This Used to be About Dungeons

This is the kind of writing which gives its street credibility to fantasy.
The characters are so damn bloody fleshed out, I want to hang out with them, no need for dungeons and stuff, just hang.

While in Worth the candle (previous work of the author, don't go read it, nearly every heroic fantasy will seem shallow, generic and bland afterwards ) i feel a big part of the focus was on the chiseled, intricate, and throrough worldbuilding, here, while the world seems extremely well conceptualized in the author head, the focus seems to be more on the psyches of the team members and their interactions.

It is lovely.

The characters just are. Sometimes they get stuff to do, sometimes they don't. When you feel 'oh, it might get slightly too calm if this goes on for an other chapter' there is always a perfectly timed dungeon. Sometimes because the characters were  getting slighly bored as well.

It is fucking mellow, and i love it.

it gets also bloody, unfair, slightly traumatizing at times, and i love it.

Don't read me writing about it, read the stuff, am not a writer. I am just here to write 200 words to give the man a well deserved advanced review.

And I am having a particular love interest with how clever and creative the pantheon is as well.

Thanks.

The ratio of the word dungeon to other words in the title is bigger than the ratio of dungeon scenes inside. That's not a bad thing, as there are enough wild dungeon stories here on RR. This story is a very slow-burn story about a handful of people interacting with each other (and rarely visiting a dungeon). There's a large slice-of-life part, but it is less about actions or scenes and more about talking. Talking about interactions, talking about everyday stuff, talking about nothing important, talking about talking. Important parts are weird magic items, cooking, relationships and meta-analyzing anything. In short, it's a very different story from most others. The prose is okay, but everything is long-winded. Grammar is good. The depth of the characters' personalities is explored extensively. All in all not a bad story, but don't read it if all you want is action. This is cozy, like snuggled in a blanket on the couch in front of the fire on a winter day, with a hot drink in your hands.

I don't leave a lot of reviews, but I really enjoy this story, and I guess the guy who writes it appreciates the heads up.

Flawless style, that really implies an author who understands the promises they're making to their reader.

Clear indications the story has firm foundations.

Good grammar, I guess.

Characters!  Memorable! Good names!

A pleasant story with a weird but seemingly uncomplicated, well thought-through world that makes a good background for a focus, it seems so far, mainly on characters. Dungeoneer slice of life / coming of age (well, for new adults) it seems so far.

Complicated people are more likely to be available.

The characters and world building are outstanding. The grammar and spelling are very solid. An excellent fantasy slice of life with a fair amount of action. It is occasionally a little slow, but never to the point that I was bored enoughto consider dropping it. Give it a try. One of the better stories on the site.

A thoughtful, well paced exploration of the formation of an adventuring party. Characters actually interact as young adults would with one another, something you hardly ever see if fantasy fiction. Each character provides their own perspective and has their own voice, fleshing out the details of this uniquely designed fantasy world in a natural way. Come for the dungeon diving, stay for the philosophical discussions about the motivations of gods representing mathematical concepts. 

This Used To Be About Dungeons is one of the best at Slice of Life and Adventure stories on RR. I very much enjoy the structure of daily life with interspaced adventures into dungeons. The world building is rich and there is quite a lot of depth to the history and why society is the way it is in the story.

In the story the "real" world sometimes seems tame, which is also one of the themes explored through our main characters. There is I guess ground for critique regarding the pace of the story, but my main defence to that is that it is a slice of life story first and progression adventure second.

Wales succeeds in bringing daily life in a fantasy world to life, and it is a joy for me to see these young characters interact and grow. I suggest you give it a read :)

One of those novels that is simply fun to read.

It has plenty of Charismatic characters.

The writing evokes Emotion.  All kinds of different emotions. You care about the heroes and their challenges.

The right amount of surprises

A world with fun tropes and ideas.

The theme is Fantasy but in a relatable way.

This story delivers on its promise. Excellent worldbuilding and characterization, with a slow burning but well structured plot. If the author reads these, even though the dungeons are not the meat of the story, describing the dungeon crawls really adds to the fiction for me. Also, I normally do not like stories with multiple PoVs, but the PoVs here are so closely connected I actually like it.

This story is really a joy for me to read, because the characters are so lifelike and real. The switch in viewpoint that the author employs emphasizes that, with each character clearly unique in their way of thinking and speech.

The story is set in a fantasy world, with monsters and different races, magic and classes, dungeons and a consistent setting that makes sense of all that, but for me, the story is about the relationship between the characters. I can say for sure that I learned some things about navigating social interactions with others.

In summary, read this story, it's awesome!