A Living Dungeon by Allan Joyal

A Living Dungeon Reviews

• 
  Samuel Proulx

  I have no idea why people give this 4 and 5 stars. I could only get through about ten percent of the book. The writing is just unrelentingly awful! Filled with typos, point of view and character changes that are never clearly indicated, short sentences that repeat words, and unclear descriptions. This is a perfect example: "Each time, the square side of the stone was facing the center of the strange gemstone, which was glowing with a strange white light." Keep in mind that the adjective "strange" had been used three previous times on that single page! Without some heavy editing, this book is just unreadable.
• 
  Shieldmaiden Darcy

  Average dungeon core book
  
  All dialogue in this book: “You don’t know how dungeons work.” “Of course I know how they work.”
  
  I reread this book because I remembered it being better than it actually was. All characters spend their time discussing the same things over and over. It made some parts incredibly boring.
  
  All in all, I guess it was okay, although most people in this book were incredibly dim.
• 
  Pablo García

  A decent dungeon core LitRPG (novel that deals with role-playing gaming), fantasy novel series. I felt that the quick way in which the author got "rid of the dungeon core's parents" felt odd and unnatural. Unless they are still alive, and captured. But there really isn't a reason for Dungeon Cores to do their Dungeoning, it takes a group of greedy adventurers to send it all to hell, destroy the core, and kill all the life, the well-being and governance of any Dungeon.
  This "first volume", is about 250+ pages, with 31 chapters, which means that each chapter is less than 10 pages long, and has little or no character or world development.
  More than being a "living dungeon" because they are all living dungeons, this Dungeon, that lived 10 years of her life as an Elf-ling, and her parents named her Faestari, is the kiddie dungeon, pacifist dungeon, or kind dungeon... that does not feed from the adventurers.
  This "series" seems to have a second volume, where the "kind dungeon" becomes erratic and is called "A Living Dungeon's Madness"... For a Dungeon to not be a Dungeon that seeks the Mana from the adventurers, it seems that this Dungeon will not live very long. The moment the Mana supply ends (the Mana given by her parents), this Dungeon will no longer be able to go on...It is ridiculous to believe that a Dungeon Core, saves and protects the humans that are trying to kill it. If the adventurers kill the Dungeon, they literally kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Only greedy bastards like the people that "abducted"/"Killed" the parents would rather keep the "Dungeon Heart" to themselves... and for what purpose? Are they going to open their own Dungeon, no of course not, just to freaking level up or become stronger as lazy mages...Author has made "Dungeon Delving" into a game-like/theme-park challenge instead of it being a live and death ordeal.
  
• 
  Steve

  This one's a 4.5 for me. Well-written and paced it's not a particularly original idea but well-executed.
  
  The book seems to take a very dim view of wizards, as most are evil and power-hungry, the exceptions really standing out. I liked the approach to populating the dungeon; the handling of that was one of the stronger and more original parts of the book for me.
  
  No stats or anything so not gamelit, but that's never my favourite part of those books anyway so the more organic route to being more powerful seems realistic within the fantasy setting. The dungeon spirit is a pleasant person, a nice change from so many angsty/incompetent MCs thrust into this sort of situation. Enough suspense to make it interesting and a good climax which leaves the opening for the next book but without a cliffhanger.
• 
  Elaina Myers

  Interesting story
  
  Great story and characters! I read this book after the second book, as I didn't realize it was a series until after I started reading this book. I think either order is fine, but it might make better sense for people to read this story first; it is a good standalone story in its own right and is also the backstory for the next book.
  
  Note: this story does not go into statistics, as LitRPG stories tend to do, so it is quite accessible as a fantasy / dungeon core story for those not as interested in stats. I do like seeing some stats, and enjoy many similar stories (dungeons and station cores, etc.) But, sometimes I find the stats can distract from the story if there are two many and I did not miss them in this book. Especially as this story has much more to it than just the dungeon building and growng stronger.
  
  Looking forward to more in this series!
• 
  Adam Shook

  Wow
  
  I remember when this first appeared on kindle but it never really tugged at me until last night and just wow what a ride unlike most dungeon core novels the mc in this 1 actually sets up a fairly independent ecosystem there are no stats or traditional game elements other than a sentient dungeon core but it feels like a diamond in the rough. Like most gems it has its flaws mainly plenty of typos but it's a must read
• 
  Niels Baumgartner

  Fun 5 star ride
  
  Well thought out, lots of feels, not stupid, edited nicely. This author wrote his story to the very last paragraph. Theres no end content, every word you read is the book... and that is interesting. He wrote this to be read and because it was fun for him. You can tell.
  Twists, discoveries, and plot progression is all quite good. I enjoyed this and lost a night of sleep becuase i didn’t put it down.
  Hope you like it too!
• 
  Heath

  Good Read
  
  A Dungeon Core story. A complete story on how a dungeon is created and maintained. The ecology of the dungeon is interesting. The history of dungeon (in the story) is well thought out (the correct and incorrect info the adventurer have).
• 
  Vincent Archer

  Simple, classically written Dungeon Core book.
  
  There's a couple of basic twists on the dungeon core genre, but the line of writing remains very classic and does not deviate from standard elements. Enjoyable, if not particularly remarkable. Quick read.
• 
  david

  Inventive
  
  Loved the story a dungeon that doesn't want to kill that was a twist I never saw coming ispasaly the last one
• 
  Dark Ape

  Looking forward to see if there is more to the story than just this book offers, but it was well done and wrapped up at a very good spot leaving it as an excellent stand-alone story!
• 
  Ryan Bergeron

  Good story one of the better put together ones
  
  it raps up nicely. Looks like one book and an enjoyable read. The story keeps you guessing a bit and has detail but not to much.
• 
  Phillip Canaday

  A living dungeon and more
  
  I have just started reading this kind of books and some not all are going to make sure that you want to read more of this kind, this is what I can say is in the top percentage that really should not miss.
• 
  Sierra Argyri

  Great Dungeon Story
  
  An enjoyable dungeon story that is different from most of the genre, and in a good way. I look forward to the sequel.
• 
  Someone S Name

  Great read and a great take on the dungeon genre
  
  A lot of fun to read and I’m hoping for a sequel. This is a fun one and better than many dungeon stories out there. Give it a shot.
• 
  Jonathan Chang

  It's a dungeon core novel but without blue boxes and numbers going up. The conceit is enough to sustain your interest throughout the book, though the sequel doesn't hold up quite as well.