Dungeon World (Dungeon World #1) by Jonathan Brooks

Dungeon World (Dungeon World #1) Reviews

• 
  Damien K

  Meh
  
  Entertaining, but there were so many plot conveniences, so many time skips, so many shallow motivations, and toward the end, the author seems to get tired of writing.
  
  If you can't find something else to read, then look harder, this wasn't worth the five hours I spent reading it.
• 
  Stephen

  A fun adventure, another winner from Jonathan Brooks
  
  Some dungeon core books are just terrible clones of other, better written books. This not the case here. A unique perspective as the dungeon core is actually passable as a human, but is so much more than that.
  
  Yes , Fred might seem overpowered to some other readers, but consider that he IS a dungeon core. Of course he will develop abilities unlike normal humans and adventures. And yes, he can produce as much gold as he wants. But since he doesn't care about money, it's a non-issue for me. It's just a means to an end for a wandering dungeon core to get what he needs.
  
  Can't wait for book 2.
• 
  Scott

  Without a doubt, the best example of a Dungeon story I have ever read.
  
  Most authors simply start with a loose premise to create some sort of dungeon based adventure, but this is a genuinely interesting story that just so happens to have dungeon elements to drive the plot. The difference in quality is immediately evident with the minor twist in the opening chapter, and the mystery that drives the main character to look for answers.
  
  I read the audiobook version which includes a small afterword from the author, explaining why he made some of the choices he did, as well as gave the locations of various groups for anyone who wanted to find similar stories, which I thought was a great touch.
  
  The characters are interesting, with what I believe to be the two main characters being great examples on how to write very different characters. I don't want to go into much detail to avoid spoilers, but one of them has been my second favourite example of a naive character to date, while the other has a well thought out, yet simple backstory that makes sense in this universe. I can't wait to learn more about them in future books and to see how this second character gets fleshed out even more. Even the minor supporting characters are unique and likeable to the point that I hope they show up again in the future.
  
  As I stated before, the plot is where this story really shines. Instead of rushing through various tropes to get to the dungeon building aspect, the author creates a genuine story to lead us towards it with the dungeon aspect being the end goal. Be forewarned, there is next to no dungeon building in this first novel though it is a large part of subsequent books. If you're looking for dungeon building then the build up from this book is more than worth it to get to what you're looking for.
  
  In the end I can't recommend this book enough to fans of the genre and I could even see some average fantasy lovers enjoying this series.
• 
  Kevin

  The book started so good, then the author tried to place as many stats as he possibly can into a single chapter.
  
  This book would have been so much better without all the "stats" in it.
  
  I'm hesitant to read the next book, seeing as the author plainly admitted at the end that he loves stats, and will try to put even more if possible in the next one. I just don't understand why they can't tell a story without all the stats. You can use the dungeon core and creation elements, even a little bit of info that explains abilities, just stop stuffing pages full of stats.
  
  I think I found out somethings that will be explained later. The reason different cores are banned from mating with each other is because they create a human. If dungeons are the dominate "species" in that world, humans came about from cores.
  
  2.5/5 Stars
• 
  Wolkenfels

  I am not really a big fan of dungeon core stories - the reason is that the motivations for the sentient dungeons are always hard to grab and often feel constructed.
  I gave this a shot anyway.
  In this book a human form child of two dungeon cores finds himself suddenly orphaned and in the world of humans. He joins the dungeon adventurers syndicate and explores dungeons with the goal to learn what happens to his parents.
  The book takes a longer start. For me interaction is one of the most important things in books and here it starts only after a third of the book.
  Nevertheless the "system" how the world functions is interesting to read and the book has some nice ideas. Personally i think the MC has it a bit too easy.
  But well - the book was well written and entertaining. If you are into dungeon core stories it may appeal to you.
• 
  GaiusPrimus

  Out of nowhere and straight to the top
  
  Jonathan Brooks has really stepped up his game when it comes to dungeon books, with his fourth series based in the genre.
  
  This is more of an intro to the world and the story but it's really quite a creative take. Really wish that I had held off on reading this until the next book was out though.
  
