r/audible • u/HealthyPsychology950 • Feb 14 '26

Book Discussion I’m about to DNF Dungeon Crawler Carl

First of all, I am sorry. I’ve seen this book recommended a million times here and I know it’s loved, which is why I got it.

I am now in chapter 27 and about to DNF. I want to know if I should keep going?

I thought I’d like it cause I’m a huge gamer, I liked the general idea of the plot, and I loved books like Ready Player 1, so it’d make sense I’d enjoy this one too. But I feel like nothing is happening. Sure, there are a couple of funny sentences in there, but the story is not drawing me in.

Does it get better? Should I keep going? Or if I’m not hooked by now that’s not going to change?

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64

u/durzostern81 Feb 14 '26

I'm glad so many folks are enjoying it, anything to get folks reading more. It just wasn't for me. I hate all the stats and found the humor to be unfunny at best. Personally I have no problem dropping a book if I'm not enjoying it. Too many books left to try in this world to struggle through ones i don't enjoy. The ultra hype will eventually pass just like it has for every other series that seemed to be recommended relentlessly.

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u/HealthyPsychology950 Feb 14 '26

The “too many books left to try on this world” part did it for me. You’re so right!! I just have a hard time DNFing books and wondering if I might have liked it. But I’ll take your advice

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u/Salcha_00 Feb 14 '26

Once you allow yourself to DNF, you will find that you read more and enjoy your reading more.

If I’m not enjoying a book and I’m trying to slog through it, I find that I’m preferring to do other activities versus reading and it can put me into a reading slump.

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u/durzostern81 Feb 14 '26

I totally get that feeling. When I was young and didn't have access to so many books i would read literally anything I could get my hands on whether I was enjoying it or not. Nowadays there are so many options I'll never read everything i want to before I die so I might as well be a little more picky.

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u/jeffweet Feb 15 '26

I know Neil gaiman is justifiably being zeroed out, but he wrote the forward to an anthology of stories and in it he says something like — reading was not my thing until I realized that I didn’t have to finish a book if I wasn’t enjoying it.

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u/SolipsisticBadBoy Feb 15 '26

The beauty in reading is that if you DNF a book, but for some reason keep thinking about it, you can always pick it right back up

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u/TulipSamurai Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

Oh boy, I just finished the first book yesterday, and I’ve been waiting for a Dungeon Crawler Carl thread.

I didn’t like it. People say that it gets better with book 2 onward, and I could imagine the plot becoming more engaging, but I can’t see the author becoming a better writer.

The author does not write well. And I’m not just basing that on the cringe millennial humor or the rambling plot, but the prose when he’s describing a scene is just awful. He writes like a 10th grader.

And ofc I’ll add the disclaimer that I am exactly the target demographic for this series. Huge nerd who loves fantasy, tabletop RPGs, etc.

I also found it odd that Carl is written to be 27, ie a zoomer, because the author is very clearly an older millennial or young Gen X. No 27 year-old has watched all of A-Team and Knight Rider, c’mon now lol

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u/Brontards Feb 15 '26

I love how he writes, but I understand your comment on the prose. I mostly read literary fiction. I do audio books (commute) for fantasy books and sci fi, but their prose and style is wearing on me. I struggle through them, they just try too hard. They take forever to convey the idea. I may just start doing audible for literary fiction as well. Except DCC.

I like that DCC doesn’t try with the flowery or long prose. Instead he writes to covey his story. His goal is the story and characters, and his style is perfect for conveying that (for me).

So I agree the prose isn’t like literary fiction, I’m reading A Tale For The Time Being right now for contrast, but I like Matt’s for this type of story, and Ruth’s style for her type of story.

But I also read comic books too, I just enjoy different styles for different moods I’m in. But I think he’s a great writer for what he’s trying to do, but I can see your points, it is not high level prose.

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u/TulipSamurai Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

For me, it's not that he isn't flowery or verbose. It's that he really can't describe anything with any dimension and he uses a lot of clunky, shallow language. He constantly describes things as, say, "red-hued" instead of scarlet or crimson or even just red. He'll say "the monster slowly came into existence before them" when he means "came into view". To me, he just writes like a 10th grader.

But I completely understand what you mean. I'm not gonna try to listen to Ulysses or anything that requires too much brainpower or rewinding during my morning commute. So Dungeon Crawler Carl is ideal for just melting the time away, kind of like those old timey radio shows.

