I was instantly engaged, terrific narration!

Dungeon Crawler Carl

This is my review for books 1 to 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl (no spoilers)

I enjoyed this series immensely!

Let me start by saying LitRPG is not my favorite genre.

I want to like it so bad, because I’m a gamer and a fan of (urban) fantasy/ sci-fi. But with most LitRPG books I’ve tried, the ‘game system’ seems to be front and center, not the characters, story or plot. I just don’t feel engaged in the story or invested in the characters. (the only exception is the ‘Threadbare Series’, which I also adored)

But, because of the insane amount of recommendations this series gets on Reddit, all the good reviews on Audible and the mention of a main character that is a cat, I decided to give this series a try despite my skepticism of the genre.

And I’m so grateful for it, this series is amazing.

I was instantly engaged. Such a wonderful feeling! No ‘trying to like something’, ‘waiting till the story grips you’ or ‘till you feel invested in the characters’.. , everything just immediately felt right.

I absolutely love the main and side characters. Princess Donut holds a special place in my heart though. 🙂

Everyone felt real, consistent and believable. I enjoyed the character development so much, excellently paced.

The whole series has a strong overarching story, but still each book gives you a complete story arc and satisfying feeling. I appreciate that a lot.

I devoured these 5 books and any further entries to the series will be insta- buys.

Last but most definitely not least, the narration. It was terrific!

I believed every word, and that’s always the most important thing for me personally.

What I found most impressive about the narration is not only the character voices/ distinction, but the consistency and believability of those voices in all kinds of situations.

Donut sounded like Donut, whether she was angry, singing a song, almost in tears or just being Donut.

I can’t imagine how hard it must be to use character voices, convey all kinds of emotions while continuing to differentiate each individual one and still manage to make it sound authentic and genuine.

I’m in awe of the narrator and I enjoyed this performance tremendously.

One of my absolute favorite series on Audible, I can’t recommend it enough.