Delvers LLC is a decent book. I don’t rate things five stars just because I didn’t hate them, so I’m swimming against the current here. But while the idea of a pair of practical lads using wits, guile, and magical powers to get dungeoneering down to a science is interesting…there are some problems with the story that irked me.
Characterwise, there are good things! Jason and Henry aren’t generic sketches, and there’s some interesting depth to them and character growth as they adjust to their new surroundings. Team Delve features some interesting folks, and Dolos is a delightful jerk. The women of the company are slightly less good. I ain’t a tumblr, but the appearance of two incredibly attractive women who are (eventually) strong physically but weak emotionally who THANK GOODNESS both find one of the two humans in the story hot is a little too wish fulfilment-y for my taste. One even sells herself into 10 years of indentured servitude, COMPLETE WITH A HOT CHOKER OF BINDING around her neck. If I didn’t know any better, it was like these characters were introduced solely to be love interests, with characterization added on later. And they feel kinda hollow as a result.
The story itself is pretty straightforward, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s basically the start of a business, just with fantasy shenanigans instead of a pizza place or a ghostbusting service. You get to see the characters grow in competence and meet interesting people on their journey to be The Best at Adventure. Their problem solving is fun! There is the problem where…maybe half the actual narrative is people explaining things to other people. Exposition in a disorientating world is natural and necessary, and I like to see characters working out problems with each other! But there is a lot of it in the story. To the point where I just wanted the narrator to describe the weather, or the room they were in, or anything to keep me from thinking this was just two heads floating about the ground spouting worldbuilding at each other.
Tone is a sort of ethereal thing that’s kind of hard to pin down in a review, but I’ll give it a shot. This book has Tone Problems. I can handle a story where the violence is depicted in brutal fashion, the characters are constantly crying, and the bad guys are merciless bastards. I also like a light hearted adventure romp poking fun at RPG and fantasy tropes. These two things together, however, are jarring. Going from violent murder and rape to witty banter and back to murder then Dolos popping in for some smug is just exhausting. And the rape. Everything’s raping everything. The goblins rape, the bandits rape, the goons who capture them would have raped, everybody but the protags is a rapist in the land of rape. I was thankful when the orcs at the end just ate people. Christ.
The audiobook reader guy did a pretty good job! Surprisingly good at lady voices, the voices themselves were all pretty distinct, and his delivery of the snark was on point. Nothing really negative about his performance, but I haven’t listened to too many audiobooks.
Anyways, decent start. Fun listen most of the time, occasional moments of ick and cringe. I got it on sale, which is a good idea if you have the chance. I’ll look for the second book when it is similarly discounted. I didn’t hate the book, but a nearly perfect rating is a little much in my opinion. But I’m just some dude.