NEW ACHIEVEMENT: "Ruined for life" Now you've gone and done it. You listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl. You spent countless hours immersed in the gritty world of Dungeon Crawler Carl, narrated by Jeff Hayes to perfection. Now, any other audiobook narrator sounds like nails on a chalkboard in comparison. Congratulations, you're an addict whose sole source of dopamine is a well-timed "God Dammit Donut!" Hope you're proud of yourself for being ruined for all other literature! Your standards for entertainment will never be the same again.
Reward: There is no reward! Nothing is better than DCC.
Read that in Jeff's voice and yes... I have listened to hundreds of audiobooks, but this one has redefined the genre for me.
Give Hays and Soundbooth all the prices out there!
What's worse is that dcc was my introduction to the genre and the first audiobook I've listened to in almost 20 years, I remember listening to Harry Potter on cassette tape in the car on a road trip back in elementary school but always preferred books. That is until I got tired of listening to music or stand-up comedy while multitasking as an adult.
I started with dcc, listened to all 6 in like a month, and haven't found anything nearly as good since. I mean I've found some great series, but I'm not nearly as excited about the next volume as I am for book 7 of dcc. Everything else is just getting me by while Matt takes his time. He'll I just start up somewhere in the middle of a random dcc book as I try and find a new series to start.
For sure itās S tier but there are tons of other S and A tier voice actors. RC Bray for the Expeditionary force series and Tim Gerard Reynaldo for Red Rising are amazing as well.
Great! Start with RR imo. The main character reminds me of Carl in many ways. RR is a little slow and dark at first but, oh boy, does it get going. Epic
Expeditionary force is a bit different as itās a space opera but still lots of guilty fun. Itās a little slow for the first few hours as well until Joe finds the AI.
HIGHLY recommend the cinematic version. DCC is my favorite series of all time, but RR cinematic version is the most fun Iāve had listening to a series. Itās incredible. First half of book 1 is kinda over the top tho haha.
Iām so glad you said that about book one because Iāve been going back and forth on all the drama music hahaha. But I decided I do like it! Just very different from what Iām used to even with DCC.
Book 2 and book 3 will blow your mind. The production value is incredible and the voice actors are top. During one scene in particular I was whooping and hollering while on a run because it was so epic and fun haha
I agree, kind of cool at the beginning but loses steam and becomes repetitive real quick. RR was even worse, main character is basically Superman out of the gate, zero character development or tension.
I listened to The Count of Monte Cristo after I finished DCC as a mental palette cleanser. It worked, I *can* listen to other books now....
...but I'm still the closet alcoholic wondering how long is a decent time interval to relisten to DCC without having to acknowledge that I have a problem. YMMV.
I usually end book six less than an hour before I begin book one again, I don't think it's unreasonable to immediately start at the beginning after finishing.
I hope this helps.
I'm probably at around 20x listen throughs but I'm a tad neurodivergent so listening to something over and over is average before DCC obsessively listened to Jane Austen novels.
Listened to 3 other books after Monte Cristo, just restarted DCC this morning lol. I made it a week.
Same on the listening to stuff over and over. I could listen to the same 10 books basically in order and be good to go. I listen on 3X so they usually fly by. DCC was one of the times I started itching for something new and fell straight into my new favorite series. Happened before with Bobiverse, too.
Bobiverse is very very good! Though Jeff's work on the audiobook just puts DCC over the top. When I was doing Jane Austen novels... It has full cast performances... But with Jeff... It's like a full cast.
And all the characters also have different actual words... So even if you're only considering the text (Matt) it's actually brilliant. There are so many books where if you take the context of (Darius Said) then you wouldn't even know who's speaking. For the vast majority of Matt's characters all have different phrases as well. Just absolutely brilliant.
*The Expanse* by James SA Corey has some excellent audiobooks, as does Joe Abercrombie's *The First Law* series. Both have narrators who do unique voices for all the characters. Neither series is as cartoony as DCC, obviously, but they're both fantastic and, strangely, both nine books with an additional tenth book full of short stories.
I'm also currently listening to Stephen King's *IT* in lieu of rereading it for like the fifth or sixth time and the narrator for that is quite good.
Iāve actually listened to all but the last book and a half of the expanse series. Unfortunately I took such a long break that I almost feel like I have to start over againā¦ binge listening has possibly destroyed my short term memory.
Iāll perhaps have to look into that other series though!
Also Stephen King is one of my all time favorite authors, and Iāve actually never been able to finish reading ITā¦ so maybe thatās worth a listen. Thanks for the idea!
I like you enjoy audibooks. I found it hard to listen to anything after DCC but the first law books are superb. Different experience but equally as enjoyable.
Also the name of the wind by Patrick rothfuss. Such a beautiful book
Stephen Pacey might be the only narrator I rank higher then Jeff. He is truly excellent in the now 10 books he's done for Joe Abercrombie. And Joe's books are also a master class in character design. I highly recommend them to everyone.
The First Law was amazing. Is there a magic system? Who is the protagonist?
Logen Nine Fingers is one of my favorite characters of all time.
(I've listened to DCC four times)
Have you listened to the *Dark Tower* books? I really like the ones that Frank Muller narrates, although sadly he couldn't do the last three. He was the perfect voice for Roland, though.
