Dungeon Diving 203

De: Bruce Sentar

Narrado por: Christopher Boucher, Jessica Threet

Ken and company embark on their first raid. Despite Ken’s powerful [Liminal Speed] not all the boss fights are accommodating and the Haylon raid party must learn to work together in perfect concert.

Prince Albar is unsatisfied with his defeat and plots to take down Ken and Elysara despite their Royal Censor guards.

Yet, neither of them are prepared for the shakeup in the dungeon. All of the safety nets they’ve been training over are about to disappear.

©2024 Bruce Sentar (P)2025 Bruce Sentar

Misstep

While this is still a good book (Great premise + Great characters + Constantly evolving plot = Great fun), for the project of this series in audio format, this is a big step back. I was prepared to re-listen to the other books before listening to this one, just to get a feel for the new narrators and maybe see if some of the story incongruities (Elysara not recognizing Felene in 202, Dwarves having red blood at one point, Penny and Hellen changing dramatically between 101 and 103), but as of this writing, I'd have to re-buy six books for the experience. And that resulted in a *jarring* shift in tone, and noticeable downshift in quality, by the new narration team. They might be great elsewhere, but they phoned this one in and at times it seems like they hadn't read the text first before doing their presentation. Not acting, so much as reading.

As for the book, the back half felt rushed. Things just kind of *happened* with regard to the character interactions, like they were being mentioned late in the book to be addressed in a later book but logically should have stopped the show. And the very end (no spoilers, but you'll understand if you read it) felt VERY rushed.

Bright spots do abound. One was Penny getting some depth. The battle scenes were also still top notch and imaginative. The world continues to be fascinating and deep. The shake up really does take the guard rails off as does the stinger at the end. (I'm curious to know what happened to Candace's family who live in a safe zone.)

I'm going to continue with this series, and you are too if you are still reading this, but in an audio book, production matters and this broke promises to the fans. I'm hoping that 204 and subsequent entries (Of which I very much still hope there are several) will go through a few more beta reads.

No variety.

All the girls are like the same character.
And there seems to be no vocal excitement.

New voice actors

Not a fan of the change to narrators. This was the first series I listened to from Bruce and really enjoyed it with the original cast. I'll still listen and continue with the story because I do enjoy it but it's also sad we won't get the original version anymore. Rader especially did a much better job with some of the characters and the new voices are difficult to enjoy.

If we had these actors from the beginning I'm sure I wouldn't have this complaint but going through 6 books with what we had only to suddenly switch is both incredibly jarring and I believe a huge downgrade in overall quality.

Great story

Absolutely an amazing story. Can’t wait for the next installment. Bruce Sentra has some real talent for crafting words

different VA

I liked how the new voice actors added a different depth to the story and it was great to listen to

New Voice Actors

I don't know why there are new voice actors, and a rerecording of all the books with them, but there is. I really liked the og VAs and the tone they set for the books and characters. I dont mind the new ones either, enjoyed them on many things. I only wish I started this series 6 months later and never new about the change. story is still great and Im looking forward to the next one, characters were very hard for me to track found myself rewinding to catch who is interacting. some of the accents given to the characters with clearly asian decent was questionable lol

awesome

finally made some decent power progress, can't freaking wait for the next audiobook, Bruce please every series needs a release or imma dry up in anticipation.

the va

the book is great as always but the change in V.A. keeps trowing me for a loop.

why new VA's?

Very much enjoyed the story up until DD203. New VA's, that I enjoy in other medias, just killed the vibe and emotion from the characters. refunded and hopefully we get back the fayth and des we deserve. most of the girls sound the same now except maybe for a couple of accents.

VA change hard to cope with

loved this series, I keep on top of new releases etc. Always have high remarks. Now before the my negative remarks I want to say I have many other audiobooks with the new VAs and I think they are fantastic... but not for the Dungeon Diving series. somewhere around the end of chapter 11 I had to shut it down and play something else for awhile as this is when the grandparents came in and the voices were horrid. Three just doesn't have the vocal range for neldra, Mariam, Trish, desmonda, Elly, grandmothers, crimson, etc etc. when I heard Helen for the first time I had to rewind and start over. There's many times when I couldn't tell the characters apart as the voice for many of the girls is so similar or even the same. I was just so dissatisfied and disappointed in the change. it's like they lost their entire personalies, passion, and livelihood. I understand all the previous DD are redone but I feel that's an injustice! The previous VAs had more depth and range with each character making the story so much more vibrant and full of life. Now, the only saving grace is the story writing is still fantastic like all the others. I must honestly admit I am uncertain at this time if I will continue to purchase audio versions of future DD. It just felt too bland with the new VAs.