  Read this book.
• 
  Someone S Name

  Pretty unique take on dungeons
  
  Good book. Well written and edited. A different take on dungeons and worth reading. Has some unique elements and some familiar ones (text boxes and stats). Give it a read and see if you like it.
• 
  Jonathan Wilson

  4.25 Stars
• 
  Troy C

  Intriguing take on a new branch of the LitRPG genre. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but it fills a decent niche.
• 
  Crissy Moss

  This started a little slow, then ramped up nicely toward the end, expanding on the world and building that pivitol main character nicely.
  Speaking of which; Fred reminds me of "Seven Deadly Sins", an anime. He's powerful but doesn't really know it, and has a friendly vibe toward everyone. But if you cross him or hurt those he cares for he has a methodical way of bringing you down.
  Plus this story turns the Dungeon Core genre on its head. Instead of a stationary core that must fight to survive exactly where he is Fred looks human, though he doesn't have the social skills of most humans. Considering dungeon cores think of humans as cattle, and humans think of dungeon cores as little more than magical rocks.... I have a feeling there's going to be one heck of a confrontation later on in the series.
• 
  Vincent Archer

  An interesting riff on the dungeon core genre.
  
  The symbiosis that is implicit between dungeons and adventurers in most of the genre is the focus of this series. That, and dungeon politics. Because if you've got a race of immortal semi-competitive entities that have massive powers, you get politics. The climax is not what you expected, but is entirely logical.
  
  Sounds like a good series beginning for dungeon core fans.
• 
  Drew

  Very enjoyable
  
  A great story that had me hooked very quickly. I like the plot idea and Dungeon element to it add in the LitRPG and that’s it I’m reading it as quickly as possible.
  
  The MC is well written and his development handled by time lapsing so no page after page of grinding, just a quick look back via his and Eisa’s memories.
  
  Another author to my collection who I’ll be monitoring for new books. Plus going through their back catalogue, get this and enjoy a good read.
• 
  Gareth Otton

  There's an interesting idea to this book struggling to get out, but unfortunately, it is weighed down by some problems with the writing itself that leaves this book lacking.
  
  The first of those flaws come in the form of info dumps and over-explaining concepts. For example, here's a quick three-sentence summary of the world, the protagonist and the initial plot for this novel:
  
  

  This is a world where dungeon cores are sentient beings that have the ability to take on physical forms and change locations. The protagonist is the offspring of two dungeon cores who his parents think is locked into his human form and is unable to use the magic of dungeon cores. When his parents die, he must go out into the world and find out first how to survive beyond the protection of his parents, then how to use his dungeon core abilities, and finally how he is different from other dungeon cores and what that means for him.

  
  
  That short summary gives you all of the information you need to know to get going with this story, however, the amount of time this book takes to deliver that same information is considerably longer. What is worse is that the several chapters devoted to telling you this information are more interested in explaining the information than telling a story, so there's no narrative hook or character development to draw you into the novel. It led to my mind wandering a lot during the opening chapters, often to the point that I had to keep going back to make sure that I hadn't missed anything. This is frustrating when a simple summary like what I wrote above is all the reader needs to understand the situation before the story could have started and we would have learnt the rest through the character's actions and the plot unfolding, rather than via info dumps.
  
  That leads nicely on to the second issue of telling rather than showing. The author never misses a chance in this novel to explain explicitly what he wants the reader to know rather than showing us what is happening and letting us gain meaning from those actions ourselves. This creates a story that is heavy on exposition (doubling down on the first issue) and light on the important moments that lets the reader get engaged in the plot, the setting and the characters. For example, it's all well and good telling us that the main character can't re-create things he hasn't touched before, but it's much more engaging to the audience if we instead learn that alongside the character through a try-fail cycle rather than just being told the problem and solution all at once.
  
  These two issues compound so that we are left with a really interesting concept, but not much in the way of story-telling elements. I'm not attached to any of the characters, they don't feel real to me, and the stakes to the story just aren't landing as a result. This would normally be where I parted ways with a series. However, there is one thing that this book does right and it's the reason why I'll pick up book two; it's fun.
  
  This is a light-hearted story that is just having fun with the core concept. While the above flaws are stopping it from really hooking me as truly good stories do, I can't say I was ever bored with this book and the pages kept turning regardless.
  