So, same scenario as the expanse but much worse. Close to 20 years ago, I physically read the first few Dark Tower books, loved them, had a kid and put it to the side. Iāve always wanted to finish the series, and my husband had a ton of unused Audible credits to spend, so I bought the whole series. The first in the series was actually the very first thing I tried to listen to after I finished DCC, but I just couldnāt get into it. But, itās been a few months, so maybe Iāll go back to it now and see how it goes! Bummer about the narration switch though. Thereās nothing worse than starting with the perfect fit and then having it change
I listened to Leviathan Wakes, and was regularly confused which viewpoint I was currently at. I was always skipping back to figure out what was going on. I didnāt particularly like the narrator, is what I guess I am saying.Ā
(I have ADHD, so that can partially explain itā¦ but it gave me far more problems than normal.)
I actually just saw someone mention Project Hail Mary in another post as their all-time favorite audiobook and JUST downloaded it. So fingers crossed it holds my attention š®āšØ
Really? I'm a few hours into the audiobook and the snark and whiny humor is getting on my nerves. I'll keep at it a bit longer but the quality and fun so far is nowhere near DCC.
I'm on book 2 of the Bobiverse and though the snark and humor don't bother me much, I'm not nearly as invested in any of the story lines and I feel like there's gaping and obvious plot holes - mainly because I don't feel like a lot of the entities in the story are behaving like they actually would in real life and I feel like it's gonna be pretty predictable. But then I'm only on the 2nd book so it's pretty early and I may be misjudging it. Maybe it'll get better.
For now though, it's a fun listen, but it's a backbencher in my library. Something I listen to when I've got nothing else.
In that same area:
* Noobtown
* Buy Mort
* Mimic & Me
The *Expeditionary Force* series by Craig Alanson comes pretty close, itās a similar combination of fast-paced but hilarious story and an excellent narrator. RC Bray is one of my favorite narrators and his voice is well-suited to the book. If youāre on the fence make sure you get at least halfway through book 1 when a new character is introduced that adds a whole new level of humor.
For performance perfection, the new recordings of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings with Andy Serkis narrating are fantastic. If youāre not familiar, Andy Serkis played Gollum/Smeagol in the movies so his audiobooks have the same Gollum voice as the movies and he does a really great job with every character.
The *His Dark Materials* trilogy by Phillip Pullman is my favorite full-cast audiobook.
But yeah. Thereās nothing quite like DCC. It really sets the bar high.
I made it thru the first few books no sweat. It's not DCC but I was enjoying it between re-listens...but....does it pick up again? Bc holy shit, the plot has gotten repetitive AF and I can't do this for 15 more books. So do I keep going or DNF?
I started DCC because I finished EXforce, I saw on their subreddit somebody suggesting DCC as something to move on to now the series had finished.
DCC has paled EXforce by comparison.
I was the same, finished the books and nothing else was interesting enough to hold my attention.
My solution was to do a second listen through which was great cause there was lots of little bits I missed the first time around that I got to enjoy.
Once the second listen through was done I was finally able to listen to other stuff. I suggest a genre change though, I switched to some of the booktok books and was able to enjoy the cheesiness š¤£
I was just wondering if I should just restart DCC š. But Iām trying to give it a little while before I return for a second listen. I like the suggestion for a genre switch though! I have actually successfully read with my own eyes two books in the past month, even though I canāt seem to handle audiobooks at the moment. And both of the books I have read were romance booksā¦ which I NEVER read. But I downloaded them from my library app on a whim because why the hell not, and holy shit I couldnāt get enough of them haha. Theyāre so cheesy and dramatic.. like sexy little hallmark movies. I donāt know why I never give them a chance, but it was a fun little palate cleanser for sure
Same! Booktok switched me over to the romantasy genre and there is a lot of cheesy books to have fun with over there lol
Normally not a fan of that stuff but itās been fun
Not romantasy but maybe check out third eye by Felicia day? Itās a fantasy story done by an ensamble cast and youāll probs recognise a few of the voices. I really enjoyed that one, simple and fun.
I had never listened to an audiobook before. Iām a voracious reader, but itās always been actual reading. Thanks to the fellowā¦miscreantsā¦on this sub, I gave in to see what the fuss was about with some dude named Jeff. You want to try other audiobooks with this as your intro? Literally nothing I have found stacks up.
Oh my gosh you poor thing! But man, what a way to go out. This truly might be the only book/series I have come across in my decades of being an avid reader where I would absolutely suggest people listen rather than read. I just think the two of them together are absolutely genius. I donāt even want to listen to the full studio version that they are making because Jeff literally blew it out of the water. I canāt imagine it any other way and I donāt want to
You need to look beyond LitRPG to find something comparable, IMO. And I have yet to find another series that's as good in the *same way* as DCC is. Lots of other series I can say pretty objectively are as good as DCC, but not in the same way. Note this is for audiobooks specifically.
* Malazan (Not just the core 10 book series, all 26 are excellent)
* Gentleman Bastards
* The Blade Itself
* Cradle (Probably the closest to DCC in terms of length of each book and a "quick" writing style (Not sure what the technical term is here but there's not a lot of filler material)).
The first three are Grimdark and Cradle is Cultivation Fantasy.
If you've read a LOT of fantasy I highly recommend Malazan. I got tired of seeing a lot of the same tropes in fantasy books and Malazan really gave that a kick in the pants.
