The apocalypse will be televised!
You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.
Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.
Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.
I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.
I’ve been hearing a lot about this book and the series as a whole, but I’ve been doing what I do whenever I hear about something I “really have to watch/read/listen to” – I ignored it with all of the vigour of a cat ignoring your pleas to please stop clawing the carpet. Then a friend mentioned just how good of a series it is. A friend who is as into games and nerddom as much as me. So, yes, I caved.
And it was quite possibly the greatest single loss of will power I’ve ever experienced. Lampooning table top role playing games and gaming as a whole. When Carl discovers his girlfriend is cheating on him and heading on holiday with another man, he thinks his world is ending. He hatches a plan to abduct her prize winning cat, Princess Donut, and run away. A freak scenario sees him outside trying to talk the cat out of a tree in the early hours of a Seattle winter when the Collapse happens. Everything with a roof – buildings, vehicles, even a hobo’s cardboard box – pancakes to the floor crushing anyone inside. The world is flattened, the majority of the population gone, and a gaping hole into the dungeon below opens up, one of many.
What ensues is a darkly humourous romp that crosses dark comedy fiction with role playing games of all kinds in a battle for survival. Carl and Donut, who gains the ability to speak, must fight to survive and work their way down through the dungeon levels as they battle NPCs of all kinds and even murderous human Crawlers. It turns out the whole twisted stunt is televised across the universe for the enjoyment of billions of aliens.
It sounds like an absolutely absurd premise for a game. Silly, over the top and utterly ridiculous. And yet I loved every minute of it. It is ridiculous, crass and oh so dark, and yet it had me genuinely snorting at moments – an utterly fantastic read. So much so, I’ve lept straight into the second book and it’s just as absurd!
My rating:
