LitRPG is one of the biggest subgenres to emerge in the last decade or so. A subset of the fantasy/science fiction genre, the story has elements of video games or role playing games as part of the text of the story. In the case of the Dungeon Crawler Carl novels, which begins with the eponymous Dungeon Crawler Carl, text prompts appear before the characters or in their heads. In these books by Matt Dinniman, Carl is forced to navigate what remains of Earth: a world dungeon for the entertainment of a powerful alien race. The world is a wasteland as every building and structure immediately collapse and are transformed into an 18-level dungeon.
The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.
You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.
Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.
Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.
Carl is mostly just a regular guy; a Coast Guard Vet whose girlfriend happened to be away on a trip when the world ended. Fortunately (thought it doesn’t seem that way initially), his girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut joins him mainly because she’s the reason Carl is alive. You see, Donut randomly jumped out the windo moments before earth was transformed into a global dungeon so Carl left the apartment to retrieve her…in the snow…barefoot…and in his boxers.
Carl (and every human) is given a choice to enter the dungeon and fight to survive or remain on the surface of Earth and likely die. Carl learns this through the wall of text that greets him and when the cat enters the dungeon, Carl follows. Hilarity ensues. Sure I mean that sarcastically, but the novel is very humorous, especially the banter between Carl and Donut. (Spoiler, the Cat gains sentience and how that happens is quite funny, too).
Carl (and all the dungeon crawlers who are trying to survive) are mere entertainment for the aliens who destroyed the world. Don’t worry, the paperwork was signed and filed and a move reminiscent of Douglas Adams.
In this transformed world, spells, goblins, wizards, sentient slime, giant insects, leveling up are all part of the language and nomenclature of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Carl himself is a wonderful first-person narrator who has snark and heart in equal measure. When he starts to dwell on how many lives have been destroyed for the mere entertainment of alien overlords, he has to switch gears and fight rival crawlers or deal with drug-dealing llamas.
I haven’t read any LitRPG novels before this (at least I don’t think I have), so I wasn’t sure what to expect outside of seeing very good things about the books. Even that good word-of-mouth didn’t prepare me for what a blast this novel was. Extremely entertaining, thoughtful in places, with some political machinations behind the scenes.
Dinniman started this as a web-serial, then self-published the first six books before Ace (an imprint of Penguin Putnam) bought the rights to republish the books, which is how a copy of the book came to me. Smartly, Ace is publishing the subsequent books in the series on a monthly basis. The first book ended more like an episode of something larger than a complete novel. Sure there was closure to some of the plot threads introduced, but without even knowing that there are more books in the series, it is crystal clear the way the narrative unfolds that we’re just at the beginning of poor old Carl and (goddammit) Donut’s adventure.
© 2024 Rob H. Bedford
Recommended
Hardcover | Ace Books
August 2024 | 464 Pages
https://x.com/mattdinniman
Excerpt: https://reactormag.com/cover-reveal-and-excerpt-dungeon-crawler-carl-by-matt-dinniman/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher