Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Hello, my name is Erin Penn with this week's edition of Likely Stories.

Dungeon Crawler Carl would best be described as the demented child of Camelot, Squid Game, and Monty Python. Similar to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, we are introduced to an everyman dealing with an alien apocalypse, only instead of destroying the Earth to build an intergalactic throughway, the Earth is leveled as part of interstellar mining contracts. Carl is outside his apartment in boxers and Crocs in January, hunting for his ex-girlfriend's cat when the aliens raze the world for its resources. Princess Donut's need to escape out a window on a cold winter's night saved them both and may be the first useful thing the show cat ever did other than win a blue ribbon.

To offset mining costs, Borant Corporation runs a reality show. The apocalypse is televised, and the survivors of Earth are invited to enter into a dungeon crawl game for the galactic community's entertainment! In just boxers on a frigid Seattle winter night, Carl makes a beeline for the relative safety of the game's entrance and enters the tutorial level of the game.

The amazing writing mixes dark humor with unexpected moments of drama and humor. The game's problem-solving involves explosions and llamas. Every moment of this book is at once hilarious and horrific; funny and freaky.

The book was initially written during 2020 and posted to Royal Road, an insane read to keep people sane during COVID. Once Princess Donut was added to the storyline and ate a pet biscuit to give her sentience and the ability to use magic, the audience grew exponentially. Readers begged for the story to be collected into a book. The indie book and its siblings were later picked up by the publisher, Ace Books, so the books are now available in most bookstores and libraries.

In addition, if you are an audiobook reader, you will adore Jeff Hays' performance of Dungeon Crawler Carl, with the series hitting over two hundred named characters at this point. He still is able to shade each character with their own personality through his incredible craft. He and the author have become such a team, they do book tours together.

This dark humor fantasy will entertain gamers, fantasy and science fiction readers, and reality show lovers. Whether you love explosions or show cats, Dungeon Crawler Carl will get you to laugh at least once.

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