Review: Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl #2

Publication date: January 6th, 2021

Pages: 371

Spice: N/A

Synopsis:

"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 a game.

Available at:

Story:

When I finished the first book in the series I knew I was going to have to read the rest of the series. The author did such an amazing job in creating this world for Carl and Princess Donut to live through that it was edge of your seat action coupled with side-aching comedy. The author took something predictably common as post-apocalyptic and made it current with adding video game and reality TV themes. I loved every aspect of the main characters' growth as well as all the side characters that give the story more involvement with the world that was being created past the readers' initial love of Carl and Donut. The first was your standard starter floor but the second takes it a step further. This one involved quests which create a little side stories within the main one to pull a reader's intrigue in. It seems like this edition of the Dungeon Crawler Carl Series brings a little murder mystery aspects into the story and gives Carl and Donut a purpose outside of trying to find the stairs to the next floor. I dare say it was even better than the first book! It even introduces a new main character into the crew that I am anxious to see more of.

Character(s):

• Carl - As always Carl proves he is a danger to the production team as he once more takes everything in stride. He seems to only have the problem of caring too much. He sees NPCs as more than what others do. They are creatures just like him forced into situations that they never would have be involved with before entering the dungeon. He is a master of coming up with ideas on the fly and never asking any of his partners to do anything he wouldn't be willing to do himself. He has a big heart and apparently very scrumptious feet according to the AI. I like seeing him using his brain even more than he already did in the first book. He showed he was good at problem solving as well as social deduction.

• Donut - Who can say anything negative about Donut? In this installment I got to see a softer side of Donut. She showed how much she cared about Carl and the same could be said for Carl. She is possibly the smartest sentient feline I have ever seen in literature; I am not sure how vast that pool is to be honest. She has sass for days but in this one, just like Carl, she showed a lighter side to herself. Donut cares about people past the initial selfish attitude she seemed to have at the beginning of the series.

• Katia - Katia is introduced about midway through the book, but she became a part of the crew so I felt I should include her here. She is the most boring character the author could create, however, that is exactly what the author wanted her to seem. There is more to Katia than meets the eye I feel but this was our first introduction to her. I think she will become very important to Carl later in the books but that might be just a hunch.

Writing:

Matt Dinniman has a way of combining adventure, fantasy, comedy and now he is adding in a dose of mystery? The way he executed this book was the best I have seen in a long time. He writes like he knows exactly where he wants to go with the characters from the very moment he puts pen to paper which is incredibly impressive. There are times when I will be reading the story and I will have no idea where it is going to go and then Dinniman lifts the veil and I am blown away. How does he come up with some of the things he does?

Overall:

Another insanely suspenseful and beautifully done installment in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I don't know how Dinniman is going to top this one but I imagine he'll find some way to expand his characters, confuse his readers, and delight the masses. Go out there and kill kill kill, Dinniman!