Dungeon Devotee

Overall, this story just grabbed me. The dungeon is intriguing and the MC's main goal hooked me. I really feel for his cause and want him to "win." 

Style: Overall the style is very typical Nixia (which is a good thing), but with less of the light-hearted twist his previous series "This Quest Is Bullshit" had. This one takes on a more serious tone that I think serves well for the plot and narrative.

Story: As I stated earlier, this story really grabbed me. I've found myself wanting to hound Nixia every week for a new chapter so I can get a hit of that sweet, sweet LitRPG dopamine that this story gives me. The pacing feels really good as while there are technically "grindy" moments that occur in the story Nixia does a great job of passing over them while still covering what occured so those moments don't drag on. There's a good slow-drip of fun new abilities, items, spells, skills, etc etc that come into play at the MC progresses, so there's always something fun to think about by the end of a chapter.

Grammar: Nixia's grammar is pretty solid. There's the typo here or there but overall it's very solid in terms of grammatical structure.

Character: The main character, Edmund Montgomery Ahab, has a singular, strong goal, and he lives up to that goal with his every action. He's a very fleshed out character where I can really understand and feel the devotion he has toward reaching this goal. He's a bit of a loner but that makes a lot of sense given who he is. Overall, very well-though-out character who feels very "real" in the world.

From the author of "This quest is bullshit",  comes a new tale of adventurer(s?). 

Chapter one had me yawning at the obligatory introductory phase, slightly intrigued by the aspect+confluence system, and mildly impressed by the above average character depth, prose, and pacing.

Then chapter two came, and i knew this story deserved a review that stood by itself, independent and beyond any prior works by this author.

This one is going to be juicy.  I dont normally leave reviews until a hundred or more chapters in.  This one rightfully earned its place at chapter two.

Expect:  Adventurer(s?) with more persistance than sensibleness.  Death, violence, gore.  Adventurer(s?) with (slightly justified) chip on their shoulder(s?).  Tangents, philosophy, tangential philosophy.  Morbid humor.  Understatements.

Has similarities to Moby Dick.  I mean that as both a complement and a warning.  No idea where this story will go, but it is clearly going to take its time getting there.

Positive: The writing is good. Grammar/prose/characterisation are all good. Nice flow as well. No issues there.

Negative: The story. After a very promising (and brutal) opening chapter it turns into Plot Armor the Novelisation and that's just not what I'm looking for. It's a shame, I actually like the worldbuilding and the whole Aspect constellation mechanic was genuinely interesting.

This story is a noticeable departure in tone from Nixia's last series with far less levity. And while I enjoy my comedy, the frequently darker tone fits this story like a glove. Any casual reader will have trouble even recognizing that this is the same author.

About all you need to know about the story is that the main character has "Ahab" in their name. This is a not so subtle broadcasting of what we can expect from the MC. They are a man on a vengeful and hateful mission, shining in their singular and glorious purpose. And instead of being droll, they are given enough depth of character and foils so that I'm frequently invested in just about every single scene.

One of the most important aspects of a litrpg besides plot is the actual litrpg. And thankfully, it's done well here. The magic and system are seemingly simple but with hidden depths, and also entirely unlike any other litrpg I've read. If there's one thing people love, it's novelty, and I am no exception.

There was always something nagging at the back of my mind throughout. It was like I had missed something, I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong until the chapter Interlude 1 (hasn't been released yet but its on patreon).

On reading the chapter, it all clicked. Edmund constantly talks about ending the dungeon since it reaps so many lives. In Interlude 1, Edmund talks about the hundreds of people queueing for death up at the entrance. He talks about how they'd rather take a chance on the dungeon rather than 'face their own empty bellies for another day'. He seems to think this is the fault of the dungeon.

Lets move away from the story and examine the real world in this same vein. At some point or another people realize there is something deeply wrong with the world. Going to college, trying your hardest, and all you receive at the end is meagre pay and a job you will most likely hate. You see how the richest have over 70% of all the wealth in your country, you acknowledge the immense unfairness of it all. There are two paths here, you understand its a systemic problem or you can go down a rabbithole of conspiracies and blame it on a single person, a single entity.

The Nazis of yore called this ultimate evil the Jews. In this story, we call it the dungeon.

The dungeon is ultimately open with its deal. It tells you the chance of you dying and offers wealth, power and status. Every single person queueing up there is innately aware that they might die. The dungeon never attempts to lie or fool.

What we must examine is why these people would gamble on their lives. Ultimately this is a fault of the people in power at the top. The kings and emperors, the dictators and presidents.

What Edmund wants is to give these people a better life, one where they dont have to face death for food. But what he doesnt realize is that even if the dungeon is destroyed, the problem itself persists. The people still starve and now they have less avenues to feed themselves.

What must be changed is the system that enables this itself. The royalty teared down, power once again settled in the hands of the people. We see this time and time again in real life, people find the world unjust and riddled with fault and they are slowly radicalized to believe it is because of a single group. Perhaps the blacks, the immigrants, the Muslims or the Dungeon.

All this is not to say that the dungeon is without fault. Edmund is completely in the right in his attempt to destroy it, his motive is suspect. Perhaps a better motive is just revenge for his fallen family.

Ultimately, I think as long as the dungeon is open about the chances of death inside it - the choice rests in the hands of the people who delve. As long as the dungeon doesn't take advantage of people's vulnerabilties ( as it does currently), I cannot see the problem with it existing.

Having only read the first chapter I can't say much for the rest of the story, but god damn does the first chapter hit hard. Looking forward to see how the story develops.

Do yourself a favour and at least read the first chapter.

10/10, would read again, hears to a great new story.

A great start to a new story. The main character is driven but has come back to earth incredibly quickly. Excited to read more. System seems like an interesting combination of previous systems I've read, and so far the realism has been a great change of pace from characters who pick up a weapon and become gods of war in seconds.

So basically I have read as far as currently possible with chapter 22 and can tell you I am not impressed. 

The first chapter gave me hope. The dialog seemed promising and life like and I hoped for a good story even though knowing about the problem these kind of storys will eventually have : becoming repetitive and boring grinding. The one reason to read a chapter after some time is for the loot and aspect at the end while one could almost skip the in between. The Author tries to change this up with

 but this doesn't really help as the appearant depper character building from the first chapter seems to only be a fluke.

While my criticism might appear harsh it is still a enjoyable story if you don't want to think too much and pass your time. And evidently something gripped me for otherwise I wouldn't have read this far and given it such a high rating, therefore give it a try but don't expect much. 

With one last note for it is the main reason I wrote this comment:

NO, fighting a rat for two weeks and then another one some spiders DOESN'T MAKE YOU AN EXPERIENCED FIGHTER, OK!? 

thanks 

The author has a fantastic story telling technique. One man against a creative & manipulative & sarcastic dungeon. The story is just starting, so the world is only slowly unfolding. I appreciate that the author doesn't tell you how the world works, he slowly shows you. This story has plenty of directions it could go.

Having each level be its own complete level is a strength of this story, but it's also a weakness.

In some chapters it keeps the narative flowing, but in others it rushes things.

But with a single update per month, giving any floor multiple chapters would slow things down to much. (A mere 120 floors will take 10 years at the current update rate)