I requested this arc and received it for free, I'm writing this review voluntarily.

King of Dust by Tycho Dwelis is a LitRPG. I was so excited to and really wanted to read this book because I love reading books about vampires and i love role playing games. However, I ended up a bit disappointed. That's not to say the book has no good aspects, just that my general grumpiness while reading tainted my experience. It could also literally be that I might not enjoy the LitRPG genre. Because from research I know that LitRPGs are based on different role playing games, both table-top and digital. But, I have to ask, is it usually so obvious what a LitRPG is based on? Because, this book felt so on the nose with it's references.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed this book, but I was expecting a completely new to me story. But, I didn't get that. I believe this book is heavily based on/inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons module Curse of Strahd. Specifically a campaign within the module. I had recently watched a Dungeons and Dragons group on YouTube play through a bit of the module so I was familiar with it. I recognized so many things within the story that I knew from the module. So I also had a vague idea of what the order of events, or really, the possible places the group would go after their first encounter. It was so upsetting because I really like to go into books with no prior knowledge, except the blurb/summary and the content warnings. I want to be clear here, this story is VERY different from the Curse of Strahd module, the inspiration is just clear and obvious. Other than that there was really only one other thing that I didn't like about the book Astrid, the only woman in the group, was so infantalized. It just felt so weird to me and made me uncomfortable, but that could just be my own trauma.

However, the good aspects of the book outweigh the negative. (I know this paragraph is shorter that the one about the negatives. That is caused by my inability to say all the good with not spoilers.) What pulled me into this book was the characters. I loved the characters, even broody Yra (who ended up being my favorite). Even though I could guess where the characters might go because of my knowledge of Curse of Strahd, I didn't know what they would do or how they would react. Because this group is so sassy and, I say this lovingly, dumb. They're each dealing with their own trauma and missions but come together in a disjointed but functional team. They struggled with distrust, a moody heartbreak, and religious guilt. It made for some entertaining moments. If you want to find out the nitty gritty of all of this I suggest reading the book. Because if I don't stop now I will spoil everything.

Overall I enjoyed both the story and the characters even through my disappointment. King of Dust was a fun read and the ending was wonderful. There is also so much I love about the world in this book that I didn't mention. The magic, the weapons, the npcs, and so much more. I will also say even if you have played through or watched a group play through Curse of Strahd you will still be surprised by the story. Because this book is not Curse of Strahd its just heavily inspired by it. And I believe the similarities are made so obviously so the references are clear. As I've said above this is the first LitRPG I've ever read and I cannot that this obviousness is or is not the norm. I hope you enjoy whatever you read next.