📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 446 / Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller

This is it. The end of the world as we know it. Aliens have come and taken over the planet. Earth’s core has been transformed into a multi-level dungeon where the survivors are forced to participate in a reality game show that’s broadcast throughout the universe. We follow Carl and his cat Donut as they compete for their lives.

I loved this book so much! It’s the kind that makes you so happy it’s a series. And no, it’s not just because there’s a bad ass talking cat. It’s fast-paced, with interesting characters, creative alien hybrids, and a compelling storyline. The reality show aspect makes it fun and terrifying at the same time.

There are 6 books in this series so far, and they’re all free with #KindleUnlimited. I received a gifted ebook of the first book through NetGalley in celebration of the hardback being published today.

I was able to listen to the last bit of this book on audio via my trusty #LibbyApp and oh man! Narrator Jeffrey Hays sounds just like David Puddy from Seinfeld when he voices Carl. I LOVE Puddy! And it’s such a perfect match for Carl’s voice. This is my new favorite series. 5 stars for book 1. I can’t wait to read the rest!

AND I just checked Matt Dinniman’s account and found out that Universal International Studios and Seth MacFarlane are working on a movie or tv show or something for this series. My mind keeps exploding. Gotta lie down.

Thank you, @NetGalley, @BerkleyPub, and @MattDinniman for my gifted copy. I loved it!

The end of the world, a multilevel dungeon survival reality game show presented throughout the universe, Carl the everyman protagonist, and his ex-girlfriend's best-in-show cat Princess Donut the Queen Ann Chonk... what an absurd premise that delivers delicious, gory, gleefully incorrigible fun (with a heart) at every page. A thorough guilty pleasure that is an absolute blast (and not just because I'm named Carl too), yet still provides thoughtful undertones of what it means to be human and what we survive for. The snark level is off the charts, especially the sarcastic prompts of the game's AI. And Princess Donut... oh, what a wonderful cat.

I thoroughly enjoyed <i>Dungeon Crawler Carl</i> and can't wait to read on in the series.

Thanks to the author, Berkley Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I sadly do not think that I am the right type of gamer to enjoy the book to its full capacity. I love playing video games and board games, but this is a world that I have not endeavored into yet. Therefore, this book didn’t resonate with me like it might to someone who enjoys that type of world building. That being said I loved Doughnut, and I loved the snarky rewards. Both things truly brightened up the book for me. I will warn people that this book is the first in a series and due to this fact, it does go slowly through the levels, which I would rather it do that than speed through to get to the end. However, it also could have gone a bit faster. This book did drag quite a bit for me.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Good grief this was a fun ride and I cannot wait for it to continue! The apocalypse has come and if you want to venture into the underground, you can, but it is a game with deadly consequences. You must not only survive each of the 18 levels that span across the globe underground, but you must also get as many 'likes' as you can...because it is streaming! This was absolutely a fun and extremely creative read! I loved the banter between Carl and Donut! I definitely recommend this book to everyone!

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.

Suprise! We are in fact, characters in aliens video games! Through no skill of his own, Carl and his ex-girlfriends cat manage to survive the moment the apocolypse strikes! His choice - stay on Earth's surface and definitely freeze to death, or enter the dungeon and probably die. When he enters the dungeon, he finds himself in a massive underground labryinth full of monsters and traps, and survival is dependent on your online following.

This book was absolutely hysterical. Carl is so cynnical and snarky, and Princess Donut is precocious and abolutely adorable. I loved literally everything about this book. I found the achievements, loot, and NPCs hilarious, while also holding onto the darkness of theme. I've never read a LitRPG, but I am a huge fan now. I will admit, the plot and the battles are a little silly, but since this is reminiscent of gaming, I was totally here for it.


While I mostly read the ebook, I saw so many people commenting on the audiobook, so I also borrowed it from my library to try. It was absolutely worth it, it was extremely engaging. Not only am I continuing the series (I kinda already did), but this is absolutely will be a re-read for me.

