Dakota Krout

It had been so long since I bought this, and I didn't bother to reread the description, so going in to the story I had no idea that the book would be from the dungeon's perspective... but I absolutely loved that it was! Cal, the Dungeon Heart, was a hilarious, naive and curious character and the bond between him and Danny was both adorable and funny in it's own way.

Dale was also a brilliant character. He was as ambitious as he was naive which lead to some interesting situations.

I regret show more having waited so long to read this book, and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series just as soon as I can get my hands on them! show less

Enjoyed the first book of this series, so I thought I'd return to the world of Cal, Dani, Hans, and Dale. These a bit of a middle book letdown for this one. Lots of shifts as plots are positioned, but not enough to completely disown the book.

Cal has grown. He's become more childlike in his actions in some cases. What Cal can do to creatures and things is downright eerie. Remake goblins? EW! And like most kids, he doesn't always think about the consequences of his actions. Mushroom spore show more zombies? Uh, right. Cal's experimenting comes back to haunt him. Got it.

The author has developed this bad habit in this book with a lot of conversations extended with "plus" or "also." I might have missed it in the first book, but it's becoming ANNOYING in this book. Especially when it's every time there's a conversation. I'm a little surprised the editors didn't fix that before it went to print.

While I like the growth of Dani ... Not sure I like the thought of the Amazon Goblin Creature Then again, maybe not. Whoa!

Okay, epilogue note. I so expected Nick to die at the hands of the evil lord. And we have cliff hanger! Drat!

This was still a fun book, but as I said, a bit of a middle book let down. Still worth it and can't wait to see what happens in book 3. show less

I picked this book up because the description looked interesting. I definitely got that.

This is a unique angle on dungeon adventuring and dungeon creation. A human thief is caught, so a necromancer traps his soul in a soul gem and that gem becomes the heart of a dungeon.

When the book first begins, it's just Cal, the dungeon core and his Wisp, Dani. Get about half way in and the author alternates between a group of adventurers delving into the dungeon and the mind at the heart of the show more dungeon. It's adding an additional twist I'd not considered, but it makes for some fun reading.

The book brought an interesting take on dungeon creation, dungeon diving, and (my first time encountering it in fiction) personal energy. To consider a possible soul at the heart... I might have to work some of the concepts into my next RPG game.

And then the story just ... ends. No conclusion, no real ending, just stops. It's like the trilogy was one LONG book and the editor just picked spots to break it up. Hate when they do that. Worth going to the next book, though. show less

The latest in what's been a fantastic series. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I particularly continue to like the MC's class and the creative uses of it. I like that there are some downsides and tradeoffs with the skills, while powerful, I don't think he's overpowered, which I always appreciate. I continue to enjoy the sarcasm on the part of the certified altruistic lexicon as well. I'll read the next book the day it comes out, I'm sure. It is rather slice-of-life, in that it doesn't seem like show more much changes in the world as a whole this time, but I didn't really care, as much as I was sucked into the smaller scale adventure, and even just the latest buildings he manages to construct. show less