Jonathan Brooks

Sandra has always been passionate about crafting. Blacksmithing, enchanting, jewellery making, leatherwork - she has made it her life's mission to learn everything she can. Unfortunately her disability means she's never been able to craft anything herself. But she makes do - right up until she's killed chasing a new lead.

When she's reborn as a dungeon core, Sandra is left awed when she discovers her new abilities will let her build and make all she wants - she only needs time and a little bit of creativity before she's able to pursue her passion; crafting.

This one was a bit more of a slog to get through than the earlier books. Sandra is experiencing lots of melancholy and random outbursts of violence and honestly it just made me anxious to read. There was crafting but Sandra was so caught up in the political mess and expanding dungeons and I was just tired. Plus all the characters are out on their own missions and I missed them.

I did like the dwarves and the community they were building. I liked Sandra helping them to create their brewery and distillery. And I liked the offer Sandra makes to the orcs. I just wish it wasn't all so end of the world. It just seems like they're fleeing from one disaster to the next and I wanted some downtime for crafting and getting to know each other and that.

So not quite as enjoyable as the previous books but it was an alright read. 2.5 stars, rounded to 3 stars.… (meer)

Sandra has always been passionate about crafting. Blacksmithing, enchanting, jewellery making, leatherwork - she has made it her life's mission to learn everything she can. Unfortunately her disability means she's never been able to craft anything herself. But she makes do - right up until she's killed chasing a new lead.

When she's reborn as a dungeon core, Sandra is left awed when she discovers her new abilities will let her build and make all she wants - she only needs time and a little bit of creativity before she's able to pursue her passion; crafting.

This was action packed. There were monsters and battles and more dungeons and it was kind of tiring. It seemed like there was never any downtime or breaks. I would've liked some peace in my reading - a few less battles, a bit more crafting. There were still lots of stats that I didn't really follow but it was okay. The game mechanics towards the end kind of just lost me. I like stats but I prefer them to be slightly less involved or better explained - one of the two.

This had a bit more of a dungeon family feel - all the characters working together and talking and I liked that more than the clunky relationships they seemed to have in the prior books. Especially their teamwork in the dungeon and their shared feelings about various events. There were many new faces - but my favourite was still Violet. I loved Sandra using her unstable shapeshifters though to mimic Felbar, Violet and Echo. I don't know I'd be okay with a copy of my body walking around naked but it was pretty funny.

Overall a solid addition to the series with lots of litrpg elements. 3 stars.… (meer)

Sandra has always been passionate about crafting. Blacksmithing, enchanting, jewellery making, leatherwork - she has made it her life's mission to learn everything she can. Unfortunately her disability means she's never been able to craft anything herself. But she makes do - right up until she's killed chasing a new lead.

When she's reborn as a dungeon core, Sandra is left awed when she discovers her new abilities will let her build and make all she wants - she only needs time and a little bit of creativity before she's able to pursue her passion; crafting.

This was a bit more action packed than the first book. Kelerim might have left the dungeon, but there is lots to do with nearby dungeon cores expanding, new people to meet and things to learn, teach and create. Like the first book, the abrupt switch of point of view was a bit jarring but I liked meeting Echo. Though I preferred the gnomes. Felbar and Violet were terrific additions to the team. I loved their humour and curiosity in helping Sandra create. But similar to Kelerim, I would've liked to see more conversation between them all - giving feedback and input to Sandra's plans than being separate entities. There was some of that but not enough for my enjoyment.

The politics of this one was a lot more intense but I enjoyed it for the most part. There was still a lot of crafting going on so it wasn't so bad. Just not quite what I expected from a crafting dungeon. Sandra's mission seems to get waylaid by her plans to fix things for everyone. Still it was a decent read with interesting characters, fun crafts and clever solutions to their problems. 3 stars.… (meer)

Sandra has always been passionate about crafting. Blacksmithing, enchanting, jewellery making, leatherwork - she has made it her life's mission to learn everything she can. Unfortunately her disability means she's never been able to craft anything herself. But she makes do - right up until she's killed chasing a new lead.

When she's reborn as a dungeon core, Sandra is left awed when she discovers her new abilities will let her build and make all she wants - she only needs time and a little bit of creativity before she's able to pursue her passion; crafting.

This was a low angst fun read. I liked the concept a bit more than the execution. The stats and game mechanics were a bit lacking. I didn't really follow all of it and took to skipping most of the tables that were included. But I enjoyed the idea of Sandra pursuing her crafting passion and just wanting to learn and teach and make.

The room building and creation of the different crafting stations was fun and I liked Sandra coming up with ways to get around her limitations. I would've liked it a bit better if her dungeon fairy, Winxa was able to brainstorm freely with her. The whole she can't give advice to Sandra got a bit old. Honestly their relationship in general was a bit clunky. I would've liked to see more conversations and Sandra was being less of a jerk to her. She spent a lot of time just blocking out her conversations which was pretty rude.

As for the plot I was really getting into things when the point of view switched to Kelerim. A half orc/half dwarf being who has been outcast from both sides of his heritage and has no where else to go. I liked Kelerim but the switch was kind of abrupt. I really got into his story though and was annoyed that he decides to leave Sandra at the end. I mean, after everything why the hell did he even bother going back? The orcs were horrible to him. And his half brother was the worst of the lot of them. I didn't really see the point of him searching for his father. I wanted to see Kelerim contribute a bit more to the development of the dungeon. He doesn't really seem to have any input or feedback and it would've been cool to see him and Sandra have more of a give and take rather than Sandra just give, give, giving.

Interesting concept and one I'd enjoy reading more of. 3 stars.… (meer)