Dungeon Crawler Carl (#1)[June 9, 2025]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman starting on June 9, 2025, 2025.


Happy Reading!

[Nirkatze]

Thank you!

I am so down for a reread. Raise hands if you're down for a reread!

1. Dungeon Crawler Carl (Jun 9)
2. Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Jul 9) [link]
3. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Aug 9) [link]
4. The Gate of the Feral Gods (Sept 9) [link]
=====Requests Made to Here=====
5. The Butcher's Masquerade
6. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
7. This Inevitable Ruin
8. Carl's Book of Boom (expected late 2025)

[Aakash]

I so want to give this a go. This series came out of nowhere and became hugely popular. And I am craving a litrpg, something similar to Cradle. Will see if I can make time for it. No promises though.

[Mitali]

Starting this early as next week is busy. Have a feeling that this'll be fun.

[Mitali]

4 chapters in.. The "stats" remind me of Solo Leveling and the "ratings" remind of Hunger games. Princess Donut gives off a vibe of being the show stealer. (Love cats, i hope she's a big part of the books).

[Narilka]

It sounds like this is your first time through the series. You are in for a treat :) If I wasn't finishing up book 7 with my husband right now, I'd join you all for a reread :D Enjoy!

For those who have already read it, "atrocity" is the new word du jour around the house lol

[RachelG.]

I'm looking forward to reading this one for the first time as well. I plan to start in a couple days. So many people seem to love this series.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

we own shirts

[Felina]

I’m in for this but typically going to be late.

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "we own shirts"

I picked up the Donut Holes shirt in the Memorial Day sale, I was like screw it, I wore my Goddammit Donut! shirt to a 4 year old's soccer game without thinking so one with the cat's butthole is okay too lol

[Nirkatze]

I have a 5 hour drive coming up and was originally planning on listening to Malazan, but had to start that too early... I think I'll save this for it instead...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

lol... I figure I shouldn't wear a cat's butthole to work, even if most people probably wouldn't notice or care :D

[Ann-Marie]

I love this series so much, it knocked Tarot Sequence out of the top 5 for me, highly recommend the audio if that is something that interests you. And I think I am going to buy the full cast version from Soundbooth directly and give that a go for this read through.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Biggest reason Tarot slowly falls down my list is writing delays... Hype for trilogy 2-3 someday, but in the meantime...

[Mitali]

Haha. Yes it's my first time reading it. Shirts n all, sounds like serious business eh... even with the butthole. :D

I'm 30% in and it's been a fun read so far.. and absurd. Exactly what i needed right now.

[Mitali]

It continues to remind me of solo leveling.. in a good way.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Do ut Holes is the unofficial fan club... princess Donut is appalled...

Prefers the Princess Poss Official Fan Club

[Mitali]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Do ut Holes is the unofficial fan club... princess Donut is appalled...

Prefers the Princess Poss Official Fan Club"

:D :D :D
(view spoiler)[ Goblin Babies were just killed/blown up.. I'm as surprised and appalled as Carl.. seems like just the beginning (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

LOL I love how it's THAT scene that got your smiley faces, Mitali!

[RachelG.]

Up to Chapter 13: I am really enjoying how this book is actually focused on the game. It seems like a lot of ones I have been reading lately you kind of forget it's a game world. Princess is fun and i like Carl. What really steals my laughs is the snarky AI. I love reading the bold highlights because that is the best part for me.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This is a bit of a LitRPG anthology series... each floor has different LitRPG rules... some more notable than others...

Floor 8 / book 6 is a Card Battler, for example...
Another is basically capture the flag like Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft

I think the one that's being written right now on Patreon is Mad Max / Cannonball Run style...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "This is a bit of a LitRPG anthology series... each floor has different LitRPG rules... some more notable than others...

Floor 8 / book 6 is a Card Battler, for example...
Another is basically capt..."

I haven't read the last few chapters but the first few reminded me of Mario Cart but the movie references make sense too :)

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Biggest reason Tarot slowly falls down my list is writing delays... Hype for trilogy 2-3 someday, but in the meantime..."

