One of the best audiobooks ever

Jeff Hays is incredible as he brings the story to life, this is best experienced in audiobook format. At first I was sceptical, but this series is definitely one of the best I've ever listen to. I'm totally hooked on the story and the humour from Matt. If you have ever been interested in RPG at all, do yourself a favour and listen to this!

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3 people found this helpful

5 stars all the way

Dungeon Crawler Carl is written by Matt Dinniman. The book was something of a hit with audiences, and it isn’t had to see why. It’s a fantastic book and the squeals only add to the lore and the main characters.
Since I don’t have much time to read, I picked this book up on audio first using a credit and have to say, if this ever gets turned into an animated Netflix series, I want Jeff Hays to play the main character and the dungeon’s AI. The narrator does a fantastic job and he’s got a lot of range.

Plot:
The book sets itself on Earth during a extra cold winter. Most everyone with a brain is inside and is trying to stay warm. The book’s main character is, as you have guessed from the main title, is called Carl.
During one of the coldest nights, Carl’s ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut jumps out of a window. This, causes Carl, to step outside and attempt to fetch her. The dumbass did this while forgetting to put on pants.
Already I could imagine doing this myself. Going out in the freezing cold, hoping the police don’t pick me up for being underdressed, all to save a crying cat that won’t shut up.
It turns out that this was perfect timing, because a galactic mining and entertainment organisation decided at this very moment to conquer the planet.
Within the blink of an eye, nearly every living being on Earth is killed in an instant. Those who were outside at the time, then have to rush towards the entrances of the alien’s game show.
Cold, having no pants, and holding his pet cat, Carl finds himself inside the dungeon and is forced to play the alien’s sick game.

Characters:
Throughout most of the book the perspective is 1st person. We see through the eyes of Carl as he tries everything he can to survive the dungeon’s first floor.
Carl reminds me as your everyday kind of person. The first book does touch on his past, and you get glimpses of the toxic relationship he had with his ex-girlfriend. Overall, Carl has a problem with authority, is physically fit, but isn’t afraid to throw a punch when the situation calls for it.
He is the kind of person who doesn’t have many friends, but he is loyal to the ones he does have.

The character who really steals the show, however, is the MC’s cat, Princess Donut.
A show cat, Princess Donut, is something of a wild card. It’s hard to go into the character as I don’t want to spoil the book for any potential readers or listeners. She is one of the fan favourites.

The next character is an unknown variable. Mordecai is the dungeon guide. Every team who goes into the dungeon has one, and it is their job to provide just enough information to the dungeon crawlers to make sure they are entertaining to their alien masters. Once a dungeon crawler himself in a previous game, Mordecai has a solid century of experience on how the game and the organisations running the place works.
All Mordecai wants to do, is finish his indentured service to the dungeon and leave to forge his own destiny among the stars.

What I like:
The moment I finished this book I bought the entire series. That should tell you something. This book has a good balance of fighting, game mechanics, and story building. Most authors who write LitRPGs have this notion that character levels equals character development, or they want to fill in the book with stupid grinding. But everything in this book, including the enemies have a purpose.

Criticism:
This is the author’s first book so I’m sure that some people will find a few beginner mistakes, but it was enjoyable.
The real issue might be the whole alien thing and them using dungeons to wipe out alien species just to steal their resources and make entertainment, but you can imagine humans doing it in the future.

Overall:
A fantastic book. I want Netflix to pick this up. Not a live action. You need an animation series Netflix. With entire season based around a single book. You’d make bank.

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2 people found this helpful

fun and enjoyable

if you want a book that's a bit of fun with good characters and am interesting enough plot, this is for you. I found it really enjoyable. Now onto book 2...

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Incredibly enjoyable read!

The plot line to this story blew me away, never a boring moment. Already recommended this book to others!

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banger

jeff kills it as all the characters, great story had me hooked from the start

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Holy hell fire....

This was amazing, clever an hilarious without being stupid. The narrator was fantastic,the crack Karen's bit was too funny.

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Amazing Narration

A fun but dark exciting book, with an amazing narration that takes it to another level.

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Phenomenal VA and fun story!

Loved it. "Dungeon Crawler Carl – Season 1, Episode 1: Thank You for Volunteering" on Soundbooth is a remake of these books and has a big cast this time around. Cannot believe how much I liked this.

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Totally loving this series

If you’re a fan of LitRPG then this is for you.
If you’re just looking for something different, with humour, adventure and the odd goblin in or two, then this is for you.

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great great great

funny, weird and brutal

That s all I need to say about this and i am sure tons of others will agree with me. one of the better series out there. it s hate not to love Donut.

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