“God damnit, Donut!”
I listened to the audiobook version of Dungeon Crawler Carl on Audible, and every time I heard that line I cracked up laughing! This book is ruthlessly funny, imaginative, and downright fun for a D&D fan!
Admittedly, I’m in the middle of the third book now, but as I’m just getting back into blogging, I wanted to go back and talk about the first book. I’ll probably tackle books 2 and 3 in later posts. This is my first Lit RPG, so I don’t know if they are all like this, but holy shit, this was AMAZING!
Let’s talk about Carl
First, I want to talk about Carl himself. Usually in an action book, the protagonist is so very Alpha Male that I have trouble relating. I’m a geek, and while I do like guns, cars, and motorcycles, I’m so far from an alpha male that I have trouble relating to many protagonists. I love that Carl is former Coast Guard, not a Marine or Special Forces, but the Coast Guard.
Not to knock on the Coast Guard, but they aren’t exactly thought of as Elite (even though from what I’ve seen, they really are fearless bad asses). But I love this choice. It made Carl feel so much more relatable that he wasn’t some crazy former Special Forces really allowed me to see more of myself in Carl.
On top of that, Carl is relatable in other ways. His hating of the cat, Princess Donut, is something I relate to SO much! I’m a dog person, and while most cats are…fine…I, as a general rule, am not a fan of them. Carl’s slight distain of the cat let’s me relate to him on a bit of a deeper level.
God Damnit, Donut!
OK, next, we have to talk about the cat: Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk. The fact that the cat receives the ability to talk…and then is made head of the party! Hahahaha! Damnit, that is great! Also, Princess Donut is exactly the way I would imagine nearly every cat I’ve ever known to be: prissy, sassy, impulsive, dog-hating, sappy, and vaguely annoying.
Don’t get me wrong, I have fallen in love with the little pain-in-the-ass, but COME ON! Her attitude, the way she acts like she’s better than everyone, and how she’s afraid to get her paws dirty! “God damnit, Donut” for sure! Also, the thought of a fluffy cat shooting magic missals is belly shakingly funny!
Let’s bring it home…
If you haven’t read this book, stop what you’re doing, right now, and go pick it up. The audiobook version on Audible is wonderful, so well read, and the writing is amazing! Like I said, I’m on book 3 now, and I plan to keep going. I’m not even sure how many books there are, but if the quality keeps up, I’m sure I’ll read them all!
Every day I look forward to learning a little more about the adventures of Carl and Donut. The laughs, the way I really feel for them when they are in trouble, and all of the supporting cast (Mordecai changing every level is a brilliant touch!), there is so much to love here that I just can’t wait to get a little bit more!
Now, I have to go read some more DCC, because I’m not reading it now, and as Donut would say, “This is an outrage!”