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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
A whimsical and light-hearted tale. For more thoughts, read on: http://winsomegates.jenevivedesroches.com/post/2018/08/02/The-Divine-Dungeon-Series-by-Dakota-Krout
Dale grows in power. Cal grows in power. Everyone grows in power. Kind of the theme of this kind of books.
This time there is a bit more of politcs. The Cal/Dale relationship adds some novelty to the story. Some characters are less serious than I though they would be and Dakota really seems to like to include himself in the story, which is funny at first.
The last part is really enjoyable. With an ending similar to the distortion cat regarding the lack of control either of our protagonists have in the situation, but much more dangerous for a lot more people. Kind of over the top at times but loved it anyway.
This time there is a bit more of politcs. The Cal/Dale relationship adds some novelty to the story. Some characters are less serious than I though they would be and Dakota really seems to like to include himself in the story, which is funny at first.
The last part is really enjoyable. With an ending similar to the distortion cat regarding the lack of control either of our protagonists have in the situation, but much more dangerous for a lot more people. Kind of over the top at times but loved it anyway.
I am really starting to love Dale a lot more than Cal as a main character. He is growing leaps and bounds in maturity, whereas Cal just seems to be growing in power. It's also fascinating to see how he grows and all that, but I am far more interested to see how Dale handles issues like sanitation, inter-species strife, nobles being arrogant, and so on.
I'm not too fond of where this story went, however I suppose some repercussions had to happen from the previous actions.
I'm not too fond of where this story went, however I suppose some repercussions had to happen from the previous actions.
Spoiler
I was super devastated when Dani got taken. I realized the author was setting this up for a while, but I was still super sad. I had hoped maybe Dale could get her free before she got stolen away.
Really enjoying the direction that the series seems to be going in! The new characters are fun and well developed so that I only want to read more about them. The world is fleshed out and as I discover more it just draws me further into the narrative.
Scratches that LitRPG itch I have developed without being full of stat screens (which I find can be a bit fatiguing).
Finished the book in a few days and excited to find out where this story leads.
Scratches that LitRPG itch I have developed without being full of stat screens (which I find can be a bit fatiguing).
Finished the book in a few days and excited to find out where this story leads.
This is bad. Like just all round.
Poorly written. It jumps from perspective in the middle of a paragraph.
This author seems constitutionally incapable of using contractions - everything is worded in the clunkiest way possible.
The jokes are terrible. And even worse, the author seems to be saying "Do you get it?" after each tedious quip.
Dale doesn't do anything. He gets more powerful by things just happening to him.
Hans is a sexual harasser. How did the author think it was a good idea to have a character this lecherous?
Speaking of sexual harassment, it's just creepy the way the author seems to be leering at his female characters. He even has Cal perform surgery on a woman to make her beautiful, going so far as to remove all hair below her head. This was done without the woman's consent, but of course she was ok with it...
This book has FANTASY EUGENICS. I honestly can't believe this. Cal adopts a race of intelligent and sentient beings who were previously enslaved. He then goes on to 'improve' the race through physical and mental changes. He then makes these new beings mobs in his dungeon, with the rationale that they chose this life (while fleeing from slavery).
I have to ask, why are Dale and Cal antagonistic towards each other? Dale is shown to be money hungry, and Cal can make infinite money. Surely Dale would bring Cal anything he wants (like new items), and ask for a reward. Cal would get everything he could ever want, if he were to just be more co-operative.
I'm also guessing this author is some form of Libertarian because Dale's property rights are put above anyone else's rights, and he seems to get off on enforcing or threatening to enforce his ownership. There's also the 'eye for an eye' style punishment that Dale doles out.
Tom is a worse version of Drax from 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. The author can't even commit to keeping up the shtick half of the time, or just forgets?
It's not a good book, but it's not boring so 2/5
Poorly written. It jumps from perspective in the middle of a paragraph.
This author seems constitutionally incapable of using contractions - everything is worded in the clunkiest way possible.
The jokes are terrible. And even worse, the author seems to be saying "Do you get it?" after each tedious quip.
Dale doesn't do anything. He gets more powerful by things just happening to him.
Hans is a sexual harasser. How did the author think it was a good idea to have a character this lecherous?
Speaking of sexual harassment, it's just creepy the way the author seems to be leering at his female characters. He even has Cal perform surgery on a woman to make her beautiful, going so far as to remove all hair below her head. This was done without the woman's consent, but of course she was ok with it...
This book has FANTASY EUGENICS. I honestly can't believe this. Cal adopts a race of intelligent and sentient beings who were previously enslaved. He then goes on to 'improve' the race through physical and mental changes. He then makes these new beings mobs in his dungeon, with the rationale that they chose this life (while fleeing from slavery).
I have to ask, why are Dale and Cal antagonistic towards each other? Dale is shown to be money hungry, and Cal can make infinite money. Surely Dale would bring Cal anything he wants (like new items), and ask for a reward. Cal would get everything he could ever want, if he were to just be more co-operative.
I'm also guessing this author is some form of Libertarian because Dale's property rights are put above anyone else's rights, and he seems to get off on enforcing or threatening to enforce his ownership. There's also the 'eye for an eye' style punishment that Dale doles out.
Tom is a worse version of Drax from 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. The author can't even commit to keeping up the shtick half of the time, or just forgets?
It's not a good book, but it's not boring so 2/5
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is unique in the LitRPG genre but does fall into a lot of the same trappings others do so it doesn't stand out as much as it could. Another round or two of editsight have helped, and I think if I'd physically read it some of the issues would have been resolved (though others would have been made worse). First, it took a long while to get to where it was going. I generally like game mechanics but this dragged. Second, a lot of the game mechanics blending together into a blob of me not keeping things straight. Same the bland white dude names. I could not keep them straight. Finally, this LitRPG, like many others, has an overarching plot that's moves an inch each book which is not enough to keep me interested in coming back. I like rich worlds but I also like plot and closure or at least a knowledge of where we are headed which this book and series is not giving me. Death march was a great series that wrapped up in 3 books. Awaken online is dragging but is giving me enough overarching plot to keep me interested. This and The Land aren't and didn't keep me interested enough to continue.
I like the split POV, but the casual misogyny (like making jokes out of assuming several women are prostitutes just because they look nice) is tiring. Krout's habit of self insertion is also wanky and annoying. The final battle was so massive that it actually list impact for me because I couldn't really keep track of the scope of the threat and it seemed like half the characters couldn't, either. I do want to see how the story wraps up in book 3, but I think I'm glad it's the final book as I can see this plot line getting stale fast.