09/04/2026
Mel's 2026 Book Challenge and Review
🔖 Book 14 of 2026
4.5⭐ Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
It's labelled as LitRPG (a new genre for me), and it is about a guy fighting strange monsters. I honestly didn't think I was going to like this.
Carl is just a guy, trying to retrieve his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, from the frigid outdoors in the dead of night. Dressed in only in his underwear, a jacket, and some ill-fitting Crocs, he heads outside just before the entire planet is levelled. Anyone with a roof over their head is dead. Those who survived are encouraged to head to the dungeon.
This isn't just any dungeon though.... it's an intergalactic reality show. Carl and Donut are contestants, crawlers, where life and death is now a game.
This book is pretty much just action from the start. There is nothing in it that is enlightening, there is no character development.... it's just go, go, go. Yes...it is violent. It's a video game in book form. But it's certainly entertaining!
This is book 1 of EIGHT. The series started as self-published in 2020, but it had recently been picked up by a major publisher that is releasing the books in paperback at a gradual pace.
Book 1 & 2 (Carl's Doomsday Scenario) are available in paperback, with the next book to release some time in 2027.
We have both this and book 2 in store now.
Dungeon Crawler Carl - 2 copies, $27.99 each
Carl's Doomsday Scenario - 2 copies, $29.00 each
