Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Sometimes books require reading no matter how hard I try to avoid them. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman had been on my radar for a couple of months. It sounded interesting, but I have a huge backlog of books to get through. So, I ignored it. Yet, the title kept popping up unexpectedly in my various online doings. One day, I was at Barnes and Noble and saw the pink foil spine with gold lettering. It definitely stood out from the other book spines. I had some time to kill before picking my son up; so, I opened the book. I got so engrossed I ended up being late to pick up my son. (This was still way before daycare closed; he had friends still there, and I took him to a playground to say I’m sorry.) After bringing the book home, I finished it in three days. Now, I’m a very slow reader. I like to luxuriate in a book. Finishing a book in three days means I didn’t put it down very often. Dinniman’s writing swept me up and provided exactly the kind of reading experience that I love. It is a comedic book with depth, with emotion, and it made me think deeper about the world. The day after I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, I went back to Barnes & Noble and bought the second and third book. I’m hooked on this series.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

TL;DR

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a wholly unexpected book that blurs the line between science fiction and fantasy. Carl and Princess Donut made me laugh and brought kindness to a dungeon. This book is complex, entertaining, and moving. Highly recommended.

From the Publisher

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series—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.

Includes part one of the exclusive bonus story “Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.”

Carl has just found out his girlfriend is cheating on him via Instagram. She’s on a cruise while he’s in snowy Seattle caring for her cat, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk. The Persian cat escaped the warmth of Carl’s apartment, forcing him to go outside. As he’s standing in the cold retrieving the cat from a tree, all human-made structures in the world are flattened by aliens. The Syndicate has come to claim mining rights on the planet Earth, and humans failed to appeal to keep their planet their own. Any human who happens to be outdoors when the Syndicate visits is given a choice: remain on their own unbothered by the aliens but also fending for themselves in a world without any infrastructure or enter the dungeon. Carl chooses the warmth of the dungeon entrance. Upon entering, he and Princess Donut find themselves in a, well, a videogame dungeon brought to life. They barely survive their first encounter with goblins, but they do find the entrance to a tutorial guildhall where a non-player character (NPC) named Mordecai. It turns out Carl and Princess Donut are in the universe’s favorite reality game show, Dungeon Crawler World. Trillions of aliens are watching humanity navigate levels of the dungeon, which is filled with monsters, bosses, traps, and, of course, other humans. Survival is not likely. Thus begins Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is the opening book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. This first book focuses on the tutorial portion of the dungeon, but that doesn’t mean the stakes aren’t high. Over thirteen million humans enter the dungeon, but much fewer than that make it to the next level. Life in the dungeon is short, brutal, and televised throughout the universe. If a crawler’s death is entertaining enough, it’ll be shown in a sports highlights style summary. Survival isn’t just based on skill, though. As with any reality program, the crawlers must gain an audience for themselves to get better loot. That’s right, social media influences the game. The book is told from Carl’s perspective, and it’s a fast-paced, roller-coaster ride filled with adventure and moments of emotional impact.

Humor

Humor balances the heaviness of the over-arching narrative. Carl and Princess Donut are funny, and Dinniman’s use of video game tropes is excellent. For example, the AI that helps Carl categorize items has a foot fetish and is particularly taken with Carl’s feet. So, Carl’s loot boxes give him items with bonuses for being bare foot and for stomping on enemies. There are safehouses, tutorial halls, and, even, bathrooms set throughout the levels to keep the game interesting. The alien audience doesn’t want to see humans eliminating bodily waste in the dungeon; yet humans do. So, the AI starts imparting punishments for those who fail to use the restrooms.

