It feels oddly privileged to be a fan of Dungeon Crawler Carl right now. The series is really on the rise: numerous people have talked to me about it out of nowhere recently, and apparently they’re making a TV show. My wife is keen to point out that everyone in my circle is on her down line, including me, and I can’t argue with that. The important thing is that I’m now on book five, and they continue to be awesome.
Carl and Donut have progressed to one of the more confusing worlds, honestly. There are a series of bubbles that act as pocket dimensions, but each one has quadrants that are themed around the elements? I’m not sure if I have that correct, but it doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that Dinniman continues to be fantastically imaginative in everything that happens and how, he continues to turn the screws and make things feel more realistic and emotionally impactful, and he continues to be consistent in how the rules of the world play out.
That last one is especially important, in part because as Carl loves to point out, at this point he is just “following the rules” of the game. In short, that means that he’ starting to use the cookbook and to fight back against the Syndicate. If you have no idea what this means, you probably shouldn’t, because it means you haven’t read any of these books and it would be a spoiler. I ain’t here to spoil anything, so go read them!
The Gate of the Feral Gods continues DCC’s pattern of slapping to high heaven. These books are an absolute blast and I recommend them all.