Dungeon Born is a LitRPG told from the perspective of the dungeon, Cal, and narrated by Vikas Adam. At this point, I was already sold and didn’t bother looking at anything else before I’d bought the audiobook expecting it to be nothing short of amazing. It did not disappoint. It was another one of those audiobooks where I did everything I could to find more excuses to listen to it. I enjoyed it so much that books 2 and 3 are next up on my to-listen list.
Dungeon Born actually features two different POV characters. Cal, the dungeon itself, ever growing and evolving with times, and Dave, the owner of the land where the dungeon sits and a new adventurer gaining experience through dungeon crawls. As with most LitRPGs, Dungeon Born was information-heavy at the beginning as the characters learn about themselves, how to level up, and how the world works.
Cal was quite the amusing POV. As the heart of the dungeon, he is the one who makes the monsters and traps and his goal is to stay alive and become stronger. Much like how video game characters level, Cal gains power by defeating his enemies — in this case, anyone who enters his depths. With his partner, a “wisp”, they work together in a symbiotic relationship where Cal runs the dungeon and feeds Dani. Cal’s chapters are all told in the first person and give a really cool view of everything happening in his dungeon.
The other main character, Dave, is one of the adventurers who is constantly clearing out the dungeon. He only recently started his journey as an adventurer and is grinding the dungeon for loot and experience, while also managing the surrounding mountains which he owns. He is the typical farm boy with no world experience and is thrust into a very difficult world when he notifies the Adventurer’s Guild and turns his land into its own town as people flock to the dungeon location.
The story is mostly focused on character development and how both Cal and Dave grow. There are underpinnings of a large overarching plot which I believe is spread out over the whole series.
As per usual, Vikas Adam does an absolutely amazing narration for the book with unique and distinctive character voices. Overall this was a really fun book which I loved and would highly recommend it to people who enjoy:
- LitRPG
- Unique Characters
- Non-Human POV
- First Person POV
- Unique Concepts
