50
Mini, spoiler free review of Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
82 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Carl is outside in his boxers trying to get his girlfriend's cat out of a tree when everything with a roof on the planet is destroyed and the smaller number of survivors are made to compete in an intergalactic dungeon game similar to D&D. If this sounds kind of dumb, I described it correctly; it's kind of dumb. It’s also fairly entertaining and has a good amount of heart. People who have played any sort of role playing game, like World Of Warcraft, will probably be extra amused.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4 points 2 months ago (10 children)

Okay but what happens to his girlfriend's poor cat???

I'm interested in checking these books out, but I'm a big weenie who can't handle anything bad happening to innocent animals. And I'm not exactly mentally stable lately -- lol -- so I'm currently trying to avoid anything like that that could send me spiraling. (I know it sounds ridiculous and I'm working on getting help, I promise lol)

So, uh... Can anyone tell me if there's any bad stuff happening to any animals (like the aforementioned kitty???) in these books? 😅

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago

    I really enjoyed DCC and it's a pretty fun ride but honestly from what your saying I'd suggest you avoid it for a while. It's fun but it's also bloody and full of violence. It starts out with killing 99% of humanity and everybody in it is dealing with some heavy PTSD and it's hopeful and people pull together but it's still a tragedy.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    It's a fairly early spoiler, but still a spoilerThe cat goes into the dungeon with him, and is initially treated as a pet. Pretty quickly, though, the cat gets an upgrade that turns her into her own character, and they become something of an iconic duo.

    Also, I don't know that I'd necessarily call it sci-fi, maybe more fantasy with... well. it's complicated. In any case, I enjoyed it, and the rest of the series and highly recommend it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago*

    It’s extremely dark. If you’re not in a good place mentally, avoid.

    Family and party members kill each other, frequently. So read between the lines about the “pets” and animals, and that provides the dark context.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    There is a running joke among the fanbase that the cat (Princess Donut) is actually the main character, and Carl is just along for the ride. There’s a reason Carl’s catchphrase quickly becomes “God damn it Donut!”

    Minor Early Book 1 SpoilerDonut essentially has an Enlightenment spell cast on her, which raises her from being a regular pet to being an actual sentient dungeon crawler. She gains the ability to speak, cast spells, etc... She gets a major stat buff to go along with this. However, she maintains the haughty prissy attitude that goes along with being an award winning show cat, so her being the defacto leader of the party ends up getting them into antics because of her behavior.

    Larger (but still vague) series spoilersShe does go through some pretty heavy stuff throughout the course of the series, but it’s mostly handled as if an intelligent (though naïve and impulsive) sentient character is dealing with them. She has a very solid character arc so far. There are some tough scenes throughout the series, because the dungeon is designed specifically to treat the crawlers inhumanely. But again, she’s sentient and fully capable of understanding (and planning/reacting appropriately) to what is happening around her.

    Aside from that, there is also Prepotente, a goat who had the same Enlightenment thing happen to him. He isn’t introduced until several books into the series, (he is part of a different dungeon party, an entire flock of goats being led through the dungeon by his former goatherd) and he is treated like a crawler just like Donut is.

    There is plenty of death and destruction, to be clear. It’s a game show designed to kill the contestants. Almost as if Squid Game were being run like a futuristic and very over-the-top Legends Of The Hidden Temple/Takeshi’s Castle. The vast majority of animal-related violence is things like NPC dungeon monsters.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    The cat goes in to the dungeon with him and is gifted with sentience immediately, becoming the protagonist's sassy partner. It's cheesey fun.

    As others have pointed out, the book has a lot of over the top violence and death, so you might want to stay away. On the other hand, though, the author is far more into gore and comic book ultra violence than cruelty. Many people find Princess Donut -- the cat annoying -- but by book five no great harm has befallen her or any of the other protagonists.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    To quote the book #5:

    Tap for spoiler

    ”It’s going to get worse before it gets better. We are going to lose more friends. We’re going to have to do some pretty horrible things just to survive…”

    Book 5 is just scratching the surface, but the tones get worse, not better, at 5 you should understand this about the story.

    To say it’s not cruel, is so weird, and a few of the nonmain protagonists are gone, they don’t stay the same from book to book.

    To quote Dinnamin

    ”if I don’t like their voice, I kill them off”.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago*

    I totally hear you. But the reason I disagree is that I think writers have a choice in how a death is supposed to strike the audience, and Dinniman is like a D&D GM who acts a lot tougher than he is.

    George R.R. Martin is the real deal: he's a ruthless writer of huge stakes: Ned Stark's death is designed to be as distressing as possible. It's intended to leave the reader with the devestated feeling that the world is highly unjust; that the more honorable the character, the more danger they're in; that the reader should be in a constant state of concern that the characters they care about could at any moment not only die, but -- more importantly for fiction imo -- be rendered meaningless. He is disgraced in death, and it's deeply painful for the reader.

    Conversely, Matt Dinniman is, imo, basically a softy. When good characters die, they leave a mark. Their friends mourn; they are honored and avenged; their lives leave indelible marks on the trajectory of the story. It's sad, but it's very sweet sorrow.

    That might change in the later books, but so far, Dinniman has been very gentle on readers when it counts.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] -4 points 2 months ago

    From what I've read about þe books, þe cat eats a magic cat treat and gains þe ability to speak (I assume it gets smarter, too) and becomes a companion. It gets its own pet eventually, too.

    I haven't read þem. I can't answer your question about how animals are treated in þe books, but from þe descriptions it seems fairly YA FWIW.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent