by Matt Dinniman (2020)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
Somehow, this book actually fell through the cracks when it came to reviewing it. I suppose it's because I had to read the hardcover from the library and there was a long wait between instances of reading it. I remmeber reading starting it in the pool last summer. I also have a note in my Year in Review post for 2025 that I hadn't finished it and wasn't likely to before I had to return it. Maybe I did, but I don't remember exactly when I did.
One thing I know is that Book 2 arrived much quicker because the library (through the Libby app) acquired ebooks of the first few volumes. I've already finished book 2, and I'v started on book 3.
Getting back to the first book:
The gist of it is that Carl is outside his ex-girlfriend's place, without pants, one night, trying to "rescue" his ex-girlfriend's cat, which jumped out the window. While he's out there, the world basically ends. Every building in existence is flattened to the ground along with all the people inside of them. They're all dead. Fun way to start a funny book, I know.
Aliens have invaded, and Earth is their new season of a Survivor game show based on first-person shooter dungeon crawling role-playing games. The survivors of humanity are the players. If they choose to play, they might survive, but not likely. If they don't, they'll die.
Players, dubbed "crawlers", have to killed creatures, gather loot, gain experience, increase their "stats" and "skills", and find a stairway down to the next level before the current level collapses and kills whoever hasn't descended yet. Of course, to get to these stairways, you'll have to beat local bosses, neighborhood bosses, and city bosses, each worse than the previous ones, and the big bosses will likely trap you inside.
We learn from Mordecai, a former player of the game who works the game now, what the rules are and how deep it goes. We also learn that it's not likely that anyone will survive that long, and if they get far enough to be offered a job, they should probably take it.
Okay, that's the basic setup.
My reaction to the book from back then -- which had a few heads online scratching -- was that the book was good and I could see why it gained popularity but I found it a little lacking. For all the setup about the world, the entire series, however long that lasts, will be this one season of the game. There will not be a level 16 in this book. We don't even see Level 3 where good things are supposed to happen.
In fact, it's a big deal getting down to Level 2, and it doesn't get easier from there.
The other complaint is that the book didn't seem to have an ending. Spoiler: they get to the stairs to Level 3. Not that it wasn't a big deal but it wasn't a big finale.
In hindsight, from reading book 2, it seems like someone decided that that would be a good place to split the narrative, and that the first two books are really one massive volume. It was probably smart to split it.
And I feeling better about the series now? A little. And I'll keep reading them as long as the library buys them. I might buy the first one for my nephew with a promise of more if he reads and enjoys it. He's halfway through the Harry Potter series at the moment -- and the extended family has been having movie nights in the weeks following each book. But I digress.
So, in summary, this was a hard-cover read that required two or three library loans to finish. I was a little put off by the lack of an ending but it picks up in book 2, which I've already finished and will "review" next.
Ironically, I've already reviewed a "rip-off" book (recently, at that) for Library Thing.
If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my new book series that starts with, 7 Flashes of Science Fiction, seven glimpses into possible futures for our world and the worlds around us.
Also, check out my other short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical fivesome of flash fiction and short stories. (Amazon only shows the first three books in the image. Go figure.)
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