Final Core: Volume 1

By: D.M. Rhodes, Razzmatazz

Narrated by: Adam Verner

I died and was accidentally reborn as an [angelic monstrosity].

So now I'm building a holy dungeon-tower that is tall enough to reach the gods...so that I can complain about it!

But the humans think that I am trying to destroy the world.

This is the first volume of the Final Core, a dungeon core base-building LitRPG series.

©2022 D.M. Rhodes (P)2023 Podium Audio

Good

If you like dungeon stories, you would like this
It has a unique twist g

Masterfully Done!

The characters are great and the way the voice actor brings out all the different personalities is engaging. It is not super crunchy, which I like and us more character driven. 10/10 would recommend it.

I love everything but how they treat Perchta

Or Fresh, if my hypothesis is correct. Fresh (Perchta) was a sweetie, wholesome even, in Dungeon Item Shoppe. Now she's peddling poison and doesn't try peace first? Not cool, Razzmatazz. Seriously not cool.

calm story

an intresting and fun story, with fun characters and lots of info on lore

I liked it.

I have to say that it started a little slow. I eventually picked up and it was a delightful listen. I highly recommend it to anyone. Five stars all around.

a very unusual book

I can honestly say I have never listened to a book like this.
not my first lit RPG, but I've never had an lesson in mythology that was so entertaining and educational at the same time.

Intriguing

i despise gods on a personal level. However, I find stories like this comforting. The dungeon core genre has been fast growing and I am here for it. I only wish to create worlds for myself.

Awesome to hear!

I listen to books when I carpool go back and forth to work, and this was awesome to hear with the people in the car! I was told not to skip ahead as they wanted to hear the story and the comedy of the characters that the writer has written in for us to hear.

Dungeon Core (Lite)

I just don't know how I feel about this book. Minor spoilers below, but no real plot points. At this time I have not checked out the 2nd book and this review in no way addresses anything there.

On one hand, this story is an entirely unique take on a dungeon core series. Our MC is a reincarnated dungeon core, nothing new there, but the author establishes pretty early on that that there are different types of dungeon cores: you have the standard core type that is immobile (like in Divine Dungeon), but you also have mobile types where the core is an actual living breathing creature (like in Dungeon World), and then there are also affinities that each dungeon can have. This is the first story I can recall where the core actually had a holy affinity and where the author leaned into it rather than making the MC have any sort of revulsion to it (like in Bone Dungeon (I think?)).

Additionally, rather than having dungeon fairy guides the author instead removed that inherent aspect as well as the core's ability to remotely build and harvest resources, and instead it gave the core the ability to summon workers (which are basically fairies).

On another note, I did appreciate the time the author took for the world building at the beginning of each chapter and the sections where the actual real life mythology was explained and all the different cultures that influenced it.

Now, this has a number of downsides, and the shortest way I can describe this book is that it is a Dungeon Core Lite, meaning that many of the features we've come to expect have been truncated or removed entirely. First, the MC doesn't care about his dungeon at all. After the first two rooms (floors) he has virtually no input for the rest of the book. The same thing applies to the mobs, bosses, loot, design/theme, etc; everything is just left to the workers to figure out and decide.

Second, levels in this story have no real tangible role. Every level the MC gets an ability point to spend and unlocks more options for what he can choose, but most of these have no real impact on the story until much later.

Both of these two negatives lead to a aingular larger problem: there are no rules. At no point does the author explain levels, classes, mechanics, how things work, how they don't; everything that works just does because magic. Now, I understand many don't like heavy number crunching and massive stat blocks, I get it, but this takes it to the extreme where you could argue that it isn't a litrpg at all and would have been just as good, if not better, as a normal fantasy story. For me, it just didn't scratch the itch.

The final issue I have with this is scaling. There are multiple points where the MC should have died or lost in some way, but somehow he miraculously came out on top everytime. Plot armor was just a little too thick for my taste.

The Cover is Misleading, This Book is Underrated

Don't let the cover mislead you about this book, or let the low average rating discourage you! I nearly turned away because of the anime-esque vibes of the cover, which usually heralds a shallow fanfic-like harem story (from what I've seen), but that couldn't be farther from the truth. This book is a wonderful and leisurely exploration of one e̶̦̋͑n̴͈̼͊̚t̷̡̎̐ḯ̷̻̦̑t̵̡̹͒͛y̵͘͜ trying to find it's place in life. Hell, the thing on the cover isn't even accurate to the story itself, as the main character is much closer to a winged slenderman than a beautiful angelic woman.

