Dungeon Heart

A LitRPG Adventure (The Singing Mountain, Book 1)

By: David Sanchez-Ponton

Narrated by: Henry Kramer

The Emperor of the Forge, Sage of Stones - meaningless titles in the face of death.

After more than 700 years, he was expecting a peaceful and lonely end to his long life. That, however, was not meant to be. A single choice changed his fate, and his soul was forced to live again as a dungeon. Reborn but shackled to the heart of a mountain. This old soul has lost everything - and more.

In a world of gods and demons, there is no room for a weak newborn dungeon. Now with a new name, Smit and his creations will have to carve out their own place. The path may be long and dangerous, but with a soul hardier than stone and a will stronger than iron, will he be able to forge his own destiny?

“Debut author David Sanchez-Ponton knocks it out of the park with a brand-new Dungeon Core Novel that is sure to be up there with the likes of Divine Dungeon, Rogue Dungeon, and Bone Dungeon. Give this one a read - you won't regret it for a second!" (James A. Hunter, best-selling author of Rogue Dungeon, Bibliomancer, and Viridian Gate Online.)

©2020 Shadow Alley Press (P)2021 Shadow Alley Press

A good entry into dungeon core books

Slight? spoilers

With a mixed perspective of the core and several human characters (mostly an adventuring group and a select nobles) it provides a solid mix of fantasy and dungeon mechanics. the inclusion of monsters with actual personality makes battles tense with a sense of "who do i want to win?".

Stilted and awkward

I couldn't get through the book so it might improve later, but all of the speech and even some of the descriptions were just awkward. Nothing in the two hours I listened to flowed naturally. It's unfortunate because it seemed like the story was going to be interesting, but I just couldn't do it.

Great dungeon core book

Great story. Only real complaints I have are the info dump status at every chapter when nothing has changed and the end was a little abrupt. Kinda felt like there should have been more or something.

The world literally works like a video game.

It's literally written as if the characters had video game mechanics and abilities. They even open menus and pick new abilities when they level up. It's definitely a power fantasy for people who grew up playing video games. In this case it's based on dungeon builder style games with some thought put into how a world would work with self building dungeons in it.
It gets slightly awkward when the author describes some of the female characters but doesn't spend enough time on it to become painful. The prose in general is pretty clunky but the world is very mechanical like a video game so it works ok.
It's quite a bit of fun if you like the style but won't give you deep characters or a complicated story. It's all secondary to a fun concept and it does the fun well.

A good novel... ruined by a reader... who likes...

...to pause...
...at every...
...comma...

The writing style isn't the best either, being repetitively overly specific. eg. "The kobold was normal, an average member of the kobold race," which would be fine except for the reader's penchant for long pauses on commas (and even longer between sentences). Like, a whole second of dead air every time. Enough time, sometimes, to repeat everything he just uttered since the last pause.

"The kobold was normal.
...
...
...
...
An average kobold."

The word "however" does not a sentence end! Keep talking and let me know what the however is about, don't leave me hanging, man!

It's the kind of thing that'll put you to sleep as your brain tries to predict the next pause.

Amazing

Loved it on royal road then geeked out when it hit Amazon and freaked out when I saw it on audible! bye it and love it. it’s amazing well worth the listen. I can’t wait for the next book!

Really Fun Book

I really enjoyed the story line. It had a mild bit of cultivation in it, but not much.

Great Story, but poor execution

The story, plot, and idea is great, love it.
but how it was written, on top of the narrator's pacing, makes it apparent that this was not given alot of attention. The writing works when it is describing the settings and functions of the world. But this doesn't work when the actual characters start talking. its all stinted, and sounds like someone who only reads human interations from a textbook. thats not how people talk. like this seem like some one who has written many manuals, textbooks, and instruction pamlets decided to write a story.
And the Narrator makes this even more apparent, as if he too came from a background narrating instructional and HR videos.
overall the story is a great, but needed another writer to give it more life.
the experience is, if "How's It Made", had a narritive story line.

Need to listen

Great way to do a dungeon book. I really want the next book. Just need few details. Like you can skip to the next chapter when giving the stats. Also there was a reference of being hit like a truck in the book. I thought that was weird for a fantasy world.

Best Dungeon Building Story

The book is really good, to the point that the worst thing about it is that it ends. It has a good blend of world building and action and is clearly an excellent cornerstone to lay the foundation of a fun and exciting series. You are left with a sense of a complete origin/beginnings story while also anticipating the next book and the growth of the new characters, like I would imagine someone who never saw the original trilogy would feel watching Obi Wan deliver Luke to Owen Lars at the end of episode 3.