Reader Rayna

Title: Dungeon Crawler Carl
Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl #1
Author: Matt Dinniman
Publisher: Ace
Publish Date: September 21, 2020
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Lit RPG
Pages: 450 / 13hrs 31min
Format Read: Hardcover/Audiobook

This first book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series was full of action, violence, and Princess Donut, but it also wasn’t entirely my cup of tea.

This story takes place right after Carl goes outside to bring his ex-girlfriend’s cat back in from the cold, when suddenly every building collapses around him, and he, and the world’s population, are given the choice to go into the dungeon or to survive on Earth as it is now, and so Carl and Princess Donut go into the dungeon. From there, the story kicks off, following the tag team as they make their way through the first two levels of the dungeon.

This story was action packed, filled with a lot of dungeon grinding as Carl and Princess Donut have to survive the new circumstances into which they are thrown. Princess Donut ends up changing into a slightly bigger version of herself and gains the ability to speak, which is very useful in a situation like this. Carl, on the other hands, ends up in the dungeon with no shoes and no pants, left only in his boxers and jacket from when he was trying to get Donut back inside. There are a lot of moments of the action that were engaging and exciting, like when he and a group of other crawlers he finds later on take on a giant ball of pigs, or when he has to fight some goblins. However, I will say that there were many moments in which the action felt very redundant and repetitive, which I know is the point of this story.

In order to level up, they have to kill enemies, and so much of the book was focused around them encountering various mobs or low level bosses in order to do so. I will say there were several moments in which the description of the bosses (particularly the first neighborhood boss) irked me. Yes, we learn that many of these bosses are caricatures of what this alien race that’s descended upon the Earth think these types of bosses might look like, but the first boss being a fat woman described in such a way by Carl himself (because remember, we’re getting everything from his point of view as it’s a first person perspective story) really grinded me the wrong way.

The depictions of a few women characters honestly irked me a lot, and did bring my enjoyment down. I ended up liking one of the female characters who is an interviewer, but the way some things are described? Just… no.

There were also many moments I questioned when Carl was actually going to question what was happening to him and around him. Yes, he reacts in accordance to the moments he’s in, but he never actually takes a beat to have true emotions about the state of the world, no matter how unfathomable it might be. I think this was a missed opportunity, though I have heard and do know that the later books do delve deeper into the emotional aspect of Carl. I just think it’s a bit unrealistic of someone who goes through something like that to not just have a day or so to cry or question, you know?

There were also story beats that I felt slowed down the narrative, or ones that sped it along at a perfect pace. There were several moments where I zoned out because I was feeling action fatigue. The action was so go-go-go that there wasn’t enough of a beat for the reader to catch a break, let alone Carl or any other character, which you can argue is the point to a game show like this.

I will say, a big highlight of the story was Princess Donut, and toward the end especially with her interactions with Mongo. She was a delight, and I love how the narrator portrayed her in the audiobook. She was sassy and knew her place as a cat in terms of viewing herself as royalty. I never found her to be annoying, and I could see that she had flaws and desires like any other human might.

Carl was a good character to read from, though like I said, sometimes the descriptions of people or events just didn’t rub me the right way. I did like how he progressed and grew the longer amount of time they spent in the dungeon. I think that he was able to really encompass what it’s like to be a gamer in a virtual world dungeon grinding, leveling up, picking up loot, stats, all of that stuff. And he also exhibited flaws and all of that, too, of course.

There were many side characters that I either feel neutral about or liked, and I’m interested to see how the relationship with these characters and Carl continue to progress in the later books.

Though this book wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, I did enjoy it enough that I’ll eventually read the second book and give it another chance. I honestly almost DNFed it about 70% in because I found myself zoning out a lot during action scenes, as some of them just felt dragged out like I said earlier. We, as readers, need moments of rest, along with the characters, to be able to fully engross ourselves in books, though I know many, many people enjoyed this book for what it is, too.

I recommend this book if you’re looking for something different from what you might typically read, if you enjoy action movies, shows, or video games, or if you want a fun RPG story. I also want to just caution that some of the material inside might not fit all readers, and that’s okay.