Carl's Doomsday Scenario

As is usual with these serial stories, this picks up right where the first book left off, with no real effort made to remind readers of what happened earlier. Even though it wasn't that long ago that I read the first book, it still took me a bit to orient myself, and there were references to characters and events in Book 1 that I couldn't always recall well. For the most part, this wasn't too much of an issue for me.

This entire book takes place on the third floor of Dungeon Crawler World. At the start of it, Carl and Princess Donut are faced with decisions about their race and class, with an overwhelming (to me) number of options available to both of them. After that, it's time to deal with the floor itself, which is more dangerous and show more has a few new game mechanics added to it. Carl and Donut have only eight days to find an exit to the fourth floor before they're flattened.

This time around, in addition to regular enemies and bosses, Carl and Donut have to deal with the additional complication of quests and NPCs called "elites."

Carl continues to struggle with the disconnect between the actions that would be best for him and Donut as players of this game and his emotional reaction to the NPCs as individuals. Most of the NPCs Carl encounters have no existence outside of Dungeon Crawler World and never will have one - they and their memories are created solely to add some color to the game and keep players and viewers engaged. That doesn't stop Carl (and Donut) from feeling, on a gut level, that they're like real people.

Dungeon Crawler World really and truly sucks for everyone unwillingly involved in it. Yes, the players (and former players, like Mordecai) have had the world and people they loved suddenly destroyed and now find themselves constantly facing the possibility of death, but the NPCs had my sympathy too, especially when I read the "Backstage and the Pineapple Cabaret" extra (since my copy of Dungeon Crawler Carl was the original self-published version, I hadn't realized that the trad publisher version had a bonus story - interlibrary loan helped solve that problem for me).

As in the first book, Dinniman handled the balance between the humor and deadly circumstances in a way that worked well for me. The villains/enemies continued to be written with more empathy than I sometimes expected - that circus was surprisingly tragic.

I love Carl and Donut as a pair. I absolutely plan to continue this series.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Series Info/Source: I bought this for audiobook. This is the second book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

Thoughts: After reading and absolutely loving the first book in this series, I went and bought the first three books on audiobook to listen to with my family. My whole family is absolutely in love with this series (keep in mind my son is 17 years old, and this is definitely a more mature read because of the violence, sex references, etc).

Carl and Donut have made it to the 3rd floor of the Dungeon, an absolutely sprawling level called the Over City. They can finally choose their race and class and will learn a lot more about the game as well. Unfortunately, they accidentally get drawn into a complex quest that leaves them less show more time for grinding and leveling up than they had hoped.

I loved everything about this. The humor is still here, although a bit less silly than the first book, which fits the tone of the story well. I continue to be impressed with how additional layers are added to the story. This is done in a way that makes the story a lot more intriguing and complex, but it never gets overly confusing. I am impressed with the character development, especially Donut's development.

This book continues wonderful world-building, amazing action scenes, a fast-pace, and creative thinking by Carl. We meet many new characters and get to watch as Carl starts to sow the seeds of discontent and gets drawn even deeper into interstellar politics.

My Summary (5/5): Overall my whole family is absolutely in love with this series. The world-building, action, story, and characters are all amazing. I would highly recommend this to those who enjoy darkly humorous fantasy. Especially those who love Dungeons and Dragons types of stories. However, this series has become so much more than a simple dungeon delve and is more intriguing and fascinating with every book so far. show less

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: "The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin."

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it's anything but show more a game.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Reading something I liked, but didn't love, then its sequel, in less than a week was a bad decision. Princess Donut really worked my nerve this time, and not because she's a cat.

I'm not a gaymer. I've never kept my focus long enough to care about these games on screen, but the way they deliver the human addiction to story is pure and uncut. Is this a good exemplar of the text version of it? Since I read them both, and never even finished Ready Player One, I'm goin' with yes. The grace notes in this story are the basic reason I kept my eyes on the Kindle. Small things, deliberately planted, all through both books...this made me want to keep reading past the annoyance of the absurdities Carl and Princess Donut get up to, into, and yak on about.

