Book Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl
Gamers, role-players, and anyone into fast-paced fun, science fiction and fantasy will love this.
It’s a witty LitRPG with a great setup
"Literary role-playing game," if you're not familiar with it, is a genre of fiction that blends the conventions of RPGs with fantasy and science fiction novels.
Dungeon Crawler Carl finds Carl and his ex-girlfriend's show cat, Donut, as contestants on an alien game show.
After surviving an attack on Earth they are forced to work through a multi-level dungeon while fighting, looting, and working the audience for favor, the promised prize at the end being their freedom to rule the world from which they came.
The skills, item, and mobs are inventive and have hilarious descriptions. Carl displays creativity and skills, even constructing elements to help them survive. Donut is a fantastic character as well, proving a great compliment in talent and character.
The layout of the levels, mobs and boss fights blend gaming tropes with elements of modern society. As the characters and setting become ever more established deeper layers of the story start to be revealed. The political maneuvering of various factions of the galaxy at large and how they play out through the game provide a rich vein of material for the plot to develop in future books.
Matt Dinneman published his first book independently; since then it has sold more than a million copies. Here are the 7 books in the series, all above 4.5 star ratings on GoodReads.
In fall of 2024 it was announced that Seth MacFarlane would be developing a TV adaptation of the series. Chris Yost, whose work includes Thor Ragnarock and The Mandalorian, will be the writer.
Gamers, role-players, and anyone into fast-paced fun, science fiction and fantasy will love this. By the end of the book I was literally laughing out loud hard enough I had to stop reading. Carl and Donut are as funny as they are loveable.