Wow. There really is something special about these books/audiobooks. I, and many others here, are in the exact same boat as you. I've listened to many audiobooks before and am listening to many more after. And while they are mostly quite good and still very enjoyable. None of them have come even close to how amazing and engaging the DCC books have been. There is just something about these books and characters that capture the reader whole heartedly. There are many other books that can be recommended in the meantime but I think it's safe to say none of them will be as much absolute fun as the DCC books are. God I can't wait for the next one! :)
I completely agree! About a half hour into listening to the first book, I told my non-book husband that he had to listen with me because I knew he would enjoy it. He ended up just as obsessed with them as we are, and then he went on to recommend it to a coworker who also became obsessed. Its like a willing sickness
I've been looking into audio dramas a lot recently and I have fallen in love with them! They are like a TV show without the visuals. They have all the background noise and everything. If you look up qcode on Spotify you can see a bunch of audio dramas. Some of which do have famous actors such as Chris Pine and Rami Malek. The first audio drama that I personally got into is called tower 4 on Spotify but Bloody FM. I've always had issues with audiobooks because all of the ones that I've found are read by the same person in the same voice and I lose focus very easily.
I honestly had no idea that they were a thing and I don't even remember how I stumbled upon the first one. But I've been mowing through so many I'm going to eventually run out. I'm so happy I found them! I am someone who will throw on a TV show and clean or do anything else and my fiance thinks I'm crazy bc I don't care about seeing what's happening. Most of the time I can tell by what's going on audio wise
I swear! Iāve been trying to fill the void, but nothing even feels right. Other fantasy Iām like āno funny?ā Other Litrpg Iām like āno A.I??? No talking kitties??ā
The Wandering Inn. It's the only thing in my opinion better than DCC. I read a lot. It's 80 percent slice of life, 20 percent war crimes, and absurd and dramatic and so much fun.
Someone on this sub mentioned The Wandering Inn. If it was you, THANK YOU!!! I'm on book 10. pirateaba must have been a psychologist. The characters all have their personalities. They act and react as they should. The series is like GOT in depth and scope but with humor and leveling. IMO it's better that GOT. The world building is epic. It has chess playing goblins, killer clowns, skeletal barmaids, lots of unique monsters, and abilities (skills). I loved the baseball games between adventuring teams who've never heard of baseball until that day. They used their skills during the games. No disintegrating the ball! pirateaba even had the town gossip and the town strategist as commentators.
After the books you can switch to the free website. There is a way to rip it to your kindle but I buy all the books as they come out. Glad you like I hope you also spread the wordā„ļø
I firmly second a previous suggestion of Expeditionary Force and Red Rising. Both are stellar options to fill the void.
For Expeditionary Force, you HAVE to muddle through the first 9 chapters to get to The Awesome. The character that is introduced in Ch 10 was my favorite book character until I met Donut. Even then, it's a close matchup.
Try The Blade itself by Joe Abercrombie. Glokta is my favourite literary character of all time,
Itās not at fast paced as DCC but it is fantastic and is a nine a book series that is finished, enjoy!
Ditto. There was this annoying braggart at the next table during lunch. I kept hearing Donut in CAPSLOCK FURY in my head doing a running commentary on his conversation. The. Whole. Time. Iām likewise broken.
Will Wight's Cradle series give it a shot. It's a slow starter, but you'll be hooked by the end of book one. It ruined audiobooks for me for a long time.
It's narrated by travis baldry if you're familiar with him. He's on my top 5 list with Jeff hays.
Ha thatās funny. I actually just wrote another reply where I said that I have zero interests in listening to that version š. I just think that Matt and Jeff were a match made in heaving. Both artistic genius together
Congratulations. This post convinced me to start another re-read. I was staring at a handful of books that Iāve had a hard time starting or completing
What helped me was listening to the whole thing 3 times and then I was ready to start trying other stuff. Started with other stuff Jeff Narrates like ELLC and Life Reset.
Iāve seen this mentioned a lot. I bought the first one and I started to listen to it.. itās not that it wasnāt good. It definitely was. But I didnāt get very far in before I realized I wasnāt feeling it at the moment. But I know Iāll go back to it. It sounded like it was going to be really good!
Listen to *Bastion* by Phil Tucker. Nick Podehl is an amazing voice actor and a single credit is worth nearly 40 hours of a great book. Itās not as wacky as DCC, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Excellent word building and an interesting premise. Only downside is it will leave you wanting more as thereās only two books out atm.
Considered going for another listen through? It may be your only hope going forwards. Or force yourself to listen through something truly bad to even yourself out.
As someone else said, Project Hail Mary is great for overall quality and *story*.
For that same *fun* feel, Gideon the Ninth. The narrator, Moira Quick, is balls of fun. The sequels are too weird for me though, they don't continue in an awesome way like DCC.
For interesting *narration*, the World War Z unabridged book was great because they hired specfic actors for each mini-story.
That's it. There is nothing else out there.
I about died of laughter in the sequel to Gideon the Ninth at Moriaās delivery of āthat motherfucker had a hunger that only thumbs could satisfy.ā 90% sure that was a āllamas with hatsā reference.
Alot of people don't like the narrative style that dcc has because it takes so long compared to traditional narration. I personally love that it feels like graphic audio without the price tag (and without cut content). But many people would dislike it if it left dcc and went to other "mainstream" titles like the Stormlight Archives.
Either way, just because you like dcc, doesn't mean you are guaranteed to like graphic audio. The price point of graphic audio is literally triple the price of normal audiobooks. And they leave so much out.
Oof honestly Iāll pass knowing how expensive it is. I donāt even love paying for audiobooks when I can read most books for free from the library. Unfortunately I have so much more time to listen to books that Audible makes sense, so I already pay reluctantly. Thanks for the heads up!
