Simone and Her Books

LitRPG. It’s a thing. I didn’t know about this thing until recently, but it’s been around for quite some time and if you’re a fan of RPG video games, Dungeons and Dragons, and quirky characters with feline companions, then this is going to be right up your alley.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is the first book in what looks to be an epic series about a guy named Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, just trying to survive a massive dungeon crawler video game after the earth is invaded by some random alien species. I love this book. I loved this book so much that I’m contemplating buying book 2 right away and just diving right into it.

I’m a huge fan of silly stories where the earth is taken over by weird aliens using human beings to air a massive competition on whatever interplanetary entertainment system they have going on. Carl is just an average guy who happened to be stuck in the game with no pants and no shoes. Princess Donut was just a regular cat before she took a potion that made her intelligent enough to talk. And the two of them are fighting their way, level by level, to get to the bottom and win the massive dungeon crawl. I mean, what isn’t there not to love?

There’s not much serious about this book. I love that it’s action packed, plot-heavy, and shares with you the adventures of these two characters, who they meet, what they learn, what they destroy, etc. From the group of senior citizens they found and tried to help to the weird pigs in tuxedos that they massively destroyed, the book explores a lot of weird scenarios that these two find themselves. And the main objective: win.

While I want Princess Donut to be my favorite character, I actually find her to be a bit…cat-ish? If you can personify cat behavior, I’m pretty sure you would see it in Princess Donut, who just bugs the crap out of me. I actually like Carl way more as he seems to be the brains of the operation and when bad things befall on him, I can’t help but to giggle a little bit and wish for better for him. And yes, I found myself giggling while reading this book (most of which was read on a plane to Europe, so I know other folks could see me laugh).

From item descriptions to the game tutorial at the beginning of the book, Matt Dinniman has figured out how to cover all the aspects of a massive multi-player online game except instead of being an avatar behind a computer screen, you’re yourself. I even love the villains of the piece (and I’m not talking about the wild monsters they come across throughout the dungeon).

Overall, if you need a break from reality or if you wonder what life would be like in an RPG, then I would check this book out. Low stakes reading for a high stakes story.