I didn’t know what to expect from this book since it was the first litRPG book I’ve ever read. It wasn’t too different from what I was expecting and it wasn’t as childish as I feared it would be. I never played D&D before but I was an avid video gamer up until I was around 30 years old, so I knew I’d be able to appreciate the gaming references. I love horror novels and whenever an author writes in a raw, gritty, real-life (albeit, on the extreme end) manner, I eat it up. Dungeon Crawler Carl was no exception.
I really loved this book. Matt Dinniman managed to find the perfect blend of character development, plot pacing, RPG references, action, and humor. Over the last few years, I’ve found it difficult to find books I enjoy reading. That’s what makes Dinniman’s accomplishment with this book so profound to me. I’m not saying this is peak literature or anything - that’s not my ‘cup of tea’ anyway.
What I am saying is DCC was the perfect read-in-bed-before-sleeping book and the best I’ve read in ages. I also enjoyed Cold Storage by David Koepp and DCC has the same campy, funny, raw vibe.
If that’s what you’re into, then I highly recommend giving this one a read. Before I jump into book 2 - Carl’s Doomsday Scenario - I’m going to read Charles Stross’s The Atrocity Archives (which is the first book in his Laundry Files series). I’ve found that I tend to lose interest in sequel books if I read them all in a row. I think the last series I made it through was Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles and I finished that like a decade ago.
Have you read DCC? What did you think of it? Do you have any suggestions for similar books I can check out?