Dungeon Crawler Carl books 1-3

[sholio]

Okay, the previous post has the non-spoilery intro to the series, so this is the one with all the spoilers. I finished book 3 this evening (of seven books so far), and I'm still having a terrific time.


I just finished the book with the train level. The usual request applies: Please do not spoil me for future books.

It's such a terrific mix of off-kilter humor, action, and genuinely heartfelt moments. I love how dedicated Carl is to trying to save everyone - the other crawlers, even the NPCs if he can; even the flashes of narrative sympathy for otherwise terrible people like Frank. He's just such a basically good guy. The dungeon crawlers increasingly networking together, getting through the levels via teamwork, and going back to save trapped strangers has been great.

Katia! I've really enjoyed watching her level up in multiple ways, from a character who legitimately did feel a bit flat and boring compared to the others, to a brave friend and valued team member with one of the most interesting powers in the game. I fully expected her to die at multiple points and was delighted she didn't. The betrayal and Hekla's extremely sudden death was fantastic (and Donut's reaction to it is really heartbreaking; I love how you can tell she understands more about Bea than she'll admit to, but is rigidly maintaining her denial).

I also really like that the characters' various classes and races are generally a lot more interesting than "Elf Ranger" or whatever. Some of them are simply deranged. The goat lady with the randomly screaming anthropomorphic goat!

And I really enjoy the amount of cleverness that the players are using to get through various traps and challenges. helen_keeble had warned me that the third book might be a slog in places, but I honestly really enjoyed it, because the train system is such a constrained environment that it forced them to come up with some truly inspired ways of dealing with it. Katia the human battering ram! The trap with the portal, and the one that involved double-summoning the god!

I like Mordecai, but I have to admit that having him gone for most of book 3 was a good thing from the perspective of the players having to figure out things on their own and make their own choices. I'm curious how that's going to be handled going forward - he really is an overpowered information source; with that *and* Carl's secret handbook, I feel as if he's almost too much of a resource, and the fact that he was nerfed in this book makes me suspect the author may also have begun to think so.

I am surprisingly sad about Zev! I know she's not dead (well, unless the other fish lady is lying about what happened to her), but I doubt she's going to be an ally when she comes back. I'm also really enjoying just how much of a storyline there is going on with the system running the game - the "how" and the "why" of the game is not just background noise, it's actively part of things, and I'm genuinely interested in whatever else we're going to find out about the political situation surrounding the Borant, Valtyra, etc. What is Agatha's deal?? (Other than the fact that she might be getting meatpuppeted by an alien parasite.) What are Primals, really? SO CURIOUS.

Comments

[sovay]

The goat lady with the randomly screaming anthropomorphic goat!

That does sound memorable. Also upsetting.

I like Mordecai, but I have to admit that having him gone for most of book 3 was a good thing from the perspective of the players having to figure out things on their own and make their own choices.

Who is Mordecai and what is his overpowered information deal?

(Also if you mention someone who is a fish lady, I am predictably curious.)

[helen_keeble]

Mordecai is basically a tutorial guide - he’s a former dungeon crawler (from an earlier show season on a different planet) who survived long enough to take a deal to become a non-combatant NPC. He has access to information Carl and Donut don’t, though according to game rules he’s not supposed to use it to help them cheat, only give tips. All crawlers can access a guide until they get to the third level of the dungeon, after which they’re meant to be on their own.

For Reasons, Carl and Donut manage to keep their tutorial guide permanently. He has to stay in their safe room and loses access to some of his former information sources, but he knows a LOT about the way the dungeon works and can give advice. He’s not exactly a cheat code but it is like having GameFAQs on tap. Narratively, he’s a useful device for the author to explain the game rules/challenges.

(Mordecai himself is Not Pleased about this situation, as it means he’s still stuck in the dungeon rather than getting to retire to the “real world”)

[helen_keeble]

And the fish people are the Kua-tin, who are the aliens running this season of Dungeon Crawler World. They’re a small aquatic species who wear environmental suits/rebreathers on dry land.

[sholio]

That does sound memorable. Also upsetting.

It's actually more hilarious than upsetting, at least for the reader. One of the players in the game is a goatherd who was incepted into the game with her herd of goats, many of which later received powers and other upgrades from the game, and one of them has become an uplifted goat that behaves more or less as a human being except that it just screams randomly now and then in the middle of otherwise normal dialogue. She seems to be used to it.

[helen_keeble]

I had to laugh at the “viewers don’t like Katia and think she’s boring, you need to get her to be more entertaining” part of book 3, because yep, that’s exactly what _I_ was thinking about her at that point! Well played, author.

This series is _so_ entertaining and compulsively readable. There’s just never a good point to put the book down; there’s always something pulling you on to the next chapter!

[helen_keeble]

Also, Donut’s class is a genius narrative schtick, since it means we get the drama of “what class will she pick” every. Single. Floor. Incredible.

[sholio]

I had to laugh at the “viewers don’t like Katia and think she’s boring, you need to get her to be more entertaining” part of book 3, because yep, that’s exactly what _I_ was thinking about her at that point! Well played, author.

AHAHA, I know! It hadn't really hit me until the book actually said it, but it made me realize that, well, yeah - she is .... and that actually was the point when I got more curious about her, once the characters themselves start trying to change that. You start wondering what they're going to do with her next.

Which leads nicely into your other point:

Also, Donut’s class is a genius narrative schtick, since it means we get the drama of “what class will she pick” every. Single. Floor. Incredible.

RIGHT?? In general, the books really utilize the sense of "what's in the box" (figuratively speaking, but also very often literally) to keep you turning pages. This is something I'd already noticed in other books that I and probably a lot of readers are highly susceptible to, but this series gamifies it to a really brilliant degree. It's just the right mix of "random, but not completely random" that keeps you compulsively turning pages.

[helen_keeble]

The crawlers only being able to open loot boxes in safe rooms is brilliant, because after the drama of the boss battle you still want to find out what they won. And the way that Carl usually checks his achievements before opening boxes means that pretty much after every Big Tense Battle Setpiece you get a slew of silly little jokes, followed by the “ooooh, what’s THAT?” of the shiny rewards. It’s SO SATISFYING.

[sholio]

Yes! There's the anticipation of knowing what boxes they have, but you don't get the payoff immediately, you have to go through the tension of waiting and then, as you point out, the character interaction in the saferoom to get there. And having the saferoom gives them a home base that they can build on, which is also brilliant, because it's not just starting over fresh on every level. It really is a fantastically clever setup. I am highly impressed. (And also starting book 4 tonight, because how can I not?)

[sheron]

I didn't read the post -- is this LitRPG? 👀

[sholio]

Yes, and it's good! I'm really enjoying it. :D