Spoiler-free
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series continues with book 2 - Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. These books are a lot of fun. They’re absurd, bizarre and just wack. While they’ve consistently been highly entertaining and I've definitely never been bored, I'm still yet to be fully invested in this world. That’s okay though, I don’t think I even mind and I’ll still be continuing on with the series. They’re kind of like popcorn reads for me. Crazy stuff happens and it’s highly entertaining and then it’s replaced by a new crazy event happening and I instantly forget about the previous crazy thing. It sorta plays out like a cartoon in my head. One where there’s a different plot each episode. There is an overarching story, but given its LITrpg format, there’s much more of an emphasis on specific quests and levels to complete rather than one complete story. Now that I think about it, having a webtoon adaptation makes a lot of sense... I may have to check that out.
The story is not where I get my enjoyment from with this series. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of fun clearing the floors of this dungeon in an intergalactic game show, but it’s the characters of Carl and Donut that really carry this series. In this instalment, Carl and Donut get to choose their race and class. Donut choosing the former child actor class is so funny to me and just sums up her character perfectly. She really is a gem. I love how protective she is over her pet dino - Mongo. Although, I have a bad feeling about his future... He's constantly growing in size and soon he's just gonna be out of control. In Dungeon Crawler Carl, I wasn’t a big fan of Carl, but stated that he did grow on me over time. This is still true and he is indeed still growing on me, which is encouraging for the future books.
To be honest, I am finding it difficult to recall what actually happened in this book, but I know I had a good time. It’s just kinda in one ear and out the other, but in a fun way. It’s just like popcorn, lacks any real substance, but it’s fun to eat and throw around, yanno? (Angthelastbookblogger does not endorse throwing popcorn in the cinema). Look, we had this crazy circus and dead prostitutes falling from the sky. It's hard to keep track of all the bizarre scenarios that happen in this series, so I just… don’t. I’m finding it much more fun to just go along for the ride and not think about it too much.
A lot of my enjoyment comes from the audiobook narration by Jeff Hays. The range of his voices is honestly getting ridiculous at this point. He can truly do it all. I tend to steer away from American accents with audiobooks, but Jeff Hays is an exception for me. He really helps me to draw an image of each character in my mind, just based on their voice alone, which is kinda incredible. It’s also necessary, as I’m still having difficulties picturing each floor of this world.
The world building definitely takes a back seat. I’ve kinda just accepted that it doesn’t make much sense at this point, and honestly, I don’t think it’s even meant to. It’s hard for me to fully visualise what’s happening all the time, but I’ve come to expect that at this point. I will say that my favourite parts are still whenever the gameshow components of this world come into play. I love every talk show statement we get, or any reference we get to this all being some wack intergalactic reality show. This is definitely the angle, which is keeping me hooked on the series, so I hope that we get much more of this in future books.
Sorry that this is a bit of a lacklustre review, but it is what it is. Nothing really sticks out for me to do a deep dive or anything. It’s very much style over substance and that’s okay! It’s very stylish and I’m having a blast listening through, so who cares? It makes it kind of a hard book to rate, but I think ultimately I enjoyed it just as much as book 1. I would be surprised if that fluctuates much. Although I can see myself becoming burned out by the repetitive format of the grinding plot, the surreal absurdity and dumb humour are what bring me back to this series.
🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 3.5 stars
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