Book Review: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction

Series: Book 2 of Dungeon Crawler Carl

Publisher: Ace (September 24, 2024)

Length: 384 pages

Author Information: Website

I’m enjoying the Dungeon Crawler Carl series so much that I’m really trying to savor each book rather than give in to the temptation of power through the series all at once! Carl’s Doomsday Scenario is a sequel that pulled me even deeper into this bizarro addictive world, keeping up with the first volume’s dark humor and crazy twists. It’s definitely an experience worth basking in, and this second book continues to raise the stakes in wild, entertaining ways.

To recap our adventure, protagonist Carl and his cat Princess Donut have found themselves trapped in a nightmarish game-like reality with the remnants of humanity after an apocalyptic event destroys the Earth. The competition turns out to be all part of an intergalactic entertainment network designed for the amusement of alien spectators, where contestants are forced to KILL! KILL! KILL! their way through increasingly difficult levels of a massive, RPG-inspired subterranean dungeon. Additionally, because of the televised—or “tunneled”—format of the dungeon-crawl, there’s the social media factor to consider. Crawlers who are savvy enough to amass high view counts, favorites, and followers will therefore have a significant advantage.

After surviving the first two levels, Carl and Donut (and her pet velociraptor Mongo) advance to level three, where the world of the game gets a major shakeup. Every three levels in this dungeon, the setting shifts into more of an open-world format—picture an MMORPG environment with sprawling cities, NPCs living out storylines, quest givers, other players running around, and more. At this point, crawlers must also specialize by selecting a race and class, choices that will shape their abilities, strengths, and strategies going forward. Our protagonists waste no time in exploring this new level, initially with the goal of gaining as much experience as possible. However, their plans are just as quickly shot to hell as they stumble into one deadly quest after the next, leading to plenty of unexpected shenanigans.

For fans of the first book, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was one hell of a follow-up! Just as fun and crazy, in some ways even more so, than its predecessor. As for world-building—or more accurately, I should say, dungeon-building—this sequel builds a lot more upon the foundation of RPG mechanics while staying true to the offbeat charm and spirit of the series. The story shifts into one more resembling a quest narrative, featuring Carl and Donut working through a string of mini side adventures.

Of course, one downside of this is that we get less crawler-to-crawler interaction in this book. For me, many of the highlights from Dungeon Crawler Carl involved the characters’ friendships with potential allies like Brandon, Chris, Imani, or even their animosity towards “crawler killers” like Maggie and Frank. In this book, our protagonists are pretty much on their own, and the entire novel takes place on the third level. In fact, for much of the first of the book, Carl is even forced to go solo without Donut. Instead, their more memorable interaction were with nonplayer characters like Signet, or those involved in the production of the dungeon crawl, like Mordecai.

Still, by the end of this book, I was convinced that everything that happened is only going to make the series stronger. Clearly, Dinniman has a grand plan all worked out in his head, and things are just going to get better and better with each installment. I suspect the conflicts taking place in the universe at large involving Borant, Skull Empire, etc. will gain more significance, but so too will the main storyline following Carl, Donut, and Mongo that takes inside the dungeon, if that totally INSANE ending is any indication.

Certainly, taking my time with this series has been extremely difficult, but I still maintain that it is simply too good to rush through. That said, I probably won’t wait too long to get to the third book, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, which I already have ready to go! The litRPG genre is absolutely my scene, and I’m loving Matt Dinniman’s blend of irreverent humor, thrilling adventure, and unique characters. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Carl and Donut.