Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Blurb:

The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.

Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.

Review:

NEW ACHIEVMENT!! You’ve read your first LitRPG! You finally put aside your arrogant bias against video game books and entered a whole new world of bloody leveling up and toe-ring filled inventories. Reward? None! You are no longer a prick. Isn’t that reward enough?

I’ll be honest, I fall into the category of fantasy readers who initially saw the original covers for this book, heard it was a litRPG, and immediately said to myself: this is not for me, and it never will be. I had ever tried a litRPG. I’m not a video gamer and I don’t play D&D, and the idea of a book that was based on a literary role-playing game just did not sound appealing to me at all. Lucky for me, a few of my Booksta friends whose book tastes align well with mine began praising Dungeon Crawler Carl. I still baulked for longer than I should have. Eventually, I caved and bought the first book. I won’t lie. Even after buying DCC, I didn’t plan on reading it anytime soon. And then some co-workers convinced me to listen to the audiobook. I will be praising their names until I land in the bottom level of the Dungeon! If you are on the fence AT ALL, do yourself a favor. Buy the book. Then, go and buy the audiobook and start listening. You will thank me later.

I have LOVED my experience listening to Jeff Hays’ narration of DCC. He is a complete cast of characters with emotion and humor and excitement exploding out of the speakers. It is so rare that I laugh while reading a book, but Dinniman and Hays got me cracking up so many times during DCC.

At its core, DCC is a ridiculous post-apocalyptic game show where the denizens of the universe watch as humans attempt to level up while battling their way through a dungeon full of horrifying monsters such as fire-breathing, meth-head llamas and death balls made up of tightly packed pigs. The main characters are Carl, a washed up member of the Coast Guard and his ex-girlfriend’s sapient cat: Princess Donut. If that doesn’t initially pique your epic fantasy brain, don’t worry, it didn’t get me excited either. But that’s because you haven’t met Carl and Princess Donut yet! Even if you don’t develop the same….appreciation of Carl as the Game’s AI, you’re going to fall in love with Carl’s inventive, no-nonsense personality. And with Princess Donut’s charisma already cranked up to 11, you never stood a chance trying to dislike her.

I would be lying if I didn’t say that it took me a little while to really settle into the saddle of DCC. The discussion of game play, going in and out of each player’s inventory, and discussing the amount of manna used for different magical spells was so far removed from the usual epic fantasy novels that I read that it was a bit off putting at first. Again, my first experience with litRPG novels. However, I’m SO glad I stuck with DCC. Again, not only is DCC hilarious, Dinniman does a fantastic job of swinging between moments of hilarity and deep, introspective glimpses into the best and worst of humanity. Carl and Princess Donut are an unlikely duo that work perfectly together as foils for the foibles of humankind. I never expected to feel so passionately about these characters. Dinniman is a master of character development. Within minutes, I felt like I knew and already loved Carl and Princess Donut.

I don’t know that kind of scope Dinniman is planning on tackling with this series, but I can already see seeds of huge worldbuilding that, if he decides to pursue them, could set up an absolutely fascinating backdrop to the ridiculousness of the Dungeon. I came into the series expecting a fairly silly, simple book. Of course, DCC is completely absurd, but by leaning into the absurdity of the Dungeon games, it sets the reader up for hard hits of reality that increased the complexity of this series into something that could rival any of my most beloved fantasy series for depth and emotion.

Again, the juxtaposition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy style humor with the serious moments of self-reflection and true character development are what makes Dungeon Crawler Carl such a uniquely enjoyable read. As soon as I finished DCC, I began listening to Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. I’m addicted and I’m OK with that. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a raucous, rip-roaring dive into the absurdly hilarious while maintaining a level of heartfelt characterization that has me yelling, NEW ACHIEVEMENT to Matt Dinniman, the Dungeon Master himself.