4/5 stars
Synopsis
Warning! This section contains spoilers, if you would like to avoid these spoilers, jump to the review below.
The book started with the viewpoint of a dungeon boss. His dungeon was being attacked by “Heroes.” Then it switched to the main character, Ed, fighting the dungeon boss on a computer game with his party. He gave an order that ended up with one of the party members dying. They stopped the game, and Ed went to work. His boss was the one who died in the game and used his authority to punish Ed. Ed snapped and slammed his boss’s head into his desk. Police were called and Ed was arrested. He noticed something was wrong with the police officer who was driving but it was far too late. The police driver introduced himself as Kharon.
Kharon said he hated to waste talent, and was recruiting Ed for the job of being the dungeon boss of Ivalis.
Ed was changed into a dungeon lord. He went through a portal and helped some people who were being attacked. They swore oaths of fealty to him.
Ed tried to figure out how to create a dungeon.
The small bit of dungeon Ed was able to create was attacked by a spider swarm, so they had to flee. Ed and his companions traveled to a nearby city to get more supplies.
Ed and his companions joined a group of people who were going to take out some spiders in order to get money for more supplies. The attack on the spiders went wrong, with the spider queen revealing that Ed was the Dungeon Lord. The group then started threatening Ed. Ed did what he could to fight the spiders and save his companions.
Ed was able to get the spellcasting skill and got two spells.
The spiders were looking for a mindbrood, a creature that devours brains and spreads, and they attacked the village because it had the smell of a mindbrood all over it. There was a big fight, the mindbrood was found and destroyed, and the spider queen was killed. Ed made a pact with her daughter, the new queen.
Review
Ed’s character development was interesting. He tried being a good guy, and mostly succeeded. I almost wish he didn’t succeed as much as he did however. I find the idea of a good dungeon lord interesting, but I had the immediate assumption that a dungeon lord should be evil. That assumption was hard to shake throughout the book.
I didn’t like how Lavy was portrayed. She was almost portrayed as a slut. I did not enjoy her abrasive personality either. I wish she had developed more as a character, and maybe toned down the slutty/abrasive personality.
This book had good foreshadowing. In the beginning, Ed was walking and overheard a conversation about something eating a farmer’s chicken. Ed’s companions told him to just ignore it because he didn’t want to get sucked into a silly quest. The chicken being eaten, however, led to the final conflict in the book. It was nice seeing how seamlessly the author put that bit of foreshadowing into the book. And how well it was pulled off. When that connection was made, all I could think was that if only they had tried completing that quest, then entire book would be over quickly. Obviously, there wouldn’t be a story if they had, but it is always fun to yell at characters for making dumb decisions.
The antagonist’s motivations for what he was doing not make any sense to me. It would have been nice if they author actually made it make sense, because then I might have felt like he was a true threat.
I am interested in seeing how the video game on Earth influences the world of Ivalis.
I didn’t like how I felt like the information the book gave for things either didn’t make sense or wasn’t enough information. Authors, when building a world, need to make things make sense so the readers aren’t confused. They can get as bizarre as they want, but the strangeness needs to have a logical (for the world) explanation.
Fireheart Books 