Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - 4 Stars

[Morgan]

What do you do when aliens invade Earth, destroy everything, and announce you can either try to survive on the surface or enter an underground, RPG-style fight for survival, complete with monsters and loot boxes, all live-streamed for the entertainment of trillions across the galaxy? You grab your ex-girlfriend’s cat and enter the game in crocs and your boxers. Obviously.

This was the first LitRPG book I’ve ever read, and while not a genre I will be picking up again anytime soon, I really enjoyed this book. The dialogue, characters, and plot were just ridiculous enough to be entertaining without tipping over into cringey. I’m not a gamer at all, but I was still able to follow the mechanics of the game-style dungeon. On the surface the plot seems pretty straightforward, but there a few clues sprinkled throughout suggesting a more complicated underlay, which makes things interesting. There were a few moments (between trying not to die) that the main character, Carl, reflected on the total destruction of his planet, but I wish these had been explored a little more.

Although I really enjoyed this, I’m still deciding whether or not to pick up the next book. Not sure I want to commit to seven books right now!

[Joanne]

This sounds like real fun! Just entertainment. I use to do beta resting for RPGs and ended up having a very favorite, which I still play today. Like you said, not something you would pick up all the time, but for a Fun tag-perfect.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

I've started this very book today, mostly because it fits in the fun category and because some of my friends gave good ratings to later episodes.
I've had it on my ebook reader for at least a couple of years, and I know it is right up my alley, with its Action RPG world building (I've tried all the major titles in the genre I think, like Diablo or Grim Dawn or Half Life. But it still seems a little silly to read about a game instead of actually playing it.
After the introductory chapters though, I believe Matt Dinniman strikes the right note of humorous homage, like that other gamer fantasy from Ernest Cline