I said it above: "I think you already know if you'll like this one, and I'm here to assure you you're right." show less

I only read the first book in this series because an attractive book store employee told me to. I bought and read this one because I wanted to, after being blown away by the awesomeness of the first. This one started a little bit slower than the last one, but I was hooked by like fifty pages in. I'm still having trouble imagining how the goodness can continue for the ten million remaining books in the Carl series, but I'm gonna keep going until they get bad.
There's not much to say. Carl is still in the dungeon, and Princess Donut is still by his side; the two making up a darling duo. Donut has evolved a bit and Carl has learned more how to work with her, but other than that things are pretty much the same. They have the same guide, are show more going on a lot of the same shows, and the system AI is still obsessed with Carl's feet. Yet, the world expands a lot more on level three of this strange game world.
I don't know what else to say except I'm not obsessed with Carl and Princess Donut. I still have a stack of books that I recently bought and need to get through, but the next (fiction) book I buy will be part three of this series. I must keep going! show less

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario is the second book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and this book takes us deeper into the dungeon, onto level three. As a result, the stakes are greater, the views are higher, and Carl and Donut are learning the political structure of this dungeon and all its affiliations. And while there are definitely comedic laugh-out-loud moments, this book is darker than the previous one as certain themes are explored and developed.

Carl is an interesting character as at first, he seems to comply with the challenges and quests that are set for him and Donut. But as he races through the levels and learns about the political structure, you realize it is far deeper and more complex than you first thought. I have to give show more the author credit for developing these subtle story lines, and while Carl seems to take everything at face value, he turns it all upside down by doing things his way and utter chaos ensues. It’s fun to see the characters learn to rely on each other as they go through some dangerous things, and you get some emotional conversations at the end of some of it which helps you understand them better and what they are thinking. Personally, I have enjoyed all the characters and I like the fact the author gives a ‘voice’ to a lot of them so even if you don’t necessarily agree with their actions, you can sympathize with what they are going through, what happened to them, or what they are being forced to do for entertainment.

The author weaves all of this bonding and character development into some very entertaining story lines. Carl is grasping a lot of the political structures of the dungeon, but there is still so much he does not know which is why he inadvertently turns everything on its head quite often because he doesn’t understand. As a result, the powers that be are left floundering, and in one case, almost went bankrupt because of his actions and had to act decisively. Carl does the challenges, but he does them his way. And this is where the philosophical parts of the novel come into play, something I really like. You know, just because someone tells you to do something, should you? What are the consequences? Are there other things one can do instead? Will I destroy an entire world government if I do this? The reader is learning the political structures with Carl and Donut, so I find it fascinating when something unexpected happens; the discussions at the ‘round tables’ are always fun.

Verdict
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was a worthy sequel and I really appreciated the comedy, the humour, the fun characters (including a really weird AI with a foot fetish), and the unique plot. For a novel that seems rather light-hearted, there are some interesting themes running through it that I think will get darker as the series progresses. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. show less

Fun, addictive, and kept fresh with new 'mechanics', this is a great follow-up to the first novel. The LitRPG mechanics are fun and not overbearing, but can wear a bit thin. I liked the direction the story moved in, but unlike the first book it did feel like it lost a bit of momentum in the middle third, but it picked up by the end.

The relationships between characters are given a little more time to shine here, and there's a bit of depth, but this is very much a popcorn series and you're either going to love it or hate it. If the humor doesn't grab you, this might be a tough read for you. It's more hit than miss for me and I'm interested to see how far the concept can go - with a bunch more books already published.

I love this world. In the first book I think everything is so shocking and outlandish that it’s hilarious. Poor Carl is shocked at every turn. He doesn’t know what’s going on and that adds a layer of humor to the book that keeps you laughing and thinking WTF?!

There were so many moments I laughed out loud but as the book progresses Carl realizes more and more the level of shit he’s been dumped into which makes the book take on a more serious tone. Carl is definitely feeling the toll of the dungeon and the cost of having to constantly kill.

I loved that Donut is actually smarter than she appears. It’s all an act and I think she has more than proven that she’s an exceptional actress. In the end, when they thought they were show more going to die, I love how the two came together and held each other saying their last words and in the end, surviving.

In this book, Carl starts a lot of shit with different nations. Insults the Skull Empire, causes the wrongful death of Manasa from the Valtay Corporation, they fire back and kill the Skull Queen and the Maestro and later on he got the AI to shell out expensive Celestial boxes that Borant can’t afford…. And all of that will come back to haunt him….

There’s still so much to learn about Borant and the Syndicate. Will Carl and Donut have issues with Hekla? Will they run into Lucia Mar? Will Mongo grow big enough that Carl can ride him? Whats the relationship with Moreno’s and Odette? Who knows but I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the next book. show less