An Ode to Dungeon Crawler Carl: Why Everyone Should Read This Series

This isn’t a review. It’s a love letter to one of the most unexpectedly brilliant series I’ve ever read.

If you know me, you’ve probably heard me talk about the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman at least once. It comes up at every book club meeting. My Instagram feed is one-third cooking videos, one-third soccer memes, and one-third DCC reels. I own every book on my Kindle, on my bookshelf, and on audiobook.

If there were a pyramid scheme for getting people to read Dungeon Crawler Carl, I’d be a billionaire.

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I ignored recommendations for this series for months (you know who you are—I am so sorry). It wasn’t until I was stranded on the metro at midnight after the Houston Rodeo that I finally gave in and picked it up. From that night on, I didn’t stop reading until I’d finished every book in the series. Matt Dinniman, thank you for not only curing my boredom but also taking over my life for weeks.

Series at a Glance

• Author: Matt Dinniman
• Genre: LitRPG / Science Fiction / Fantasy
• Books Published: 8 (and counting)
• Violence: ★★★★☆
• Humor: ★★★★★
• Emotional Damage: ★★★★☆
• My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Now, here’s the part where I lose people.

Dungeon Crawler Carl sounds absolutely unhinged when I try to describe it. Earth gets taken over by aliens. The surviving humans are thrown into a giant, video game-style dungeon to fight for their lives. The whole thing is televised. The main character, Carl, teams up with his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning cat, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, to survive.

The premise is absurd.

It’s also one of the best book series I’ve ever read.

Every chapter is packed with action and humor, but the series has plenty of emotional moments too, exploring topics like addiction, grief, anxiety, and PTSD. There’s not really any romance (sorry, my fellow romance girls), but honestly? You won’t even miss it.

Here’s the thing: I genuinely think there’s a version of this series for almost everyone.

If you loved The Hunger Games or Shatter Me…

Dungeon Crawler Carl has the same alternate-Earth survival energy, except the protagonists aren’t whiny teenagers, and there isn’t a love triangle waiting around every corner.

If you grew up playing RuneScape (or still do)…

NEW ACHIEVEMENT!

You’ve discovered your next favorite LitRPG series.

If you’ve burned through A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, Fourth Wing, and every other romantasy series…

The romantasy-to-Dungeon Crawler Carl pipeline really should be studied.

I genuinely can’t explain how so many of us end up here, but it’s very, very real.

If character development is your thing…

Almost every recurring character undergoes meaningful internal growth, which is honestly incredible considering this is a series about an alien-apocalypse-dungeon-video-game-reality-show. No one feels one-dimensional, which is surprisingly rare in action-heavy fantasy.

I will say that the books can get pretty gory, and there’s a healthy amount of cursing. If that’s not your thing, this might be one to skip. I mean…it’s a post-apocalyptic alien reality show set inside a giant dungeon. I feel like that’s to be expected, but consider this your official warning.

Now that I’ve spent several hundred words trying to convince you to read Dungeon Crawler Carl, here’s my completely subjective ranking of the books with absolutely no explanations. I can’t be handing out spoilers around here.

1. Book 7: This Inevitable Ruin
2. Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
3. Book 5: The Butcher’s Masquerade
4. Book 2: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario
5. Book 1: Dungeon Crawler Carl
6. Book 4: The Gate of the Feral Gods
7. Book 8: A Parade of Horribles
8. Book 3: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook

I haven’t rated a single book in the series lower than four stars. As a whole, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a five-star series for me, which hasn’t happened in a long time. That’s why it holds such a special place in my heart.

Matt Dinniman is a genius, and it’s been so much fun watching this series get the recognition I think it’s always deserved.

So…have you read Dungeon Crawler Carl yet, or is it still sitting on your TBR?

If you’ve already read it, you probably understand exactly why I’m incapable of shutting up about it.

If you haven’t…well, I sincerely hope this is the post that finally convinces you to give it a shot. Just don’t blame me when you suddenly own every book in every format.

Cheers, and happy reading!

Reminder: Everyone has their own tastes and opinions! Respectfully disagree all you want. Be mean about it, and I’ll assume your favorite character would’ve been disappointed in you. Life’s too short to argue over fictional people.