NEW ACHIEVEMENT!!! The earth has been basically destroyed and most of humanity with it. In Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, the second addition of Dungeon Crawler Carl, two of Earth’s remaining champions have made it Level III. What do they win? A trip to the circus, a quest to figure out how some street workers died, an encounter with someone who collects way to many beanie babies, a new member to the team and a chance to blow up…stuff! Hopefully they remember to only blow up the bad guys and not themselves.
“Maybe we should have tested them first,” she said.
“That’s what they’re gonna put on my tombstone.”
“Don’t be silly Carl. The don’t give us tombstones here.”
I’ve been hearing about the Dungeon Crawler Carl books for the last few months and I totally fell for the hype and decided to try this series out. I was a little skeptical because I’ve read a few other LitRPG books and really struggled to get through them. But give me a guy who got trapped with no pants and a cat in a dungeon as they fight for their lives in survivor type competitions and I couldn’t read the first book fast enough. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was just as much fun and let’s just say I’m ready to join a fan club for the Court of Princess Donut.
The Royal Court of Princess Donut is moving up the leader board. The former show cat, turned sentient is having a hay day with all the new followers and her very own pet Veloso Raptor named Mongo. She is a show stealer and the face and charisma part of the team. Carl is the wacky idea guy who accidentally blows stuff up. Together they are one of the hottest groups of crawlers on this season of Dungeon Crawlers, where contestants try to make it to the final level to win the mineral rights to the earth. This season is moving along quickly and there is only a 8 days for Carl and Donut to level up, kill a bunch of NPCs and find the stairs that will take them to the next level.
“Cats don’t drink cocktails,” I said.
“Cats don’t shoot lasers from their eyes either, Carl, but here we are. Mama needs a night off.”
Great descriptions of characters, interesting fight scenario’s and the musing of Princess Donut are just the combo to punch the reader in the face and dare them not to have a good time. A snarky AI that is running the game and may have a foot fetish just adds to the fun as it reads the new achievements, gear descriptions and adds commentary when the pooh is going to hit the fan.
There are also bigger problems in the galaxy that are teased out here and there. There are alien factions and some infighting it seems. On the verge of bankruptcy the Aliens running the game are speeding everything up in hopes of making a lot of money off the Earth. This is going to make this dungeon crawl one of the most interesting of all time and the entire galaxy it seems is tuning in to see how it all plays out. I’m really interested in seeing how much of the turmoil outside the dungeon we get to see in upcoming books.
I think this is going to be a great entry point if you are looking to try out LitRPG to see if you like them. As someone who played World of Warcraft for years I found things I completely loved about the book. If you have ever enjoyed a MMORPG this will probably be a fun ride for you too.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★★
Sound Effects: Minor. Some sound effects for achievements and bigging of boss fights etc.
Jeff Hays’ performance was just pure fun. I loved the over the top narration that fit the story so well. I hadn’t had the pleasure of listening to a narration by him before DCC series, but I am sure that the story wouldn’t have been quite as much fun without it. Seriously great time and I couldn’t put it down once I started. He is perfect for all of the snarky commentary and I absolutely love all of his voice