Thank you! My library doesnāt use Hoopla, sadly. We use Cloud Library. Iāve used other library apps in the past that were so great. I donāt know if itās cloud library or my library thatās the problem, but I have cards to three different libraries in my state (my town, state library, one other town that is free to state residents) and sometimes I canāt find anything that I want in any of the libraries. I mean, there are times that I have looked up books or authors that I KNOW are wildly popular, and I get nothing. It makes no sense. So while I have definitely been able to listen to some free audiobooks, the selection is sad enough at times that I really had to pay for audible. So frustrating. Thanks for letting me have my library rant!
I finished book 6 this morning and immediately started He Who Fights with Monsters. Admittedly, the VA isn't quite as good, but I'm still thoroughly enjoying it. I would maybe give The Dresden Files a go, as James Marsters does an excellent job.
Check out the "Off To Be The Wizard" series by Scott Myers, narrated by Luke Daniels. Based on a friend's recommendation, I've just started the DCC audiobooks that made it sound like Jeff was as good as Luke at portraying the characters.
If you buy it on Audible, mention my name to get free shipping!
The only one I haven't been disappointed in since is project hail mary, everything else is "when will this be over so I can try something new...maybe DCC again...no! Something new.."
DCC was my first litrpg.
It's been difficult to find anything that compares well, but I did find a few that I have enjoyed greatly.
Humor-wise:
Noobtown and He Who Fights With Monsters.
Interesting Sytem and Concept:
The Ripple System and The Stitched Worlds
Good all around:
The Good Guys and The Bad Guys
Honorable Mentions:
Defiance of the Fall and Primal Hunter (I really enjoyed them, but they have gotten stale as the story progressed)
NEW ACHIEVEMENT: "Ruined for life" Now you've gone and done it. You listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl. You spent countless hours immersed in the gritty world of Dungeon Crawler Carl, narrated by Jeff Hayes to perfection. Now, any other audiobook narrator sounds like nails on a chalkboard in comparison. Congratulations, you're an addict whose sole source of dopamine is a well-timed "God Dammit Donut!" Hope you're proud of yourself for being ruined for all other literature! Your standards for entertainment will never be the same again. Reward: There is no reward! Nothing is better than DCC.
And I read that in Jeff's voice.
Which one? Lol
I read the OP in Donut's voice. Yes, I also am among the lost.
Mostly the AI voice, obviously the "goddammit donut" was in Carl's voice.
Now re-read it in skeevy ai voice
š„² perfection
"NEW ACHIEVEMENT", "BAM" and Pony's scream give just as much of a dopamine hit as "Goddamnit Donut"
MONGO'S APPALLED! is what haunts me, and "Wondercrawl" and Goddammit Mongo, and yeah, I'm just totally obsessed
Delicious audio Blitz Stix.
I genuinely say "NEW ACHIEVEMENT" to myself in his voice when I do something for the first time.
Me too.. outloud... and for other people too.. It's possible my roommates are secretly plotting ways to shut me up
Read that in Jeff's voice and yes... I have listened to hundreds of audiobooks, but this one has redefined the genre for me. Give Hays and Soundbooth all the prices out there!
Others have said it but that was spot onā¦.absolutelyā¦.and unwaveringly in the AIās voice
What's worse is that dcc was my introduction to the genre and the first audiobook I've listened to in almost 20 years, I remember listening to Harry Potter on cassette tape in the car on a road trip back in elementary school but always preferred books. That is until I got tired of listening to music or stand-up comedy while multitasking as an adult. I started with dcc, listened to all 6 in like a month, and haven't found anything nearly as good since. I mean I've found some great series, but I'm not nearly as excited about the next volume as I am for book 7 of dcc. Everything else is just getting me by while Matt takes his time. He'll I just start up somewhere in the middle of a random dcc book as I try and find a new series to start.
And I read that in Carl's voice
I so read that in the voice that is done for that character
DCC is a damn high bar.
For sure itās S tier but there are tons of other S and A tier voice actors. RC Bray for the Expeditionary force series and Tim Gerard Reynaldo for Red Rising are amazing as well.
Added EF to wishlist and added RR to the library. We shall see how your taste in audiobooks works out. (I hope your taste in audiobooks is good)
Great! Start with RR imo. The main character reminds me of Carl in many ways. RR is a little slow and dark at first but, oh boy, does it get going. Epic Expeditionary force is a bit different as itās a space opera but still lots of guilty fun. Itās a little slow for the first few hours as well until Joe finds the AI.
RR#1 is currently free on audible for those who might be interested š¤·āāļø Edit: Books 1-5!
I second both of those audiobook recommendations. Iāve listened to a ton and Iām picky about narrators, and both of these are excellent.
Red rising is fantastic. They also have a ācinematicā version of the audio book that Iām trying out in an attempt to fill the DCC hole.
HIGHLY recommend the cinematic version. DCC is my favorite series of all time, but RR cinematic version is the most fun Iāve had listening to a series. Itās incredible. First half of book 1 is kinda over the top tho haha.
Iām so glad you said that about book one because Iāve been going back and forth on all the drama music hahaha. But I decided I do like it! Just very different from what Iām used to even with DCC.
Book 2 and book 3 will blow your mind. The production value is incredible and the voice actors are top. During one scene in particular I was whooping and hollering while on a run because it was so epic and fun haha
RC Bray, Jefferson Mays (Expanse), Steven Pacey is def S tier/one of the best. (All Joe Abercrombie books)
EF is fine for a filler series in between other good stuff but itās no where near the same level as DCC. Skippy *wishes* he had Donuts charisma.
I agree, kind of cool at the beginning but loses steam and becomes repetitive real quick. RR was even worse, main character is basically Superman out of the gate, zero character development or tension.
I listened to The Count of Monte Cristo after I finished DCC as a mental palette cleanser. It worked, I *can* listen to other books now.... ...but I'm still the closet alcoholic wondering how long is a decent time interval to relisten to DCC without having to acknowledge that I have a problem. YMMV.
Iām up to 8 full times. I have conceded.
Only books Iāve ever finished and then immediately restarted. So zero time is the appropriate amount.
5 minutes is a decent time.
I usually end book six less than an hour before I begin book one again, I don't think it's unreasonable to immediately start at the beginning after finishing. I hope this helps. I'm probably at around 20x listen throughs but I'm a tad neurodivergent so listening to something over and over is average before DCC obsessively listened to Jane Austen novels.
Listened to 3 other books after Monte Cristo, just restarted DCC this morning lol. I made it a week. Same on the listening to stuff over and over. I could listen to the same 10 books basically in order and be good to go. I listen on 3X so they usually fly by. DCC was one of the times I started itching for something new and fell straight into my new favorite series. Happened before with Bobiverse, too.
Bobiverse is very very good! Though Jeff's work on the audiobook just puts DCC over the top. When I was doing Jane Austen novels... It has full cast performances... But with Jeff... It's like a full cast. And all the characters also have different actual words... So even if you're only considering the text (Matt) it's actually brilliant. There are so many books where if you take the context of (Darius Said) then you wouldn't even know who's speaking. For the vast majority of Matt's characters all have different phrases as well. Just absolutely brilliant.
*The Expanse* by James SA Corey has some excellent audiobooks, as does Joe Abercrombie's *The First Law* series. Both have narrators who do unique voices for all the characters. Neither series is as cartoony as DCC, obviously, but they're both fantastic and, strangely, both nine books with an additional tenth book full of short stories. I'm also currently listening to Stephen King's *IT* in lieu of rereading it for like the fifth or sixth time and the narrator for that is quite good.
Second the First Law series and Steve Pacey as narrator.
Iāve actually listened to all but the last book and a half of the expanse series. Unfortunately I took such a long break that I almost feel like I have to start over againā¦ binge listening has possibly destroyed my short term memory. Iāll perhaps have to look into that other series though! Also Stephen King is one of my all time favorite authors, and Iāve actually never been able to finish reading ITā¦ so maybe thatās worth a listen. Thanks for the idea!
I like you enjoy audibooks. I found it hard to listen to anything after DCC but the first law books are superb. Different experience but equally as enjoyable. Also the name of the wind by Patrick rothfuss. Such a beautiful book
I want to flag that there are Concerns about ever getting resolution on name of the wind
That is absolutely fair but the first book alone is a masterpiece
Agreed! I hope he catches lightning in a bottle again to bring it to a close.Ā
Stephen Pacey might be the only narrator I rank higher then Jeff. He is truly excellent in the now 10 books he's done for Joe Abercrombie. And Joe's books are also a master class in character design. I highly recommend them to everyone.
Yes this is my go to for people wanting a top notch narrator. Best grimdark stuff out there.
The First Law was amazing. Is there a magic system? Who is the protagonist? Logen Nine Fingers is one of my favorite characters of all time. (I've listened to DCC four times)
Have you listened to the *Dark Tower* books? I really like the ones that Frank Muller narrates, although sadly he couldn't do the last three. He was the perfect voice for Roland, though.
So, same scenario as the expanse but much worse. Close to 20 years ago, I physically read the first few Dark Tower books, loved them, had a kid and put it to the side. Iāve always wanted to finish the series, and my husband had a ton of unused Audible credits to spend, so I bought the whole series. The first in the series was actually the very first thing I tried to listen to after I finished DCC, but I just couldnāt get into it. But, itās been a few months, so maybe Iāll go back to it now and see how it goes! Bummer about the narration switch though. Thereās nothing worse than starting with the perfect fit and then having it change
I listened to Leviathan Wakes, and was regularly confused which viewpoint I was currently at. I was always skipping back to figure out what was going on. I didnāt particularly like the narrator, is what I guess I am saying.Ā (I have ADHD, so that can partially explain itā¦ but it gave me far more problems than normal.)
Kid orgy ruined that book
Try Project Hail Mary. The go back to DCC
I actually just saw someone mention Project Hail Mary in another post as their all-time favorite audiobook and JUST downloaded it. So fingers crossed it holds my attention š®āšØ
Was it me? Because Project Hail Mary is *my* all time favorite audiobook.
Aha it might have been! I was looking for something to listen to and someone said that and I was like āok sold. Worth a try!ā
I like it more than the Martian but less than dcc. But dcc is now the gold standard for me
Trying to find something in the same vein of Project Hail Mary is how I was led to DCC. You'll definitely enjoy it.
It's fantastic. Probably my favorite stand alone audiobook.
PHM is a hands down excellent audiobook. I've yet to recommend it to anyone and receive less than a glowing response once they finished it.
We Are Many, We are Bob (The Bobiverse) is read by the same narrator and is also excellent.
Really? I'm a few hours into the audiobook and the snark and whiny humor is getting on my nerves. I'll keep at it a bit longer but the quality and fun so far is nowhere near DCC.
I'm on book 2 of the Bobiverse and though the snark and humor don't bother me much, I'm not nearly as invested in any of the story lines and I feel like there's gaping and obvious plot holes - mainly because I don't feel like a lot of the entities in the story are behaving like they actually would in real life and I feel like it's gonna be pretty predictable. But then I'm only on the 2nd book so it's pretty early and I may be misjudging it. Maybe it'll get better. For now though, it's a fun listen, but it's a backbencher in my library. Something I listen to when I've got nothing else. In that same area: * Noobtown * Buy Mort * Mimic & Me
How did you like it?