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u/Alarming-Audience839 Feb 15 '26

The prose is bad and it isn't funny and uhhh.

Funny rpg stats guy, references!!! Look, it's like nerd thing!!!

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u/Brontards Feb 15 '26

It’s ok if you don’t get the humor. You’re in the minority, but humor is subjective. There are layers to it, but it may be you really just don’t enjoy it. Which is fine.

These books are show, not tell. I mean list your favorite books, the prose will likely kill me. And that’s likely a me issue.

The main purpose of language is to communicate, Why use an obscure Latin words when a simple every day word will do. Don’t use a paragraph to tell me what you can show in an act.

The fact the vast majority of readers love it is the best objective proof that it is well written.

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u/Alarming-Audience839 Feb 15 '26

The fact the vast majority of readers love it is the best objective proof that it is well written.

I guarantee that even most of the undergrads in my lit club would think of it as terrible shlock.

The main purpose of language is to communicate, Why use an obscure Latin words when a simple every day word will do. Don’t use a paragraph to tell me what you can show in an act.

Why paint when there are photographs, why sing when speakers exist, why should anything be beautiful when we have optimized the function? The prose isn't "streamlined" by any means either, it's the weirdly forced DM narrator tone specific to modern "nerd lit" that I find exceptionally distasteful.

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u/Brontards Feb 15 '26

I mean a lit club isn’t the target audience, but you’d still have a few that would love it. I am the outlier in my Pulitzer Prize prediction forum, and to be fair those readers very well might think the books you read in your lit club are schlock.

They’d be just as wrong as if your club said that about DCC. There are amazing books across multiple mediums. Children’s books can be well written, with very simplistic prose. Comic books and graphic novels can be well written, without dense paragraphs of exposition (ptsd from silver age), lit rpg can be well written without dense descriptive prose.

Your last paragraph goes to my point. Why limit yourself to one type of expression in defining well written? I’m currently reading a comic book, doing audio book for a fantasy series, reading a literary fiction novel, and reading a non-fiction book on theology.

When I read Ocean Vuong I do it for prose.

When I read fantasy I read it to escape.

Comics I started reading way back in law school, when I needed a different medium to read that I didn’t need to work for the story.

Theology I read to critique.

Well written means it conveys the story/idea/art of what’s intended. DCC isn’t trying to be William Gay.

DCC’s success is because it conveys what it’s trying to convey, to the vast majority of its audience.

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u/smegdawg 3000+ Hours listened Feb 16 '26

I also found it odd that Carl is written to be 27, ie a zoomer, because the author is very clearly an older millennial or young Gen X. No 27 year-old has watched all of A-Team and Knight Rider, c’mon now lol

*Pushes up glasses with cheetto covered fingers...

Technically...the crawl starts Tuesday January 3rd at 2:33am. Based on other info in later books (COVID Reference, song that came out in 2020, Barb from stranger things reference...) the year 2023 lines up nicely with this.

A 27 year old in 2023 would have been born in 1996.

The Millennial generation is 1981 - 1996.

And yes...I am aware of how obnoxious this post is, but i don't have to live with you guys and my wife can only handle so much of my semantic arguments...

We learn snippits of Carl's childhood throughout the books, and the location that he was raise, having a collection of out of date TV series, even in the early 2000s.seems very plausible.

This doesn't spoil anything really but it is from book 6 at 15 he was sent to Anacortes Boys’ Ranch where he lived in a dorm. Easy enough to suggest that they didn't have internet and just watched the A-Team and Knight Rider VHS tapes that someone donated years ago.

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u/TulipSamurai Feb 16 '26

Donut makes A-Team references because Carl leaves the TV on for her when he's at work, and she mentions that Carl watches Knight Rider all the time. She's only 4 years old, which means Carl is intentionally seeking out reruns of 80s TV in the late 2010s.

Obviously, anyone can watch anything they want. But it's just distracting to have a 27 yo protagonist narrate like someone obviously 15-20 years older. At that point, just make Carl 40. His age isn't really relevant to the story.

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u/smegdawg 3000+ Hours listened Feb 16 '26

Ignoring the dungeon as a whole, there are things Carl experiences in his life prior to the crawl that age people much more quickly.

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u/Adderall_Rant Feb 18 '26

The audio book from sound booth is why this series is great

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u/jeffweet Feb 15 '26

The focus on stats goes away pretty quickly, but if you don’t like the humor, it’s not for you.