Yall. I have never had more fun reading a book in my entire career as a reader! I essentially cackled and winced the whole time! 🤣 If you like D&D, RPG, video games or hell, even board games, this is the right book (series) for you!! There are absolutely ridiculous snarky comments all over the place and the “game pop-ups/achievement’s” are amazing. Like this one:

“Goblin Murder Dozer. Contraption
A goblin built, steam powered machine designed to mow down and slaughter unsuspecting dungeon crawlers. I hope you’re up to date with your tetanus shots.”

I don’t have anything bad to say about this one. I loved it for what it was: hilarious fiction about an apocalyptic dungeon world filled with goblins and fairies (not the good kind) and a royal cat named Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk.
But the trash and cockroach scene…🤮

“Oh sweetie, as amusing as I would find it to watch Carl here disappoint yet another woman, we’re on a schedule. Banging monster girls is not the narrative we’re going for with this story. Maybe next time.”
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ʏᴏᴜʟʟ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
•RPG games
•comedy writing
•sci-fi / fantasy
•monsters

Dungeon Crawler Carl, is the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl Siri‘s by Matt Dinnaman. In the first installment we meet Carl who is living in Seattle and just broke up with his girlfriend Beatrice, Who he learned was vacationing with her ex. This is why when the world as Carl knew it went away he was standing outside in his leather jacket, boxers, and Bea’s pink crocs on trying to get Beatrices award winning cat princess donut out of the tree. At this point Carl doesn’t know that he is about to become a very popular reality show star on an interstellar reality show and his costar in fellow fighter will be princess donut. How far can Carl get in a Battle competition when his costar doesn’t even like to get her feline nails dirty… You would be surprised! He gets a helping hand from his guide Malachi and others he will meet along the way. The last thing Carl will have time to do is tend to his broken heart. To say I loved this book is a complete understatement I have a list of four books that are my favorite of all time and it has recently gone to five because I added this book and I already have the other two books in the series download it. This book is so much fun it should be illegal I love everything about this book the extra story with Rory the host of the talk show the witty repertoire between Carl and princess donut especially after she starts talking. I also learned how to read a Kindle book and cook at the same time thanks to not wanting to put this book down. I feel I am not doing the story justice with this review just trust me when I say if you love Sci-fi, magic, superhero abilities, talking aliens and other creatures all set in a video game/reality showtype setting then you’ll definitely enjoy this book. There is a lot of rules and information to the game that the author sparsest the info out a little at a time so it’s easy to follow along with I just love this book and cannot wait to get to the next one. I do believe this is a great epic story that I am so glad is continuing. I love Carl, but unfortunately didn’t like his blasthemic tagline but I guess a little sinning can’t bother me that much, God forgive me because I could not stop reading this book. #NetGalley, #BerkeleyPublishing, #MattDenamen, #DungeonCrawlerCarl,

So… I loved this.

It was like a cross between Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the Hunger Games. There was tons of zany off the wall action, the AI with its odd comments, and hints at a much larger plot at a grander scale.

I really like the interplay between Donut and Carl. Carl is rather serious on his own, but Donut’s commentary helps make sure that engages in the ridiculousness around him and is also an insight into his past with Bea (who I am sure isn’t dead). Also, Carl’s frustration at his lack of pants/shoes certainly is amusing.

All in all, if you are looking for an action packed comedic adventure, look no further. I am looking forward to continuing this series.

This is the first "litRPG" I've tried, and I understand the appeal. While the POV and humor here is hit or miss for me, the action is fun and some of the twists legitimately surprised me. I'd be interested in seeing more of this kind of thing.

I’m a big reader and my husband is a gamer. I saw this on NetGalley and thought why not?

This book was a wild ride! Poor “Carl” is stuck in a jacket, boxers and his ex girlfriend’s crocs with a cat to battle royal for survival. It was very easy to picture what was happening and the pacing is really good. We learn the rules as Carl and Donut do so there’s no downtime. Pedal to the metal from beginning to end.

This isn’t quite what I usually read but I had an idea of what I was getting into with the description. The dark humor is a must and it delivered.

