Scott's Take: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is the first book in a multi book series. There is also a graphic novel version that you can read each chapter weekly through Webtoon for free as it is released. Those issues will be version which will be collected into a finished volume later. I first read some of the graphic novel that is out and decided to read the book version. The graphic novel version cuts out some of the adult content and seems to be more teen friendly than the book.

 

In this series, Carl is an ex-Coast Guard member who has recently broken up with his cheating girlfriend. He is alone with her prize-winning show cat, Princess Donut. It is a snowy night and Princes Donut has decided to escape their dwelling. This means Carl has to, without pants or shoes, chase after the cat before it freezes to death. Since they are both outside, they are some of the few survivors of a massive alien attack that causes all buildings everywhere to suddenly collapse killing anyone who is inside a building at the time.

 

Those who were outside and survived are then rounded up by the aliens who have plans for them. They will now be forced to fight for their lives in a televised game show that will be watched by other space aliens elsewhere. The aliens have designed this gameshow based on video game logic, so Princess Donut and Carl must face goblins in level 1 if they wish to survive. This is just the beginning of their journey as a man and a cat must face the apocalypse together.

 

This book has plenty of adult content. There is drinking, smoking, peeing, violence, and even an AI generated sex tape comes to pass.  This is a violent humor filled adventure. There will be death and a talking cat. Princess Donut is leveled up by the aliens to be a true partner for Carl. So now the cat can talk and cast magic spells.

 

I read the large print version of this from my local library which included a bonus short story from the perspective of one of the goblins. There are seven books in the series out now. Book eight, A Parade of Horribles, comes out in 2026.

 

The second book in the series is called Carl’s Doomsday Scenario as a man and his cat continue their quest to survive the game. Carl still has no pants and no shoes. There is an important reason why this is, but I am not going to ruin it for you.

 

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Scott A. Tipple ©2025