The Concubine's Tomb: A Dungeon Core novel

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Anomus ip Garma, greatest living architect of the Subori Empire, is tasked by his emperor to construct a tomb for the emperor's concubine upon her death. Anomus and ten thousand workers labor in the desert for years while the emperor's dead love waits, ensorceled and undecaying, for her final resting place to be completed.

But betrayal awaits Anomus and all who slaved to build the Tomb, and a dark god has taken an interest in the evils man does to man...

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2018
Author: NotGodot

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 1,135
Views: 356,955

Chapters(34 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

BlissForgottenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Oh my, this is setting up to be a fine dungeon novel so far. Chapter 9 is where I am up to but all of this is fantastic both in the mind states and the intellect of the dungeon building.
BlueCoffeeJavaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Concubine's Tomb is a well plotted, well paced, and well presented dungeon core novel. The setting is egyptian inspired, which feels fresh compared to the other dungeon core novels I've read recently. The dungeon core starts out low powered and maintains an underdog feel while still growing at a satisfying pace.
This review is through Chapter 33, which is the end of book 1.
KittiLumpoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
each page is beautifully written, and the story is impossible to put down!! a systemless dungeon with a nice and balanced magic system
there's a chapter that makes me, personally, sad, but not every good story is 100% a happy one.
oh i forgot about the minimum word quota uhhhhh ghouls rule!!
callmesteveRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have to say that this is a very good story.
The Architect is not guided by something so ephemeral as a desire to expand, or to get free. What he wants is to kill off the man who coldly murdered him and his work crews.
But, in all of that, he still keeps learning and growing, helping the Ironclaws, who themselves were subject to injustice. I'm not sure what will happen when he finally completes his self-set task, but hopefully he will then continue in death the great works he made in life.
puppetgoestutututRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
only on cap 4 (as of this review) but so far this book is awesome in the same vein as some of the best authors on royal road like wandering inn, lazy ash and many others
SrayanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Written after I read up to chapter 14. This is shaping up into a superb “dungeon core” novel. The plot - while conforming to the genre - has gone well beyond the basics with excellent worldbuilding (some similarity to ancient Egypt?), harmonious foundation building and development. The various plot lines/characters are coming along in a way that suggests an excellent story structure. There is an interesting (?semidivine) “system” that the dungeon is figuring out, and hints of a well developed overall “human” magic system to be discovered.
The word usage and grammar is excellent and the structure has either been edited before uplink or else the author is exceptionally good at editing their own work.
ThonkTankRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The best dungeon core story I've read so far. Mind you, most dungeon core stories are unimaginative trope-parades with one-note characters and only the thinest pretence of plot, but this one knocks it out of the park. On top of being a fun and engaging dungeon core story, it's also an incredibly engaging drama told through well realized viewpoints with a satisfying narrative arc.
The only problem I really have with it is that It probably won't ever be truly finished.
WhiteBirdyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
By far the best dungeon fic I've ever read. There's a compelling plot, sympathetic characters, hatable antagonists, and the descriptions are all on point and never feels superfluous.
A minor detail that I absolutely love about it, is that it does away with the game system that so many of these kinds of stories have. There are no floating blue screens, no numbers, and so everything the protagonist accomplishes, is because he has the skills to do it himself and doesn't just operate a menu.
OsteospermumRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
While chapter 2 is still part of prologue, premise is good and both writing style and character introduction fells very natural. Grammar also is suberb at least for standard of rrl.
StultusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
We've all heard the story about the king who killed the finest architect so that the bloke couldn't make something better after he served the king.
Well, introducing Anomus, the unlucky bastard in question. After designing the finest tomb this side of the golden desert Subori, the emperor said, "cool, my dead side ho will love it." and ordered Anomus killed, because the emperor is also a massive douchebag.
Luckily for Anomus, his anguish, rage and hurt feelings were enough to stir the slumber of an even bigger douchebag. This douchebag happened to be the god of night, blood and revenge. And he said to Anomus, "wow bro that guy was a douchebag. I thought it would be kind of funny if you managed to kill him, so lemme turn you into a dungeon core.
And so Anomus toils, turning wasps from god's "screw you" to god's "screw everything". Deep within the concubine's tomb, Anomus works tirelessly, with only the desert creatures and his rage for company.
Upon the emperor's throne, Irobus sits and contemplates his actions, while beside him, the priesthood gathers to silently judge his actions.
Anomus toils, Irobus ponders, the dark god watches, and unbeknownst to all, the concubine stirs...
Style
The Concubine's Tomb takes an interesting spin on your average dungeon core story, introducing an element of creativity. The main character is for one, not from our universe, and for another, completely aware of how he became a dungeon core; he made a deal with a spooky god of vengeance. The story also differs in that most dungeon core stories feature the main character unable to act freely while strangers are within the dungeon. Not so for Anomus, as he is not only able to freely control the confines of his greatest work, but even use magical blood powers to just straight-up crush people with an invisible force. Pretty gnarly.
The story does not feel like it is being told by someone living out their wish fulfillment fantasy, but instead the story reads like it's being told by someone