# Cat Core

By Dean Henegar · Cat Core, book 1

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/cat-core-6345a907/

Florence Valentine sets out to buy cat food and ends up dead. Her next home is a dungeon, which she can furnish with a thought and protect with cats of her own creation. Adventurers keep barging in, damaging the place and taking things. Florence has little patience for them.

## What makes it funny?

An error has sent the wrong soul into the dungeon system, so Florence demands to see the manager. The administrator responsible must become her assistant, Doug, in the body of a kitten. Their bickering brings an everyday complaint to a very strange customer-service desk.

### The comedy at work

Florence approaches dungeon management as a homeowner who wants her property and pets respected. Doug has rules to explain; she has her own ideas about what a home needs. The disagreement reaches from furniture choices to which creatures she will allow inside.

### Try this if…

Dungeon-building readers can follow upgrades and defenses from the dungeon’s point of view, with house cats doing the fighting. Florence needs the rules explained to her, giving newcomers a way in; the repeated explanations may try more experienced readers’ patience.

### Good to know

The cats take part in battles and can die before returning. Their deaths are temporary, but the descriptions can still be upsetting for readers sensitive to harm to animals. Andrea Parsneau narrates the unabridged audiobook.

## What to expect

- Genre: Fantasy · LitRPG
- On the shelf: Dungeon core · Portal fantasy
- Kind of humor: Banter · Situational comedy
- The atmosphere: Warmhearted
- Format: Novel
- Audiobook: 11 hr 14 min
- Published: 2021

## A few distinguishing details

- A dungeon run as a cat lover’s home
- An afterlife complaint with a kitten assistant

## Sources & further reading

- Book information: [Bibliographic listing](https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/dean-henegar/cat-core.htm)
- Book information: [Apple Books audiobook](https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/cat-core-cat-core-book-1-unabridged/id1582704653)
- Review: [The Devil Books After His Own review](https://thedevilbooksafterhisown.home.blog/2025/05/19/%F0%9F%93%98-cat-core-1-by-dean-henegar)
- Review: [Omnivoracious Bookwyrm review](https://omnivoraciousbookwyrm.wordpress.com/2024/12/26/cat-core)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://podiumentertainment.com/titles/2212/cat-core)
- Reader discussion: [Reader discussion](https://facebook.com/groups/1069684616388207/permalink/24867009596229042)