| Title | : | Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 660 |
| Publication | : | Published November 8, 2019 |
Fantasy meets horror in this gore-soaked, standalone LitRPG adventure!
It had seemed like a dream offer. Paint a mural. $15,000. How could Duke not jump at the chance?
But it came with a catch, as these things often do. He had to first see what his client wanted him to paint.
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.
A co-op survival horror game where fantasy-type characters and technology clash.
Medium-heavy stats.
Lots of violence.
Stomach-churning gore.
No-holds-barred kaiju battles.
Torture-happy, paladin dwarf toddlers.
22 individual races, each with their own magical system.
A pet tapeworm named Banksy.
Dozens of kaiju, each with their own distinctive form and abilities.
Demons and angels, and you can’t trust a damn one of them.
About 200,000 words--the length of 3 books!
No harem.
Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon Reviews
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Notes:
If you are looking for a LitRPG-Horror story, this is it. I wasn't sure what to expect, because the reviews on this book are extreme. People either loved or hated it. I like the cover and the title. The blurb is not great. However, I had recently finished #1-3 of Dungeon Crawler Carl and saw that I've actually read several books by the author. That's why I decided to give this one a shot. I'm glad I did!
The author pulled no punches with the story. It's not graphic, but it's quite easy to imagine the horrific and yucky events. That's what makes the story cross the iffy line of thriller/action and into horror.
Great narration, solid story and good characters. -
Hoooooookay
This is.....dark. it is well written, has an interesting plot, and a fun game system. That being said...hoooooollllllyyyyy crap is it fucked up. (Especially the ending) I would classify this as GrimDark Gamelit. Be warned. -
Super gruesome. Explicit. Stomach turning scenes. Fucked up imagination.
But presented in a manner that engrosses the reader.
A different kind of LitRPG, not the one that your kids can read. -
Not for the faint of heart - but a wild ride!
What a ride this story was. From start to finish it twisted, turned, and went down fucked up routes.
This protagonist / hero / survivor - yeah, hard to say what to call him, basically has everything about him questioned at one point or another. It makes for a great psychological thriller, filled within a lovecraftian horror setting filled with giant abomination monsters.
Yeah there are levels and stars and it is a game system... but it’s definitely a horror story. If you want that, read it. It’s fun. -
This book ended up being not for me which was a disappointment as I am a fan of Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series. While I recognized many of the same game mechanics in the Kaiju book that I saw in the Dungeon crawler series, Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon lacked all the key aspects of Dungeon Crawler Carl that made the series work for me.
Kaiju is a gross book; that isn’t necessarily a complaint but rather a trait of the world Dinniman creates. The one issue I had with this feature though is that there aren’t really any breaks from one gross scene to the next. Dungeon Crawler Carl has plenty of gross scenes, but they are peppered with humor and there are notable breaks. This book left me queasy and kept me there.
Another issue for me is the lack of characterization of the main character Duke. I felt that I had more description of the torture he undergoes and the sewage he walks through than of his personality. Duke is an artist, but this never really seems to come into play leaving it as an unused Chekhov’s gun; sure, it’s the excuse used to bring him into the game, but he could have just as easily been an insurance assessor. Beyond Duke’s personal tragedy I don’t know much about him by the end of the book.
Both Duke and Carl from Dungeon Crawler have mantra’s that become motifs throughout the book. Carl’s mantra of “You will not break me” feels both determined and inspires a sense of hope. Whereas Dukes mantra of “This is too much” feels exactly that “too much”. In some ways it is fitting that Duke’s repetition inspires hopelessness because that is the chief emotion this book inspires, but it is not exactly an emotion I would choose to seek out.
There is no humor in this book, no fun companions, no clever dialogue. Everyone is depressed and only bad things happen to everyone including the AI pets. The bad things are graphic because one thing Dinniman’s book doesn’t lack is powerful descriptions of the nasty bits. And that a lot.
I really do like the way Dinniman writes but I will be sticking to his more well-balanced series moving forward. I don't want to rate this book because while I found this book very alienating it no doubt has its audience. That said, for those who prefer some levity with the dark and twisted stuff maybe skip this one and pick up the Dungeon Crawler series instead. -
I genuinely wouldn't recommend this book to the casual reader.
Firstly, it's a litRPG. The protagonist is trapped in a virtual reality game, his body stuck in a gaming rig pod thingamajig.
Secondly, this is horror. The blurb doesn't exaggerate. There is torture, violence, gore, and a pet tapeworm called Banksy.
It's gross. First author to make me retch. I usually need visuals for that. Words don't really translate into an image for me (aphantasia), so that's quite the achievement. Kudos to the author. (And for those who know, yes it was the milk.)
I just shuddered.
Anyway, back to my review: I swallowed all 600 pages in less than twenty-four hours. Compelling, tense, incredibly well written. I loved this book.
Who would have thought. Not me. -
Beautiful and Terrible and Strange
I've seen attempts to bring Litrpg into the horror genre before, with very little success, but all that is now a faded memory. Matt pulls it off in a way that has never been done before, combining Litrpg with splatterpunk, with psychological horror, with smart ingenious twist endings.
This work is disturbing. Its frightening and twisted and grotesque. But its also something else... it's also a masterpiece. Comparing favorably to the best works by authors like Richard Layman and Bryan Smith of the horror genre, while also being a better written, more literally relevant work than any of the foremost litrpg sagas of our time. -
A really good, well writen, lite-rpg story, with an interesting world concept but really dark and disturbing at its core. One should dive in expecting an intense horror story, one that is worth reading all the way.
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DNF I Just couldn't do it. Reading this book is torture
There are things I just don't want to see. Innocent people suffering and being tortured is at the top of that list.
The writing here is good, the way plot elements are set up is clever, the way characters are introduced is very well done.
If you don't mind feces the size of cars, parasites the size of buses and the main character being kidnapped imprisoned and tortured long term, this might be to book for you.
I do not want to read a study in anguish.
I have a rule: If I start urging the MC to commit suicide to end the suffering, -I quit that book. That rule triggered at the 10% mark here. I think it was where the hookworm baby started to weep that it was staving and didn't want to die and be reincarnated to starve and die again because it huts so much each time. Rear that sentence again, If it doesn't bother you, or if it intrigues you Go for this book. -
This book was no where near as “bad” as I thought it would be. Not gonna lie. I was put off by some of the reviews saying how graphic it was. They are overly exaggerated. It’s dudes cringing about *spoiler*penis mutilation. Lissen…it’s not even descriptive. Half of the torture is not as descriptive as I was fearing. It’s no worse in gore than any other LitRPG out there. (Ok the menses potion and donkey stuff was kinda gross lol).
So what sets this apart? The story was fanfuggintastic. When I tell you I’m praying for a follow up! I was not ready for the ending. When it ended I was left wanting. The story quickly invests you in the characters. Despite the length of the book the story doesn’t drag. The teases that put together the big picture behind the characters is amazing. I did not see the ending coming. Even when it came I was like HOW?! HOW?! Buy this! Buy it for your friends. Buy it for your enemies and tell them you’ll see them in co-op mode. 😏 -
3.5
This book, in a phrase, is deeply disturbing. I cannot recommend it to a wide range of audiences. You need to like horror/gore and also be ok with discussion of violence (physical, sexual, etc). I suspect it would “trigger” many people but there is a subset of individuals that will find it amazing. If you’re into kaiju and horror and GameLIT, it will be particularly appealing. -
Hoped it would be as good as Carl Dungeon Crawler. But the plot requires too much blindness to look logical. Villains choosing violence and manipulation just because they are villains and not even trying to pay or find a way to cooperate? The motives of actions supporting the story line looked too simplistic.
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Probably a bit of an outlier myself here. But I just wasn't that big of a fan of this one.
After discovering Carl I jumped on this one expecting it to be the same kind of feel but it very much wasn't. The biggest issue I could feel was the lack of repercussions for failure, sure the mental scaring is rough etc; but it ultimately feels a little hollow when the main character seems to shake it off after a chapter or two. Add on top of that the fact that the world as a whole felt a lot less fleshed out and empty.
The surprise twist in the ending also felt a little ham fisted to me.
But enough with the bad, let's talk about what hit home for me.
The setting! The concept of the world and the premise for how our protagonist falls into it is fascinating.
Set pieces! The Kaiju and some of other scenes people that people find squeamish were set up in a way that felt well planned and were described excellently. The use of Chekhov's gun several times also felt good.
Made me squirm! This is a good thing. It means things were able to grasp my imagination and get me picturing what's happening. It's not always enough to just have a well written and impactful scene as I described in the previous piece. But to have the reader genuinely feel sympathy pains for a character is amazing. Unfortunately, for me at least a lot of these scenes ultimately fell flat, with just a handful rising above the rest to be pinnacle points in the story.
The TLDR, I think there's a lot of potential here, it falls flat with some overuse of some of the tools employed, a lack of a deeper world with more nuanced consequences and in some cases some cringe worthy lines and choices.
Ultimately I think this pales in comparison to Matt's other works I've read thus far. All of Carl up to this point of writing has been fantastic. The world building and character depth in Dominion Of Blades is fascinating and kept drawing me back.
So in my opinion if you're looking for some more Dinniman I'd look to those two series. -
Not my usual but... Nice. Good. Neither of those.
I came to Dinniman's work through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which on the whole is wonderful, and you can see the roots of what would become the bloom of that series stretching here in Kaiju. Dinniman balances the horror with humor in that series, the gore of the many many fights is offset by character moments and genuinely ingenious plot work. Here, he's aiming for something else: true horror. When it works, it's good and troubling and smart, but when it doesn't work it's a slog to push through the viscera and find any sort of beating heart of a character beyond. The main character, Duke, is either a brilliant tactician planning fifty steps ahead, or a helpless victim merely swept by the current of events and seemingly incapable of making connections that should be obvious to him. His intelligence comes and goes as needed by the plot, as does any cynicism or introspection he might have gained along the way. He believes, he buys lies, he does not question the truth, or he is so far ahead of the competition he's basically playing a different game. The inconsistency of the character fails the book, even as the plot and, often, the writing, elevate it. It's a tepid mix as a novel, unfortunately, sometimes boiling hot when you need it, other times sadly cool and tasteless at crucial moments.
I love Dinniman's later work, but I recommend this early novel only selectively. If you're jonesing for more of his particular litrpg chaos, give it a try. There's some worth to be found here, but don't expect to be blown away. -
First impressions when I picked this up was that it was unlike anything else I had read and I really liked the feel of it. I like to play RPGs and have often wondered what it would feel like to actually live in one so this satisfied that feeling for me for the first few chapters.
This book kept me on my toes and I loved following the stories of Duke and Clara as they tried to find their way out of the video game, so many twists and turns!
Not for the faint hearted though as it’s pretty graphic in places with scenes of torture. In fact is is spectacularly shocking in places!
I really enjoyed reading about Olga the frog and her adventure 😂 I got so attached to all of the characters, especially Banksy as they went on their adventure, his relationship with Duke is so sweet.
I did not see the twist at the end coming at all 😮
I absolutely ADORED this book, it was so so good! More from Matt Dinniman please! -
3.5/5
Definitely the most gruesome and gross thing I’ve read so far. I don’t know if it should be a complement or not. I did like the book, and it’s premise of blending Lit RPG, torture and gore. And the size of this book! Something not common in this niche genre.
The horror is spot on and the world that their in is so unique, and even the games plot line was unique and cool. However there seems to be moments where this book is leading to something deeper, more twisted than the surface level torture. Which it is… just the execution felt predictable and simple. Same as the RPG elements of the story. The felt simple and predictable despite how “massive” the book is.
