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Dungeon Crawler Carl: A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure Paperback – September 21, 2020

by Matt Dinniman (Author)

4.7 10,130 ratings

Book 1 of 6: Dungeon Crawler Carl

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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.

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Popular Highlights in this book

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I never considered myself a big fan of cats. But, if we’re being truthful here, I liked Donut. That cat did not give two shits about anybody or anything, and I could respect that.
Highlighted by 332 Kindle readers
Goblin Copper Chopper with attached sidecar. Human-sized. Contraption. Take a junkyard bicycle, add an unreliable steam engine, remove all the bolts holding it together, replace them with chewing gum, and you get the idea. The preferred assault transport of Goblin Bomb Bards, what this contraption lacks in reliability and safety it makes up for in absolutely nothing.
Highlighted by 291 Kindle readers
New achievement! You’ve inflicted damage on a mob. Hopefully it won’t hit back! Reward: It’s probably going to hit back.
Highlighted by 245 Kindle readers

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08JF5KSQH
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (September 21, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 444 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8688591507
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.43 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.11 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #39 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction
- #116 in Humorous Fantasy (Books)
- #142 in GameLit & LitRPG Fiction

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4.7 10,130 ratings

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Matt Dinniman

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Matt Dinniman is a writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the author of the best-selling Dungeon Crawler Carl series along with several other books about the end of the world. He doesn't really hate Cocker Spaniels, and he plays bass in two bands.

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Michael Koogler

Wow....just Wow....

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2024

Verified Purchase

Two words. FRIGGEN' BRILLIANT!

This story is just plain fun. And if you're a gamer, it's incredibly clever, too. I have never really been one to get into LitRPG, but I picked this one up as a recommendation from a friend. I do Audible these days and let me tell you, I was NOT disappointed.

The story is fantastic--engaging characters (Carl and Donut are simply the best!) humor, horror, and everything in between. And amazingly, it's got heart, too!

The narration is off the charts. Jeff Hays gives a masterclass in narration and adds a level to the story that you have to hear to believe. It's like listening to Kronk from Emperor's New Groove and it's an absolute delight. I was just a few chapters into this one before I had the next one purchased and loaded up and ready to go.

Get. This! You will NOT be disappointed.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Surprisingly Good, Entertaining, Complex Series

Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2024

Verified Purchase

This series was a bizarre surprise. It is not my typical read but I was truly blown away by the depth of the world-building and as complicated as the world is with world-building, political and government system and how much information is thrown at you, the reader, everything works. Characters are well developed and don’t feel basic or 1 dimensional. There is so much Information it can be overwhelming but the story is very engaging entertaining and while I thought it was going to be dorky and silly, there is some darker deep traits that Matt includes making the story so much more than a haha adventure. Matt does a great job balancing humor and dark depressing subjects without going to far either direction. This series surprised me with how well thought out it is.

One person found this helpful

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Kelsi B.

Not normally my thing- sucked me in though

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2024

Verified Purchase

I have never read a litRPG. In fact, I had never even heard of it until 5 minutes before I started reading this book. I went into it thinking it was a choose your own adventure book.

I only read it because a friend wanted me to because the description of it didn’t sound like my thing. While I sometimes enjoy sci-fi, fighting/action is not my genre of choice. I don’t play video games at all.

But I started reading it and it was actually funny. It’s very unique and read very fast.

I’m bad at reviews but honestly? I say give it ago.

I’ll be patiently waiting for the reward for writing a review ;)

2 people found this helpful

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Alexander C Thigpen

Fun and Engrossing with Surprising Depths and Balance Within Genre.

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2023

Verified Purchase

Love this book but hate what it facilitated me doing to myself. Picked it up off of my recommendations list looking for some escapist, pick-it-up-then-put-it-down fun after I had finished a book too early in the evening to just go to bed. Had been new release to a long-running favorite series that did the usual emotional roller coaster plus cliffhanger so I thought I would join Carl and Donut here for an easy romp to get my feels back in the right place. I couldn’t have been more right or more wrong, “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

