Book Review: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

I’d never read anything quite like Dungeon Crawler Carl, and to my delight it was a blast that immediately had me hooked. Luckily, it’s only the first book of a series that is already several volumes deep, so there’s plenty more where it came from. Book 2, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario picks up right where the first left off and sees Carl and his feline companion Princess Donut entering Floor 3 of the alien reality competition show they are on, a crumbling kingdom known as the Over City.

Their advisor Mordecai instructs them to avoid getting tangled up in any questlines as they will only monopolize their time and prevent them from leveling up, which of course means that they wind up doing the opposite. The pair become embroiled in a mystery revolving around dead prostitutes in a large town ruled over by arrogant bird people and the plot largely revolves around trying to solve it.

Author Matt Dinniman’s trademark dark humor returns, as does his ability to spin an addictively entertaining tale. A few new characters are introduced, but mostly we just get to know our two heroes more as they become closer as a team. Their character growth as they continue to survive the nightmarish situation they’ve been thrust into is genuinely moving to read, as the author begins to gradually up the story’s emotional stakes.

While the proceedings still remain firmly planted in “fun” territory this time out, the darkness that was creeping around the ages of the first book becomes ever so slightly more prominent as well. The larger drama unfolding among the various alien factions that both run and watch the vicious hit program known as Dungeon Crawler World is just starting to bleed into the game, thanks in no small part to Carl himself, and it adds some extra intrigue to the plot.

If you enjoyed the first book you probably don’t even need me to tell you to give this one a read, and if you haven’t started the series yet and think a melding of The Hunger Games and Baldur’s Gate III sounds like a good time then you need to pick it up yesterday. One would be hard pressed to find another reading experience as fun as these books have been so far and as the hidden depths rise ever closer to the surface they only grow more compelling. ★★★★½