Dungeon Crawler Carl

The apocalypse will be televised!
You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.

Come for the hilariously over-the-top litRPG madness, stay for the surprisingly real characters.

Carl and Donut are so goddamn relatable, it's hard to fathom how far they get into the crawl. Through the exploding monster trucks, hideous garbage monsters, and monstrous alien viewers (did I mention this series has monsters?), the duo perseveres, clawing their way to the top of the heap.

The plot is tight enough, you know where it's going (roughly) from book one. The writing is expert, and you can tell an editor or three has gotten their grubby mitts on it. Smooth like butter. This is one of those series that deserves the hype.

Who should read this

You. Your friends who hate "the man." Libertarians. Streamers. Cat lovers who don't mind a bit of gore. Your friends who enjoy irreverent humor. Friends who only read mainstream books. Beginners to the litRPG genre.

Stats

Progression: Moderate
System complexity: High
Stats: Low
MC power: Weak to OP
Crafting: Some
Romance: Minimal
Humor: Moderate
Audiobook: ??
Series status: Ongoing

Infrequently asked questions

Who would win, Carl or 100 tiny elephants?
Book one? Elephants. Unless Carl has Donut, in which case, those elephants are burnt toast.

Were any books slower than others?
Yes. Iron Tangle (book #3) was a bit of a slog. The author seemingly tried to build the most complicated run possible. He succeeded. I still have no idea where Carl was when anything happened.

There were also pacing issues with The Gate of the Feral Gods (book #4), IMO. Too much running around biomes, not enough plot movement. Turns out, the running was important to plot, but it didn't feel like it. It felt like Carl running around like a headless, bomb-happy chicken.

How much litRPG crunch is there?
A lot. Some scenes hinge on knowing what the heck Carl is capable of because you (totally) read the System descriptions of his powers and paid attention to Mordecai's theorycrafting.

Without spoiling, the System is a character that becomes more important as the book goes on. The blue screens remain, and they remain crunchy. The author does a good job keeping the numbers readable for mere mortals like myself. For example, the skill LVs are capped at 20 instead of 20 billion.