Posted by I adore the Dungeon Born series by Dakota Krout, it’s one of the more unique litrpg’s I’ve read, and as the series continued the characters became well developed and the world building expanded and got more interesting. When I saw that Dakota Krout and Vikas Adams teamed up again for an audiobook I bought it instantly.
This is more in line with a ‘typical’ litrpg where the MC is sucked into a video game that serves as “real life” for them. Except, this was voluntary. Many times in those storylines the MC is involuntarily placed in a video game world. That’s not how it goes down in this book – Joe was a medic in the army and when his helicopter was shot down he became quadriplegic. One of his friends offers him an out, a way to get his body back and escape from the hellhole his life had become. He goes for it, and downloads his brain into a video game with the intent of becoming a ‘permanent resident’.
When he logs in he has to go through a series of tests, and since he was the only one to complete every single test he got a secret unlock to a “Hidden God”. The Hidden God is one of the only neutral gods you can follow in this game, and he comes with really cool perks. Joe will be able to find hidden quests, hidden treasures, and hidden knowledge throughout the game. He can even hide that he’s a Ritualist and displays “Cleric” to everyone else peeping at his stats. This does come with a cost though, Joe is one of the weakest players around, both in combat strength and stamina. He can’t run for long, tires very easily, and even his ‘critical hits’ don’t do much. He’s going to have to rely on being a part of a team to survive in his new world. As a personal note, I always play healer class if it’s available in games, so it’s been really neat reading a whole book from that perspective.
He does make it onto a team since he’s one of the only Cleric’s around, they’re apparently very rare as are magic users. Most people logging in for the first time don’t score well enough on magic skills to enter the game with abilities, most have to go to a mage’s college.
There’s an opposing guild that’s fighting for territory and making life extremely difficult for Joe and his friends. The clan leader is named Headshot, and his guild, the Hardcore’s are a group of TKing terrorizing assholes. They slaughter Joe’s team and try to force them into their guild, threatening to kill him if he doesn’t cooperate. Joe doesn’t back down, even when threatened with torture. Pain is a thing, a very real thing and makes being attacked by monsters that much more intense. Tanks in this world have it rough, being the ones whose job it is to take the most damage.
I liked Joe, he was easy to relate to and interesting to watch him deal with his new world and find out how to level up his character. I did enjoy that he thought to call his mom in game, and that he’s able to communicate with the outside world. It added to character depth when usually in “sucked into a video game” books sort of ignore the real-world after they get stuck in the game. Since he has a hidden class, he doesn’t have a typical Class Trainer to go to when he has points to spend or spells to learn, it all has to be done himself. He’s a fan of reading, so one of the first places he tries was the library. Unlike many players, he spends a lot of time in the library since his constitution and hit points are so low, his goal is to become a scholar and learn everything there is to know about this world.
This was another really strong book by Dakota Krout and I’ll definitely be continuing on with this series!
Audience:
- LitRPG
- healer POV
- lots of action
- heavy world building
- faster paced
- great audiobooks
- quick light reads
Ratings:
- Plot: 12.25/15
- Characters: 12/15
- World Building: 12.5/15
- Writing: 12/15
- Pacing: 12.5/15
- Originality: 12/15
- Personal Enjoyment: 8.25/10
Final Score: 81.5/100 – 4 stars recommended! Try Out The Sample On Amazon!!!!!