This one was a friend recommendation, and is another Audible listen. It’s also my first real dip into the realm of LitRPG, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but what I got was an easy and fun listen.

It’s also really hard for me to describe because it’s kinda out there, so I’m gonna cheat a little and steal the blurb:

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic, intergalactic game show. That’s what.

Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game-like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.

See what I mean?

A bit like with Isaacson’s Leonardo Da Vinci, I do think this benefitted greatly from me listening to it vs how it would have been to read. Jeff Hays did an outstanding job on the voice acting, really nailing the voices for Carl and Donut, and really elevating the story from ‘meh, ok?’ to ‘solid and steady’. Dungeons and Dragons but for realisies and for the entertainment of aliens like it’s the Hunger Games isn’t particularly complicated, and unless you’re super into RPGs could be a bit of a slog.

The voice acting also lifted the more gamey aspects, like the achievement notification voice overs Carl would get after killing a boss for the first time, or when he’s being trolled by the AI running the dungeon for heading into it without any weapons or suppliers (or trousers). Plus, with the book being in first person, there was that extra dimension to it; being told it by the ‘character’, getting a voice to the story.

If it had been paperback, I could see myself getting a little too eye roley at the memes. There’s the AI’s foot fetish, for example, or the neighbourhood boss, the KraKaren: part Kraken, part Karen. The llama like creatures being meth addicts, is another. I just don’t think it’d play as well without the VA also playing the exasperated human to it.

That said, there’s still a lot to like. I got sucked in pretty hard to the journey, to Carl and Donut’s relationship growing (thanks to a transformation biscuit giving Donut the ability to talk very early on) and to the minor twist at the end. I won’t be rushing into book 2 any time soon (I’ve already started book 3 of the Ciaphas Cain series) but I’ll definitely be returning next year, or whenever I next get a discount to sign up for Audible again.

Or who knows? Maybe I’ll give the paper book a go, especially now I have a voice for the characters in my head.

7/10