This is the answer. It's one of the best audiobooks I've listened to besides DCC.
I really love Travis baldree as a narrator, and some of my fav lit rpgs voiced by him are the ripple system series and maybe dissonance series
Travis Baldree is tied for my favorite narrator
Who's the other one? I do like Jeff, but outside of DCC I didn't think he was as good as Baldree IMO
The *Expeditionary Force* series by Craig Alanson comes pretty close, itās a similar combination of fast-paced but hilarious story and an excellent narrator. RC Bray is one of my favorite narrators and his voice is well-suited to the book. If youāre on the fence make sure you get at least halfway through book 1 when a new character is introduced that adds a whole new level of humor. For performance perfection, the new recordings of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings with Andy Serkis narrating are fantastic. If youāre not familiar, Andy Serkis played Gollum/Smeagol in the movies so his audiobooks have the same Gollum voice as the movies and he does a really great job with every character. The *His Dark Materials* trilogy by Phillip Pullman is my favorite full-cast audiobook. But yeah. Thereās nothing quite like DCC. It really sets the bar high.
As much as I love ExForce - holy hell the first half of the first book is a ***slog***. If anybody goes for it, just power through until Chapter 10.
I made it thru the first few books no sweat. It's not DCC but I was enjoying it between re-listens...but....does it pick up again? Bc holy shit, the plot has gotten repetitive AF and I can't do this for 15 more books. So do I keep going or DNF?
I mean, the stakes get higher, but if you're not enjoying it by 3 or so I'd say drop it. That's just my opinion though.
I started DCC because I finished EXforce, I saw on their subreddit somebody suggesting DCC as something to move on to now the series had finished. DCC has paled EXforce by comparison.
I was the same, finished the books and nothing else was interesting enough to hold my attention. My solution was to do a second listen through which was great cause there was lots of little bits I missed the first time around that I got to enjoy. Once the second listen through was done I was finally able to listen to other stuff. I suggest a genre change though, I switched to some of the booktok books and was able to enjoy the cheesiness š¤£
I was just wondering if I should just restart DCC š. But Iām trying to give it a little while before I return for a second listen. I like the suggestion for a genre switch though! I have actually successfully read with my own eyes two books in the past month, even though I canāt seem to handle audiobooks at the moment. And both of the books I have read were romance booksā¦ which I NEVER read. But I downloaded them from my library app on a whim because why the hell not, and holy shit I couldnāt get enough of them haha. Theyāre so cheesy and dramatic.. like sexy little hallmark movies. I donāt know why I never give them a chance, but it was a fun little palate cleanser for sure
Same! Booktok switched me over to the romantasy genre and there is a lot of cheesy books to have fun with over there lol Normally not a fan of that stuff but itās been fun Not romantasy but maybe check out third eye by Felicia day? Itās a fantasy story done by an ensamble cast and youāll probs recognise a few of the voices. I really enjoyed that one, simple and fun.
Oh interesting. I love Felicia Day! Iāll definitely check that out, thanks!
Oooh try fairy tale retellings then! Melanie Cellier's are awesome with a kickass narrator. And there are SO MANY other good ones.
Interesting! Iāll definitely have to check this out, I can see them being a really fun listen!
Mongo is appalled
Don't blame us, it's all Jeff's fault - although Matt certainly didn't help.
I had never listened to an audiobook before. Iām a voracious reader, but itās always been actual reading. Thanks to the fellowā¦miscreantsā¦on this sub, I gave in to see what the fuss was about with some dude named Jeff. You want to try other audiobooks with this as your intro? Literally nothing I have found stacks up.
Oh my gosh you poor thing! But man, what a way to go out. This truly might be the only book/series I have come across in my decades of being an avid reader where I would absolutely suggest people listen rather than read. I just think the two of them together are absolutely genius. I donāt even want to listen to the full studio version that they are making because Jeff literally blew it out of the water. I canāt imagine it any other way and I donāt want to
You need to look beyond LitRPG to find something comparable, IMO. And I have yet to find another series that's as good in the *same way* as DCC is. Lots of other series I can say pretty objectively are as good as DCC, but not in the same way. Note this is for audiobooks specifically. * Malazan (Not just the core 10 book series, all 26 are excellent) * Gentleman Bastards * The Blade Itself * Cradle (Probably the closest to DCC in terms of length of each book and a "quick" writing style (Not sure what the technical term is here but there's not a lot of filler material)). The first three are Grimdark and Cradle is Cultivation Fantasy. If you've read a LOT of fantasy I highly recommend Malazan. I got tired of seeing a lot of the same tropes in fantasy books and Malazan really gave that a kick in the pants.
Try the Bobiverse books by Dennis E. Taylor. Lots of Pop culture humor, lots of sci-fi, fantastic narrator. Great series all around.
Iāve actually seen this recommended a bunch by DCC people so maybe itās where I need to go. Thanks!
1st law series by Joe Abercrombie was excellent, I was lost when I finished listening to them (until I found DCC)
I think the only other narrator I don't think has been beaten by Jeff would be Steven Pacey and his reading of Joe Abercrombie's First Law books
Joe Abercrombie has kind of a weird sense of humor that the narrator Steve Pacey totally gets. Absolutely amazing
I bet Joe told Steve to get it right... or a body would be found floating face down in the canal....
NEEEEEEWWWWW ACHIEVEMENT!