Anyway, now that I have your attention, I'd like to say that this book is a breath of fresh air when it comes to the Dungeon Core genre. I don't understand how it could possibly have a 4.2 on Audible, as it's clearly a 4.8+. The book is well thought out, plausibly realistic, and lacks the usual mocking/carefree tone that often ruins the sense of tension in such books. The pacing is slow and soothing, and time is well spent exploring the world and characters. Each of the characters have admirable depth and motivation, and while we don't get to know any character intimately, even the ones that die two minutes after their introduction have hints of deeper drives and character. I am fully on board with the objectives of the main character, and quite like the magic system and upgrade paths available to the MC.

Additionally, as several other reviews have stated, this book has many lore notes and worldbuilding tangents, which dive into both the place of dungeons in the story and the real world mythology behind many creatures presented in the story.

I would also like to praise the "child" phase of our main character. As in some reincarnation stories, our main character does not start out with all of their mental faculties at full capacity. However, unlike several book series I have read (notably the Divine Dungeon series and the Salvos series), this segment is not cringing comedy or painful ignorance, rather it is a interesting (and somehow cute) phase of the MC’s development which makes total sense within the world, as well as acting as a vital building block for later character growth. I found it not only tolerable, but actually an enjoyable part of the story.

As an example of this, when first reincarnated, our MC remembers its previous name "Isaiah". It then goes around pointing at various objects and landmarks and confidently proclaiming them to be "Isaiah" only to be disappointed, before eventually seeing its own reflection and finding "Isaiah". Then, as expected of a being that was most recently a bird, our MC climbs up into a tree and wonders if "Isaiah" will be safe under the water. Stupid, yes, but I found it cute, so.

The only flaw I have with this book (and a minor flaw at that) is Razzmatazz's depiction of religion. As you can clearly tell from the cover and summary, this book revolves around an angelic being ruling over a dungeon, bringing faith to the people who climb its tower and granting mercy to all those who seek shelter within its walls. To a noticeable degree, the main character believes in the gods and the faith it preaches, but importantly, it is NOT a zealot of its faith.

This is in part due to the discord between the Abrahamic depiction of an all-benevolent, all-powerful, and all-knowing supreme being that our main character seems to be preaching for, and the Hellenistic depiction of flawed, petty, and totally human gods that the polytheistic religion of this world seems to worship. These ideas clash several times in the background of the story, and while they don't ruin anything, they undermine the motivations of several characters.

While this isn’t ideal, the main issue I have is with the implicit understanding that Razzmatazz seems to hold regarding religion. In short, "religion is a scam". This is said explicitly at a few points, and implicitly through the actions of several leading protagonists. Our main character puts on a "front" of divinity and benevolence, and intentionally seeks to paint an image of itself that will benefit its own goals by pretending to be more divine than it actually is (which is kinda weird for an angel, but, whatever). Throughout the story, Razzmatazz also fails to put any major emphasis on the value of faith itself, nor the sense of community, purpose, and value such belief systems can instill in believers. In ALL cases where characters feel the bone-deep awe associated with divine revelation, these characters are explicitly misunderstanding the world around them and deluding themselves into a sense of false importance.

For reference on my perspective, I am a devout atheist, have never found religion to be attractive in any way, and have severe moral issues with the Abrahamic idea of worshiping a personified being. I do not like religion in any of its forms, and believe most organized religions to be thoroughly corrupt and obsolete. I am, however, mature enough to see the manifold benefits that those who DO believe can find in their faith, and how noble and comforting it can feel to trust the will of the Divine. Thus, I take offense to the scamming of people who truly believe in their gods, and of the deliberate manipulation of one's actions to appear more divine and righteous. Their feelings are real to them, and honestly that's all that matters.

If you are a true believer of any faith, you will likely find these elements of the story to be significantly more abrasive than I have. Despite that, I would still recommend this book, for the quality of the story is more than enough to make up for this. And for those who do not claim any faith, really do check this out. It will be well worth the credit.

TL:DR; Cover and rating is misleading, there are no anime girls here, the book is a calm and slow paced exploration of the world, there is lots of worldbuilding and interesting lore, the author nails the "child" phase and makes it actually enjoyable, and the magic is good. Fully recommended for all readers, but a warning for any religious ones: the book has an unflattering opinion of how religion works from the divine side, which annoyed even an atheist like me a few times.