Dark Times with Dungeon Crawler Carl

The women I know can't stop talking about Carl.

The first time I heard his name, it was from a colleague in the abortion rights movement. An honest-to-god feminist, singing the praises of a surly, barefoot bro in heart-print boxer shorts stomping his way through the apocalypse. This from someone who spends their days trying to make sure people don't have to stay pregnant when they don't want to be. Someone who I wouldn't imagine wants to spend her free time immersed in a gore-drenched hellscape where alien corporations with wealth beyond comprehension colonize planets, extract their resources, and torture the inhabitants for fascism and profit.

I speak, of course, of Dungeon Crawler Carl, the hit litRPG book series now on its way to becoming a Peacock TV series.

The next time I heard about Carl, it was from the woman installing a set of shocking purple and neon orange lash extensions on my eyes. She always has great audiobook and podcast recommendations; when you spend your days tweezing thousands of tiny hairs onto people's faces, quality in-ear content is a must-have. I've been seeing C. every couple of weeks for nearly 18 months (well, "seeing" is probably the wrong way to describe it, considering I have my eyes closed for 90 percent of our interactions), and at every session, we bond over our shared love of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. And we've tended to hate the same things. If C. didn't hate Carl, maybe I needed to give this guy a try.

I grudgingly forked over a few bucks for book one of the series, but let it languish in my digital library. I am by no means a snob when it comes to my bookshelf, and I am hardly a reader of exclusively highbrow literature. But there was something about Carl I couldn't pull the trigger on. I hate to DNF a book, even though I'm getting better about not wasting time on stuff that doesn't hit for me. I trudged half-heartedly through the Twilight books back in the day, but in recent years I have at least managed to bail on both ACOTAR and Fourth Wing. Still, I tend not to even start things I suspect I won't like. I probably miss a lot of good stuff that way.

But then Carl started showing up in my group chats. Women who drive hundreds of miles to get their hair done or invest hours each week in perfecting elaborate nail looks raved about him. Pals who spend their precious free time organizing mutual aid resource drops recommended the series as an anti-fascist adventure. Gals who've never played a video or tabletop game in their lives said they couldn't get enough of the bizzaro worldbuilding and endless gore.

Fine, I thought. At least I hear there's a cat involved.

I think the series might actually be a pretty savvy critique of the very things that are intentionally gross and off-putting about it. Hear me out.