Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

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.

I can’t say Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is indicative of my taste, but this gamified “LitRPG” SFF novel has sold 14M+ copies and had fandom lines out the door at BookCon, so piqued my interest.

Thanks for reading Words Like Silver! Subscribe for free to support my work.

Subscribe Now

placeholder

The quirky humor, barrage of worldbuilding rules, and roll-with-the-punches plot intensity had me reflecting on how much DCC may reflect modern attention spans.

Also discussed:

• The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir