Scan barcode
searn's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This was an incredibly fast and fun read. Nothing crazy to challenge yourself with. I initially found it to be a fluffy read, and the prose was nothing to write home about (wakka wakka), especially with typos and some awkward sentences. But I will state that I was completely caught by surprise when by the end of the book I did genuinely care about the safety and well-being of the main characters. Dinneman just snuck right up behind me and got me completely invested in the doings of Carl and Princess Donut.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Fatphobia, Genocide, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder
abirchtealeaf's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Look to be clear this is a light novel. Maybe it doesn't look like but the title of this should be.
How I ended up in the dungeon with nothing but my cat, underwear, and dynamite.
Taking this book as what it is. It's tremendous fun. The action goes fast enough to almost make you forget how horribly bleak the setting is. It's a decent take on the genre and compared to something like solo leveling, omvient readers viewpoint, or even any power scaling dungeon, crawling book it comes off less serious and more lovable.
Now to be clear this book comes with a pretty big list of trigger warnings. If none of those bother you and you want something fun. It's a pretty good read.
How I ended up in the dungeon with nothing but my cat, underwear, and dynamite.
Taking this book as what it is. It's tremendous fun. The action goes fast enough to almost make you forget how horribly bleak the setting is. It's a decent take on the genre and compared to something like solo leveling, omvient readers viewpoint, or even any power scaling dungeon, crawling book it comes off less serious and more lovable.
Now to be clear this book comes with a pretty big list of trigger warnings. If none of those bother you and you want something fun. It's a pretty good read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Blood
The book goes fast and doesn't linger but it's a dark setting. It's seems intentional that everything is awful and yet there is no time to longer on it.goetzilla's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
radella_hardwick's review against another edition
2.75
Too crass for my taste
but they did a great job of baiting the hook of class-selection to make you want to read the next one
but they did a great job of baiting the hook of class-selection to make you want to read the next one
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
ohgenevieve's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
calyps0ph's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
I loved this book! contains just enough earth pop culture references to not be insufferable like Ready Player One, but is more grounded than the whimsy of hitchhiker's guide (which I loved, don't get me wrong). love the (mild) gore, satire, and crude humor.
the game mechanics (loot boxes, leveling, stat points, etc.) got a smidge tedious—though its clear Dinniman tries to cut out down the unimportant details once readers have adjusted to premise—as well as the xp farming bits, but it's clear from the beginning that the first three levels are TRAINING. I disagree with the people grouching that the story is moving too slow because book 1 progresses through only two levels: if the levels moved any faster, y'all would've complained Carl was OP and the pace was unrealistic. once they get to level three and choose race/class, things will (hopefully) expand beyond defaulting to familiar tactics (explosives and magic missiles), and we'll get to see more inventive boss fights. it's clear that there are overarching political agendas at play, both inside and outside of the dungeon, and there are a number of complex characters that I'm invested in.
if I had to critique something besides the repetition, it'd be Odette's obscenely massive breast armor? I get that it's high-level gear, but with the loot boxes being somewhat tailored to the crawler, I want an explanation as to how and why she ended up with the appearance she's famous for when (if?) we get the backstory on her crawl. as for the rest of the female nudity, I'm not necessarily mad about it... yet. bodies are bodies, and there's nothing wrong with describing them, and right now, Dinniman's grotesque depictions lean more into body horror than sexualization. BUT! that could change. the only other nit-picky thing I have is Donut's Second Chance spell, which is originally described as being able to raise a monster of a lower level than the caster from the dead (Chap. 30, p. 257). In Chapter 45, Carl describes that Donut "could now apparently resurrect monsters up to five levels higher than herself" (396). The word "apparently" makes me think that there's some explanation for this, but for now it's an inconsistency.
can't wait to read the next book! long live science fiction!