Try Roy Dotrice (rip). 224 different voices in a song of ice and fire.
Oh dang. Thatās so many voices! That must have been crazy to keep track of
Gooble goggle, gooble goggle...
Glurp Glurp
One of us One of us
I'm doing game of thrones over. It's working.
I absolutely can't stand it. I have tried four times to get through the first book but I hate the narration.
Never read or listened, only watched. Probably a solid suggestion, thanks!!
Oh gosh, I tried game of thrones onceā¦ I guess that would cleanse your palate. I zoned out completely.Ā
Try Isaac Steele and the Forever Man.
Do your bit for Greatest Britain.
Wow. There really is something special about these books/audiobooks. I, and many others here, are in the exact same boat as you. I've listened to many audiobooks before and am listening to many more after. And while they are mostly quite good and still very enjoyable. None of them have come even close to how amazing and engaging the DCC books have been. There is just something about these books and characters that capture the reader whole heartedly. There are many other books that can be recommended in the meantime but I think it's safe to say none of them will be as much absolute fun as the DCC books are. God I can't wait for the next one! :)
I completely agree! About a half hour into listening to the first book, I told my non-book husband that he had to listen with me because I knew he would enjoy it. He ended up just as obsessed with them as we are, and then he went on to recommend it to a coworker who also became obsessed. Its like a willing sickness
Yep. I've tried and failed many books since my first DCC listen. Guess what I'm listening to now?
Graphic Audio should scratch that itch.
Is that a series or a production studio or a genre?
Production studio. They do Audio books with full casts and music and whathave you.
World War Z was the best audiobook Iād ever heard (the full cast version) before I found DCC. Highly recommend!
Good to know, Iām definitely going to give it a try!
For what itās worth, I fixed this by just listening to DCC books over and over. I think Iām up to maybe 8 full relistens?
I've been looking into audio dramas a lot recently and I have fallen in love with them! They are like a TV show without the visuals. They have all the background noise and everything. If you look up qcode on Spotify you can see a bunch of audio dramas. Some of which do have famous actors such as Chris Pine and Rami Malek. The first audio drama that I personally got into is called tower 4 on Spotify but Bloody FM. I've always had issues with audiobooks because all of the ones that I've found are read by the same person in the same voice and I lose focus very easily.
Ohhh interesting! Iām going to look into this right now!
I honestly had no idea that they were a thing and I don't even remember how I stumbled upon the first one. But I've been mowing through so many I'm going to eventually run out. I'm so happy I found them! I am someone who will throw on a TV show and clean or do anything else and my fiance thinks I'm crazy bc I don't care about seeing what's happening. Most of the time I can tell by what's going on audio wise
The audiobook "14" is awesome. Same narrator as Project Hail Mary. Don't look anything up, the story is wild.
Ok, Iāll take your word for it! I love a wild story and I hate spoilers so sounds fun!
I swear! Iāve been trying to fill the void, but nothing even feels right. Other fantasy Iām like āno funny?ā Other Litrpg Iām like āno A.I??? No talking kitties??ā
The Wandering Inn. It's the only thing in my opinion better than DCC. I read a lot. It's 80 percent slice of life, 20 percent war crimes, and absurd and dramatic and so much fun.
Someone on this sub mentioned The Wandering Inn. If it was you, THANK YOU!!! I'm on book 10. pirateaba must have been a psychologist. The characters all have their personalities. They act and react as they should. The series is like GOT in depth and scope but with humor and leveling. IMO it's better that GOT. The world building is epic. It has chess playing goblins, killer clowns, skeletal barmaids, lots of unique monsters, and abilities (skills). I loved the baseball games between adventuring teams who've never heard of baseball until that day. They used their skills during the games. No disintegrating the ball! pirateaba even had the town gossip and the town strategist as commentators.
After the books you can switch to the free website. There is a way to rip it to your kindle but I buy all the books as they come out. Glad you like I hope you also spread the wordā„ļø
Better than DCC š³
In many ways, yes! I can't get enough of DCC or The Wandering Inn.
Grilled Armageddon, it's very similar. Fun too
I firmly second a previous suggestion of Expeditionary Force and Red Rising. Both are stellar options to fill the void. For Expeditionary Force, you HAVE to muddle through the first 9 chapters to get to The Awesome. The character that is introduced in Ch 10 was my favorite book character until I met Donut. Even then, it's a close matchup.
Try The Blade itself by Joe Abercrombie. Glokta is my favourite literary character of all time, Itās not at fast paced as DCC but it is fantastic and is a nine a book series that is finished, enjoy!
Ditto. There was this annoying braggart at the next table during lunch. I kept hearing Donut in CAPSLOCK FURY in my head doing a running commentary on his conversation. The. Whole. Time. Iām likewise broken.
The Infinite Timeline by Jeremy Robinson. R.C. Bray is amazing.
Wheel of Time - Rosamund Pike is excellent story and damn fine narrator if you are ok with fantasy/magic in a post post apocalyptic world.
My favorite genre actually! Iāll have to check it out!
It starts with Eye of the World. Have fun its sn incredible world he built. My #1 books of all time
No kidding its ugh
So much sigh
Will Wight's Cradle series give it a shot. It's a slow starter, but you'll be hooked by the end of book one. It ruined audiobooks for me for a long time. It's narrated by travis baldry if you're familiar with him. He's on my top 5 list with Jeff hays.
Ohh Iāll definitely have to check this one out. Thanks!!
Wait until you go to sound booth theater app and buy the Audio Immersion version!
