Dungeon Player (A LitRPG Dungeon Core Adventure)

Glendaria Awakens Trilogy, Book 1

By: Jonathan Brooks

Narrated by: Sarah L. Colton

Even after pre-ordering the pod that would allow them to play "Glendaria Awakens", Krista and Devin still had to wait months before they were able to experience the newest in VRMMORPG (virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game) technology. The wait was definitely worth it as they entered into a game world that was virtually indistinguishable from real life - apart from the obvious game elements of course.

After starting in a typical starting town, they learned everything they needed to survive in this new world. Journeying through the wilderness outside of town, the duo progressed at a good pace until they arrived at the starting dungeon. Their lives were drastically changed by this place with the unassuming name of "Goblin Cave".

After finding themselves in charge of their very own dungeon, Devin and Krista must figure out how to survive and thrive - all while fending off invading players.

This first book is a stat and table-heavy LitRPG Dungeon Core story - perfect for those who love stats and tables!

©2018 Jonathan Brooks (P)2019 Jonathan Brooks

Build or Die

Solid entry into the the dungeon builder genre that focuses more on the story than burying you in stats. I enjoyed the book, but was disappointed it was so short. I'll definitely get the 2nd book when it's available, but I'm hoping it's longer.

Good But Too Many Stats

I love the LitRPG genre! It is so much fun to read and see the creativity of the authors through their characters. The leveling, grinding, decisions, are all fun aspects of the stories. In this case though, there was just too much.

I honestly believe it would be fair to say about 10% of this story is statistics and notes. These elements are critical to the genre, but there was so much repetition! There are several places where the narrator could have (not saying she did) simply spliced in the recording from earlier chapters and it would have been perfectly fine, as the wording was completely unchanged. Due to this, there was not enough character development.

I never felt connected to either character. There was background and dialogue, but not enough to develop a rapport with either. Instead, there was planning, game character creation, and of course the stats and notes. It is a shame, because the story could have been developed into something really entertaining.

Sarah L. Colton did a fine job. Her male characters never seemed forced, and her inflections were spot on. This was my first experience with her work and I will happily listen to more.

Good 1st book from Jonathan Brooks.

I've read quite a few of his books and have loved every single one of them.
This is his first book. I believe. And I can see how he's gotten better over the years and also that a lot of his ideas he has had from the beginning.
There are quite a few reviews here complaining about the stats. Sorry to tell you people that don't like stats... This is actually light on stats compared to his other books. At least in his Station Core series he has it set up so that you can skip the stats at the end of each chapter. I don't though.
This is a really fun book and great look at a couple that become a dungeon and dungeon boss. (Not a spoiler. Happens pretty much at the start of the book.)
This was a great start and I'm looking forward to book 2.
The narration by Colton is wonderful.
If you like fantasy, dungeons, monsters, delving and especially LitRPG, you are going to love this book.

Good story.

I'm going to start by saying that I was given a free audible code for this book.

This first book has a lot to recommend it. The 2 main characters are fun, and grow at a good pace. Be aware, this book is VERY "crunchy". Lots of info about characters, classes, items, spells, and information. But it does help to build the small world around the MC's. It did take me awhile (almost half of the book) to get fully drawn into the story, but once I was in it was great. Very much looking forward to the 2nd and 3rd books. The narrator does a good job with really only 1 or 2 points that I wasn't a fan of. But I hold narrators to an extremely high standard, so most people will miss those details that my very picky self notices.

If I were to have a large complaint about this book, it would be that it is too short! A few extra chapters about development and the psychological ramifications of being stuck and the new life would have been very welcomed.

Overall, I recommend this book for what it is. It's light, it's fun, and there are a good number of funny bits and plays on words thrown in to round it out.

Decent, quick listen

Overall this is a good story, although it doesn’t really provide anything new or unique in the dungeon core genre. It’s a rather short entry compared to similar books, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, except for the fact that it is extremely crunchy, so stats, skills, etc., including ones that have no bearing on the story, take up about half of the book. This leaves relatively little time for character and plot development so the story feels a bit flat.

very crunch stats

was a solid beginning intro to dungeon core series, would love it to be longer. also the stays which I normally love were almost too crunch, would work just fine in print form but was hard to get through them on audio, still a good start

Can't wait for the next book

An original combination of Litrpg and dungeon core features with plenty of stats character development.

idea was great content to repetitive.

although I enjoyed the book k felt several times getting lost in the menution of the stats. it seem to drone on and on and repeat several things over and over again. maybe I am not the best target audience. I also that the reader was lacking compared to others I have heard.

Short but enjoyable.

First I would like to disclose that I received this audiobook as a promo for being on the authors Patreon.
I enjoyed this book and it was a decent story, however be aware that it was very short, like a novella almost. And this LitRPG is heavy on the tables and stats so this isn’t a good option for listening too while doing other activities. Now it’s not anything too special as I think the author was getting started but I would still recommend the read.
Also note that the whole trilogy of this series is available as an omnibus so if you are short on funds you can give that version a try.

Very short but entertaining

Jonathan’s other books are a must read in the GameLIT genre. This one is short and fun, but doesn’t connect with the others, that I noticed. Check out the other stuff and grab this too if you want more of Jonathan.