Read History

2026 | Score: 2.5

I thought the setting of the underprison was super cool, but outside of the first little chunk it just got ignored and treated the same as any area. Outside of the cool setting nothing else was interesting really at all. Listened to it mostly on the flight to Europe.

Format: Audible

Days: 4

Date: 7/2/2026 -> 7/6/2026

Summary (Spoilers)

Downtown Druid
C. B. Titus
Downtown Druid #1

Downtown Druid Summary

Dante is a thief who got imprisoned in the Underprison in Rendhold, after being betrayed by members of his former crew. He waits for supply drops at The Maw, the central pit that is the only opening to the underprison, an ancient city buried beneath Rendhold that has been enchanted to keep prisoners from digging out. The prison is not managed at all by guards so hierarchies and gangs have been set up and control trade and resources.

Dante has been imprisoned for 5 years now and has managed to survive on his own, without much help from others. One of the groups he is closest with is the Collared, a group of mages who are forced to wear collars that restrict their magic. One new prisoner, Tel, is especially close with Dante and asks him for help on occasion. Tel asks Dante to introduce him to his friend Cin (spelling?), a changeling prostitute working in the prison. While Tel is busy Dante gets accosted by some members of the Elfen Kings, an elf gang that is racist because they are elves. Dante is a “mutt”, someone with blood from many different species, so they plan to hurt and maybe kill him. He uses a knife and manages to escape but in the process gives a bad cut to one of the King's newly imprisoned leaders.

Dante flees back to his hidden cave, and as usual feeds the rat that lives there, but this time the rat talks to him. He has never been able to understand rats before and this is a new power. He names the rat Jakopo after a boat and they become friends. Dante gets Jakopo to steal one of the elves' magic mirrors that they use to summon food. After retrieving the mirror the elves are angrier with Dante and want to kill him at any cost. Dante asks Tel for help understanding the mirror and learns if any blood that is not pure elf touches it it will explode.

Dante gets visited by the god of rats in a dream and basically gets sponsored. Him and Jakopo bond and he has a tattoo showing how much “rat favor” he has. He begins to use his blood to grow plants faster and produces enough food in a secret garden to feed his rats. He surrenders to the Elfen Kings but when he is taken to be publicly executed he has rats explode mirror fragments all around and kills a ton of Elves. He personally kills the leader and takes his sword and is now regarded as cool and awesome.

He begins trading fruit he grows with others and gains a bunch of power and influence, and trades for a “mothertree seed” that gains growth from blood or something. He also gets visited by the god of cockroaches and bonds with them as a species also, and begins trying to do the same with bats. He has also made the leader of a group of dwarves very angry. Also an orc kills his friend Tel, so Dante kills a bunch of Orcs.

He asks the Smallfolk Consortium (Made of gnomes and such) to help him escape but they tell him his ex-crew member Mundago paid them to never help Dante. He then uses the mother tree seed to grow straight up the maw and escape on his own. He goes to a brothel called the Vivacious Vixen, where he meets with his “aunt” Veera. Dante grew up in a brothel and his mother and Veera were very close friends, so she agrees to house him while he gets back on his feet. He works as Ed the bouncer during the days.

He starts a new garden, steals some stuff, spies on his old teammates, and eventually corners one and interrogates him. He learns that some man with a golden face approached his old crew and told them if they betrayed Dante they would have the favor of the God of greed. It worked and Mundago and Mercedes are now powerful criminals, while Rabat became a judge or something. Dante kills Grappa, the one he was just questioning. Things are looking good for Dante in his quest for revenge.

Back in the prison Dante the Druid has become a legend, but everyone else is about to escape. Cin and some of the collared are still on Dante’s side but the dwarves he made angry want to kill him. THE END.