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MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A man. His ex-girlfriend’s cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth – from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds – collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you’re in, you can’t get out. And what’s worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it’s game over. In this game, it’s not about your strength or your dexterity. It’s about your followers, your views. Your clout. It’s about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can’t just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that “it” factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That’s the only way to truly survive in this game – with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it’s anything but a game.
MY REVIEW
Ok, I get the hype now, Dungeon Crawler Carl really is that good. I have had some chuckles and giggles from some books that I’ve read over the years, but I don’t remember one that had me belly-laughing this much. DCC is a non-stop dark comedy that doesn’t let up, and I’m not quite sure how anyone that’s read it, doesn’t like it. The best way to sum it up is that it’s like a 90’s action movie mixed with the gaming culture. It’s not a 90’s nostalgia story, but Carl just feels like an Arnold, Sly, JCVD or Bruce Willis type of character. I can see myself spending the next month binging every single book and frothing out the mouth for the Seth MacFarlane tv series on Peacock.
What really locked me into this series, was a lot of word of mouth from my friends, family and co-workers that had already read it. Hearing things like Hunger Games meets Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy really sold me. And those comparisons nail it hard. I would also throw in a little Squid Games, Borderlands and Free Guy as well. Not to mention a similar skill tree level-up like Fallout, with some Zombieland’s “kill of the week” and even a bit of The Fifth Element’s Ruby Rhod, added to the mix. It’s an eclectic mishmash that works perfectly. Every moment spent in this world, from the loot boxes to the over-the-top weaponry to the high-stakes trials that could lead to death felt exciting and fun.
When it comes to the characters, Dinniman does a great job of making all of them likeable. Carl has that 90’s action-star vibe and is pretty hilarious but Princess Donut steals every scene. It’s not just the main characters though, it’s also the supporting characters in the story that get to shine. From the allies to their enemies, everyone in the story, no matter how small seems to feel important, even if it’s for a moment. That makes even those small characters memorable. On top of that, the setting of being in a dungeon had me worried at first, but it was more than just a dungeon, and it worked to perfection.
“Did we really just start a meth war between the goblins and the llamas?”
I know I don’t have to say it because literally every one has, but the narration by Jeff Hays is quite phenomenal and easily on the level of the top names in the narration industry. There is nothing better than a narrator that gets into the story the way it’s meant to be and Hays does that with ease. There’s no emotion or voice he’s not willing to put full effort into and that makes the experience much better. And yes, Carl sounds a lot like Patrick Warburton. All I know is, MacFarlane better have some kind of role where Warburton shows up, just as a nod to audiobook fans.
My only criticism I had was one minor scene, and maybe I’m overthinking it some, but Carl who is 6’3 230lbs and former military (Coast Guard), says he normally benched 230lbs. I’m 5’8 200lbs, not super muscular or former military like Carl is, and bench 230lbs (haven’t since my shoulder surgery.) Obviously arm length is a factor, and Coast Guard rely more on calisthenics than strength training, but it still feels a bit low to only bench his weight. At the end of the day it’s a very minor critique and doesn’t matter, but I thought I’d say it anyways.
I don’t have a lot of experience in reading LitRPG, but I for sure will in the future, as long as it can engage me and make me laugh the way Dungeon Crawler Carl does. The LitRPG genre was already popular, but this has definitely moved it to the forefront, especially for gamers to read. Read this if you value laughter, a good story, great characters and a lot of banter.
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