bookishpriest's reviews
214 reviews

 Dungeon Crawler Carl is a fast-paced, funny, clever satire of reality television and the exploitative, extractive capitalism of our world. It's also, easily, the most bingeable series of books I've read in ages. 

Aliens decide to strip Earth of the resources they need and humanity is given a choice: Attempt to survive on a blasted and desolate surface or enter the dungeon. Those who enter the dungeon find a globe-spanning complex full of danger that they are expected to navigate, like characters in a role-playing game. Their experiences are televised - and monetized - for the entertainment of the universe. Carl sets out with Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend's cat who is now a powerful magic-user, to attempt to survive this trial.

The relationships between characters in this book and their experiences are a cutting commentary on human exploitation for entertainment. Social media, reality TV, and our increasing desire for "real" tears in our entertainment make the at-first-absurd dungeon seem closer and closer to reality the further you read.

This commentary is played out against the whacky, bizarre events and encounters that, for me, are most reminiscent of old school role-playing games and some of the wild fantasy novels of the 1970s and 1980s.

This is the first book in a series which has six installments so far. I'm reading ebooks, but have heard clips of the audiobooks and the narration is absolutely phenomenal.

If you're a fan of fantasy, RPGs, and a funny, fast-paced read with some deep moments, Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl is definitely worth a look! 

The third volume in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series keeps on with and amps up the bizarre trek of Carl, Princess Donut, Mongo and friends through this Earth-made-dungeon-gameshow. 

This floor of the dungeon includes puzzles and conundrums on a scale not encountered before. The events of the story also reveal much more about how some of the strings in the dungeon are being pulled. 

The characteristic sense of humour and buddy comedy tropes are still here, but tihs book, more than the first two, drives home that the dungeon is a dangerous, heartless place. I gasped more than once while reading through.

Like the others in the series, if you're into a fast-paced dungeon crawl with strange monsters, troubled people, and the universe's worst public transit system, this is probably for you!

This is the second installment in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series of LitRPG novels by Matt Dinniman. Like the first, this book is lots of fun and details the exploits of Carl - a rapidly-learning explosives expert - and his friends, Princess Donut - a Persian Cat turned charming sorceress - and Mongo - Princess Donut's pet velociraptor.

We learn more about just how the dungeon works and some of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans in this second installment. This, combined with some good character development and a fun plotline, made Carl's Doomsday Scenario another great, easy read.

If you're a fan of a bit of fun, absurdist fantasy, this could be for you! The scenarios in this series often remind me of 1970s and 1980s pulpy sword and sorcery stories with a great sense of humour mixed in.

At face value, I should really have enjoyed this book much more than I did. The parts all sound great. Wizard lawyers, a dead god, magic and divine favour as commentary on capitalism with just a sprinkle of steampunk on top.

In the execution, though, I just didn't love it. I didn't find the characters especially interesting or intriguing. Some were too obvious - the villain stops just short of actually twirling a moustache as they describe their evil plans - and some were just unremarkable. The twists felt very carefully constructed with lots of signposts along the way.

There's a truly fascinating world as the backdrop for this story but I never felt like I quite got a proper handle on it. The writing seemed to be having an identity crisis and couldn't decide whether this was a gritty urban fantasy whodunnit or a zany fantasy adventure with silly characters along for the ride.

I think there's a lot of potential with the setting and ideas, but this book didn't bring it together in a way that worked for me.

A note on format: I started trying to read this with the audiobook and absolutely could not handle the narrator. There was a huge inconsistency in delivery which, combined with the inconsistent attitude of the story, was absolutely unmanageable for me.

This was a fun, easy, summer read. Exactly what the season wanted. Told in the style of a memoir, Lady Trent relates the origins and early experiences that contributed to her obsession with studying dragons.

This is the first book in a series. I haven't read the rest, but understand that they carry on the study of dragons in the world. For those who can't get enough of these fascinating creatures, there's much to learn!

The focus of the book on a fictional version of 19th century scientific inquiry comes with many of the real-world realities of that era. There are moments of racism, classism, and dated scientific method that may not be for everyone.

The narrator of the audiobook, Kate Reading, does a great job and manages to bring the characters to life without being intrusive or silly.

Definitely worth a read if you want some fun, easy fiction and love studying dragons!

A teenage camper has gone missing from her cabin in the Adirondacks. She's the daughter of the family who own the camp and this isn't the first time someone's gone missing. Fourteen years earlier, her own brother disappeared and was never found.

Liz Moore's newest novel is a tense thriller told from multiple points of view and at different points in history. There are far more secrets to unravel than we are first led to believe and I kept reading "one more chapter" to find out what the next one would be. The fictional world created in The God of the Woods is uncomfortably realistic, the complex characters by equal measures lovable and despicable, and the mysteries around Camp Emerson and the Van Laar Preserve thoroughly engrossing.

The God of the Woods is definitely worth your time to read. Especially if you've got time at a summer getaway in the woods.

This short collection of stories reflects on the experiences of black, American women trying to reconcile the realities of their lives with the expectations of being "good church ladies". The human experience includes dysfunctional families, fractured relationships, extremes of charity, patience, and love as well as lust, addiction, lies, secrets, and generational trauma. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies doesn't pretend to offer answers on how to reconcile the tensions between reality and expectation, but it does give an honest, poignant reflection on what it is like to live in that space.