Discount Dan

Discount Dan’s Backroom Bargains, Book 1

De: James Hunter

Narrado por: Steve Campbell

Noclip in, no way out ...

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 ...

“The book is a f***ing delight. I enjoyed the absolute hell out of it and think it's an excellent use of pop culture to make something fun and horrific and awesome.” (Eric Ugland, author of the Good Guys and Bad Guys series)

“Buckle up, buttercup! James Hunter takes you on a balls-to-the-wall adventure that's as insane as it is awesome.” (Jez Cajiao, author of the Arise and Rise of Mankind series)

"Discount Dan is a fun, fast-paced read with awesome game mechanics, surprising humor, and a brutal adventure you won’t want to put down!" (Dakota Krout, author of Completionist Chronicles, Full Murder Hobo, and The Divine Dungeon)

©2024 James A. Hunter (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

this book is both hilarious and exciting

I absolutely love stories about the back rooms. and this is one of the best I've heard. the narrator was spot on with his voices. I can't wait to listen to the next one.

everything

This is amazing. it's like the the twisted love child of Hobgoblin riot and dungeon crawler carel

An Aldi (not Wish) version of Dungeon Crawler Carl

🚨***May contain spoilers***🚨

I decided to listen to this book to curb my withdrawal cravings for Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC). I would call it an Aldi or Publix store brand version of DCC. A wish version would be so god awful that it would be cringe worthy. This book is not a wish version. It is a “knock off” version, but a higher quality knock off in my opinion.

Quick summary: It was a good listen. I was surprised at how much I liked it. If there were a book 2 available I would have purchased it. DCC is an a waaaaay higher level than this book and I enjoy DCC exponentially more. Truthfully, This book has so many similarities to DCC that I’m not sure how it is legal. Are these similarities on the same level as DCC? Hell no. They are good, but nowhere near as good as DCC and if you have read DCC the similarities will immediately pop out at you. Either you will view this as flattery or it will piss you off.

Narrator is good, but no WAY..and I repeat..NO WAY as good as Jeff Hays. He does a variety
I wonder how Matt Dinniman would view this book. Would he call it flattery or a rip off of his work. I don’t know.

The author does have a unique level system. But it reminds me of the card level in DCC. There are things very unique to this book that I did enjoy, but there are so many similarities scattered throughout to DCC that you can’t go a chapter without tripping over one. ⭐️Even so, this book manages to develop its own flavor somehow. I think (hope) that it continues to do so in the next books. ⭐️

Here are some similarities that I can immediately recall:

DCC:Discount Dan
Snarky AI: Snarky AI
Carl (from the coast guard): Dan (from the Marines)
Carl being stuck in ridiculous clothing: Dan being stuck in ridiculous clothing
Loyal pet companion: loyal pet companion
Prepotente: Pincess Pony Puff
Gonorrhea: gonorrhea (just not as enthusiastic)
Fire Brandy: somewhat similar mention
Muscle bro characters:: jacked muscle bro characters
Safe rooms: Similar concept
Spray paint to direct crawlers: spray paint to direct dwellers
Crawlers and crawler number: Dweller and dweller numbers
Combining cards: combining titles and buffs
Trap making: trap making
90s and 00s mentions: 80s and 90s mentions
Sonic traps: Sonic trap skill on one dweller
Carl’s motorcycle: Ford Pinto
Donut/Katyia being marked by something on a higher level: Dan being markers by someone on a higher level

Easy to like, difficult to love.

Couldn't love this one. MC was mediocre and shallow. Narrator inhibited the story more than enhanced it. I picked up the second book to see if it got better. It didn’t. Still a relatively entertaining listen, though.

A fun and funny horror show

First off, the book does have several similarities to dungeon crawler Carl. That being said, it is its own story and you start seeing that around the mid point. Overall it’s a fun, funny, adventure horror with base building elements. If that’s your shtick then this will be a good book to spend time. I’m looking forward to the next one.