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powerfulmage 's review for:
Dungeon Crawler Carl
by Matt Dinniman
If the indomitable human spirit was a book...
And feline spirit!
This totally changed my understanding of what a book can be. I'm new to the LitRPG genre and I loved this as an introduction. I laughed out loud and was surprised multiple times. One magical thing about Carl as a narrator was that I started out disliking him and grew to understand and celebrate the best parts of him, things that make him empathetic, hopeful, resilient, things that I ended up seeing in myself, without knowing it.
There were a few things that didn't work for me. At one point, Princess Donut uncharacteristically makes a weird jab at those with "special needs." I didn't care for the depiction of fat characters as grotesque, dirty, smelly, etc., while the sympathetic fat character is described as "chubby," and his body not further commented on. As an extension, the description ofthe human portion of Odette's body/suit was uncomfortable to read and unnecessarily degrading.
For all the things I would change about this book, it made me laugh. It made me feel hopeful. It made me feel connected. Though it may be a common sentiment, to read Carl say"If we get to the point where we don't help each other anymore, that's when we stop being human," meant something to me.
And Carl's enduring mantra, "You will not break me." At its first appearance, I highlighted it, "You might hurt me, or kill me, but you're not going to break me." That's all.
And feline spirit!
This totally changed my understanding of what a book can be. I'm new to the LitRPG genre and I loved this as an introduction. I laughed out loud and was surprised multiple times. One magical thing about Carl as a narrator was that I started out disliking him and grew to understand and celebrate the best parts of him, things that make him empathetic, hopeful, resilient, things that I ended up seeing in myself, without knowing it.
There were a few things that didn't work for me. At one point, Princess Donut uncharacteristically makes a weird jab at those with "special needs." I didn't care for the depiction of fat characters as grotesque, dirty, smelly, etc., while the sympathetic fat character is described as "chubby," and his body not further commented on. As an extension, the description of
For all the things I would change about this book, it made me laugh. It made me feel hopeful. It made me feel connected. Though it may be a common sentiment, to read Carl say
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Ableism