What a wonderful kickass book full of so much i love in the litrpg genre. FANTASTIC! Read this in tandem with the audiobook, a wonderful experience.

Not gonna lie, I wobbled at the start of this, but I’m glad I held on and kept reading. This is the perfect balance of deeply dark and wildly funny, a litRPG that’s set on Earth after the aliens arrive and create the apocalypse. And then they create a live-streaming survival reality TV show featuring whichever ill-prepared humans stumble into their “dungeon.” Carl, the protagonist, is a gamer, so he knows how to play. But now he’s faced with actually killing creatures in order to survive, and it’s…icky. Carl’s moral qualms are what saves this from being simple slapstick, and is what really pulled me into being deeply invested in his survival. Well, that and the antics and sudden insights of Princess Donut, the cat he brought in with him who’s been transformed into a player character like him, and who can now speak. Honestly, this is a delight.

I've heard of LitRPG, but I didn't exactly know what it was. I think Dungeon Crawler Carl is it. Carl steps outside in his underwear to get his ex-girlfriend's cat out of a tree - and finds himself in a real-life dungeon crawl that seems like certain doom. Luckily Princess Donut has better stats than he does, and they will band together to fight evil, save the nursing home refugees, and find continually cooler loot boxes. I frequently giggled out loud as Carl earned achievements for stomping things barefoot and Princess Donut honed her ability to charm late-night TV hosts. A must read for nerds, and a good introduction to our world for anybody else. (Read at your own risk, non-geeks, or ask your gamer friend for help.)

Very fun book. I had a blast reading it. I'm not sure how motivated I am to pick up tge next one, but tge time reading this wad will spent. Great characters and world building. Just an all around good time!

Imagine you’re in the middle of an apocalypse and you’ve been sucked in a dungeon crawling game show where your physical survival depends on killing monsters “in style.” Your world and most everyone you know and love are gone but it’s okay because your cat is along for the ride!

I absolutely loved this book and I am hooked and have the next one downloaded on my kindle. Carl and Princess Donut are lovable characters and the plot had me hooked. One of the most hilarious and binge-worthy books I’ve read this year. If you’re a video game fan, a Dungeons and Dragons fan, and you like a book that makes me actually laugh out loud, read this book! Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this ebook.

Originally picked this up on the recommendation of YouTuber Daniel Greene, as he sang its praises. But I guess I’m not the right reader for it. I like to the quirky humor, and of course, the cat. But I’m not a video game or LitRPG person, so the novelty wore off quickly. It’s fun, but not enough to sustain me for a book of this length.

I don’t know if anybody who has paid attention to the publishing industry (at least on the genre side of things) doesn’t know about Dungeon Crawler Carl. A selfpub hit that came out of the pandemic, and then an audiobook hit, and then a kickstarter hit, and now is being republished in a new edition by Ace Books (a division of Random House) with Part 1 of a short story as additional bonus material (and a new cover).

The novel is part post-apocalyptic narrative, part litRPG, and part satire of both reality television and video games in general. Very basically (to those who are unfamiliar with the premise), Earth has been legally repossessed (it isn’t important why) by a vast advanced alien civilization. All buildings destroyed (along with the inhabitants of them) and a vast dungeon complex built underground. Survivors who are outside are given the opportunity to enter the dungeon and if they can complete all of the levels in the specified time limits (each level has a time limit), they could…something…with the Earth. It isn’t made clear. Oh…and the whole thing is “televised” to the universe as the ultimate and most popular entertainment program, complete with interviews, cut footage, etc.

Our “heroes” are Carl and “his” cat, Princess Donut (I say “his” because technically the cat belongs to his ex-girlfriend). None of this is particularly important – the “real world” is quickly forgotten as Carl enters the dungeon with Donut and begins “the crawl.” We then proceed to meet NPCs, other crawlers, figures of the “syndicate” that controls the universe, and proceed to follow Carl and Donut as they progress through the dungeon/

This wasn’t my first introduction to the world of litRPG (for the unaware, litRPG is a subgenre that is written somewhat like a role playing game – where people are inside the game, but aware that there are rules, stats, etc. – I’m not truly doing it justice, though – you can read here for a better rundown of what it is). But I’d be lying if I said it was my favorite genre. I don’t dislike it, but it isn’t something I’m drawn towards. I read a litRPG novel (first in a series) awhile back and while I liked the concept well enough, I was frustrated by how unlikable the characters were, how stereotyped, how monochrome.

