Synopsis
All Dan wants is to find a way home. He’d settle for a beer, a bite to eat, and a place to sleep off his hangover.
But, in an endless, ever-changing dungeon cobbled together from twisted carnivals, abandoned shopping malls, janky laundromats, and condemned insane asylums, getting a bit of shut-eye is harder than it sounds.
Dan has accidentally “Noclipped” into the Backrooms—a bizarro, extra-dimensional Alice-in-Wonderland world, overrun with horrific nightmare creatures known as the Dwellers. No one ever gets out. Hell, forget about leaving, if Dan wants to survive the week, he’s going to need to harness the strange game-like magic of the Backrooms, make some very sketchy allies, and carve out a little safe haven to call his own.
And he’s going to need to do it fast because Dan is being hunted. The Flayed Monarch of the 999th floor has marked him for death and no one walks away from the Skinless Court with their hide intact…
Review
This review covers the first two books released as of now:
#1 – Discount Dan
#2 – Cul-de-sac Carnage
I think fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl are likely to find this to scratch the itch as we wait for the next book.
I really wanted to call this as Discount DCC, but as I read through more and more I realized that wasn’t fair as this has scratches a similar itch, but sets itself apart quite well. At end of Book 2, I think of this as Popcorn DCC as this focuses more on the bizzaro and outright rollercoaster action…more straight forward in your face fun!
To start with the parallels to DCC can’t be denied.
✓ Is this a world where characters needs to power up by delving down floors (levels) in a dungenon’esque world – Check
✓ Is the MC is unwilling participant who gets caught as pawn in a game by other super powered entities? – Check
✓ Is there a adorable pet companion (albeit one who like eating flesh of enemies)? – Check
✓ Is there a snarky “system” which uses pop culture references to create more and more outlandish creatures and challenges? – Check
Where the book sets itself apart is how the story unfolds. One, this is more “crunchy” as in has more stats and description of powers and items than DCC. Two, the overall balance between character development vs action skews towards the later. Now that’s not saying this is mindless fun, but has enough character and plot development as a base to build the action and adventure on. Three, the MC opens a shop, so there’s added trade, merchanting and base building elements that adds more flavor than DCC.
There’s enough drama and difference in characters to make for a versatile cast. Most characters stand out on their own merit and add to the world without fading into the background. The plot basically follow the MC, his companion alien mimic doggie and two supporting sidekicks. All 4 have differencing personalities and moral compasses which makes reactions adds a layer of genuineness to any given situation.
The book is really well written. The prose is crisp, the world building immersive and humour snarky without being cringe. Though the crunch slows the pace a bit unevenly, overall it’s a fast paced book that kept me turning pages late into the night. The irreverent system couple with the over the top ridiculousness of the characters and obstacles somehow fits within the overarching unorthodox and unconventional world building eliciting a smile rather than a eyeroll!
To conclude, this is wonderful insanity of a book that takes you on a roller-coaster ride and guaranteed to leave you smiling all through.
Highly recommended!
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