Artorian's Archives Omnibus Vol. 2: Books 4-6 in a Divine Dungeon Series

Artorian's Archives Boxset

By: Dennis Vanderkerken, Dakota Krout

Narrated by: Travis Baldree

An end of the world. The start of a new one. A thousand places to be.

Books four through six in the Artorian's Archives series.

Artorian has survived his encounter at the Ziggurat, but at a sharp cost. However, the powers in the world are moving and there is no time to rest. Even if Artorian doesn’t realize his part in it, the next stage of the great plan is set in motion.

In a place of mountains and dales, the old scholar must seek new information in order to puzzle out the last pieces and gather victory with his own two hands. For his loved ones, his humanity may need to be left behind. Yet, becoming something else is a small price to pay for an old man on a mission. Life comes at a price, but success comes with Ascension.

War and Moonfall loom on the horizon. It matters little. Artorian will build his arsenal.

Download the three book boxed set today to hear Dennis Vanderkerken and Dakota Krout’s Arsenal, Acme, and Anima!

©2020, 2021 Dakota Krout (P)2024 Dakota Krout

Professional editor needed

I imagine these books are more enjoyable for readers who haven’t seen the same shows the author has. Doctor Who references, Warehouse 13, and every other popular media. Also, a professional editor is needed to go through and correct the nearly constant stream of incorrectly used common expressions.

The general feeling is of watching anime and donghua.

Disappointing - It's okay to skip

There were some cool elements to this book series. Unfortunately, they were weighed down by mediocre writing. I don't say this to be mean, I truly hope the writer can upgrade their skills to the next level so the next book is interesting to listen to.

With this book it was hard to care for any of the characters. The author is currently using a, tell don't show, philosophy which makes the book feel like everything is happening in past tense. It gives the reader the feeling that there isn't really any danger.
There were no meaningful consequences at any time in the book. Let me explain under spoilers.

*May have Spoilers*

The closest that we got to consequences in this book was time skipping. Except that the time skipping had no meaningful impact on the main character. Or any of the other characters. It could have been something serious and painful to the characters but much like the book itself they simply meandered through the changes.
There were a lot of plot points that made no sense and didn't fit with the main character's personality or values.
Why in the world would the "avatar of love" take away the decision to be in the world from his family? New races spring up out of no where but Artorian's family have to stay in stasis. Hundreds of years pass and Artorian has no trouble robbing them of those years. He makes all of the decisions for them and I'm sure when they wake they won't care. Because his judgement is perfect.
The other main point of contention is that the author does not show, he simply tells you how the characters are feeling. It creates a boring book with minimal stakes. "Artorian felt sad" could be replaced with showing us that he feels sad with his actions. Doing something bad or silly with ACTUAL consequences. But it so rarely happened in the 39 hours I listened to this book that the book itself was boring. I think the dark elves were one of the few parts where we felt anything and it was barely.

I was seriously disappointed and hope that in the future, you work on showing more and telling less. Use other characters to tell him he's acting a certain way and have them be wrong sometimes.

Also, the side characters were clearly only here to drive the plot forward. They barely had motivations of their own.

For the author
I recommend studying Pirate Aba to learn how to create compelling side characters. She will get you invested in those characters and caring about them. Watch how she shows and what she tells. I think your writing would benefit so much.

Thank you for writing the book and I hope the next ones are better!

events

boring, not at all like the 1st three books. I found myself think get on with it.