The Dungeon Book (As Told by Cornelius the Skull) by Gareth Hanrahan

TL;DR: A super fun little adventure. I really enjoyed this.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: Bait has to figure out how to live in two worlds. In the Dungeon or beneath?
Characters: We’re being told this from a third perspective so not super deep but still lovable.
Setting: I loved the Dungeon. I could honestly have read another 2 or 300 pages about it.
Fantasy: Classic fantasy here. We have great creatures, a great setting, and some magic as well!

Summary:

Bait doesn’t remember a time before the dungeon. Before the dragon stole her from her cot. She doesn’t know what her name was before she was handed over to the monstrous denizens of the dungeon beneath the sorcerer’s tower. Luckily for Bait, they decided not to eat her. And so, she grew up in the dark – the goblins her adopted family, a vengeful minotaur her protector, a sentient skull her tutor and a faithful blob of corridor slime her main source of nutrition.

But the labyrinthine dungeon, with its haunted halls, buried temples and forgotten magics, draws treasure hunters like moths to a flame. And as the outside world starts to intrude, Bait will learn what it means to be monstrous, and she will have to decide where she truly belongs.

Thoughts:

500 pages seems like a lot, but I flew through this and ate it up. This is such a great book (I want to say little but it’s clearly not). Bait was a baby when she’s taken from the castle by a dragon. He brings her to the Master of the Dungeon who needed her, then was meant to be dragon food. Instead a kind gargoyle took pity and gave her to the Dungeon Denizens in hopes she’d survive. And she did!

Now as a young woman she ends up caught in the idea of the surface world but also the world she calls home, the Dungeon. She must abide by the rules of the Dungeon but she’s also called to the surface by her human side. There are so many other great creatures and characters here too. A talking skull tells us the story, a group of manticores appear, a minotaur with a quest, and more on top of all that.

If you like a good humorous fantasy, with a lot of the classic elements of a dungeon fantasy I really recommend this one. It’s one I’m adding to my collection and I sincerely hope we get more like it.