Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon

De: Matt Dinniman

Narrado por: Joe Hempel

A private server. A digital playground. An alliance of the world's most sadistic, most depraved minds. A place to bring their prey, to hone their skills.

Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon. Survival horror. One of the most brutal, most terrifying full-immersion games ever made. A place where fantasy characters such as elves and dwarves clash with technology, where giant monsters roam the hills, entrusted with protecting the gates of heaven from the demons who would tear it all down.

A game where one plays the last of the battlefield surgeons: a healer tasked with keeping the behemoths alive at all costs.

But on this server, they don't care about the game. That's not why they're here. They've come because of the game's most unique feature: full pain. Realistic anatomy. The ability to bring their victims well beyond the body's normal breaking point. And most importantly, the ability to bring them back and do it all over again.

Trapped in a bloody, merciless nightmare, Duke only has one goal: to survive. And in order to survive, he must play the game. He must win the game. And to do that, he must become the most cruel, most ruthless monster of them all.

©2019 Matt Dinniman (P)2020 Tantor

Litrpg Horror (this is not DCC)

Came to this book due to my love of Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Pros:
So- this book is absolutely horror litrpg, tons of very graphic scenes. There were a couple of chapters that made me squirm.
The story is pretty believable, especially when you think about it from the perspective of what Facebook is doing with the Metaverse. So that was dope, a dystopian virtual future. The leveling makes sense, there are real consequences for dying/pissing off the nova too much. Main character getting updates about his family as he is trapped in the game really is a great touch.

Cons: the narrator. It may just be me but he was boring. I found myself having to rewind a LOT bc I had tuned him out. “This is too much, this is too much” gets said too much (writing) but always in the same monotone voice that never expresses the angst or horror of the character (narrator). For me this is the biggest down side- I could not get into the narrator. It was like James Marat era during the first Dresden files (Thank god he hit his stride, all time favorite narrator now)

not for the faint of heart

Seriously, this book will make you uncomfortable many times. I would still recommend it if you want something grim, and very dark.

There are some good references to Matt's other work, which I also recommend.

Overall decent and worth the listen.

This is a gruesome book. Be ready for some brutal imagery. Over all decent with an interesting premise. The ending had a few surprises and an alright payoff. If you dying for more Carl it’s worth the listen in the mean time.

Disappointed

I'd like to start off by saying I'd give every Dungeon crawler Carl book 5 stars across the board so going in I suppose my expectations were to high. This book wasn't even really bad just disappointing also I feel like Matt might need to work some stuff out in therapy. The action was good, the high point scenes were pretty brutal and the ending played out about how I thought it would when the book was around the halfway point. That being said the pacing was weird, the timing on stuff jumped around with little to no warning, sometimes the narrator could get a little lost in the action and made some battle scenes confusing. Just know this is not a happy book stuff goes wrong and it stays wrong.

very well written, but definitely not for everyone

I did enjoy this book even with its highly graphic violence and Gore. but this book is very much not for certain people who have specific psychological triggers. for everyone else it is one hell of a wild ride.

Not Carl, but an interesting world

Dark dark dark. I stuck through it, and didn’t mind the ending like some reviewers. Solid mental and physical horror with enough game/world building for a standalone rpg.

The narrator is sadly someone I will go out of my way to avoid in the future. Very clear, enunciated well, but Bueller anyone?

Warning: Body Horror

Cons first.
1) This book goes into gruesome details of all the gore and disease that the main character sees and feels. It can be very disturbing.
2) The ending is... intense, and not in a comfortable way.
3) Kind of counterintuitive to the previous two comments, but I felt the voice actor had a muted reading of some emotional scenes that I felt should have been more impactful.

Pros!
If you're still interested after the cons, I have good news. This book is very well written. The author tackles difficult subjects very well. The characters have depth, the world has lore, the villains are just despicable.
Plus, this is a self contained story. No needing to read 10 books only to be met with another cliffhanger.
I also believe the tone the voice actor uses is very easy to listen to, and accurate to the main character.

Dark but Real

There is so much in this book to unpack it is not for the faint of heart. As a new father this book came at the best and worst of times. But Matt does an amazing job at keeping you wanting more, more information, more characters and even more books!

kinda messed up tbh

I'm not super into horror but I am into lit rpgs. I got into Matt bc of Carl and now I'm concerned about him.

Great story, great narration, and great voice acting one of my favorite books in recent times.

Loved it wish it were longer because the story and the world building was great