Dungeon Crawler Carl: A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure Audible Audio Edition: Matt Dinniman, Jeff Hays, Soundbooth Theater: Audible Books Originals By Matt Dinniman

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I have read genre fiction since I was a kid. Of late I had gotten bored. And then this it is a story of its time, blending different facets of genre fiction with the ease of a well oiled elephant sliding down something big enough to accommodate it. Its fast paced style keeps you reading, as do the plot hooks for later on, excellent characters with decent backstories and the when the emotions get you it's laugh out loud time or weep into your beer. I read five pages, bought the other books and have re read them 3 or 4 times already. CANNOT WAIT for book five Get a move on Mr Dinniman and whats great is the professional quality of the work. It is written well and pacing never lacks. I cannot give it a 10/5 but if I could I would. israel I'd been meaning to read Dungeon Crawler Carl for an age and my only regret is that I didn't read it sooner. Right from the start, I was hooked. It usually takes much longer before I am fully invested in the characters and story. I don't want to give anything away but I knew from the first page I already loved the MC's outlook on life. I really enjoyed the action and was in kinks laughing so many times. The humor was wonderfully juxtaposed by really poignant moments, which really elevated the whole storytelling experience for me. Even if you've never read in this genre before I'd say you’ll love the book as much as I did. Highly recommend you grab yourself a copy. israel Looking at the front cover and description of the book I expected overwhelmingly stupid humor that failed to be funny. However it wasn't overwhelming and I did actually find it funny at times. This is also one of the few Lit RPG novels where the writer knows how to write. The prompts don't give too much information about everything thats going on, and each chapter ended with a reason to read the next. Very well written with a real professional polish to it, at no point did it feel like the action was needlessly paused just to throw in a massive irrelevant info dump. This is Lit RPG done correctly and I don't regret buying it (or the other 2 books which I purchased after reaching the half way mark of this one). I look foward to continuing Carls Journey. Genuinely entertaining story, well realised characters, snarky AI taking the mickey at every turn and plot hooks for later books galore!
First one in a series which hasn't finished yet, but at the Kindle price, it's absolutely worth your money and time. Also available on Audible, which I switched back and forth with whilst going through. The Audible narration is amazingly done, so I'd recommend that over this if you're making a choice, but the story is excellent. Dungeon Crawler Carl: A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure Audible Audio Edition: Matt Dinniman, Jeff Hays, Soundbooth Theater: Audible Books Originals

This book is a true joy to read. The characters are interesting, there is a ton of humor, and the LitRPG elements are handled extremely well.

Usually with LitRPG, the authors either disconnect from the system in their writing, preferring to stay away from what often turns into a grind fest of a book, or the author wades straight into the grind fest and the characters become little than level up machines. Not so in this book, the author manages to walk that tight rope of keeping the LitRPG elements included whilst not allowing them to become the driving force of the story. I wracked my brain trying to think of a better done LitRPG than this book and I honestly cannot think of one. (I have read quite a few of these LitRPG stories and they usually bog down about 100 pages in.)

Thank you very much for writing and I hope that the future books continue to be as amazing as this first one! LitRPG is a genre where many readers want to insert themselves into the story. They imagine being the hero, making the tactically optimal moves and using whatever system is provided to their own best advantage. When the protagonist “wins” against whatever perils he or she faces, the reader is right along beside.

This book isn’t like that. The main character, Carl, survives the initial apocalypse through dumb luck alone. Most people within the narrative see him as a comedic servant of his overpowered companion (and former champion of show housecat), Donut. Even so, the powerful are less likely to survive the travails of the System than the entertaining, but both groups suffer casualties than survivors.

But even as Carl might frustrate some readers, he does an excellent job of entertaining many others, along with the in story viewers (because yes, this system apocalypse is also reality TV) and the System itself. That last bit is perhaps my least favorite part of the story the System’s obsession with Carl is creepy but it’s not enough to lower my overall enjoyment of the book. This is another odd but highly entertaining novel from Matt Dinniman.

This time earth is turned into a dungeon with only a fraction of the population surviving the initial transformation. The survivors must dungeon dive while being watched by an intergalactic audience. Dungeon Crawler Carl, the main character (MC), and his cat companion, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, must survive the monsters, the other players, and figure out a way to entertain the audience to get sponsors which may mean the difference between life and death.

The story plays like a twisted version of the hunger games mixed with a dungeon crawl. There's all manner of weird monsters and a social aspect that adds a nice twist to the story. The plotting is pretty slice of life with no major goals beyond surviving and the story ends on a little bit of a cliff hanger like a serial story pausing between arcs.