Overall, the humor in this book is sophomoric at best. It’s simplistic, crude, hilarious, and sometimes pushed to a grotesque limit. It’ll appeal to fans of South Park. For readers who enjoy that type of humor, it is funny. For example, one of the first monsters that Carl and Princess Donut meet is a meth-dealing llama who can spit lava. Another is that Carl receives an award for entering the dungeon with no pants on. Much like the exploration of themes, the humor is a bit shallow and wide-ranging. As the trainer Mordecai says on page 302, “Not everything will be social commentary.” Dinniman also uses humor that occasionally critiques, but, as with South Park, there’s discussion to be had about whether taking something to the grotesque limit really is critique or just causing the same harm it is attempting to lampoon. For example, there’s an interviewer with grotesquely large breasts, which can be taken as Dinniman critiquing the videogames industry’s continued use of anatomically impossible female anatomy. Based on the other aspects of the interviewer, it’s clear that the aesthetic choice fits in with the other grotesqueries of their body. So, is Dinniman drawing attention to the unrealistic portrayal of women’s bodies in videogames? Or is it just another example of science-fiction/fantasy writers needlessly commenting on women’s bodies? Each reader will have to decide for themselves.

Cruelty

Cruelty in general is a theme that Dinniman explores across the book. The world of Dungeon Crawler Carl is excessively cruel, and no one is safe. Not Carl, not the other crawlers, not the corporate sponsors, not the NPCs, and not even the showrunners. Yet this isn’t a dark book. As Carl and Princess Donut progress, they involve themselves in mini narratives simply because Carl is kind. A group of elderly individuals who happened to be outside their retirement home during the alien invasion entered the dungeon at the behest of their care workers. But these people are in no condition to fight monsters. Dementia, disability, and the frailty that comes with age mean they’re vulnerable. All the advice Carl receives is to kill them all for the experience points, which will help him survive. But Carl is a hero, not a monster; so, even at personal risk, he decides to help this group. Cruelty seems everywhere in the world now, and cruelty is the overwhelming theme surrounding Carl’s life. He, however, chooses kindness. Because, for Carl, survival is meaningless if a person becomes the monster themselves. Survival at the cost of a person’s values is not thriving; it’s not rising above the baser instincts. There must be more to life than mere survival, and helping others gives purpose to Carl’s time in the dungeon.

Media Adds to the Cruelty

Because of their successes and their involvement with others, Carl and Princess Donut get invited to media appearances. That’s right. Crawlers not only have to deal with life threatening monsters, they also must entertain. Survival depends on more than just dungeon navigating skills but also on building an audience. As a former show cat, Princess Donut shines in the media world. Dinniman’s use of media appearances is wonderful and funny, and he’s also adjusted those media appearances for the YouTube era. Not only do Carl and Princess Donut appear on the equivalent of the Late-Night Show. But they also go on a social media influencer show where cruelty is the point, and the audience of young men bask in the misery and misfortune of others. Dinniman doesn’t shy away from the dark sides of the audience’s nature. One could draw comparisons to sports fans who shout obscenities at players on the fields or start fights with other fans in the stands. Those competing seem to have their humanity removed so that they represent the other. Dinniman takes this to excess where the audience watches as a host makes contestants choose who in their party dies.

Conclusion

Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl covers a lot of ground. As is common in the fantasy/science-fiction genres, this book is an opening to a larger narrative. As such, it must set up the world, introduce and make readers care about the characters, and tell a good story to pique interest in the series. This means that several of the critiques in this story are shallow. As Carl is dealing with a timer and Dinniman’s goal is to introduce readers to his massive world, there isn’t a whole lot of time for navel gazing. After all, this series has at least 18 levels for Carl and Princess Donut to explore and survive. Don’t expect Carl to have long examinations on the cruelty of hunting down seemingly sapient creatures simply to get loot and experience. Yet the book does acknowledge that in oblique ways. With this being an opening edition, later volumes will have opportunity to explore these themes in depth. The humor keeps the tone light; the action moves the plot forward at a breakneck pace; and the insertions of video game achievements give a delightful sense of progression. But it’s Carl and Princess Donut that give the readers hope. They were thrust into a world of danger where it would be easy to lose their humanity (or feline-ity). But they don’t. Carl and Princess Donut find a way to be the best version of themselves. In a world where it’s easier to not care, to take the easy route, to put personal profit above all else, Carl and Donut decide to care. And in the face of all that cruelty, it turns out that caring is heroic.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is available from Ace Books now.

Primmlife

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Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl

TL;DR

From the Publisher