  Therefore I finish this book with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I think that there is a lot not to like here, but on the other, I want to keep reading hoping that the author can improve his craft with future novels and let the story he is trying to tell shine through.
• 
  Pablo García

  Apparently author creates a world, not of inhabitants but of Dungeon Cores. Cores that have humanoid bodies instead of core-like forms. Cores that want to live the life of regular humans????
  This first volume of the Dungeon World novel series fails to engage me as a reader. Dungeon Cores running around pretending to be people, that can create clothes, weapons, etc. through the consumption of mana. Why would a Dungeon Core want to become a person and live the life of regular people?? That would be like a computer wanting to be a toaster, and a tree wanting to become a robot, Things that do not have a body or a soul, like dungeon cores, fulfill their purpose and become stronger by growing as a Dungeon, capturing more mana, miasma, souls, etc. from the monsters, animals, and people that are defeated in the dungeon.
  The main enemies of the Dungeon Cores in this bizarre novel series, are not the typical dungeon adventurers, dungeon crawlers but other Dungeon Cores that "steal the mana" and "kill the rest" of the Dungeon Cores. What would be the point of a Dungeon Core war?
  Dungeons are like puzzles, Labyrinths or mazes, the more complicated, the more of a chance the Dungeons survive, grow and thrive.
  So Fred, the main character is a young core, that looks like a boy but because he was "orphaned" does not know how to do anything and maybe because of his ignorance and young age, is delusional and tries to "learn to become a human". Huh? So the Dungeon Core is denaturalized?
• 
  Christopher Flynn

  A fair start that is perhaps a bit too slow with both plot and worldbuilding.
  
  Dungeon World is a dungeon core LitRPG following Fred, a protagonist whose parents are dungeon cores yet he appears human. After his parents murder, Fred sets out on a quest to grow strong enough to take revenge. Overall, I found the story entertaining and the world/mechanics to have a lot of promise. My one gripe is that since this book actually tries to balance plot/characters with RPG worldbuilding, I grade it more harshly than if it had been spreadsheets with words. The characters are pretty basic and, to me, not that convincing or compelling. I would not have minded much more exploration of the magic systems and abilities of this world, although obviously future books will expand on these. To the book’s credit, I didn’t have to ignore too many detrimental elements, it just wasn’t amazing writing. I will also note, I listened to the audiobook and the main character pulls up his stat sheet a lot, which got pretty repetitive in the audio format and probably would have worked much better on the page.
  
  Recommended if you know you like this genre or if you’re possibly interested in LitRPG.
• 
  Milton

  Took the book when I was coming from Dungeon Lord, and was on a mood to keep on reading about dungeons. the way it started was so different from the ones i have taken before about dungeons coming from a union of two dungeons that gave them something new. but in a form of a biped a boy that had the properties of a dungeon. The book centers on the growth road of findings his abilities as a dungeon, and a human. how to interact an starts making friends. as all LitRPG books statistics are all over the place but add to the plot.
  
  Also provided was the interaction of the humans and the dungeons that are like a source of food to the dungeons and all the world is over populated with the factions of nature, light, air, dark, earth and fire.
  
  Really like it goes a seperste way from the other books and introduces a more detailed view of the world of dungeons. sound funny but keep in mind it’s LitRPG.
• 
  Colin Rowlands

  With this new series, the author adds an interesting spin on the dungeon core style of litrpg, usually the dungeon has a fixed location and some sort of companion to give a wider view of that book's world, but in this one the dungeon is a person and so you get an interesting blend of an adventurer who is innocent in a lot of the way's of the world, but who also has a unique set of powers due to his dungeon core nature too.
  
  The narration style had a somewhat subdued feel to it, which worked well for the nature of the main character, but some of the supporting cast might have benefited from a little more life in their tones.
  
  Overall this was a strong opener to this series that didn't suffer from being the first book in a series.
• 
  Miss OP

  I realized why I didn't like this a little late in the game. Simply wasn't to my taste but overall I enjoy his other book about the dungeon crafter. I think there are a core competence issues here. For my own personal enjoyment, I like when a character is good at something and has a passion for something. This is why this kind of blank character isn't really something that was Designed for someone like me to enjoy. I am not the readership this would appeal to. At the same time, it's such a compelling world I am probably going to keep reading.
  
  But with series that are fantasy and sci-fi the first book even if I don't connect to it isn't the series enjoyment itself.
• 
  Alex

  I really dig this one. There are a few authors who seem to get a little too...eager... about explaining how their LitRPG system works; spending page after page on rules and data. Brooks doesn't do that with this book. There is clearly some time spent on explaining how the world works, but I don't feel as though he overdoes it. Everything that is explained has a purpose.
  
  I very much look forward to reading the rest of the series, as well as Brooks' other books as well. This is the first one by him that I have read and I very much enjoy it. One of the best in the genre, in my opinion.