This book (as well as each of the sequels I have read so far) is amazing.
Pros:
The characters are a blast. The “protagonist” Carl (we all know he is really Robin to Donut’s Batman but just doesn’t know it despite being the PoV) is an incredible balance of blue-collar everyman, nerd, and isekai protagonist untapped potential; he has the physical and mental chops such that you have no problem accepting his survival without being a tired trope-y Force Recon Scout Sniper or angsty 18 year old skinny nerd-cum-chosen one. The reactions of Carl and the other sane adult humans to the absurdist brutality of the Crawl are amazingly well thought out and executed. They also contrast delightfully with the zany elements of others like Donut and the old-folks home residents. The antagonists are an incredible mix as well (both human and alien). The player killers are monster enough that you enjoy seeing justice done but man enough that you feel guilty about enjoying it a heartbeat later. The alien overlords aren’t all mustache-twirling avatars of evil bereft of all humanity (tangent: we really need another word for that in English to use in sci-fi/fantasy that works for non-human sapient species but rolls of the tongue well and doesn’t sound too contrived. Get on that authors) but also aren’t all muddied-waters, victim-of-circumstance, I’m-not-bad-I-was-just-written-that-way types who suffer from childhood trauma and a tragic backstory; they are complicit, made a choice to buy into the system, and willingly profit from it. Here’s hoping Carl and Donut come to collect.
The Sci-Fi/Fantasy RPG elements are on point. Am especially impressed with the effort and crafting with world building employed to integrate the RPG elements rather than the usual “levels, attributes, skills, etc. are a thing because reasons…”
There are consequences, they are real, and they don’t just fade away.
The balance and tone of everything is incredible. This book is the Singapore Noodles of fun Sci-Fi: comfort-food carbs of a solid plot and the RPG progression; savory umami of meaty character depth and development, sweet & sour world building flavor, and strewn throughout with spicy, crunchy explosions ROFL madness (the A.I and the foot thing…).
The balance-in-tension between the AI, Syndicate, and corpos. It is really refreshing how the narrative respects its own rules while mixing it up with complexity that are shadows of the real-life powers that be. Big brother is certainly watching and the deuce ex machina will put its finger on the scales at the 11th hour BUT its complicated and there are consequences.
The dialog is masterful. It’s a perfect blend of fictional craftsmanship and the flaws/imperfections of conversation in reality; discourse is elevated like you would want in a book but not up on a pedestal such that it takes you into the aural/lexical uncanny valley you see in a lot of sci-fi/fantasy.

Cons (but I hope more constructive criticism in the spirit it is offered):
Very occasionally some of the dungeon/floor/enhancement system sections get dense and/or into the weeds. Everything usually gets integrated and works out later in the narrative so readers, if you encounter this feeling, please push through as the novel as a whole is more than worth it. Kindle folks drop yourself a note so you can jump back and re-read a mechanics wall of text and it will all make sense. I can also see how this may be an intentional element as an insurmountable wall of text that contains things you need to know but couldn’t possibly understand until you have already screwed the pooch in the field is all too real working in a technical professional job (not to mention there is no Donut and no magic, perfect sleep bed.)
Weaponized hindsight here: some plot hooks/threads that seem like real gems don’t get left hanging/not picked up later in the narrative and it seems like a shame.
Carl’s psychological resilience is almost Mary Sue-ish. He needs to hit a wall or find the bottom at some point. This is only in the context of how amazing of a character he is and the incredible balance he strikes (survivor vs. retaining his humanity, serious vs. humor, geek but blue collar capable/functional in society). The hits don’t stop coming, he is everybody’s rock, and the adrenalin high can only last so long in the face of the dungeons horrors resonating with his pre-Crawl trauma.

Can’t recommend this book enough, please buy and read.

42 people found this helpful

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Tammy Moldovan

This book was so fun to read

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2024

Verified Purchase

I loved “watching” the Dungeon Crawl game show with Carl and Princess Donut as they try to survive and get to the next level. The story had the perfect balance of humor, love, real life issues, cuteness, danger, machinations, supernatural elements, and morality. The earth was a planet seeded with humans thousands of years ago and now the conglomerate is back to collect the earth since we failed to object. As a result, all the human made items are immediately collapsed into the ground instantly killing billions. Any human/animal not in a structure is encouraged to go into the stairwells to underground and participate in the Dungeon Crawl to battle for their lives. At the time of the collapse, Carl happens to be outside in the dead of winter collecting his girlfriend’s escaped cat. He is not wearing pants and quickly loses the too small crocs he did have on. So he enters the Dungeon shoeless and without pants while carrying a show cat. Soon enough Princess Donut is elevated to a Crawler instead of just a pet. She can talk and she and Carl are a team. I loved the interplay between Carl and Princess Donut and that Carl’s character is a sweet, snarky, messy, lucky, sarcastic, kind of dumb, and awkward man who regularly screws up which makes him a very likeable and relatable hero. The story includes what you’d expect from this genre - fighting, dangerous situations, supernatural creatures, evil entities, henchmen, loyal friends, tragic back stories, mystical coincidences, snark, and laughs. I will definitely keep reading the series to see what the next levels are like and what happens with Carl and Princess Donut.

One person found this helpful

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