There was a lot I liked about this book but a lot more I didn’t like.

Starting with what I liked: The idea of a giant corporation coming in and claiming earth for its own, and making the residents of earth fight like gladiators for the chance of some modicum of freedom but the reality being that eventually it’ll get too dangerous and they’ll end up working under the system that oppresses them as glorified slaves with extra steps all to meet a capitalist bottom line? I like that! That’s interesting! I like Carl as a character I don’t care he seems “too” good I think we need more representation in media of men being good, of never thinking once of leaving someone behind because they’re weaker or different and truly caring for something as helpless as a cat even if that cat is his shitty ex-girlfriends. I was iffy about the structure of this book for awhile. I was like where is this going? This feels like a formulaic battle and then rest and then battle again plot broken up by some game show antics. But I could see how it was all coming together in the end. The author is clearly building things slowly but he’s got plans in mind. It took awhile to get there but there IS some political intrigue at the end at least the beginnings of it.

As for what I don’t like I’m going to break things down into things I consider “me” problems and things I think are fundamentally just wrong with the book. “me” things: This book is very high action, there’s very little slow down time it’s very much “battle one, short break to short rest, then battle number 2” etc etc.the moments in between battles are VERY heavy on the exposition. Not much happens but sitting and talking about the dungeon and classes and this and that but the plot feels very still like you’re waiting for more stuff to happen. this is why it’s under issues I find to be “me” things. I am very much a person who prefers less action as it’s hard for me to conceptualize in my head, I like strong political intrigue and deep thoughts in character moments, strong character relationships etc etc. There’s nothing wrong with not liking or wanting these things in books! I truly think this is a great writing style for someone who’s maybe more ADHD as it’s a good way to keep people hooked and their attention held. But for me personally it just isn’t my thing. Speaking of not slowing things down, the author doesn’t really take time the time to describe the environment. I get it, it’s a dungeon but it’s just like “hallways” and “doors” what kind? Is it like a house or an office building or a school? It just trips me up as a reader, makes it hard for me to visualize where we are and what’s going on.

For the things I think are actually heinous: It’s pretty clear that DCC is trying to satirize gamer dude bro culture but I think it is often done in a very shallow way that ends up instead perpetuating the stereotypes it’s trying to clown on. The first boss Carl fights is a fat Mexican woman that Carl beats to death with his bare hands while she begs for her life. That left a bad taste not just in my mouth but so many others. The author then waits way too long to even examine why the corporation did that and even so it’s done poorly. “But but but! Carl is closed off! He’s focused on the goal ahead of him! Not on his FEELINGS!” We could still narratively have a moment where Carl is horrified he had to do this and then see him closing his feelings down to focus on the goal ahead. By not acknowledging them at all it appears Carl (and by extension the author) doesn’t care. There’s a stark lack of fleshed out female characters in this book. “But donut is a female character!” She’s a cat. All her jokes about her being vain and naive work cuz she’s a cat. We hear about Beatrice and hear nothing but how bad, how vain, what a cheater she is. The next female character we meet is dead and naked which is an uncomfortable thing to read especially when the grossness of it isn’t expanded upon or examined. Followed closely by some goblins who the entire Schtick is they’re ugly but hitting on Carl and some of them have to either cook and eat their father or have SEX with them? What a weird thing to say??? What a weird plot point to drop in and never look at again? Is that meant to be funny? Then finally we meet the nurses, which includes Yolanda and Imani but this book doesn’t spend time getting to know them or fleshing them out. “But but!! In later books they-“ I’m talking about this book. Right here right now. I will give this a slight pass because ALL of these side characters are very flat. I don’t care if they WILL be fleshed out, they could have done some right here and they just don’t. I will honorably mention that Carl does, in passing, mention he did not get to know these characters very well and I understand that this will be built upon in later books. The author is being slow and I am sure he’s gonna dive in but for this book, right here, it doesn’t work well because it feels very flat and empty. Odette is the final female character in this book that gets some sort of spotlight. Yes I know I didn’t mention Maggie, she shows up like twice in the entire book. Lucia Mar shows up more and she’s just a child who Carl sees on the TV, we’ve never even heard her speak. Anyway Odette. She’s a human who has no legs and uses a giant crab to move around. She's described as wearing armor that gives her gigantic titties including describing the grossly oversized areolas. This completely overshadows even the crab thing as more time is taken to describe her breasts than her crab lower body. I want to take a moment to ask what the point of this was? Ok assuming the corporation is trying to sexualize the female characters to appeal to their audience first of all isn’t the main audience aliens? Why would they have the same sexual tastes as a human? That doesn’t fit right in my head. So this was clearly written for the dude bro men. But assuming it WAS a satire on the way dude bro culture sexualizes women in the space there’s no evaluation of it, no real acknowledgement of it besides just “hey there they are.” So it boils the entire thing down to “awooga big boobies”. Especially since it’s a phenomenon we haven’t seen repeated yet in the narrative. Yeah Carl runs around without pants on but the gag is people find it funny he has no pants. Oh yeah the AI is into his feet but there’s no cartoonish sexualization of his body in a way comparable to women. It feels very lopsided and since there’s no acknowledgment of the way it’s unfairly stacked against non white folks and women it doesn’t feel like anyone cares. Which is so indicative of real life you know? This shit happens and men in RPG spaces go “damn” but don’t take initiative to help even when it’s right in front of their faces? Sorry mini rant. And this is all bolstered by the overflowing amount of sex jokes the author tucked into this book. “This monster is an incel so he attacks women in the party first and more vigorously!” “This is an attack with a sepsis side effect! Here’s a joke making it out to be STD like! You’ll get it from loose women! lol” “Hur hur the next book has dead hookers in it!” It’s lazy it isn’t very funny, it’s borderline punching down.

So my conclusion? It’s a fun book. It’s definitely the prologue to whatever good story the author is getting ready to tell but because of that it suffers from a lot of trips. I think the author needs to really tighten up and add some more depth but I’m hoping to see that in book 2!