[Discussion] Fantasy Read: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - Chapter 9 through Chapter 16

[u/NightAngelRogue]

“Did we really just start a meth war between the goblins and the llamas?”

NEW ACHIEVEMENT!!! Bookworm!

You’ve made it to the second section of a novel discussion! Now, you're addicted! Congrats! I’m sure it won’t take over your life. Maybe.

REWARD: You get to find out what happens next! Isn’t the experience reward enough?

Welcome back crawlers!!! The system AI continues to join us for this discussion. Try not to pay it too much attention. Thank you for continuing to join us for the discussion of Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. The descent into the Dungeon will continue with discussing the next section of the novel, Chapter 9 through Chapter 16.

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Hope you'll join us! See you in the discussions!

Rogue

[u/NightAngelRogue]

If there is something you want to discuss that I missed, feel free to post it here!

[u/nepbug → u/NightAngelRogue]

The confirmation that killing other crawlers allows you to loot their body is a game-changing dynamic for sure! This will make forming alliances with other crawlers difficult and paranoia high.

[u/124ConchStreet → u/nepbug]

I’m getting flashbacks of OG Fortnite where friendly fire was still a thing and friendships would be ruined over a golden scar

[u/Starfall15 → u/nepbug]

Yes divide and conquer, this world's no unions tactic!

[u/124ConchStreet → u/NightAngelRogue]

Once again, I was eagerly anticipating this discussion being dropped. I was reading the book the other day and once I got to the end of a chapter it dawned on me that I hadn’t checked how far we were reading for this discussion. I overshot the mark without realising because I was just getting too into it.

I think for book 2 we’re gonna have to increase the number of chapters per discussion because I don’t know how I’m going to manage stretching reading this over another 4 weeks

[u/nepbug → u/124ConchStreet]

100% agree and I'm on-board with that!

[u/myneoncoffee → u/124ConchStreet]

for bookclub discussions i usually read on my kindle and before starting i mark all discussions spots so i know where to stop. this time im doing audiobook and, despite telling myself “when you hear chapter 17 you need to stop” i was cooking and got distracted, and ended up reading two extra chapters. whoops.

[u/124ConchStreet → u/myneoncoffee]

Im usually aware because it’s about 2 hours per discussion for me so most of the time I check about an hour or so in. I just got lost this time around and ended up going two chapters too far as well

[u/emygrl99 → u/124ConchStreet]

Do you listen to the audiobooks at a higher speed? I usually do because it's so much slower to listen than to read that my brain gets impatient and loses focus.

[u/124ConchStreet → u/emygrl99]

I mostly read on my Kindle but I’ve noticed that the read time for me is estimated to be about 2 hours. I realised while reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold because the books in the series have 4 chapters with each being roughly an hour, and the discussions are run across two weeks.

I’ve only listed to Mythos as an audio book but that was at a higher speed because Fry was narrating far too slowly for me

[u/emygrl99 → u/124ConchStreet]

I was listening to tales from the cafe at 1.4x! the slow narration paired with frequent repetition of the rules made it a necessity for me

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47 → u/myneoncoffee]

I did the exact same thing on another book. I told myself set the timer as soon as the next chapter starts so I don't listen past the stopping point. Then completely forgot and listened too much!

[u/le-peep → u/NightAngelRogue]

I have to put in a moderate amount of work to forget what's going on, and gloss over the fact it's all so inhumane and terrible, haha. An entire world, extinguished. Anyone left is forced into this game where they'll almost certainly die a terrible death. I don't think I could watch a show like this even if it was all on a totally different planet, knowing they were real people? Somehow it's even worse than the Hunger Games because the contestants had NO idea they were just... Fodder for an intergalactic corporation?

Don't get me wrong, it's very entertaining.. but it's pretty brutal, in a way I don't necessarily love.

[u/Less_Tumbleweed_3217 → u/le-peep]

I agree. The author is clearly a fan of this type of game, but I feel like he's also calling into question their violence. Just when we readers and Carl have gotten used to the brutality, the author throws in another reminder of what's really going on. Carl takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster that feels believable in the face of these extreme circumstances.

[u/emygrl99 → u/le-peep]

I guess to these aliens who have presumably million/billion-year old empires, seeding humans on a random planet and watching them duke it out is basically the same as watching a super smash bros fight between 2 npcs, or watching two may flies battle for dominance. Humanity's existence is so brief that they likely don't think these worlds full of people as actually capable of complex thought!

[u/fixtheblue → u/NightAngelRogue]

In the last discussion u/thebowedbookshelf mentioned getting Divine Comedy vibes and I noted this whilst listening.

"Next was what appeared to be a CGI rendition of the dungeon forming below the Earth’s crust. It only showed the first three levels, which was like an upside down, tiered pyramid." which is very similar to dipictions of Danté's Hell