My husband received Dungeon Crawler Carl in our family Winter Solstice book exchange. From the moment he started the book, he was chuckling, and sometimes outright cackling, every several pages. Before finishing he insisted it be my next read. Folks, this book is laugh out loud funny. Do you like fantasy, adventure, video games, Dungeons and Dragons, The Hunger Games, Running Man or cats? Does a reference to the anime/manga/movie Battle Royale peak your interest? Are you intrigued by the idea of an AI with a foot fetish? If any combination of that appeals to you, you will be delighted by this book.
In the middle of winter, at 2:23am, Carl happens to be outside trying to coax Princess Donut, the grand champion Persian cat, down from a tree when the transformation happened. Anything with a roof, from buildings to vehicles, instantly flattened itself into the ground, instantaneously killing billions. Those remaining humans who happened to be outside at the time had an option to enter The Dungeon. Failure to file intergalactic paperwork has resulted in the Earth being seized and mined of all requested elements by the assigned planetary regent (Shades of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, anyone?) Humanity has a chance to win the planet back by participating in the 18-Level World Dungeon, which the “Borant Corporation has the rights to broadcast, exploit, and otherwise control all aspects of”. Upon entering the dungeon, Carl and Princess Donut are assigned stats according to their natural abilities, have to find a tutorial guide to help them through the dungeon, and start killing monsters to level up and survive long enough to get to the next level.
An AI with a foot fetish? Yes, this book has many hilarious moments but it also has a human refusing to compromise his principles (“You will not break me.”), and people starting to question and push back against the system. There is far more going on than appears on the surface. My husband has blitzed through volumes two and three. According to him the story continues to be hilarious and gets deeper. I can’t wait to find out what happens now that Carl and Princess Donut have leveled up a bit, acquired a pet, and become followed by trillions watching the dungeon from the comfort of their homes.
I cannot stress how much I enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Carl or how excited I am to read the following books. I waffled between giving this book 4 or 5 stars and settled on 4.5
