Reddit reviews The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within
We found 4 Reddit comments about The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
My native fantasy world litRPG recommendations:
Dante's Immortality has a strong zero to hero theme for a native to his fantasy world. The MC is worse off than a beggar at the start. Has some magic academy parts. Well written. Some of book 2 is on Royal Road but the author has been re-writing book two for a long time so it may or may not ever be completed.
Threadbare is a quirky litRPG story about a stuffed bear and his attachment to his girl and the friends he makes along the way. This story is full of puns, some clever and some more on the nose but I had a good chuckle several times and had a lot of fun reading this series. As lighthearted as this story appears at first, it does have some grimdark elements and tells a good story. The series actually has a conclusion which is rare enough in this genre so it gets major points for that.
The City and the Dungeon has one of the more interesting magic systems I have seen in litRPG. The characters are all native to the fantasy world. This series is a bit different in that it is written in the form of the MC retelling past events to his sister kind of like how Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles are written as a flashback. The story itself features old school dungeon diving party mechanics which I happen to really like. The fairly original magic system and strength ranking system are very interesting. I did find myself wishing that the author would give more details on stats, character builds, etc., but the plot skips events and advances too quickly. At the same time it over-explains superfluous details like various branches of dungeon religion theory and courtroom law procedures. That was my main complaint, but overall I enjoyed the story. Not sure on status of book 2.
Arcane Ascension This one is strongly represented on the r/ProgressionFantasy subreddit but has some light litRPG elements too. No user interface and on the soft end not having many stats. The world is a native fantasy world with tall RPG like puzzle towers that people try to climb. These books feel more polished and professionally written than most books in the litRPG genre. It is a hybrid story that bounces back and forth between school life (magic academy) and dungeon (tower) diving. I really loved the focus on the Tower exploration and the puzzle solving that was required. The magic academy part of the book is cool as well but I think for specifically litRPG readers it won't be the main appeal.
The magic system is pretty deep, with over 50 different "classes" of magic ability called attunements. For example, Guardian attunements are melee fighters who can strengthen themselves, while Elementalists wield Fire, Air, and Lightning. It is also possible to gain more than one class as well and we see glimpses of characters that are god-like in power while the MC, a first year student, is incredibly weak in comparison. The MC makes the most of his attunement though and crafts clever items to help cover his weaknesses and relies on his friends to fill the other gaps. Crafting magic items is a major focus for the MC which I found entertaining and satisfying.
Amazon link for those who are lazy:
https://www.amazon.com/City-Dungeon-Those-Dwell-Within-ebook/dp/B078NXCKZ4/
I'd also second the recommendation of this book. my review on Amazon:
>This story is not like any other litrpg I have read, and that turns out to be a good thing for the book and probably the litrpg genre as a whole.
>What makes it a great story: A large cast of characters that feel real, they have their own unique motivations, and they grow throughout the story. The main character is going through some internal turmoil, trying to find his purpose in life, and how to deal with this inhuman environment of the Dungeon.
>What makes it a good litrpg: There is a system of game like stats people can get. There are raid parties, carefully thought out class builds, and a hunt for high level gear.
>What makes it different from most litrpgs:
>1. Very few tables / stat screens / item screens. There are still some, but it never feels overwhelming to see a stat screen. I find myself skipping a lot of stat screens in other litrpg books, or trying to pick through and find the important numbers that matter. That wasn't necessary for this book.
>2. No harem or badly done love story.
>3. The main character doesn't have some advantage that lets them abuse the stats system. They are leveling up like everyone else (though maybe with a bit more luck).
>4. It isn't afraid to skip through the boring parts. Some litrpgs almost insist on having every minor combat engagement cataloged or at least discussed. This story sometimes skips months at a time and just describes those months as grinding up levels. This is good, because it means the author was focusing on the things that advanced the plot, or times when the characters grew as human beings rather than all the times they grew as living video game characters.
>5. Good editing. I'm pretty oblivious to most editing mistakes, and can easily ignore them. But I will at least notice some mistakes in badly edited books. Didn't notice anything here. So take this difference with a grain of salt until some more people review the grammar and editing.
>Stylistically it just felt different from many other litrpgs I've read, and it was very refreshing. I'd recommend this book to litrpg fans, especially if they want a fresh take on the genre. But I'd recommend it to people who might have tried other litrpg books and been turned off by some of the common tropes of the genre.
>The City and the Dungeon has one of the more interesting magic systems I have seen in litRPG. The characters are all native to the fantasy world.
It's a bit different, since it's not a proper fantasy world. The MC is a native of Denver (yes, "our" Denver) that emigrated to the titular City to make a living for his family. The Earth is a post-apocalypse world - the Dungeon's monster spilled out in the world without high-level adventurers around, and the nations got their asses handed (we don't get to see that, just a handful of allusions here and there).
The author promised he'll get back to it after facing some major writer's block.
https://www.amazon.com/City-Dungeon-Those-Dwell-Within-ebook/dp/B078NXCKZ4