A friend of mine recommended this to me awhile back, and then another friend recently read it and enjoyed it. I was toying with the idea of the audiobook…when Ace kindly offered me the opportunity to read an eARC of this, the first book in the series. Ace has bought the republish rights to the first three novels in the series, and there is a bit of a marketing push behind it to maybe find some corners of genre that haven’t encountered the series yet.

I liked this a lot. Did I love it? Kinda? I’m not sure. On the one hand, it is your standard litRPG which isn’t exactly what I’m looking for. It is plot heavy and it doesn’t have a ton of character development. There are some info dumpy chapters, which are necessary and very much mimic info dump “tutorials” in RPG games. I find myself bored with talk about statistics and percentages to hit and damage caused, etc.

And yet…I inhaled this book. The writing is sharp. It is unquestionably hilarious. The AI that controls the dungeon (and creates descriptions for items, monsters, etc.) appears to be mentally unstable (and possibly a foot fetishist). The interactions between Carl and Princess Donut are hilarious. There is a healthy dose of satire of reality television and video games that is immediately familiar. There are slight bits of satire of our real world. And there are enough decent hooks about the wider universe that the “crawl” exists in to be particularly interesting and enough “in-dungeon” hooks and side arcs to make me wonder what will happen next. I’m genuinely curious whether or not the author has thought out the wider universe or is making it up as he goes along. If he’s mapped some of this out…it is very intriguing.

Would I like some character development? Sure. Admittedly, that’s hard in the circumstances of this novel (and often doesn’t even exist in video games), but it wouldn’t be awful to see how the experience has changed Carl and Donut (then again – this novel takes place over the course of about 2 weeks of real time, so…maybe that’ll come as they get deeper?). Since these are self-published initially, I worry that the length will get out of control…but hey…I could be wrong about that. I have to say that I love the art for this edition from Ace much more than the self-pub art.

Oh! And the first part of the exclusive short story? Worth it. Especially if you enjoyed the goblins at the beginning of “the crawl.”

Will I keep reading? Yeah. I will. I’m not going to jump into book 2 immediately (and there are six…soon to be seven books?), but I’ll keep reading as long as it holds attention. And this one certainly did. Recommended to any geek with a sense of humor. 4 unreserved stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ace (Berkley Books/Penguin Random House) for the ARC of this novel. You can order it here.

"The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman - now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.

You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That's what.

Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world - or just get to the next level - in a video game-like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that's actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain't your ordinary game show.

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.

Includes part one of the exclusive bonus story "Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.""

I mean, come on, Princess Donut demands your attention!

Aliens come to take over the earth. The only way to survive is to go to the Dungeons. In short, Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat are stuck in a 13 level game that determines the fate of Earth. It's messy, it's cruel, it's funny and sad. It's not for everyone. Also the AI who runs the place likes Carl's bare-feet for some strange reason. Lot's of people die, there's blood and there are no winners, just survivors. May the odds ever been in your grasp.

I am so happy this series exists. This kind of fantasy game/real-world adventure filled with fun pop references and hilarious and grumpy, sassy characters is always the promise of a great time. I am a fan and will continue to read and reread these that always fill my day with laughter. I mean... who doesn't want to follow talking Princess Donut (the cat) who, by the way, knows Magic Missile. Roll for initiative! 

Plot: Aliens take over Earth, kill most of the humans, and the survivors "volunteer" to enter a televised Dungeon Challenge with high stakes and very few chances to beat the game. 

I am a classic artwork fan and like the funny illustrated covers, but these are well-designed too, we can almost see those pink Crocs. Ahah. 

Thank you, Publisher and Netgalley for including me in this one