Laith
I don't want to review the 6th book in a killer series; if you're planning to read this, then you're obviously not new to DCC and you don't need my opinion to get you to read it. Seeing as how this is the latest entry, this review seems like a good place to comment on the series to this point. I have had such a blast with Carl, I don't think I've read anything as consistently fun (and funny) as this is since Hitchhiker's Guide.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for the absurd and the insane, I loved The Library at Mount Char and I might be the only person I know that has seen (and loved) HBO's Doom Patrol. I cannot seem to help myself when a plot is nonsensical enough to turn everything on its head at a moments notice; I can't help but to watch with rapt attention and laugh myself hoarse.
The longer the series has gone on, the further the developments have tacked towards outright insanity. It's a tough line to toe, you want it lighthearted and insane, but you also don't want that stuff to undercut the character work and the serious moments. Carl is perfection when it comes to that balance. There's never a moment in these books where something crazy isn't happening or just about to happen, and despite the terrible consequences that tend to follow each event, Dinniman manages to keep it light without deflating the tension. A huge part of the fun is seeing how the latest arrangement of the dominoes will collapse, whether it's a 20-story tall pair of butt cheeks or a Hydra formed out of everyone you ever loved.
All of that said, this latest entry is shaking up the formula. The further into the dungeon Carl and Co. venture, the more "galactic" the story gets, the stronger the overworld's plot begins to factor into the core story. The story telling has evolved past "Carl fights a giant ball of pigs mid-orgy and celebrates his survival" to "Carl dissects the alien statute governing child actors with his lawyer while smushing the feral slugs that are growing out of his elbow." The serious content that's hiding behind the game show facade is starting to become more and more prominent. If this book is any indication, I think that we are due to see Carl escape the confines of the crawl sometime soon.
Despite the increasing volume of serious content that is making its way to the fore, this is a comedy, and it'll always be important to keep your funny bone engaged as you read. Even with the multitude of lives on the line, it bears repeating that the fates are balanced on the shoulders of a barefoot dude in his underwear, a talking cat, and their magically sentient sex doll head. On the subject, Samantha is far and away my favorite character to be introduced so far. She's the embodiment of the kind of work that this story is; absurd but undeniably charming.
I challenge you to find another title that comes remotely close to the absurdity of this without immediately reducing itself to mere parody. I'll wait.
I don't want to review the 6th book in a killer series; if you're planning to read this, then you're obviously not new to DCC and you don't need my opinion to get you to read it. Seeing as how this is the latest entry, this review seems like a good place to comment on the series to this point. I have had such a blast with Carl, I don't think I've read anything as consistently fun (and funny) as this is since Hitchhiker's Guide.
Maybe I'm just a sucker for the absurd and the insane, I loved The Library at Mount Char and I might be the only person I know that has seen (and loved) HBO's Doom Patrol. I cannot seem to help myself when a plot is nonsensical enough to turn everything on its head at a moments notice; I can't help but to watch with rapt attention and laugh myself hoarse.
The longer the series has gone on, the further the developments have tacked towards outright insanity. It's a tough line to toe, you want it lighthearted and insane, but you also don't want that stuff to undercut the character work and the serious moments. Carl is perfection when it comes to that balance. There's never a moment in these books where something crazy isn't happening or just about to happen, and despite the terrible consequences that tend to follow each event, Dinniman manages to keep it light without deflating the tension. A huge part of the fun is seeing how the latest arrangement of the dominoes will collapse, whether it's a 20-story tall pair of butt cheeks or a Hydra formed out of everyone you ever loved.
All of that said, this latest entry is shaking up the formula. The further into the dungeon Carl and Co. venture, the more "galactic" the story gets, the stronger the overworld's plot begins to factor into the core story. The story telling has evolved past "Carl fights a giant ball of pigs mid-orgy and celebrates his survival" to "Carl dissects the alien statute governing child actors with his lawyer while smushing the feral slugs that are growing out of his elbow." The serious content that's hiding behind the game show facade is starting to become more and more prominent. If this book is any indication, I think that we are due to see Carl escape the confines of the crawl sometime soon.
Despite the increasing volume of serious content that is making its way to the fore, this is a comedy, and it'll always be important to keep your funny bone engaged as you read. Even with the multitude of lives on the line, it bears repeating that the fates are balanced on the shoulders of a barefoot dude in his underwear, a talking cat, and their magically sentient sex doll head. On the subject, Samantha is far and away my favorite character to be introduced so far. She's the embodiment of the kind of work that this story is; absurd but undeniably charming.
I challenge you to find another title that comes remotely close to the absurdity of this without immediately reducing itself to mere parody. I'll wait.