The game stuff is regular and intricate part of the story world. Lots of notifications and item and spell descriptions. Levels, stats, etc all exist but take a bit of a backseat this book.

Overall, I thought the story was really good. Like all of the author's work, he gives a standard trope, the dungeon crawl, a quirky, odd, sometimes gruesome twist which I found interesting.

Score: 7.9 out of 10 israel LitRPG/GameLit is a hit or miss genre to me, often concentrating on gimmicks with stats or using harem elements to draw in fans instead of concentrating on creating a good story with strong world building. With that said, the hits in the genre can stand up with the best of traditional fantasy and sci fi. Dungeon Crawler Carl definitely fits into the hit category for me. In fact, I rate it as highly as my favorites in the genre, 8 Bit Bastards by Joshua Mason and Mogworld by Yahtzee Crowshaw.

The world building is just fantastic in this story. The idea that aliens would destroy all above ground structures, and then re purpose them into an underground dungeon like a Role Playing Game is just crazy, but it works. Then inhabiting that dungeon with a mix of aliens and traditional fantasy creatures, and some hilarious plays on modern culture (the KraKaren, for example) just shows the author’s creativity and warped sense of humor. The world is just basically an intergalactic reality tv show, but with real life consequences.

And this is where the fantastic cast of characters comes in. Carl, the erstwhile title character, is just kind of an everyman, a Coast Guard vet who was just kind of meandering through life when the aliens came a knocking. Babysitting his soon to be ex girlfriend Bea’s cat, Princess Donut, a prize winning show cat, he lucks out as she escaped out the window and he had to chase her outside when the buildings all collapsed. It only gets crazier from there, as he and all the survivors are told they have a specified time to find a stairway leading to the dungeon to try and save their planet, or be stuck on a barren waste of an earth. Carl, unfortunately, chased the cat out in his boxers, a leather jacket, and Bea’s crocs. So ard, he starts his adventures in the dungeon, as he must try and keep himself and Donut alive in the dungeon, while most of the things in the dungeon are trying to kill the “players”. Can you say Goblin Killdozer? Because Carl and Donut meet one soon enough, in a hilariously dangerous first contact. It only gets crazier from there as Donut is given intelligence through a prize in a lootbox, and becomes a player in her own right. She’s still a cat, though, so this leads to some hilarious situations as well, as they proceed through the dungeon to reach the second floor of eighteen. The rest of the characters are a lot of fun, ranging from an alien mentor in the tutorial guild that tries to help them while not getting in trouble, to a group of players escorting a bunch of people from a retirement home through the dungeon. This is hilarious and sad in turns, and is definitely not something I expected to see.

The villains are the usual mix of bosses you’d expect in a dungeon, but with funny twists on them. They are also, in some cases, transformed humans who are playing a part against their will, making the fight against them that much difficult. There are some choices Carl and Donut have to make that are heart wrenching, to say the least. It was not something I expected, but it added a whole new layer to both the character choices and the story. Some of the villains were just hilarious plays on pop culture, such as multi level marketing fairies. The aliens that run the game are also an interesting bunch, giving a whole new meaning to cut throat businesspeople. Oh, and before I forget. The AI voice announcer is a total jerk, in possibly the most hilarious voiceover ever.

The narration is performed by one of my favorite narrators, Jeff Hays. I have been a fan of his for years, because his production company, Soundbooth Theater, is one of the best in the audiobook market. He does such a fantastic job of bringing this story to life. Whether it be the voices of the various characters or the AI voiceover, which is hilarious, he gives each character a unique and very distinct voice all their own. You are never in doubt about who is speaking. Its hilarious when he has to read out Donut’s text messages on the chat, since she texts in all caps and he actually emphasizes that. It’s the little touches that really stand out, and his narrative pace is so perfect, he can give classes on how to do it right. If you have the chance, I recommend the audio version.

I was so sad to see this book end. I was so enthralled in it, I was shocked when it ended, but I knew there were books in the series on audio already, so I have that to look forward to. If you are a fan of LitRPG/GameLit, or just funny fantasy dungeon crawler stories, I think you can find something to enjoy here. I highly recommend this book, and the audio version especially. You won’t be disappointed. Okay this is awesome, well worth a read, the forst in a new series of books featuring Princess Donut and her bodyguard Carl.

At the start of thw book Carl has just split from his girlfriend and her cat Princess Donut escapes out the window when he goes for a late night smoke, he climbs out the window to get Donut back in and thats when the story really begins. It is a fantastic read that i hope will be updated regularly with new volumes, at this point i have just read the second book and starting the third, dont know what ill do between this one and book 4 but definitely jump right on in to this world for an amazing scifi ish litrpg dungeon crawling adventure. Needs stars as has got me back into reading after a three month break israel