Hello, I always avoided this genre because I expected it to be poorly written wish-fulfillment power fantasies. But after seeing all the hype around Dungeon Crawler Carl, I decided to give it a try, and I was really surprised how much i enjoyed it.
Even though the world is goofy and over the top, it still makes sense and feels believable. The characters act in interesting and somewhat plausible ways, which is really important to me.
I've only finished the first two books so far because I listen to them as audiobooks, and currently only two are available in my language.
So I wanted to give another series a try. After checking this sub, I decided to read "He Who Fights with Monsters", and I think it's awful. This is exactly the kind of book I expected from the genre and wanted to avoid. Now I'm worried that DCC was the exception and that most LitRPG books are more like "He Who Fights with Monsters".
Hopefully, someone here can recommend me something better! I don't want to spend too much time bashing "He Who Fights with Monsters" because I don't want to disrespect the people who enjoy it, but I'll explain what bothers me so you have an idea of what I'm looking for.
The dialogue feels bland and unrealistic. For example, the whole first act with the cultists was just bad. Wow, they eat humans and are evil just for the sake of being evil and nasty. They also act like extremely dumb medieval peasants, despite having a huge mansion, technology, and all kinds of other things. And then they're defeated so easily as well.
Then there's how everyone seems to react to the MC. In the first town he visits, people talk to him and about him as if he's their nephew or a longtime friend, just because he did one good deed and had some small talk with them.
During his first journey, he has a bit of small talk with someone, and whoopsie-doo, now they're best friends and start a business together.
And then he walks into the district of the gods. Since he's from Earth and apparently so much smarter than everyone else, he says kneeling means submission as if he would not even worry about the wraith of gods, seems like he is to cool for fear or reason. What kind of human wouldn't kneel when a literal god is standing in front of them, or at least not joke around dumb and make silly comments? He doesn't seem to feel any fear or make realistic decisions at all. He makes the most ridiculous comments, and of course, even the gods chuckle and are amused by him, as if he's the first person in history to ever say something like that or do smalltalk...
Overall, I just dislike the writing and the interactions. Everything feels extremely shallow and stereotypical, like a power fantasy written for kids.
What I loved about Dungeon Crawler Carl is that, despite the goofy and over-the-top world, things still feel plausible. The MC is strong and sometimes gets away with things, but his decisions and the way the world reacts to him still make sense. Even the NPCs have depth. The evil corporation isn't evil just for the sake of being evil, but because of financial and political power, which is something I find much more believable. And people don't just suck up to the MC because he's the MC.
Another series I didn't like for similar reasons, although it's not LitRPG, is Red Rising. It has many of the same problems for me.
Sorry for the rant, but I hope someone understands what I'm trying to describe and can recommend something that fits my taste. I'm not necessarily looking for something similar to DCC in terms of humor or setting. I'm more interested in believable characters, realistic interactions, and a world that makes sense internally, even if the premise itself is completely ridiculous.
Are there other LitRPG series like that, or was DCC really just an exception?
