The Guild Core 1: Dragon Bourne

A Dungeon Adventure

By: TJ Reynolds

Narrated by: Steve Campbell

Wake a dungeon. Form a guild. Fight to restore the world.

Kai was the least likely young man to ascend. Raised on his uncle’s potato farm, he began his career as an adventurer with empty pockets and little skill. But a foolish attempt to prove his bravery leads Kai to unlock hidden power within himself and acquire a most unlikely ally.

Rhona is a battle-scarred soldier who’s as likely to toss a quip as she is to throw a punch. After setting aside a promising career in the army to pursue the Path of the Bleeding Tiger, she sets out to stop a war and seek atonement for a bloody past.

When Bancroft the Earth Core awakens, he can’t wait to clean up his dungeon and begin building things anew. A recovered item from his past reminds him that more is at stake, however, putting an end to such pleasantries.

Join The Guild Core, a small band of friends determined to restore the world to an age of dragons, heroes, and honor.

The Guild Core is a novel by TJ Reynolds, fantasy LitRPG author of Eternal Online books one to three. The Guild Core was inspired by the Divine Dungeon series, The Wheel of Time, and classic films like The Labyrinth and The Neverending Story.

This story takes place in an epic fantasy world governed by gaming mechanics. It contains light to moderate litRPG, gamelit, cultivation, and dungeon core elements. Features realistic violence, three MC POVs, and more than a few quaint jokes. Language and adult content is appropriate for teen listeners.

©2020 Thomas Reynolds (P)2020 Thomas Reynolds

Everything You Ask For From LitRPG

4.5 out of 5 stars

If you can’t build both believable easy-to-like characters along with beautiful and well described worlds – then you don’t belong writing a fantasy novel, especially a longer one like this story is. Thankfully, the major places that this story shines is in its character and world building. I also don’t always pick up books like this since I’m not a huge epic fantasy fan, but, I am a fan of a good LitRPG regardless of where it’s set. I knew going into this that it was either going to challenge me or it was going to bore me. Thankfully, it was the former. It challenged how I feel about stories like this and it really felt like a unique LitRPG story set in a place I couldn’t have dreamed up

The story jumps around a bit since it’s a multi-narrative one, but that didn’t bother me. Honestly, in longer books like this I need the change of pace and Dragon Bourne gave me that in spades. The two main characters that it follows were fun to root for, along with easy to follow.

The narration, done by Steve Campbell, really shined too. I feel like with a book this long and in depth he was really able to shine. He showed off his narrating skills along with his skill as a storyteller. Now, I know and understand that he didn’t write the story, but a good narrator can take an already good story and make it their own – turning it into something even better. I think that Campbell did that with this one, and I’m glad that he was on board to do this book.

Overall, a really interesting LitRPG Fantasy book that kept my interest throughout. There was a lot of great character and world building, along with a story that I wanted to continue reading. I needed to figure out what was coming next.

just really enjoyed

it was just one of those books that I really enjoyed and was glad there was the second book available to go to.

Surprisingly good book for a new author!

I am looking forward to the next title in the series and I would appreciate more context of the larger world. I am excited to see what comes next.

Not bad

This story surprised me, the beginning did drag a bit but it picks up before I got too bored. Some of the fight scenes were kinda too drawn-out, felt too much was going on and some characters were lost in the mess. Other than that, it was a decent listen. Definitely worth the credit

Great dungeon Core book with a terrific narrator.

This book is a lot of fun and does a great job of codifying elements while keeping things fun. I really dug it and am looking forward to more. I love all of the characters, including the strong female character who everyone would understand was both strong and female without the author repeating it again and again through every characters dialogue and thoughts. still that's a minor annoyance in an otherwise strong book.

Eh, reviews are hard. Cool story tho

So... This is a tough one for me.
I had an amazingly long rant about the difference of books and their audio counterparts.
The gist of it is this-
When you yourself read the book, you are in charge, of the emotions, of the rhythm, of the power in each word and its intensity, of the unique characters and their special quirks.
Audiobook does that for you, and it can do it even better than you do. Which is the case this time for me at least.
I'm sorry to say that the book itself, the plot, just wasn't for me.
And it's not because I dislike anything about dragons, dungeons or fantasy in general. It just wasn't for my taste.
As for the quality of the story itself? I think it was amazing, great rhythm and flow for the story which were augmented further by Steve and his great performance in this book.

This was still a rant, I apologize.
Tl;dr
Great book, amazing narration, cool plot with a fun and growing Mc. Just wasn't for my personal taste.

Great adventure/dungeon core book

Kai is a young man who has traveled to a town with a better opportunity to fight creatures so that he can ascend. Rhona is a soldier that has seen too much and retired from the army after her first tour. They both quickly find that there is more to the world than they knew.

The story is very well done! It has a dungeon core feel to it, but not everything is confined to just the local area. I have a feeling that this series wii explore many different dungeons. As always Steve Campbell does an amazing job with the narration. One of the best things about finding a series late is that book 2 and 3 are already out and on audible

exhilarating

a great cross between different leveling systems that keeps you entertained from beginning to end. at first the mc is kinda clueless but comes into his own soon enough but given his background it's understandable and his co-mc, I guess, makes up for it. the story and relationship progression has a good speed development that keeps the flow smooth and entertaining. great book 1 moving on to 2. give it an honest try and you won't be disappointed.

kinda lame MC

so the story and all was good but the mc (mild spoilers) is a dragon... cool right. no he is a "half dragon" with zero dragony powers or traits. he is a human who everything mistakes as a dragon. but if your fine with that very good book👍

Just wow

Whoaa..I'm in the epilogue right now.... awesome.. there is usually something that I don't like about books and for this book it's that I don't have the rest of the series right now..... very well done, its actually better than the inspiration; Divine dungeon... there was a perfect balance of all the various things that make a good novel..

1. The MC is not OP and worked for all his advancement.
2. The cultivation system is defined and makes sense.
3. All the creatures are all on the same cultivation system, so comparison is easier.
4. The world building is expanding gradually and not trying to overbuild and then you forget most places as they mention them because it was never used again.
5. Although this took inspiration from other novels I find myself liking this book much more than the original..
6. Interaction between the various characters is so natural and unforced...You can easily relate to each of them..

I got this book for free from the author but I will be buying all the rest of the series as it comes out because its a great series, and author is such a chill dude..