Friday Book Snippets: DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

Title: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

First page snippet: 

2nd snippet, page 47, last page of preview:

Summary: Carl and his girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, happen to be outside on a freezing cold night when the whole world is transformed and the only survivors had nothing over their head when it happened. The survivors, like Princess Donut and Carl, had just a few minutes to decide to enter the dungeon (and the game) or die. They chose the dungeon. Once inside they make their way to a safe room where the rules of the game are explained to them by Mordecai (he's the rat on page 47). And when I say them, I mean the man and the cat. Donut gains the power of speech when she enters the dungeon even though she remains a cat. 

There are eighteen levels in the dungeon and the goal is to make it to that level and to win the game. But that also means the winner is the sole survivor. Each level must be mastered within a time limit and once that time is done that level is destroyed. If a player doesn't make it to the next level before the time limit, they will be destroyed along with the level. Carl and Princess Donut make it to level 3 before book's end. There are several more books in the series, four at least with a possibly an additional four after that. (Eight in total?)

My thoughts: My eldest daughter listened to the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook with her book group and told me how much she liked it but cautioned me against it because of all the foul language. Since I let her buy the book on my Audible account, I also had access to the audiobook and on a whim I decided to have a listen. My first reaction was "Well, this is fun." And silly, and crass, and unbelievable, and dastardly. In some ways it reminded me of The Hunger Games due to the fighting in a game setting where aliens from other planets can watch the players as they attempt to survive all the creatures bent on killing them. And the viewers can sponsor participants, giving them powers to heal quicker, or deflect incoming weapons, etc. The battles are usually fairly cartoonish and remind me of the green slime on that old Nichelodeon show kids thought was so funny years ago. Admittedly I got a bit fatigued by the book. Unlike The Hunger Games book/series, there doesn't seem to be a lot of psychological depth to it.

I was prepared to give the book a 3 star rating, but then the audiobook production was explained by the narrator and I thought, "Hmm. This IS a good audiobook in terms of the uniqueness of the production" --all the different voices, sounds, and qualities I've never experienced before. So I upgraded my estimation of the book to 4 stars. I kind of doubt I will read on in the series, but I am not sad that I spent time reading/listening to this one. As I reflected on the book's storyline I thought about how the kids at the school where I was the librarian would have loved this book. I bet I would have purchased more than one copy and kids would be lining up for the sequels. There are so few books which get readers really excited. The ones that do need to be celebrated.

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Welcome to a combined Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday56 with a new name Friday Book Snippets. I am co-hosting this weekly blogging event with Olivia at Bemused & Bookish. You can link up at either of our sites but be sure to still visit and comment on other participant's blogs to increase our community.

Directions: Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book's opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. 

Click on the "OH-NO" message and it will take you to the linkup this week. I'll find you there.

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-Anne