by Jurgen
DISCLAIMER: Don’t start reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl series if you’re sensitive to addictive substances; it’s literary crack cocaine. If you do want to dive in, make sure you have the next month off and have enough money in your bank account. You’ll be wanting to read the next book, and then the next, and the next…
The blurb: Carl goes outside to get his ex-girlfriend’s cat out of a tree, when every building around him collapses into the ground. A large hole appears and a disembodied voice invites him to get into the dungeon, survive 18 levels of horrors, and become the ruler of earth…
The pitch: Do you like mayhem? Are you into video games? Or are you a Sci-Fi fan? A Dungeons and Dragons player? Curious what it would look like if The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy had a baby with The Hunger Games, but gorier? Are you a crazy cat person? Do you have a thing for feet? Just… read it. Not for the enlightenment of your soul, but just for the pure escapism of it all.
There were several friends that recommended Dungeon Crawler Carl to me, all claiming it was “just my kind of comedy.” After rebelling for a healthy period of time (I don’t like it when people think they know me), I picked it up and had to uncomfortably agree they were right (there’s nothing mysterious about me, apparently). I loved it from the start. It’s always reassuring when you read about a protagonist that could be you. I mean, who wouldn’t be that person stranded outside, wearing only boxer shorts and women’s-sized Crocs, during an alien-induced apocalypse? Also, Carl is actually likeable, and that makes you actually care when he tries to survive in the Dungeon-world.
Speaking of the world: Matt Dinniman created quite the universe, but he doesn’t overload you with exposition upon exposition. Information on the what (a reality tv-show à la The Hunger Games), the why (capitalist reasons, obviously), and the who (a menagerie of aliens and an out of control AI) trickles in. It keeps you curious, and of course the whole everything-is-trying-to-kill-you keeps it exciting as hell. But the first and foremost reason to read this series: it is just fucking hilarious. The AI running this multi-level dungeon is sarcastic, snarky and has a fetish for cinematic action (oh, and for feet). They’re definitely my favourite ‘character’. But don’t tell that to the talking, highly charismatic, price-winning, flat-faced Persian cat Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk; she won’t take it very well.
And the weird thing is… underneath all the baby goblin murdering and the pop-culture references, there’s a lot of heart.
About the author
Matt Dinniman is a million copy Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the author of the best-selling Dungeon Crawler Carl series along with several other books about the end of the world. He doesn’t really hate Cocker Spaniels, and he plays bass in two bands.
