Dungeon Crawler Carl Book Review

At the centre is Carl, a surly, cynical protagonist who is forced into the dungeon crawl in his boxers and a pair of his ex-girlfriend’s crocs. Carl’s instinct to survive frequently clashes with his sense of what is just, and he often ends up doing what he feels is right, rather than taking an easy option. Especially when he is confronted by authority figures who demand complicity. These moments are definitely some of the most compelling in the novel. But of course, I can’t just talk about Carl when Princess Donut is the obvious standout character. A former show cat turned dungeon-crawling diva, complete with an absurdly high charisma stat, the ability to talk, and a magical laser attack, she is both comic relief and another moral voice of reason in such an awful environment. Her begrudging partnership with Carl, marked by constant mockery, her insistance that she is in charge, and a deep sense of loyalty, gives the novel a lot of emotional texture. Donut’s fixation on her image and follower count, a holdover from her time at shows, is both hilarious and an interesting reflection on performative survival. This absolutely reminded me of The Hunger Games.

The novel’s humour is a bit uneven. I did like it for the most part- it’s really sharp and funny, especially if you’re fluent in gaming culture, but the reliance on contemporary references risks dating the novel and alienating readers outside of its subcultural orbit. It’s also pretty crass at times, so that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. More importantly, the humour often conflicts with the emotional weight. I don’t think anyone is picking this book up to read something deeply serious, but there are some extreme acts of violence, such as player’s killing one another for XP, that are touched upon and then quickly moved on from, trading any kind of reflection for a bit of banter or the next boss fight. This may be a critique of how some people think video games turn violence into gratuitous entertainment, but it is more likely just an issue of pacing and an unwillingness to make a funny, generally light book into something too contemplative.

I also didn’t like some of the bosses, and found the hoarder pretty problematic. I get that the idea is that the AI is creating bosses based on stereotypes, and fusing them with aliens, but that then makes the decision to make the hoarder Latino deliberate. I appreciate that this meant to be a critique of the aliens, who have used human TV shows as research on how human culture works, and I guess that also means it’s a critique of the types of reality shows we consume, but I found it hard to move past the choice to make the hoarder, who is living in filth and vomiting cockroaches, Latino, when the other bosses are still stereotypes but less harmful? Also, I don’t think “Latino hoarder” is a stereotype, so I’m not really sure what the point of this is, and it feels like punching down.

There are also moments where the worldbuilding or other characters’ development feels compressed or assumed. Some relationships seem to develop largely off-page, with backstory provided later rather than in interactions readers can see. Combined with the chaos of the setting and the heavy focus on combat, sometimes this creates a white-space situation where it is hard to visualise what is happening.

Still, I think the novel succeeds in being throroughly entertaining. It’s inventive and hard to put down, with some laugh out loud moments and a nice blend of video games meets dystopia. While its tonal lightness sometimes blunts its sharper edges, it’s definitely worth giving the book a go if you’re intrigued. I will continue the series, but I want to give myself a little break before diving into book two.