# Bone Dungeon

By Jonathan Smidt · Elemental Dungeon, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/bone-dungeon-13aa23ae/

Ryan remembers little about life before he became a dungeon core, apart from a disagreement with the church that ended in his beheading. Now he builds a darkness dungeon stocked with traps and undead creatures. A rising necromancer and the watchful Adventurer’s Guild give him reasons to prove he can use those powers without becoming a menace.

## What makes it funny?

Ryan’s dungeon has ill-named skeletons, bone puns and a skeletal fight club he’d rather keep from his fairy assistant. Erin’s nagging meets his more relaxed approach to the job. Readers enjoy the puns and the paired protagonists; some recommend the book to dungeon-core newcomers.

### The comedy at work

A monster-filled dungeon becomes a place with hobbies and arguments about how to run it. The undead setting gives Ryan plenty of material for wordplay, while frequent pop-culture references connect his world to the reader’s.

### Try this if…

There’s an appeal here for anyone more interested in building the dungeon than clearing it. Book-group readers have named it a favorite alongside Divine Dungeon, and the Frank Ormond review particularly enjoys Ryan and Erin’s side of the story.

### Good to know

The Elemental Dungeon trilogy is complete, continuing with Infernal Bones and Hallowed Bones. Readers differ on joke density: readers in book groups enjoy the puns, while Frank Ormond finds the pop-culture references excessive. The story includes execution and dark imagery.

## What to expect

- Genre: Fantasy · LitRPG
- On the shelf: Dungeon core
- Kind of humor: Wordplay
- Format: Novel
- Published: 2019

## A few distinguishing details

- A darkness dungeon trying to establish its good intentions
- Skeleton puns and a secret skeletal fight club

## Sources & further reading

- Reader discussion: [Reader discussion](https://facebook.com/groups/LitRPG.books/permalink/9606269536062963)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://portal-books.com/author/jonathan-smidt)
- Review: [Frank Ormond review](https://frankormond.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/book-review-bone-dungeon-by-jonathan-smidt)