Audiobook Review – Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 2) by Matt Dinniman, Narrated by Jeff Hays (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Humor
Length: 11 hours and 28 minutes
Publisher: Soundbooth Theater
Release Date: April 22, 2021
ASIN: B09345T1HY
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series
Source: Bought Audiobook
Rating: 5/5 stars
“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.”
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 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.
