The Guild Core 2: Core Sworn

A Dungeon Adventure

By: TJ Reynolds

Narrated by: Steve Campbell

Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

Find a dungeon.

Build defenses.

Fight the monster that comes....

Kai is finally becoming the hero he's always dreamed of. As the enemy pursues, he's forced to accept his complicated identity and the power that comes with his blood.

Rhona can endure a blow to her pride. But when that blow comes from the vile Hastings, she has to strive to match his savagery and save her friends.

Ban discovers the ultimate prize for an Earth Core. Secrets, magic, and an incredible housewarming gift can be attained in an ancient keep once home to his ancestors. But can he defend the territory he's taken?

Listen to The Guild Core's second installment, where our band of heroes endures to restore the world to an age of dragons, heroes, and honor.

The Guild Core 2 is a novel by TJ Reynolds Fantasy LitRPG author of Eternal Online books one through three. The Guild Core was inspired by the Divine Dungeon series, the Wheel of Time, and classic films like The Labyrinth and The Neverending Story.

This story takes place in an epic-fantasy world governed by gaming mechanics. It contains light to moderate LitRPG, gamelit, cultivation, and dungeon core elements. Features realistic violence, three MC POVs, and more than a few quaint jokes. Language and adult content is appropriate for teen listeners.

©2020 TJ Reynolds (P)2021 TJ Reynolds

Rhona's Side Quest

IMO the author makes the poor choice of treating Rhona as if this is her story. Her chapters felt skippable and I skipped through alot of them which is like 50%+ of the book. I picked up this book for a dungeon core experience. If she's not teamed up with Kai and Ban, I really don't care what she's doing on her side quest because she's not a dungeon core. Could a better author pull it off, maybe. The story pulls together at the end, but so many wasted chapters. I would rate this 4.4 at best for being unfocused in a genre full of better written dungeon core themed stories. I'll still grab the next one based on the redeeming final sequence as well as Kai's and Ban's chapters being entertaining.

a worthy successor

I adored the first book and as the title says, this one lives up to the promises of the original.
Bran and Kai grow as a dragon/earthcore duo as does our favourite Rona in both as a character and as a monk.
on top of that, the world grows as we learn more and the plot thickens :)

🎵Mango Fruit, Mango Fruit who wants to pick my pretty Mango Fruit?🎵

This series just keeps getting better!

The second book in any new series is always a bit of a concern, since the sophomore slump is a real thing, and readers are often leery of a step back in book two. This is not a concern with the Guild Core 2: Core Sworn, though, as the story picks up where the first book left off and takes all the elements that worked so well in book one and makes them even better, all while adding new story and character elements.

The characters in this series are the true selling points. The world building is fun and creative, but the characters are definitely what move the needle. Kai, Rhona and Ban are such a fantastic group of protagonists, and they play off of each other so well. Kai, as the innocent young half-dragon, has so much potential, and he really starts to realize it throughout the story. The author is careful not to make him overpowered or just too perfect, and plays on his relative newness to cultivating power to keep him relatively in check.

Rhona and Ban, on the other hand, are much more experienced, even if Ban has some catching up to do because of his core being shivered during the Dragon Wars. Rhona’s path is very interesting, because she must fight against a lifetime of training both at home and the army to do the right thing, even if it hurts her country’s ambitions. Ban is just desperate to settle down and put down roots, in his case almost literally as he is looking to create a new dungeon in which he and Kai can be safe in. It’s a really interesting arc, and one I really didn’t expect to go in the directions it did.

The villains are definitely not what I expected, especially Hastings, who was much more complex and powerful than I would have expected. There is also an unexpected threat, not only for the protagonists, but also the world at large that came out of left field and just dove right into the story. Its definitely a threat I suspect will be a constant menace in future installments, and poses a grave threat to the Guild’s mission to repopulate the dungeons with new cores.

The audio book version narration is performed by Steve Campbell, who does a fantastic job of bringing this story to life. He has excellent narrative pacing, and his character voices are all distinct and consistent. He gives each character a life of their own, and the listener is never in any doubt which character is speaking. I’d highly recommend the audio version.

