I was travelling visiting family over the holidays and found that I didn’t bring enough physical books to occupy myself with while away from home. I ended up searching through my Kindle for something new to read, and quickly devoured the first three books in Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series, consisting of Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook.
The plot is sort of a mix of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Hunger Games. One evening in January, aliens (some of which have been hanging around Earth for at least the past few decades) make themselves known and essentially squish all human-made structures into the ground, instantly destroying anyone currently inside. Our narrator, Carl, happens to be outdoors when this happens, as a result of him attempting to prevent his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, from escaping after having jumped through a window. The aliens give the surviving humans a choice: stay on the surface and be left alone to survive as best they can or descend down into the Earth and compete in a gameshow broadcast throughout the galaxy, Dungeon Crawler World, for a chance to regain control of their own planet. Carl, not wearing any pants or shoes and freezing in the cold Seattle weather, reckons that his chances of survival are better in the dungeon, and so follows Princess Donut underground to take part in the contest.
Dungeon Crawler World is set up a lot like a video game, where participants (aka “Crawlers”) fight monsters, collect equipment, gain proficiency in various skills, craft items, and solve puzzles as they try to descend to lower floors before the timer runs out. The program is very popular and is broadcast across the galaxy, so it makes a lot of money. It’s made very clear to Carl and Donut early on that their chances of success will greatly increase if they are entertaining for the viewers (thereby earning various corporations involved in the show more money, and being rewarded appropriately).
Writing this out, the premise sounds sort of insane (and it only gets weirder!), but this was actually a lot of fun and extremely funny (though I suspect that one’s enjoyment of these books will greatly depend on whether or not they vibe with the particular style of humor). As she was mostly an indoor cat, Donut’s experience of the world is based on her participation in cat shows and her obsession with pop culture (she spent a lot of time watching television), which makes for a lot of funny comments. The snarky, sarcastic AI that runs the competition (and has a weird obsession with Carl’s feet) is also particularly amusing.
Honestly, I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed these. Based on the description, I was expecting something fun that would maybe end up as a guilty pleasure, but they were good enough that I don’t actually feel guilty about enjoying them. They’re also very addicting — there’s currently seven books released, and I fully expect to be caught up by the end of the weekend.