I've been loving the Dungeon Crawler Carl series this year. I'm 7 books into what currently stands at 8 published so far with a total of 10 projected. It's crass, over the top, exciting, funny, heartbreaking.

One comment I've heard a few times is that it's very nihilistic. Which is true to a great degree. The universe consists of powerful alien races and seemingly omnipotent AIs who televise the violent deaths of lesser species in fantasy dungeons for entertainment. Likewise, Carl's desire for vengeance seems to be his greatest motivation, apart from mere survival.

On the other hand, Carl and Donut each have moments where they act as if vengeance is not all there is. They fight desperately to hold onto their humanity (or humanized "catness") despite the terrible things they're forced to do. And they take extraordinary personal risks to save other crawlers even when doing so does not benefit them directly.

I'm eager to see how the story ends. Will they find redemption through sacrifice or mercy? Or will they just burn it all to the ground? Stay tuned.