Book Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) by Matt Dinniman
Cover art by Luciano Fleitas
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl (Book #1)
Genre: Fantasy, LitRPG
Pages:450 pages (Hardcover Edition)
Published: 2 October, 2020 (Self-Published)
Fun, bonkers, and filled with personality. It took me years, but I finally started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, arguably the most popular LitRPG series at the moment.
“Mana Toast. This is toast. It refills your mana. That’s it. Nothing more. Fuck you.”
If you’re reading this review right now, then I’m going to assume you are, on some level, entrenched deep in the bookish social media and community. Actually, scratch that. Even if you’re not a big part of the fantasy book community online, there’s a good chance you might have heard about the success and fame of Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Prior to the publication of this series, I recall the LitRPG genre to be a niche genre enjoyed by self-published fantasy/LitRPG readers. Dinniman has broken many readers’ walls of apprehension on the genre with impact. Traditional publishing has often been late in chasing trends. Most of the time, they wait for one title/series to make a gigantic impact, and then they start chasing it. This has happened way too many times. And despite seeing many successful LitRPGs in the past, sales-wise, I have never seen a LitRPG enjoyed by the masses as much and as large as The Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Dinniman has done something special here. Whether you like the book or not.
“Did we really just start a meth war between the goblins and the llamas?”
The quote above sounds crazy, but it is like the least insane thing that happened in Dungeon Crawler Carl. But let’s not get too far ahead. The premise first, for those of you who somehow don’t know about this book. Dungeon Crawler Carl is about Carl and Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s cat, who are plunged into 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. And the apocalypse will be televised.
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.
“Cats are assholes. I get it. But do you know why people like cats, despite their asshole-ness? It’s because they don’t fucking talk. If they did, and they were all like you, they’d all be extinct because we’d have killed you all by now.”
Honestly, as an avid video gamer for decades, LitRPG is not my favorite genre to read. I’d rather play a video game instead. Plus, in most of the LitRPG novels I’ve tried, even the most popular and well-received ones, seem to stumble upon one thing I dislike. It is about the main character having barely any personality except for their willingness to level up and get stronger. That’s it. And this happens frequently in many Progression Fantasy novels as well. This premise and determination, for me, get boring superbly quickly. Cradle by Will Wight was, and still is, one of the most popular progression fantasy series out there. And even though I had a blast reading Cradle, Lindon the main character there took me six books before I warmed up to him.Dungeon Crawler Carl, even though this is only the first book of the series, thankfully immediately separated itself from the many LitRPG novels I tried by infusing personality, charm, and fun to the brutal world and circumstances Carl and Donut find themselves in. It goes without a doubt that the duo of Carl and Donut is, by far, the best aspect of the first book.
Donut: “THIS MUSIC IS MAKING MY HEAD HURT. WHY CAN’T THEY PLAY SOMETHING GOOD? LIKE OASIS.”
I have no idea what taste I have among the general masses, but I love Oasis’ songs. Back to the more important point. Humor is not the only element that is pivotal to the book. When you think about it, the events and details in Dungeon Crawler Carl can be quite brutal and dark. In order to avoid this book becoming a grimdark novel rather than a fun LitRPG series, the humor is there to alleviate the darkness of the sudden situation. While it is true that the humor is great, and the narrative and dialogues elicited a chuckle from me several times, what I like most about Dungeon Crawler Carl is its incredible humor paired with the characterizations. The characters here have heart. Not only Carl and Donut. But also the individuals the duo encountered in the first few levels of the Dungeon. Carl’s determination to survive was powerfully portrayed and placed in the narrative, and I look forward to reading more about his adventure and the other supporting characters in the subsequent books.
“You’re not going to break me… You might hurt me, or kill me, but you’re not going to break me.”
There’s so much more to explore in the world of Dungeon Crawler Carl. I can already tell from finishing the first book. I believe the series is planned to be ten books long, after all. I still have so many more adventures ahead of me. I did want the stakes to be higher from the get-go, but I have faith Dinniman has prepared that for the rest of the series. Also… I must say that one of the main LitRPG aspects, specifically during the level-up and Achievements announcement, was where much of the fun was. Some of the things and Easter Eggs mentioned in this book actually showed that Dungeon Crawler Carl is the type of book that can only be written during our recent times. Not in the far past.
“Reward: I SAID THE GHOST OF STEVE IRWIN SMILES DOWN UPON YOU.”
Overall, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a great introduction for the series. It missed the higher stakes of tension I wanted from the genre, but the humor and characterizations made up for it. I can definitely see why this book broke and changed the traditional publishing market. One last thing… before anyone asks, I did not use the supposedly godlike narration by Jeff Hayes to read Dungeon Crawler Carl. I’ve been informed this is the correct and only way to enjoy the series to its utmost potential. If the sequel did not work as much as I hoped, I might resort to using the audiobook to consume the series.
“If we get to the point where we don’t help each other anymore, that’s when we stop being human.”
You can order this book from: Amazon | Blackwells (Free International shipping)
I also have a Booktube channel
Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!
My Patrons: Andrew. S, Arik, Arliss, Barbara, Ben, Benjamin, Biskit, Cade, Chris, Crystal, Cullen, Dan, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Erich, Feanor, Francesca, Frank, Gary, Gregory, James, Jason, Jeff, Jenn, Johnny, Joie, Jonathan, Katrina, Kim, Kristina, Lara, Leigh, Lourdes, Melinda, Mike, Mike S, Miracle, Mordie, Nicholas, Radiah, RCT, Sally, Samiadji, Samuel, Sarah, Scott, Sean, Shawn, Shawna, Stephanie, Trish, Tyler, TS, Wendy, Wick, Xero, Yuri, Zachary, Zammar.