Carl is outside in his boxers trying to get his girlfriend’s cat out of a tree when everything with a roof on the planet is destroyed and the smaller number of survivors are made to compete in an intergalactic dungeon game similar to D&D. If this sounds kind of dumb, I described it correctly; it’s kind of dumb. It’s also fairly entertaining and has a good amount of heart. People who have played any sort of role playing game, like World Of Warcraft, will probably be extra amused.
Okay but what happens to his girlfriend’s poor cat???
I’m interested in checking these books out, but I’m a big weenie who can’t handle anything bad happening to innocent animals. And I’m not exactly mentally stable lately – lol – so I’m currently trying to avoid anything like that that could send me spiraling. (I know it sounds ridiculous and I’m working on getting help, I promise lol)
So, uh… Can anyone tell me if there’s any bad stuff happening to any animals (like the aforementioned kitty???) in these books? 😅
I really enjoyed DCC and it’s a pretty fun ride but honestly from what your saying I’d suggest you avoid it for a while. It’s fun but it’s also bloody and full of violence. It starts out with killing 99% of humanity and everybody in it is dealing with some heavy PTSD and it’s hopeful and people pull together but it’s still a tragedy.
It’s extremely dark. If you’re not in a good place mentally, avoid.
Family and party members kill each other, frequently. So read between the lines about the “pets” and animals, and that provides the dark context.
It's a fairly early spoiler, but still a spoiler
The cat goes into the dungeon with him, and is initially treated as a pet. Pretty quickly, though, the cat gets an upgrade that turns her into her own character, and they become something of an iconic duo.
Also, I don’t know that I’d necessarily call it sci-fi, maybe more fantasy with… well. it’s complicated. In any case, I enjoyed it, and the rest of the series and highly recommend it.
The cat goes in to the dungeon with him and is gifted with sentience immediately, becoming the protagonist’s sassy partner. It’s cheesey fun.
As others have pointed out, the book has a lot of over the top violence and death, so you might want to stay away. On the other hand, though, the author is far more into gore and comic book ultra violence than cruelty. Many people find Princess Donut – the cat annoying – but by book five no great harm has befallen her or any of the other protagonists.
To quote the book #5:
Tap for spoiler
Book 5 is just scratching the surface, but the tones get worse, not better, at 5 you should understand this about the story.
To say it’s not cruel, is so weird, and a few of the nonmain protagonists are gone, they don’t stay the same from book to book.
To quote Dinnamin
I totally hear you. But the reason I disagree is that I think writers have a choice in how a death is supposed to strike the audience, and Dinniman is like a D&D GM who acts a lot tougher than he is.
George R.R. Martin is the real deal: he’s a ruthless writer of huge stakes: Ned Stark’s death is designed to be as distressing as possible. It’s intended to leave the reader with the devestated feeling that the world is highly unjust; that the more honorable the character, the more danger they’re in; that the reader should be in a constant state of concern that the characters they care about could at any moment not only die, but – more importantly for fiction imo – be rendered meaningless. He is disgraced in death, and it’s deeply painful for the reader.
Conversely, Matt Dinniman is, imo, basically a softy. When good characters die, they leave a mark. Their friends mourn; they are honored and avenged; their lives leave indelible marks on the trajectory of the story. It’s sad, but it’s very sweet sorrow.
That might change in the later books, but so far, Dinniman has been very gentle on readers when it counts.
From what I’ve read about þe books, þe cat eats a magic cat treat and gains þe ability to speak (I assume it gets smarter, too) and becomes a companion. It gets its own pet eventually, too.
I haven’t read þem. I can’t answer your question about how animals are treated in þe books, but from þe descriptions it seems fairly YA FWIW.
She becomes the actual protagonist of the book leaving Carl in his rightful spot. Cleaning litterboxes.
(jk. kinda.)
The cat becomes his constant companion, as far as I know through the whole series.