About

Rogue Dungeon is the first book in the The Rogue Dungeon series written by James A. Hunter and Eden Hudson.

Rogue Dungeon book cover

Blurb

Roark von Graf-hedge mage and lesser noble of Traisbin-is one of only a handful of Freedom fighters left, and he knows the Resistance's days are numbered. Unless they do something drastic...

But when a daring plan to unseat the Tyrant King goes awry, Roark finds himself on the run through an interdimensional portal, which strands him in a very unexpected location: an ultra-immersive fantasy video game called Hearthworld. He can't log out, his magic is on the fritz, and worst of all, he's not even human. He's a low-class, run-of-the-mill Dungeon monster. Some disgusting, blue-skinned creature called a Troll. At least there's one small silver lining-Roark managed to grab a powerful magic artifact on his way through the portal, and with it he might just be able to save his world after all.

Unless, of course, the Tyrant King gets to him first ...

Review

The first few chapters set up the overarching story. The writing was good, just a few scenes were good enough to establish the conflict and the characters involved. And then the twist happens — main character (Roark) from a high fantasy world is transported to a gamelit world.

Roark was a skilled mage, but spawns as a lowly troll. The rest of the story in this book deals with how he makes best of the situation, with an aim to return powerful enough to help with the conflict back in his homeworld.

Along the way, he picks up friends and familiars whom he can trust. These were some of the best parts of the book, and a few scenes from their POV would've been great.

Not really a light hearted book, but I skimmed through darker scenes and thus it felt like a fun read for me. The pacing was pretty fast once Roark got his bearing in the new world. A few more chapters focused on crafting and strategies would've been welcome.

Series review

I binge read the first three books, forced myself to stop so that I could work, and then binge read the remaining three books.

There were indeed POV chapters from some of the side characters and the quality of the books remained consistent throughout the series. It was good to read a completed progression fantasy series for a change.

I know there's an expansion anthology left, but I'll probably give it a few days before reading it. I need to catch up to lost work first 😅.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

What others are saying

From Tim McBain's review on goodreads:

It's a really clever spin on the litRPG genre, executed to perfection. Like a really good summer movie with just the right blend of action, comedy, and heart. It's basically a ridiculous amount of fun. I tore through it in two days, and I can't wait for more from this series.

From Jimmy Misfit's review on goodreads:

The book is remarkably creative and does an excellent job of exposing logical flaws in multi-player online games which is hilarious.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2022 bingo categories:

  • Two or More Authors
  • Cool Weapon
  • Revolutions and Rebellions
  • Self-Published OR Indie Publisher
  • No Ifs, Ands, or Buts