A Review - Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman

This book was the literal definition of a hype read for me. I didn’t know what I was going into, only that it had a silly name, a silly cover and people are going crazy for this series.

I get it. F*ck me do I get it.

For a bit of context as to how my experience was Dungeon Crawler Carl has gone, last week I was listening to Words of Radiance so I could keep pace with my Stormlight Archive reading while I travelled for work. I ran out of free hours on that and decided to finally start Dungeon Crawler Carl with the intention of reading it alongside my physical read, mainly for something to have in the car. I haven’t turned a page of Words of Radiance between starting and finishing this book.

I was hooked, I was enthralled, I was thoroughly entertained. Yes, it’s silly, yes it’s unconventional but it isn’t one dimensional and it doesn’t rely on the novelty of it’s setting to carry the story, I care about Carl and Princess Donuts progression and stats, I care about the items they loot, I care about their rivalry with other hostile crawlers, I crave boss battles and crafting, I need to know what happens with the wider landscape of staging the dungeon. There’s so much more depth to this story than you originally expect and it’s delivered masterfully.

When I say this book has everything, I mean it has everything. It has drug dealing llamas, it has drug addicted goblins, it has an inter species gang war, it has an intelligent talking cat, it has an alien fish that loves gossip girl, it had velociraptors, it has Karen fairies, it has an AI with a foot fetish, I could go on for ages but I won’t.

I don’t really know what point I’m trying to make other than please give this book a chance. Don’t be put off by the cheesy facade, because what you get on the inside is a fast paced, thoroughly entertaining, at times heart warming, at other times horrific story that had had me in its claws from start to finish.

Now to toss a coin and decide whether I go straight into the next or not. God I want to. I really want to.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I spent £600 on one book. Was it worth it? - My experience with The Folio Societies Limited Edition of The Hobbit

Image
The day has arrived. My precious is here. The magpie within me has won its battle for shiny books and my copy of The Hobbit from The Folio Society has arrived. When I started collecting books back in 2012 the thought of spending more than £50 on a book seemed alien to me, but I’ve bought and sold bits and pieces of my collection over the years to the point where yes, I have decided to spend £600 on a single fine press book, and today I’m going to talk about it. So the book itself is the very definition of fine press. I’ll list the specs below for anyone interested. Limited to 1,000 copies​ Quarter-bound in Spaccato Di Montone leather with art silk sides. Front board has an inset label printed with an illustration by Alan Lee Limitation label is printed letterpress and signed by the illustrator​ Typeset in Dante with display set in Testament​ 344 pages print in 2 colours​ Numerous black & white line integrated illustrations​ 28 colour illustrations, hand tipped as plates within bord...
Read more

An Edition Review - My First Experience with Grim Oak Press

Image
When Grim Oak Press announced they’d be producing a limited edition of Malice I went through a roller coaster of emotions. Joy at the fact I would finally be able to replace my long lost Goldsboro copy that was sacrificed to become brake discs, sorrow at the financial ruin that was about to sweep across my bank account, fear that my partner would find out how much I paid for “another f*cking book”, before finally arriving back at Joy. I will state my biases early for anyone who doesn’t know me. Malice is my favourite book, ever. If I didn’t pick this book up in an airport back in 2012, I wouldn’t read books now. If I hadn’t fallen in love with the story and bought a copy of the limited Hardcover from Goldsboro, I wouldn’t collect books now. In fact as I write this, John Gwynne has a lot to answer for…anyway. My point is, sentimentally I have a lot more into this book than most but Grim Oak Press are known for their quality so luckily I feel like I can give this a fair review (if not, w...
Read more