The Dungeon Slayer

Bullied, powerless, and written off - Tad Harrington's Rebirth was supposed to change everything. Instead, he got something stranger. In Konrad Ryan's pulse-pounding LitRPG debut, the underdog doesn't just fight back. He levels up.

The Dungeon Slayer by Konrad Ryan | Book 1 of The Dungeon Slayer Series

The Dungeon Slayer is the first book in Konrad Ryan's six-book LitRPG fantasy series of the same name, originally published in 2020. Blending the mechanics of video game progression with the emotional depth of epic fantasy, Ryan has crafted a world that will feel immediately familiar to fans of Solo Leveling, progression fantasy, and dungeon-crawling adventures - yet one that carves out its own distinct identity through genuine character growth and a richly constructed post-apocalyptic Earth.

The world has been under siege for fifty years. Dungeons bleed into reality across the globe, spewing monsters and bosses that threaten to consume what remains of civilisation. At the centre of it all looms Titan - the greatest and most dangerous dungeon known to humanity. The only people capable of pushing back are the Slayers: individuals whose hidden potential has been unlocked through a mysterious ceremony known as Rebirth. For sixteen-year-old Tad Harrington, a video-game-obsessed teenager who has spent his entire life being bullied and overlooked, Rebirth is his one shot at a different future. Power, status, belonging - all of it sits tantalisingly within reach, if only luck is on his side.

It isn't. Or at least, not in the way he expects.

When Tad's Rebirth doesn't produce the ready-made strength gifted to other Slayers, it seems like another cruel joke from a universe that has never favoured him. But what he receives instead is rarer and more complex: a unique ability to level up organically, growing stronger only through effort, sacrifice, and the monsters he defeats. Starting from level one in a world where everyone else begins far ahead of him, Tad's journey becomes less about reaching a destination and more about forging himself into someone capable of surviving it.

What makes The Dungeon Slayer stand out within the LitRPG genre is the emotional authenticity underpinning its stat systems and rank-ups. Tad is a deeply flawed protagonist - socially awkward, naïve, and sometimes frustratingly oblivious - but his growth throughout the novel feels genuinely earned. The dungeon battles are visceral and inventive, but it is the quieter moments of self-discovery and resilience that give the story its real weight. Readers drawn to underdog fantasy or progression fantasy will find a great deal to love here.

Konrad Ryan brings a fascinating perspective to the genre, having spent two years in Japan developing a deep appreciation for anime, manga, and light novel storytelling. The influence is clear - The Dungeon Slayer has the pacing, intensity, and power-fantasy energy of the best shonen-inspired fiction - but Ryan successfully blends these influences with the world-building traditions of Western epic fantasy authors such as Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan. The result is a series that feels genuinely cross-genre, appealing to readers across both camps.

With six books currently in the series and a seventh on the way, The Dungeon Slayer is a committed investment for fans of long-form dungeon fantasy with serious bite.