All in all a super gross book that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone not wanting a gruesome horrifyingly gross experience. Then if that is what they want; Then go a ahead, this is a pretty cool story in its own right…
It’s just intense. -
One of the most horrible novels I have ever read -- but it is so excellently horrible!
I think the Author's dedication note at the beginning of this novel almost adequately describes why on would want to read, or not read, this work; So I'm copying it here for a review:
Hey Mom,
You know how you pride yourself in reading all my books? I really appreciate that, and I love you for it. Do us both a favor. Skip this one. This book is unnecessarily gross, pointlessly violent, probably blasphemous, and it contains gratuitous torture. There are also a couple scenes involving a supernatural donkey I really have no desire to discuss with you the next time we talk.
~Matt
This novel may appeal to fans of the wider Fantasy genre, those who like really psychologically twisted characters and plots, and to those who enjoy playing RPGs. -
I had a review copy, which I read with mixed reactions.
1) Disappointed that it wasn't really about Kaiju (Japanese amphibious monsters). I mean - name it after the genre, you got to deliver, don't you, Matt?
2) Apprehensive, having read a few other reviews and been told it was too gorey for little old me.
3) Satisfied it was gaming fiction, as it did have game mechanics, and a quest.
4) Awed by the originality.
5) Amused by all the visceral body horror. You just can't take it seriously, or ugh! I'm sure the author was writing a black comedy, as black as he could make it. Whatever the ending!
6) Towards the end it was all enjoyment. The package came together, and the vaunted insemination passage wasn't even that gross. Definately, Dante's inferno meets Lovecraft. -
A haunting mashup of body horror, psychological thriller, and LitRPG
This book is NOT what you want to read as a introduction to GameLit/LitRPG, unless you are already a fan of body horror. I'm not trying to gatekeep, it's just that this book is not really indicative of LitRPG as a whole, and the body horror aspects could easily turn off GameLit novices. That said, Matt Dinniman has written himself a masterpiece. While not the first to combine horror with LitRPG, he's the first truly hit the nail on the head. This is the kind of book that redefines what kind of stories can be included under the LitRPG and GameLit umbrellas. If you are already a fan of LitRPG or body horror and you are looking for something different, this is absolutely a book you will want to read. -
Ummm...well
I *don’t* recommend reading this novel.
Movies like ‘Hostel’, ‘Saw’, and ‘Se7en’ are a good comparison. This takes you to dark places. The epilogue doesn’t make it better.
At first it’s just gory and vivid. Then it gets disturbing. Then it *really* gets disturbing.
Yeah, this is very well written. But you need to be careful. Reading this...I feel the need to watch several hours of children’s cartoons to cleanse my mind.
This is Kaiju fighting and horrifyingly specific vivisection and other things that shouldn’t be in print.
There. You’ve been warned. -
Wow
Dark, gross, violent, disturbing yet surprisingly heartfelt, funny and even lump in the throat, tear inducing and warm.
The story of Duke is not a gentle one, but it's a good one. I've been reading the author's Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and love them, so I thought I'd read this one while waiting for the next book.
It is, as of now, my favorite book by the author.
More than once it made me want to cry, laugh or throw up in my mouth a bit.
Well worth the read. If love to see more like this. -
The beginning of this book was so depressing that I nearly gave up. Instead, I did something I never do, and skipped forward to about the 2/3 point in the book.
This gets a 3 from me for the overall experience, although the writing is competent. It is too dense for non-fiction (for me) and it says something that I managed to pick things up from the 2/3 point with little or no loss of critical info. This suggests to me that it could have been compressed/edited back to <400 pages.
Anyway, lots of game mechanics and skill progression for those who care for those things. One other thing in its favour is that it's a stand-alone book, a rarity in the genre, but I just didn't enjoy it. -
(I received this book for free)
There is not actually all that much kaiju surgery, which is what I read it for, but it's still an interesting book. Note I didn't say enjoyable -- this is definitely not for everyone. I don't find most of the gross scenes beyond the pale, as they all make sense within the context of the story, but that might be too fine of a distinction for you. Feel free to skip it and look for something else in that case.
