second one in the series to see where our main character would go next. However, at the time of this review, it does not yet exist in audiobook format. The book itself can be read as a standalone novel, yet at its end we are presented with many paths or directions the team could go in future releases. I look forward to more book in this series and highly recommend it to others who enjoy the LitRPG genre.

Disclaimer: I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator.

whoa

excellent narration, great job, Hugo great story and a wtf on that mind .. stuff seriously I'm gonna have nightmares. So thanks .....

production and performance were good

This audio book had a higher production value than other of this genre and the two narrators did the different characters well.

Solid LITRPG

As someone who has devoured most of the litrpg genre, I can say that in my opinion this is one of the better books out there. Main protagonist isn't too overperowered or lucky. No absurd harem elements. Again, a really solid read.

Awesome first book in the series

The sound booth theater production was very well done. I really enjoyed the story and the way the characters came to life.

Needs a little more to be great

The narration was mostly well done. I always enjoy hearing different voices for the characters. However, I did not care for the voice used for the main character. It makes him seem like a dumb oaf.

The idea behind the plot/conflict was good, but the writing was missing something. There is a lack of deeper depth missing that I enjoy hearing when the surroundings are described or when I listen to the inner thoughts of the characters. I feel like the main character’s thoughts and emotions are not described deeply enough so it feels too straight forward which makes it hard to feel like you understand his view point. I’m not saying his thoughts/views should align with mine, but when written properly I can still disagree while feeling a bit understanding of his decision.

Overall not a bad read and a bit above average. I’ll be listening to the next book and hope it continues to improve.

As close to perfect as it gets.

I struggle to think of anything to complain about this book. The characters were great, the monsters monsterous, the action well balanced, exciting and far more intelligent than other books, the main character doesnt feel that overpowered. The world feels good, the story was nice. The sex scene almost 4 starred this but I got a chuckle out of it so I decided to let it slide. It was the worst part of the book by far. The dungeon building and economic theory is weak but it was replaced with other stuff still wntertaining. So other than that I enjoyed the book enough that time flew. Which is an experience in books Ive sorely been missing lately.

What Murmur Wants...

Poor Edward Wright is living a sad life and working a dead-end job, and the only joy he seems to get these days is playing online games. When his narcissistic boss forces his way into Edward's group, things go south quickly and Edward finds himself jobless and arrested for assault.

And then something unexpected happens to Edward. He is offered the chance to be come a Dungeon Lord, and serve the evil plans of the dark god Murmur. Who wouldn't jump at that? And so, Edward's new life begins inside the game he once played, as the replacement of a level boss he himself defeated. And make no doubt about it, it won't be easy for Edward to survive, let alone foil the dark plans of Murmur.

This is a fun and well thought out LitRPG. The more plausible the method of entry into the game, the more I enjoy listening. And I can completely believe there is a dark god out there who can do just such a thing to further his plans.

With one exception, the narration was great. Hays is spot on and the characters mostly rang true. I say mostly, because an poor production choice made one of the characters painful to listen to. At some point, Huesca describes the sounds that the spiders make while they are talking, and the production team took that as a challenge. The end result is that every time Ampriris speaks, I couldn't understand her and I wanted to skip ahead to make the noise stop. Thankfully, the other spider was more subtle and intelligible.

If you like LitRPG, this is a good start to a new series and I recommend it.

I was given a promotional copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

A Fantastic take on the LitRPG genre

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

First of all, I have to point out that I LOVED the narration by Jeff Hays. He has become one of my all time favorites. He really has a knack for bringing books to life. I also found I liked Annie Ellicott voicing the little girl's voice, though I was surprised at how few lines she had. Anyway, The book itself, was a great take on the LitRPG genre. I liked how the main character gets introduced to the "game" world. I also enjoyed the author's take on magic. I'm really looking forward to more from this series. I just hope they come out soon!

an interesting read

I wish this book was longer for the price, but it is a good listen. the story is a good potential for some interesting discoveries about this world.