the game mechanics (loot boxes, leveling, stat points, etc.) got a smidge tedious—though its clear Dinniman tries to cut out down the unimportant details once readers have adjusted to premise—as well as the xp farming bits, but it's clear from the beginning that the first three levels are TRAINING. I disagree with the people grouching that the story is moving too slow because book 1 progresses through only two levels: if the levels moved any faster, y'all would've complained Carl was OP and the pace was unrealistic. once they get to level three and choose race/class, things will (hopefully) expand beyond defaulting to familiar tactics (explosives and magic missiles), and we'll get to see more inventive boss fights. it's clear that there are overarching political agendas at play, both inside and outside of the dungeon, and there are a number of complex characters that I'm invested in.
can't wait to read the next book! long live science fiction!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, and Gun violence
Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, and Classism
epzel's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
LitRPGs are my guilty pleasure, and this is definitely one I'd put towards the top of the list. Even though it still had the trappings of an RPG game system, I really liked that the book didn't focus overly on stats or leaderboards or other things that can get stale and tiresome, and the system was built into the story in a way that made sense and didn't feel too forced. I also liked that the main character stuck to his own morals and priorities and didn't just fall headfirst into trying to play into the system. It definitely helped that (unlike some entries in the genre) Carl wasn't given any sort of fancy item that really gave him a head-start from the beginning, and most of their victories came out of preparation or on-the-spot ingenuity and problem-solving.
The humor is pretty great, though it can be pretty low-brow. A lot of the funniest lines come from the (kind of dark, if you think about it too hard) system announcements and achievements. There are some moments where there's a more serious edge to what is truly a very dark situation, but this is not a book that makes you stew in that for too long without moving back into a more (darkly) humorous angle.
All in all, I enjoyed the characters and the humor. This is not a super deep or heavy book, even though it deals with some pretty dark topics and situations. I will probably pick up the next one once I've finished out my Fantasy bingo card for the year.
The humor is pretty great, though it can be pretty low-brow. A lot of the funniest lines come from the (kind of dark, if you think about it too hard) system announcements and achievements. There are some moments where there's a more serious edge to what is truly a very dark situation, but this is not a book that makes you stew in that for too long without moving back into a more (darkly) humorous angle.
All in all, I enjoyed the characters and the humor. This is not a super deep or heavy book, even though it deals with some pretty dark topics and situations. I will probably pick up the next one once I've finished out my Fantasy bingo card for the year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Fatphobia
jenabest's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
4.0
I picked this up on a whim, then started with much trepidation after someone I typically align with really disliked it. But maybe I went in with more accurate expectations?
I mostly enjoyed this, and while I wish there weren't SO many books in this series, I do think I'll chip away at it.
The premise is cool, and honestly, I'm here for Princess Donut. It's not a deep thinking read and the humor is really on par with online video game spaces. I'm really hoping book 2 gives more plot and less "action, action, action" but I'm rambling a bit because it wasn't bad and I had a good time.
HOWEVER - some of the content will seem questionable at best if you miss one teeny tiny paragraph. It states that "the game" takes stereotypes from Earth and then caricatureizes them further. This is probably a questionable judgement on the author's part, but I don't think the intent is malicious. At least, I really hope not.
I mostly enjoyed this, and while I wish there weren't SO many books in this series, I do think I'll chip away at it.
The premise is cool, and honestly, I'm here for Princess Donut. It's not a deep thinking read and the humor is really on par with online video game spaces. I'm really hoping book 2 gives more plot and less "action, action, action" but I'm rambling a bit because it wasn't bad and I had a good time.
HOWEVER - some of the content will seem questionable at best if you miss one teeny tiny paragraph. It states that "the game" takes stereotypes from Earth and then caricatureizes them further. This is probably a questionable judgement on the author's part, but I don't think the intent is malicious. At least, I really hope not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
lecheeese's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A Dungeons & Dragons-style dungeon crawl with the wit and imagination of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Will be sure to get you out of a reading slump as it's VERY addicting!
Did we really just start a meth war between the goblins and the llamas?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use
litoreads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail