January 2026: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman > Likes and Comments

Our January book will be Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Read in December, discussion opens January 1st. Until then feel free to discuss anything other than the story itself. (e.g. other books by this author, topics related to it, cover art, etc.)


2020, 446 pages, 4.53 stars
$4.99 Kindle, used starting at $18.69, at some libraries

"The apocalypse will be televised!

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game."

I'm excited to start reading this! It has so many good reviews, including some by Goodreads Friends.

By the way, Goodreads is having a giveaway for it:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

I wasn’t planning on reading this but maybe I might.

DISCUSSION NOW OPEN

Remember to uncheck "Add to my Update Feed" anytime you mention a spoiler. (Or you can use spoiler tags.)

I finished about four days ago and immediately went to get the next book. It is an 8 book series though! So I decided to go for the holiday deal for Kindle Unlimited (3 months for 99 cents) and am reading book 2.

I can see why it gets such good ratings. It's very... sensational? Everything is completely over the top. It has a lot of tie-ins to role player games, Dungeons and Dragons and that sort of thing, and is basically modeled after a combination of an RPG and a reality show.

The fact that there is a cat as one of the main characters is a definite bonus so that's been a fun part of the story.

Anyway I'm quite liking the series. My only complaint I'll share for now is that it's so fucking brutal (there's something pretty gross about humanity's tendency to think of the worst possible thing and call it entertainment) but I going with the flow. I just want our main characters to be more bothered by it. Especially when there are characters in the game who are (view spoiler)[only there and a "monster" because the game controllers forced them to be (hide spoiler)].

Anyway, hopefully I won't be the only one who read this one.

I'll chime in with this: I do not understand yet why this book (and the whole series so far, about to finish #4 tonight) has grabbed me so much. It just clicked in my brain like a puzzle piece. I can try to explain.

The writing is clever without trying too hard. There's heart in the main characters. The pace of the first book is perfect, IMHO. Just enough exposition to give you information, but never slow. The comedy is right in my wheelhouse. I've been a gamer since I was a child. I begged for a Commodore 64 just to play games and I've never looked back! I've played a fair number of TTRPGs as well. So I recognize and feel at home with all of the various game mechanics.

One other thing I'll give Dinniman - his characters all speak as themselves. I appreciate that, coming off a book where everyone sounded like the narrative voice of the author.

I am so hooked on this series, and I wish I fully understood why. The last authors that hooked me this hard are probably John Scalzi, Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut Jr..

Gertie wrote: "My only complaint I'll share for now is that it's so fucking brutal (there's something pretty gross about humanity's tendency to think of the worst possible thing and call it entertainment) but I going with the flow. I just want our main characters to be more bothered by it."

I will not spoil anything, but I will say this concern is very, very, very addressed going forward!

I found this book pleasantly surprising. It was full of wry humor with realistic situations set amongst the absurd. Donut was a ham! Great name too!

Dang, I planned on starting this when the group did. It's been recommended by a number of people I follow. The synopsis felt a little like Ready Player One, Hitchikers Guide, and The Maze Runner had an illegitimate baby. Buying it now!

Yeah I hear you Jim, I am expecting to start book 3 as soon as I finish 2.

Already in book 2 I am seeing more moments of empathy from Donut. I keep thinking we will see more from Carl w hen it makes sense for the story.

It is my hope/expectation that as he gets through the levels he starts a scheme to take down the fuckers that run the system.

My son is currently reading these and is already on book #4. He says they are very easy to read and enjoyable.

Cornelius wrote: "The synopsis felt a little like Ready Player One, Hitchikers Guide, and The Maze Runner had an illegitimate baby"

What a perfect description! I would add only this:"...had an illegitimate baby with a dislike of authority and an attitude problem."

Gertie wrote: "It is my hope/expectation that as he gets through the levels he starts a scheme to take down the fuckers that run the system."

I have written like 5 sentences as a reply and deleted them all. I don't want to spoil anything!

You said you're gonna start book 3 when you're done. After finishing book 1, I was told that 3 is when the series really hits it's stride. Those people spoke the truth!

I'm on book 3 now lol!

I'm new to the online bookclub scene, but very interested in participating. I'm late to the game with this book, but i'm trying to plow through it, about halfway done, should have it finished tomorrow. I do really love it so far.

Is the point that we discuss the book here in this thread, upon completion, as long as the discussion is after the highlighted date? or is there some other forum that has seeded discussion points? How active are the discussions typically?

Just curious :)

Welcome!

I am now on book 4 lol. From what I have read this will be a 10 book series and it's now on 8. (For book club we allow first in series but not beyond that.)

The discussion activity varies but it's not a whole lot usually - every now and then we find a book that gets more interest. (Despite the voting process many people don't follow up.)

We always start discussion at the first of the month, so for this one it was marked as "currently reading" on the group homepage about mid-December so people could join discussion in January.

That said, the discussions never close, so you can always join in one late. That will bump the topic back to the top and send notifications so people might pop back in to reply.

Finished up the book last night, i really enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next one. This book was really right up my ally, as I'm a gamer also, therefore probably easy to please here.

I also just got a new kindle and signed up for 3 months of free kindle unlimited, so thankfully all of these books are on that platform. My only problem is there are SO MANY books i want to read, the hardest part is picking the next book. I've been jumping between two books a bit, so I started next months read on the Kindle, and maybe ill just read that one at a slow burn since we have a few weeks on that front.

Yeah I had never been interested in Kindle Unlimited before but this did it. They had a holiday promotion — for 99 cents you get 3 months.

I'll probably churn through all 8 books while I have KU since I am not sure yet if I'll keep it. I wish the series was done, I imagine it will be within a couple years or so.

KU seems like a decent deal if you read more then 2 books a month if you don't have frequent access to the library.

My wife is already annoyed with how many books i bought.

This how I am powering through them as well. KU for 99 cents is too good a deal!

My kiddo just got this for christmas...I might just borrow it from him instead of the library haha

I’ve just finished Dungeon Crawler Carl for our club, and I have to say... I absolutely loved it. I went in expecting something totally bizarre, and while it is completely outrageous, it actually made me laugh out loud so much more than I expected.
​There’s something about the way the levels are set up that just keeps you hooked, and honestly, having a cat involved in the middle of all that madness was just brilliant. But what really caught me off guard was that it’s not just jokes; it’s actually quite poignant in places too. There’s a lot more depth to it than you’d think at first glance. I’m now in that slightly 'crazy' headspace where I’m already looking at the next few books in the series-I just really want to see where it goes next!"

I read this a while back and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It definitely has heart. I love Princess Donut! Like some of the others, I took advantage of the 99 cent KU deal and I'm currently reading the second book.

If you have access to The NY Times, they ran a nice profile of Matt Dinniman last month. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/bo...

I hate being super busy. I started last night and am about halfway through the first book. Digging it so far. Super easy read, very conversational. Only complaint is it's kind of crass, but rooted in gamer culture. Fun read.

I’m reading a brick of a book right now. I wan’t planning on reading this but everyone seems to really like this book/series. I am sure my library has it since they posted a funny video and one librarian was holding it and a handful of other books (maybe the others in the series).

So I might come back later.

Finished it late last night. I like that he left a number of threads open, clearly set up for the rest of the series. I guess I'll order the next book--I usually don't do sequels but this was a fun, easy read.

Out of curiosity, I looked up what "the internet" was saying about the series. Don't. It's just Krakarens whining about having a broken humorous.

Oh, I hate to be the you-know-what in the punchbowl but this wasn’t my favorite read. There was nothing wrong with it…the writing was fine and the characters were likable but I think I just like my apocalyptic stories to be darker, more serious. Maybe I’m not sophisticated enough to appreciate the juxtaposition of the plot and the tone, lol…

Or maybe not silly enough for it to be your cup of tea? Because it is definitely kind of ridiculous. Sometimes I am good with that and sometimes I am not. This happens to be one time I am (about to start book 5).

Cornelius, crass for sure! I described it to someone as "disgusting and outrageous and hilarious and engrossing".

Part of me is horrified but I am also trusting it to come together in the end.