This is a series I can’t help but recommend. It has so much to appeal to fans of traditional fantasy, as well as LitRPG fans. If you like a good character driven story, you can’t go wrong with this series, or this book. I highly recommend checking it out.

Setting up a new dungeon home

Kai, Rhona, and Ban have returned to the newly revived dungeon in the swamp. They prepare for their journey to repair more cores and alert Hentar about the plans to invade. This will make Rhona a turncoat, but could prevent unnecessary loss of life. General Hastings is on their trail though with a means to devour cores and absorb their progression.

The story is very well done! All of the characters are growing, both in strength and as individuals. The stakes are starting to increase to meet the characters new strengths. As always Steve Campbell does an amazing job with the narration.

Amazing narration!

I loved the narration especially! Amazing voices that you never get tired of even after 3 books!
The story is fairly good, at times it felt as though the author went for quantity of quality, but still a good series with a deep world that is definitely worth a shot!
I received this book for free and have left an honest review.

As good as book 1

If you enjoyed the first book, you will likely enjoy this one as well. Here the focus is on larger conflicts, as well as progression. We see a bit more of the world and experience greater villainy. Our main characters are in a struggle for nothing less than thier continued existance.

Another great job by Steve Campbell. he is a nice fit for the genre, has good range of voices, and exhibits plenty of energy.

I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.

A great story read well

This was every bit as good as the first book, even though the tone is a but more serious. It is still fun and doesn't get too dark or grim, but there are definitely some heavy moments. These moments lead to solid character development and are handled very well by both the writer and narrator. I plan to start book three as soon as I finish writing this!

A great listen

absolutely loved it, cant wait to start the next book!
Also loved the twist at the end

I am loving this series!!💜

TJ Reynolds is a wonderful author. First, I love the way he’s written with 3 POV’s in this series. Second, the pace is set so that it’s easy to follow and feel like you’re on the journey with these characters. I even catch myself cringing when they describe a new minion or trap created be Bancroft. The pairing of TJ Reynolds and narrator Steve Campbell makes it even better. Steve seamlessly switches from each character giving them life. Each one has their own unique personalities and accents, and he makes it easy to distinguish each character. In addition, he allows you to feel each character and their emotions, whether it’s excitement, anger or sorrow. There’s some more exciting adventures coming and I can’t wait to read/listen to book 3 to see what’s in store for us. This is book 2 with an HEA but the story continues. I highly recommend this book/series.

Sisters Spotlight 💜

Really good

I’m probably not the only one that Goes into the second book In a series worried that it will not be as good as the first one. It was not a problem here, I love this one more thin the first one. The writing is great once you start you don’t want to stop and Steve came and did an amazing job narrating, He’s a Chamaeleon

Series escalating well

Despite only being the second book, enough happened in the first one that this would not be a good starting point for anyone new to the series and they should check out the entertaining first book before moving onto this one.

This book very much feels like a middle part of a series (in this case a trilogy) you have a good mix of progression and character progression, tying off some remaining loose ends from the first book and introducing new issues for later in the series, but doing so without it detracting from this book.

The narrator delivers another good performance, helping to enhance the enjoyment of the listener.

Overall, an entertaining listen and solid addition to the series.

[Note, I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

Great levelling

I particularly liked how the earth core progression moved in this one as we get to spend more time with well developed characters and a great story that is well thought out.
Looking forward to the next in the series as we see just what future we face.
I requested this audio and have decided to leave my thoughts for all.

Another good book

I was not disappointed at all with this book. As the story evolves the characters mature, change and continue to develop their powers. The more power the higher the stakes in book 2. Again the narrator did an excellent job.

I was given this book for free of my own choosing and voluntarily left this review.

book 2 is well done, if trying too much at times

Liked the book and characters and story develop well, but it feels the author tries too hard to set up the next enemy instead of fleshing out the current one. interesting in it's own right, just too bad that the original villain just sort of fell apart after being set up as such an over-powered enemy.

Great Sequel!

A Very good 2nd book.
i have to say the growth of the characters and imagery of the world around was great to bringing everything to life.
i look forward to the 3rd

He does it again!

Another fantastic book, good pacing and good character development. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.