Dungeon CrawlerCarl

Just like Monkey Grip, I had a really hard time rating this book – but for almost the complete opposite reason. Monkey Grip was a well-written book with beautiful prose, let down by a meandering plot, awful characters and a lack of focus. Dungeon Crawler Carl is progression-slop with some of the worst prose I have ever read in my life, carried solely by a propelling narrative and this inherent dramatic question of wanting to know what would happen next. I read once that Crime and Romance are the two genres with the clearest narrative drives due to their inherent dramatic questions: “Who did it?” and “Will they get together?”. I think we can add LitRPG as the chud equivalent. Despite (or perhaps because of) reading just like a millennial dad typing out his World of Warcraft campaign, I was engaged by the narrative and wanted to know what would happen next. Nothing shocked me, mind you, and you can see the skeletons of all the influences that contribute to the story, but maybe that familiarity bred comfort in me. Or maybe I'm just a monkey that likes it when stats go up. The prose is, at best, functional; at worst, dreadful. I can't stress enough how painful some passages of this book were. From over-describing irrelevant features (why is he so obsessed with the roof?) to confusing, meandering descriptions to just painful Redditor dialogue. My least favourite character by far was the stupid overseer who began geeking out with Donut about Gossip Girl; it's the type of humour that only millennial chungus wine-drinking mums find amusing, and it genuinely made me put the book down at times. Most of the time, however, the prose is fine, probably at the level of a YA novel. You can tell it was written chapter-by-chapter online – besides the general lack of quality, there are some inconsistencies (Bea apparently would sue Carl for Donut if he stole her, but was also planning to replace her with another cat? Why?) and clunky section breaks. I do think in some ways this works in its favour – given that each chapter has to work as a weekly post, they're short and typically end on a cliffhanger, so I'd always want to know what was happening next. The characterisation, themes and plot of the book are surface-level at best. I'm sure a 12-year-old would find them groundbreaking, but anyone who's ever read a novel before has seen this done better. I rolled my eyes whenever Carl mentioned his father or complained about Bea, elements of his backstory I simply didn't care about and found somewhat objectionable at times. Bea goes from being a questionable girlfriend to just being this generic bad guy that Carl and Donut get to shit-talk throughout – I found it tiring and boring. So why am I giving this a 3? Honestly, it kept my interest, it was comfortable and easy, and I read it quickly. It felt like the literary equivalent of a greasy burger – you know it's not good food, but when you're hungover it hits different.

What were your thoughts on the book?

Just like Monkey Grip, I had a really hard time rating this book – but for almost the complete opposite reason. Monkey Grip was a well-written book with beautiful prose, let down by a meandering plot, awful characters and a lack of focus. Dungeon Crawler Carl is progression-slop with some of the worst prose I have ever read in my life, carried solely by a propelling narrative and this inherent dramatic question of wanting to know what would happen next. I read once that Crime and Romance are the two genres with the clearest narrative drives due to their inherent dramatic questions: “Who did it?” and “Will they get together?”. I think we can add LitRPG as the chud equivalent. Despite (or perhaps because of) reading just like a millennial dad typing out his World of Warcraft campaign, I was engaged by the narrative and wanted to know what would happen next. Nothing shocked me, mind you, and you can see the skeletons of all the influences that contribute to the story, but maybe that familiarity bred comfort in me. Or maybe I'm just a monkey that likes it when stats go up. The prose is, at best, functional; at worst, dreadful. I can't stress enough how painful some passages of this book were. From over-describing irrelevant features (why is he so obsessed with the roof?) to confusing, meandering descriptions to just painful Redditor dialogue. My least favourite character by far was the stupid overseer who began geeking out with Donut about Gossip Girl; it's the type of humour that only millennial chungus wine-drinking mums find amusing, and it genuinely made me put the book down at times. Most of the time, however, the prose is fine, probably at the level of a YA novel. You can tell it was written chapter-by-chapter online – besides the general lack of quality, there are some inconsistencies (Bea apparently would sue Carl for Donut if he stole her, but was also planning to replace her with another cat? Why?) and clunky section breaks. I do think in some ways this works in its favour – given that each chapter has to work as a weekly post, they're short and typically end on a cliffhanger, so I'd always want to know what was happening next. The characterisation, themes and plot of the book are surface-level at best. I'm sure a 12-year-old would find them groundbreaking, but anyone who's ever read a novel before has seen this done better. I rolled my eyes whenever Carl mentioned his father or complained about Bea, elements of his backstory I simply didn't care about and found somewhat objectionable at times. Bea goes from being a questionable girlfriend to just being this generic bad guy that Carl and Donut get to shit-talk throughout – I found it tiring and boring. So why am I giving this a 3? Honestly, it kept my interest, it was comfortable and easy, and I read it quickly. It felt like the literary equivalent of a greasy burger – you know it's not good food, but when you're hungover it hits different.

In a sentence, what was your favourite part about the book.

When the stats went up or a loot box was opened a little bit of dopamine was injected into my brain

In a sentence, what was your least favourite part about the book.

Reading the words on the page

Would recommend: With caveats.

Link to ballot