The apocalypse will be televised! Dungeon Crawler Carl
The apocalypse will be televised!
A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, …
The apocalypse will be televised!
A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.
I really enjoyed reading (and listening to the audiobook version) of Dungeon Crawler Carl. This book really manages to mix fantasy, sci fi and comedy in a perfectly balanced dystopian MMORPG adventure. The book can be hilarious at times, while keeping a very good, action fuelled pace. I will 100% be reading the next ones soon!
I forgot where I stumbled upon this book, but I gave it away as a present and the guy read it recently and was full of praise. So I read it, too, and can tell you: wow! Easy to read, funny, and page-turning by itself.
Aliens come to Earth and, reminding us of the Volorians from Douglas Adams, present legal claim to all of Earth, which we humans could have avoided by making or own claim before a court we never existed.
Very shortly after most humans are dead and all the rest is offered to fight through a dungeon. Whoever makes it to level 18 can reclaim Earth.
And so we go down with Carl and his cat into the dungeon. Turns out, Carl is the first to bring a pet cat into the dungeon, so they get a buff and thus, Princess Donut is a …
I forgot where I stumbled upon this book, but I gave it away as a present and the guy read it recently and was full of praise. So I read it, too, and can tell you: wow! Easy to read, funny, and page-turning by itself.
Aliens come to Earth and, reminding us of the Volorians from Douglas Adams, present legal claim to all of Earth, which we humans could have avoided by making or own claim before a court we never existed.
Very shortly after most humans are dead and all the rest is offered to fight through a dungeon. Whoever makes it to level 18 can reclaim Earth.
And so we go down with Carl and his cat into the dungeon. Turns out, Carl is the first to bring a pet cat into the dungeon, so they get a buff and thus, Princess Donut is a Dungeon Crawler just like Carl himself. A former show cat, she is now bent on becoming famous, for the dungeon crawl is watched on universal TV around the, well, the universe.
Sure. The story is a bit repetitive, but has anyone of you ever played Elden Ring or the like? Of course they are repetitive! Yet the story is fun as hell, it is interesting to see how Carl and Donut do, and the game messages are fun as well.
I went ahead and ordered book 2 and 3 of this series, because at the end of the first book, Carl and Princess Donut made it to the 3rd level (race and profession can be choosen) and did I mention it's 18 levels overall?
This book had no business being as much fun as it was. Even though I had seen it recommended by friends, I went in skeptical, but was sucked in right away. It's by no means high literature, but Carl and Princess Donut's escapades are a delight. What this book lacks in substance it makes up with pure candy-coated silliness. This was the perfect weekend read.
Admittedly, I am solidly in the target demographic, being an avid TTRPG player, and there was plenty of fan service along those lines. Added pluses for some nose tweaking to the manosphere as well. On the surface, this could have come across as a different take on Ready Player One, but this one didn't leave the same bad taste in my mouth.
There's a lot of world building going on in this first book, with many hints of darkness to come, and without …
This book had no business being as much fun as it was. Even though I had seen it recommended by friends, I went in skeptical, but was sucked in right away. It's by no means high literature, but Carl and Princess Donut's escapades are a delight. What this book lacks in substance it makes up with pure candy-coated silliness. This was the perfect weekend read.
Admittedly, I am solidly in the target demographic, being an avid TTRPG player, and there was plenty of fan service along those lines. Added pluses for some nose tweaking to the manosphere as well. On the surface, this could have come across as a different take on Ready Player One, but this one didn't leave the same bad taste in my mouth.
There's a lot of world building going on in this first book, with many hints of darkness to come, and without spoilers I can say the ending is kind of abrupt and odd. So I'm taking this down a star. I'll have to see how I feel about the second one plays out and ends to really understand if I like it as a series, but on the whole I found this first entry delightful.
An interesting premise and easy, quick read. Sometimes tries a little too hard to be funny.
Auch wenn der Schluss keine riesigen Überraschungen mehr bot. Solider Trashlevel und ich bin mehr als gespannt, wie es im nächsten Buch weitergeht.
