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Double Review: The Dungeon Fairy and Cynetic Wolf

Updated: Oct 25, 2020



Synopsis:

All that Tacca Gloom Lily ever wanted to be since she was very little was a fairy assistant to a Dungeon Core. After her negatively portentous birth, however, she was never fully accepted by her superstitious peers and instructors at the Dungeon Assistant Preparatory School; nevertheless, she persisted in her studies and graduated at the top of her class.


Unfortunately for her, the “hands-on” training she was supposed to receive from a Mentor and his Bonded Dungeon Core didn’t go the way she would’ve hoped. In fact, the stigma attached to her origins finally made itself known in the form of horrendously “bad luck”; the rotten part of her newly discovered luck was that it adversely affected Cores that she happened to be near, and not just herself.


What can a Dungeon Assistant Fairy do when every Dungeon Core she gets near ends up being destroyed? Tacca had no idea, but a solution eventually presents itself - though it’s one that she never saw coming....


Review: The Dungeon Fairy by Jonathan Brooks 29/8/20


Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.


I've listened to a lot of LitRpg books and this include quite a few dungeon core books but I admit this is the first one about a Fairy whose job it is to guide a dungeon core who is cursed with bad luck.


What begins as a fairly straight forward dungeon tale quickly shows Tacca Gloom Lilly (yes, clearly with that name she has little chance) is doomed when her initial core goes mad and kills itself. This is a prime opportunity for the fairy council who hate her for her bad luck and want her gone and leads to a major narrative twist but sadly this is nearly half-way through the book and it does feel a little late in the day for my liking but is still a great twist nonetheless.


Without oodles of action it would appear that the story would quickly get boring but the humour and cleverness of the plot do a great job of holding your interest and the author shows great restraint in holding back the numbers and stats which oftentimes LitRPGs can become drowned under.


So a somewhat mixed bag but I do feel that, without Miles Meili's brilliant narration and voice-work it may not be a recommend but he does a brilliant job of really bringing the story to life and making it far more accessible than it may have been otherwise.





It's 2096, 60 years after 90 percent died from a man-made Bioplague. Humanity has splintered into four unequal subspecies: Immortals, cyborgs, enhancers, and subservient half-human, half-animal hybrids.


The world is anything but equal. Hybrids everywhere are suffering, but 16year-old Raek Mekorian, a wolfish with a nose for trouble, doesn’t see an alternative. Except the Resistance, who don’t stand a chance against the world government. His mom always said, “Keep your head down”.


And he does, until his sister is murdered by a pair of cyborgs. Overnight, his simple life is shattered, fracturing the rigid governmental caste as he is thrust into the dangerous world of superhuman hit squads, Resistance uprisings, and secrets better left unsaid.


With only built-in blasters and the advice of a mysterious professor, Raek must navigate crushing betrayal, self-doubt, and a limitless enemy whose evil knows no bounds.


The fate of mankind may rest in his hands.


Review: Cynetic Wolf by Matt Wolf 29/8/20


Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.


Dystopian settings and cyberpunk are very commonplace settings now and it is very hard to find anything new and original but with his hybrids Matt Ward has done it.


While I don't think it was every specifically explained how they came to be, it appears that during a bioplague over 50 years previously killed off the majority of the human race, humans created hybrids between man and animals as well as cybernetics to overcome the illness but this has led to many different species and the tale revolves around Raek, a half wolf cyborg who is one of the many lower-class hybrids relegated to the slums of the world.


Through matters beyond his control, he is drawn into an uprising against the status quo when those he loves are taken and this leads him to working with an assortment of different groups and the scope of the world's injustice is laid bare and the world-building is revealed in all its glory.


The problem is, mid-way through the tale, so many of the case start dying and we seem to stumble from one battle to another and it all becomes a little overbearing and I found it hard to care about the wider-cast as there was always the sense that they'd be killed in one of the many (frankly spectacular) action sequences.


With such a big cast, it was a little confusing at times keeping track of all the cast but David Akiva Klionsky did a fantastic job of bringing a sense of identity to them all and in particular Raek who, from his first scene to the end, I was captivated by.


Ending as it did I'm unsure if I will continue with the series but I am glad I read this and did enjoy it for the most part but whether I do or not I will remain impressed by the world Matt Ward has created.

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