Book Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl by by Matt Dinniman
DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL by Matt Dinniman is a delightful black comedy fantasy novel with the trappings of a Lit-RPG novel. I'm going to be honest that I don't much care for Lit-RPG. Most of it just doesn't do anything for me and seems to be a bunch of wish-fulfillment and numbers rather than any attempt to tell a real coherent story. Still, the concept of being trapped in an RPG with all of its rules and wackiness is inherently interesting and I think this is one of the few that really jumps out at me.
The premise is basically Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy crossed with The Hunger Games meets World of Warcraft. A bunch of incredibly corrupt bureaucratic and greedy aliens destroy the Earth, or at least its topside, and kill most of humanity. The survivors are promptly given a choice of joining in a monstrously evil reality television gameshow where they journey through a dozen levels of fantasy-inspired mayhem while trillions across the galaxy watch them.
It's an utterly deranged plot and the reason it works so well is that Carl knows its utterly deranged but treats it absolutely straight. The aliens are repulsive little corporate and internet trolls that have absolute power over our world's survivors because, well, they're the guys with the super-tech. The fact they've shoved the survivors of humanity in big dungeons full of artificially generated monsters just for fun is hilarious in a dark way, especially as they revel in the mayhem as well as gore generated.
Much of the book's humor is from the fact that the dungeon is constantly sending Carl messages about the achievements he's won, the loot boxes he's acquired, as well as snide descriptions of the monsters he's facing. Many of these monsters are also mutated humans that are repulsive in their cariacture of modern 21st century life. Carl doesn't want to kill everyone in his way to survive but there's not really a choice since that's the way the dungeon is designed.
The truly best character, though, is Princess Donut. Carl's show cat that is actually his ex-girlfriend's cat that gets a massive boost in intelligence when she is brought into the dungeon and made into a player character. Donut has the personality you'd think a cat would have but is so adorable and fluffy that you never question whether she should be in charge of Carl versus the reverse. Plus, she's a magic user and that is something that always trumps stupid fighter jocks. At least in my opinion.
The rules of the dungeon simulation that Carl must run through are pretty simple: get as much loot and level up as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, you only get one life and the computer running the dungeon is a cheating bastard. Carl thinks on his feet and absolutely loves blowing things up, so he has a slight advantage. A large part of winning is also dependent on sponsors, just like The Hunger Games, and that makes his chances better as long as he's an entertaining weirdo. It's why he never gets a pair of pants as the boxers he owns are the highest bonus he can get.
In conclusion, this is a very fun book and if you don't mind most of humanity being exterminated in the opening paragraph, this is the kind of story I'd recommend on the basis of pure entertainment. If the blowing up of a bunch of goblin children by accident, getting an achievement for it, and then being told what a bastard you are for it--this is your type of book.
