The Sword and Laser discussion

I committed to read whatever book won the tournament. So when Dungeon Crawler Carl won, I went ahead and bought the ebook. I was reading a couple of other things yesterday so only got through about a third of it. I wrapped it up this afternoon.

My reaction after reading is pretty much exactly what I anticipated before reading it. I had heard about this book series at least since Felicia Day brought it up. (I checked and that would have been late 2022 with a feature on her first podcast of 2023.) Since then I've heard and read others discussing the series. And there's been a lively conversation about it recently in this book club.

I have no issue with the execution. It's well-constructed and has the intended fast-paced, ever advancing plot with a healthy dose of humor. I don't have an issue with the concept. I enjoyed Tron when it was released and I got a kick out of the Running Man adaptation later in the 80s. (I really loved that they got Richard Dawson to be the host.)

I see why people would enjoy the series as their fun, escapist read. Heck, at one point in my life I probably would have enjoyed it too. (That point probably would have also been in the 80s when I remember enjoying the MythAdventures novels.) DCC is not a challenging read, but that's not what it's trying to do. I think it accomplishes what it's trying to do just fine and it has found an audience for whom it's providing entertainment and escape. Good for the series and the author.

These days I tend to intermingle books I select to read because I'm confident they'll challenge me and do something new (like Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor) and escapist, comfort reads. But where I am today, the form of comfort read or escapism I seek isn't really the sort of action and humor in DCC. It's not any one thing, but it's more like returning to one of the long-running urban fantasy series I read. Or my newer love for some of the superhero series like Heart of Heroes, Sidekick Squad, or the novels set in the Vigilante Universe. Or a lifelong standby like LOTR. Anything by Becky Chambers. Listening to Murderbot yet again. Hmmm. I really enjoyed the copy of Bookshops & Bonedust my youngest got me for my last birthday. So I likely enjoy cozy reads like that as comfort reads. Heck, I loved "A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking".

I feel like if I wanted to experience a level grind as a form of escape, I would rather play some WoW or another MMO. In novel form, it just doesn't click for me. I expect I would feel similarly about most litRPG novels. I understand what the novel is doing and I don't mind reading it. I'm just also not especially interested in what it's doing.

Needless to say, I have no plans to read more in the series. I do look forward to reading the reactions of others. And await someone willing to upload their own recorded theme song audio.

I also thought of the MythAdventure series, while reading this. Both are fun because they are easy to read and faced paced, with a fair bit of humor.

Recently, I went back and reread the Myth books and I still enjoyed them. My sense of humor has not changed much at all. Dungeon Crawler Carl worked for me as well. They are very different in their style of humor, but it's nice to have a fun read in between the challenging books.

But it's interesting, to me, that you gave it a better score and do not intend to continue the series. While I gave it a lower score than you and very much do intend to continue reading.

For me, the one thing that held it back was info dumps. I don't like tutorials in games and often get bored when a friend is recounting a fun video game playing experience, if they get too far into the weeds. Dungeon Crawler Carl could have used less explanation of how the game works. Some information gives the reader the general idea without bogging things down. If DCC wasn't chock full of achievement explanations, it might have been 100 pages shorter.

Oh, if I rate books, I don't tend to rate them the way a lot of people do based off my personal reaction. My "it's fine" personal reaction at this particular juncture in my life and my mood in the moment would probably be around a 3 for DCC. But I can tell there are points in my life, like back in the 80s when I read the Myth series, that I would have thoroughly enjoyed the book and probably devoured the rest of the series.

So if I thought the author did a good job at writing the sort of book they were trying to write I'll normally give it a 5 whether or not it was my particular jam. And DCC is a good example of that. If it's the sort of book somebody is looking to read and basing their choice on its description, I'm pretty confident they'll enjoy this book. So a 5 means I get what the author was trying to do and I think they executed it well.

For me, a 4 means I get what the author was trying to do but I think they fell short in a few places. Overall it's still good execution of the sort of work the author was trying to write, but it has a few bumps and doesn't quite hit the mark in one way or another. But if that's the sort of book you're looking to read, you're still going to enjoy it.

If I felt the author's execution was more flawed than that, I usually won't rate a book. Maybe somebody else would appreciate it more than I did or be better able to overlook its flaws. So I don't tend to give many 3 ratings.

I tend to only give lower ratings in conjunction with a review and mostly in cases where I think people should be warned off from reading the book for some reason. And I don't often have such a strong negative reaction to a book I actually read.

And that probably goes back to what's going through my head when I start a new read. (Fiction, that is. I have a separate process for non-fiction.) There are certain authors I'll likely read from just a brief description or if it's part of an ongoing series I already love, with little or no thought at all. With other books, I may see a recommendation somewhere (like the S&L community or discord), read something more in depth like a Big Idea post on Scalzi's blog or a review in a magazine, or have someone whose opinion I trust personally suggest I read it.

If I'm researching a book I'm unsure about reading, I might look for reader reviews in various places. When checking reviews, I'll usually notice negative ones, but I'm more interested in reading why people who liked the book enjoyed reading it. That gives me a better sense of whether or not I might like it for similar reasons. If the reasons most people who love a book say they like it don't have some sort of personal appeal for me, it's probably a good bet it's not a book I'll especially enjoy.

If I'm browsing at a book store or library, I'll pick up a book that looks interesting and read some of it, maybe even sit and read for a bit. That usually gives me a pretty good sense. I may also do that online these days with an electronic or audio sample.

Finally, if it's a selection for a book club in which I'm actually participating I'll often go ahead and read it no matter my initial reaction, at least if it's a normal-ish length book, say in the 100k-150k words range. If it's a massive tome of 200k+ words and even reading a sample of it did nothing to improve my gut reaction, I'll probably skip it. That's even more likely if it's the first in a series. But that doesn't come up too often.

So that process plus the fact that I have a pretty broad palate for books I'll at least find okay means I don't often start books I end up having a negative reaction to. And I generally enjoy reading most that I start.

I wasn't particularly expecting to enjoy this book -- I'm not a huge fan of D&D-esque adventures or books that are heavy on the pop culture references -- but to my surprise I found it really enjoyable. Dinniman does a great job of using both humour and real emotional punch to bring the preposterous story to life. It reminds me in some ways of Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, with less Spinal Tap/classic rock references and more contemporary social satire.