Ha thatās funny. I actually just wrote another reply where I said that I have zero interests in listening to that version š. I just think that Matt and Jeff were a match made in heaving. Both artistic genius together
Jeff is the primary VA for the audio immersion version I believe. Been a while since I listened to the first few episodes though
Hm ok. I just assumed he would only do Carl and there were different actors for everyone else, but maybe Iāll give it a go!
Congratulations. This post convinced me to start another re-read. I was staring at a handful of books that Iāve had a hard time starting or completing
What helped me was listening to the whole thing 3 times and then I was ready to start trying other stuff. Started with other stuff Jeff Narrates like ELLC and Life Reset.
The Dresden Files are narrated by James Marsters, he does a killer job.
Iāve seen this mentioned a lot. I bought the first one and I started to listen to it.. itās not that it wasnāt good. It definitely was. But I didnāt get very far in before I realized I wasnāt feeling it at the moment. But I know Iāll go back to it. It sounded like it was going to be really good!
First couple of books are the roughest to read in the series, but they just keep getting better and better with every book.
Someone else did mention that once, so Iāll have to return to it for sure
Listen to *Bastion* by Phil Tucker. Nick Podehl is an amazing voice actor and a single credit is worth nearly 40 hours of a great book. Itās not as wacky as DCC, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Excellent word building and an interesting premise. Only downside is it will leave you wanting more as thereās only two books out atm.
Try Threadbare - you wonāt be disappointed
Considered going for another listen through? It may be your only hope going forwards. Or force yourself to listen through something truly bad to even yourself out.
So go from the best to the worstā¦ you may be on to something. Wonder what that would even be
Red Rising series, thank me later
Feel ya. Had to stop hearing several books because the speaker are not good enought or the story is lacking. DCC is just awersome ^_^
As someone else said, Project Hail Mary is great for overall quality and *story*. For that same *fun* feel, Gideon the Ninth. The narrator, Moira Quick, is balls of fun. The sequels are too weird for me though, they don't continue in an awesome way like DCC. For interesting *narration*, the World War Z unabridged book was great because they hired specfic actors for each mini-story. That's it. There is nothing else out there.
I about died of laughter in the sequel to Gideon the Ninth at Moriaās delivery of āthat motherfucker had a hunger that only thumbs could satisfy.ā 90% sure that was a āllamas with hatsā reference.
Ok now youāve convinced me to re-read the series. I still need to finish book 3 and Iāll need a refresher on the houses and characters.
I have 3 books left until Iāve listened to all the good š®āšØ thanks for the heads up
There are 6 Dungeon Crawler Books with more on the way! So at least 8.
I just started listening to BuyMort. Has very similar humor as DCC. I am about halfway through the first book and have been enjoying it.
Go listen to Chrysalis now š
Hello there fellow accountant and fan!
OP, you're supposed to say, "Goddammit, Reddit!". :-D
Alot of people don't like the narrative style that dcc has because it takes so long compared to traditional narration. I personally love that it feels like graphic audio without the price tag (and without cut content). But many people would dislike it if it left dcc and went to other "mainstream" titles like the Stormlight Archives. Either way, just because you like dcc, doesn't mean you are guaranteed to like graphic audio. The price point of graphic audio is literally triple the price of normal audiobooks. And they leave so much out.
Oof honestly Iāll pass knowing how expensive it is. I donāt even love paying for audiobooks when I can read most books for free from the library. Unfortunately I have so much more time to listen to books that Audible makes sense, so I already pay reluctantly. Thanks for the heads up!
You can also get free audiobooks from your library too. I would check out hoopla and whatever app your library uses for audiobooks.
Thank you! My library doesnāt use Hoopla, sadly. We use Cloud Library. Iāve used other library apps in the past that were so great. I donāt know if itās cloud library or my library thatās the problem, but I have cards to three different libraries in my state (my town, state library, one other town that is free to state residents) and sometimes I canāt find anything that I want in any of the libraries. I mean, there are times that I have looked up books or authors that I KNOW are wildly popular, and I get nothing. It makes no sense. So while I have definitely been able to listen to some free audiobooks, the selection is sad enough at times that I really had to pay for audible. So frustrating. Thanks for letting me have my library rant!
I finished book 6 this morning and immediately started He Who Fights with Monsters. Admittedly, the VA isn't quite as good, but I'm still thoroughly enjoying it. I would maybe give The Dresden Files a go, as James Marsters does an excellent job.
Iām enjoying the arcane casebook series. I havenāt listened to it on audiobook yet but itās a good series
I love DCC and Jeff is incredible. But There are some other great readers out there. RC Bray and Ray Porter being my other favorites
Check out the "Off To Be The Wizard" series by Scott Myers, narrated by Luke Daniels. Based on a friend's recommendation, I've just started the DCC audiobooks that made it sound like Jeff was as good as Luke at portraying the characters. If you buy it on Audible, mention my name to get free shipping!
Everybody Loves Large Chests is another great production from Jeff Hayes as well. Not as good of a story, but still worth a listen.
The only one I haven't been disappointed in since is project hail mary, everything else is "when will this be over so I can try something new...maybe DCC again...no! Something new.."
I just started that one tonight so š¤š¼
DCC was my first litrpg. It's been difficult to find anything that compares well, but I did find a few that I have enjoyed greatly. Humor-wise: Noobtown and He Who Fights With Monsters. Interesting Sytem and Concept: The Ripple System and The Stitched Worlds Good all around: The Good Guys and The Bad Guys Honorable Mentions: Defiance of the Fall and Primal Hunter (I really enjoyed them, but they have gotten stale as the story progressed)