Right? Just release the book FFS! It's not GRRM territory yet but man, get your shit together! He had a big announcement recently on Patreon but I didn't check it out because I am annoyed lol

Oh I think I saw that he was splitting the next book into 2 or some shit.....So dumb!

[RachelG.]

I'm on Chapter 19 and have a question that I just need to know the answer to although it's going to be a spoiler... Is Bea actually alive?

[Ann-Marie]

RachelG. wrote: "I'm on Chapter 19 and have a question that I just need to know the answer to although it's going to be a spoiler... Is Bea actually alive?"

If you really want to know......(view spoiler)[Yes, she is and she is kidnapped I think at the end of book 3 from where she is on Earth? Odette hires mercs to track down Ferdinand I think and they end up finding Bea, snatch her and Carl & Donut face her on Odette's show. Donut has an epic spaz out on her at one point, it was awesome <3 (hide spoiler)]

[RachelG.]

Thanks Ann-Marie!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I mean... If you want another spoiler, the answer doesn't matter (view spoiler)[ because the corporate overlords are corrupt as fuck, and can turn anyone smashed in the opening moments of the series when building flattened into NPCs, pretty much at the drop of a hat... (hide spoiler)]

[RachelG.]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I mean... If you want another spoiler, the answer doesn't matter [spoilers removed]"

That makes a lot of sense.

[RachelG.]

Finished and I really enjoyed this. I really want to see Carl and Donut be successful in going through the levels. It's also nice that we get to see a wide range of characters.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

It's a delicate balance, between making friends/allies, and going it alone, which is safer for the mental health when situations arise that try to make them kill one another or sacrifice one another to survive (also, party XP splitting hurts level gains and survivability)...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The series definitely has a wide range of colorful characters to enjoy, tho...

And the AI only gets zanier...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "The series definitely has a wide range of colorful characters to enjoy, tho...

And the AI only gets zanier..."

Just wait for Samantha <3 I kind of love Rend too but you have quite a while to get to that little guy :)

[Mitali]

I've unfortunately gotten distracted with the American Vampire comic book series by Scott Snyder. Finishing that first. :D Will pick this back up tomorrow.

[Nirkatze]

Starting! My book club is reading this on Friday, and I am NOT SORRY. I will remain NOT SORRY even if they all hate it. My best friend got to Chapter 11 and pretty much DNF'd already, though she said she'd give it another try with the audio... she pretty much only likes slice-of-life romances--even the In Death series has a bit too high of an ick-factor for her.

She also hates Donut. I might need to reassess our friendship, lol. But then, Donut (view spoiler)[starts off awfully spoiled... and it is Jeff Hayes's voice acting which really makes her so precious from the beginning. (hide spoiler)] So I'm glad she's willing to try the audio--she hasn't tried audiobooks and doesn't really want to, but I convinced her to try it like listening to tv while playing games.

Up to Chapter 11 myself. I'm trying dual audio & eye reading--I think it was Narilka who recommended that? Or Diana? Someone! Chip in if it was you! I'm really liking it--but it does limit the time... there are some places where I can only do eye reading, and some places I can only do audio, so I have to take time for both... (view spoiler)[going a bit more slowly with eye (can only do about 2.8x speed to keep up with the text right now)--but it's really hammering in just how tragic everything is.

I'm keeping in mind the opening epigraph--about Rome, and the Coliseum... I think I missed it the first time around. But the boss fight, with the poor Spanish lady yelling "Ayudame!" Help me!--it's so horrible, not just for the poor woman, but for Carl and Donut, forced to become murderers to survive...

There's a bit of slightly awkward worldbuilding tossed in there with Carl theorizing that she must be a person who "died" in the collapse repurposed as an NPC--I actually prefer the tutorial infodump.

I don't know how I missed the AI's foot fetish my first read through. It's so creepy. But I think a lot of the stats & system announcements went over my head (or in one ear and out the other) the first time. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "My best friend got to Chapter 11 and pretty much DNF'd already, though she said she'd give it another try with the audio...

She also hates Donut. I might need to reassess our friendship..."

Was gonna say the same thing :D

[Ann-Marie]

Cut your losses now and find a new BFFer lol

I bought the Sounbooth full cast version and I am enjoying it but still super early goings and I am not yet sure if it was worth $20, TBD :)

[Saar The Book owl]

Oh, I didn't know there was a reread! I bought a copy awhile ago, but I'm overwhelmed in current reads. I might give it a try now, though...

[RachelG.]

With so many people saying how great this book was (including people who don't normally read this type) I was a bit nervous that it wouldn't live up to expectations but I really did enjoy it. Are there plans to BR the series?

[Mitali]

Nirkatze wrote: "Starting! My book club is reading this on Friday, and I am NOT SORRY. I will remain NOT SORRY even if they all hate it. My best friend got to Chapter 11 and pretty much DNF'd already, though she sa..."

I read 2/3rd of it and like the book so far. Princess Donut can't be hated. :D

I remember Nyssa mentioning reading while listening recently on Empire of Silence BR.

[Nirkatze]

Nyssa! I'm glad to know who to thank properly for the idea.

I'd definitely like to do a full read of the series. I have a tendency to only schedule book 1 of a series if it's planned far out, and see who shows up. But if folks are interested, I'd be happy to put in requests through Sept or Dec.

Is anyone pure eye-reading? I'd be curious to see reactions to the series on eye versus audio.

[Narilka]

Nirkatze wrote: "Starting! My book club is reading this on Friday, and I am NOT SORRY. I will remain NOT SORRY even if they all hate it. My best friend got to Chapter 11 and pretty much DNF'd already, though she sa..."

Let me guess... your friend prefers cocker spaniels :P

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nyssa does read and listen, and so does Monika, i think...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Starting! My book club is reading this on Friday, and I am NOT SORRY. I will remain NOT SORRY even if they all hate it. My best friend got to Chapter 11 and pretty much DNF'd alrea..."

rofl

[Felina]

I’ll be eye reading this one and am interested in doing the series.

[Ann-Marie]

RachelG. wrote: "With so many people saying how great this book was (including people who don't normally read this type) I was a bit nervous that it wouldn't live up to expectations but I really did enjoy it. Are t..."

I plan on reading through again and I just finished book 7 a few days ago lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Im done for awhile... Dropped out of this BR... I/we read this for the first time last year for the most part .. read book 7 in February when it came out on audio, then me and Ann-Marie did a complete series re-read from February/March to May/a few days ago... Unlike Ann-Marie, I need a break before a 3rd read-through is on the table ... Maybe when the next read-through starts in September/October, maybe not (Nirkatze is introducing the series to another IRL book club)

[Nirkatze]

My friend does indeed have a little dog--a mutt that is some sort of chihuahua/beagle mix or something--but she likes cats. She's just not buying into the prima donna act.

And yeah, I'm making one of my other book clubs read this too, probably Oct/Nov.

I'll put in requests through Sept--if folks want more, let me know.

[Nirkatze]

Through the end of Part 1/Chapter 27--I probably had this comparison feeling the first time reading, but I'm starting to get Sword Art Online vibes, especially (view spoiler)[with meeting Frank Q & Maggie My, the crawler-killers... I love seeing Carl think and build his way out of situations... I really hope they got that loot bomb in the face. I honestly don't remember.

And then meeting up with some good people--Agatha and the Elderly Bunch. What exactly is she so concerned about in her cart? (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Through Chapter 47 (view spoiler)[I love how Zev and Donut start bonding over a shared love of TV shows... but then Zev gets benched... I totally thought that and the preteen boy talk show were later in the series... And Frank and Maggie. Damn. Carl's right--Yvette deserved better. But I blame their game guide worse, even... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Finished! Really enjoyed doing the read & listen. I caught a lot more than the first runthrough. (view spoiler)[Like, I totally missed how the item inventory history played into Carl figuring out that there's Something About Agatha.

The best hint for me about Mongo being a velociraptor was when he opened up the grub's belly "with his claw"--singular, on his foot. I didn't realize that the full name of velociraptor is actually "Velociraptor mongoliensis." Found some great pictures too:

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]
Supposedly from a line of figurines that focus on scientific accuracy.

I'm really looking forward to picking up with the next one! (hide spoiler)]