Dungeon Crawler Carl
At the recommendation of many, many friends, I started reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series this month.
I didn’t realize it was a series when I started, and am pleasantly surprised that there’s at least 8 books in the series.
It is not the idyllic solarpunk I’ve been craving lately. It is distinctly, unmistakably dystopian. It’s set in a literal apocalypse.
If Solarpunk feels like a vision of what could be, Dungeon Crawler Carl feels like a playbook for how to survive right now so we can make it to that future.
Unlike a lot of dystopian fiction, this feels more hopeful. It explores themes like…
- “Fuck you, you won’t break me.” The main character’s mantra as a soulless corporation tries it’s best to literally murder him for profit.
- Solidarity, and how working together with people—including those very different from you—is the only path to true liberation.
- You can’t save everyone, but you can and should fight like hell to save the ones you can.
- People (usually) aren’t your enemy, systems are. Even your opponents are victims of that system (for a real-world example, how competition for scarce jobs upon which your ability to literally live depends pits poor working-class people against each other).
- Under capitalism, every aspect of your life gets monetized and extracted for profit.
I cannot recommend this series enough.
It’s easy-to-read, engaging AF, and explores some extremely of-the-moment topics in interesting ways (as good sci-fi tends to do).