The Bookwyrm's Review of Core Sworn (Guild Core 2) by TJ Reynolds

 

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Rating: 9.25/10

Synopsis

Find a Dungeon.
Build Defenses.
Fight the Monster that Comes...

Kai is finally becoming the hero he's always dreamed of. As the enemy pursues, he's forced to accept his complicated identity and the power that comes with his blood.

Rhona can endure a blow to her pride. But when that blow comes from the vile Hastings, she has to strive to match his savagery and save her friends.

Ban discovers the ultimate prize for an Earth Core. Secrets, magic, and an incredible housewarming gift can be attained in an ancient keep once home to his ancestors. But can he defend the territory he's taken?

Read The Guild Core's second installment, where our band of heroes endures to restore the world to an age of dragons, heroes, and honor.

The Guild Core is a novel by TJ Reynolds Fantasy LitRPG author of Eternal Online books 1-3. The Guild Core was inspired by the Divine Dungeon series, the Wheel of Time, and classic films like The Labyrinth and The Neverending Story.

This story takes place in an Epic Fantasy world governed by gaming mechanics. It contains light to moderate LitRPG, Gamelit, Cultivation and Dungeon Core elements. Features realistic violence, 3 MC POVs, and more than a few quaint jokes. Language and adult content is appropriate for teen readers.

Review

The second book in any new series is always a bit of a concern, since the sophomore slump is a real thing, and readers are often leery of a step back in book two. This is not a concern with the Guild Core 2: Core Sworn, though, as the story picks up where the first book left off and takes all the elements that worked so well in book one and makes them even better, all while adding new story and character elements.

The characters in this series are the true selling points. The world building is fun and creative, but the characters are definitely what move the needle. Kai, Rhona and Ban are such a fantastic group of protagonists, and they play off of each other so well. Kai, as the innocent young half-dragon, has so much potential, and he really starts to realize it throughout the story. The author is careful not to make him overpowered or just too perfect, and plays on his relative newness to cultivating power to keep him relatively in check.

Rhona and Ban, on the other hand, are much more experienced, even if Ban has some catching up to do because of his core being shivered during the Dragon Wars. Rhona’s path is very interesting, because she must fight against a lifetime of training both at home and the army to do the right thing, even if it hurts her country’s ambitions. Ban is just desperate to settle down and put down roots, in his case almost literally as he is looking to create a new dungeon in which he and Kai can be safe in. It’s a really interesting arc, and one I really didn’t expect to go in the directions it did.

The villains are definitely not what I expected, especially Hastings, who was much more complex and powerful than I would have expected. There is also an unexpected threat, not only for the protagonists, but also the world at large that came out of left field and just dove right into the story. Its definitely a threat I suspect will be a constant menace in future installments, and poses a grave threat to the Guild’s mission to repopulate the dungeons with new cores.

The audio book version narration is performed by Steve Campbell, who does a fantastic job of bringing this story to life. He has excellent narrative pacing, and his character voices are all distinct and consistent. He gives each character a life of their own, and the listener is never in any doubt which character is speaking. I’d highly recommend the audio version.

This is a series I can’t help but recommend. It has so much to appeal to fans of traditional fantasy, as well as LitRPG fans. If you like a good character driven story, you can’t go wrong with this series, or this book. I highly recommend checking it out.