varingblaarDungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Narrated by Jeff Hays
Spoiler warning: If you haven't listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl, I suggest you do so before going any further. If this spoils it for you, it's not my fault.You have been warned.
This is my first LitRPG. From what I understand this is many people's first LitRPG. It's weirdly meta. Besides telling the story of what's happening, we're also introducing the universe of the book (basically Hunger Games orchestrated by aliens for fun and profit), explaining how we got here (it's not the first of these games, it's a whole franchise), and detailing how it all works (you see things like it's a video game but it's not really there, basically Skyrim IRL).
Initially I found Jeff Hays's voice for Carl a little grating, but got used to it pretty quickly. Apparently it was supposed to sound like Patrick Warburton, specifically Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove. Mission accomplished, it sounds exactly like that. But for a few minutes is fine. I thought it would get annoying after 13 hours, but actually you get used to it. Also I think it mellows out a little. When it comes to the other voices, it's great. It's crazy to think they're all voiced by the same person.
Once I got over how insane the entire premise of the book is, the story is fast, frantic and funny. I was a little surprised that the book just sort of ended after the second floor, thank you for listening have a nice day. It's not a cliffhanger, but it does leave you wanting to know what happens next. I mean I just got the hang of how all these abilities work... So of course I got book 2...
I did come across a more immersive version of the audiobook. First episode is free. The main characters are still voiced by Jeff Hays, but others are a full cast and there's music and sound effects and everything. The first three books are available and I'm worried it might be jarring to go back to the normal audiobooks when I reach that point, so for now these will be reserved for re-listens. But it's good to know they're there.
Recommending the book to others usually involves mentioning the name, someone getting triggered, freaking out about how awesome it is explaining over each other and none of it making sense, ending it "trust me just get the audiobook thank me later". And if your friend is so inclined, be sure to wait for the "holy shit this is awesome" message a few days later.
