Dungeon Crawler Carl

Dungeon Crawler Carl is pure chaos in the best possible way. It’s like Squid Game meets Diablo, with a heavy dose of absurd humor, over-the-top worldbuilding, and a talking Persian show cat named Princess Donut (who totally steals the show).The premise? Earth is turned into a massive alien-run dungeon crawl where humans have to fight for survival while being watched for entertainment. Carl, our reluctant hero, gets thrown into this nightmare alongside Donut—and from there, it’s a wild ride.I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it. The narration is phenomenal, especially the voice actor for Donut. The full-cast performance, sound effects, and achievement system audio really bring the story to life.What I loved:✔️ The progression fantasy elements—leveling up, loot drops, and skills that actually matter.✔️ The absurd world—lava-spitting llamas, magic missile cats, and more. It shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.✔️ The humor—so many laugh-out-loud moments, balanced by real emotional depth.✔️ Carl and Donut’s dynamic—equal parts chaotic and heartwarming.Things to know:⚠️ It’s truly unhinged. If you prefer serious, logical fantasy, this might not be your thing.⚠️ Some side characters felt a bit flat (like NPCs), but the main duo more than makes up for it.Final Rating: 4.75 starsA completely unique and addictive read that I couldn’t put down. I totally get why people are obsessed with this series—and yes, I’m already starting book two.

LitRPG is a guilty pleasure of mine. Almost all I've read has been pulp quality, yet I still come back and read more. It is fun, light escapist fare. BUT... Dungeon Crawler Carl is really good. It escapes out of the pulp quality level to actual good storytelling. It has three dimensional characters whose depths are revealed over the series. It has an interesting world building backstory, which again is revealed, little by little over the series. The plotting is fast paced and there is plenty of action. There is humor both in situations and snarky observations by characters. Over the series there is loss of main characters and clever solutions to difficult situations. I'm really enjoying this series and highly recommend it.

I read this while listening to the audio book. It was amazing!! The story is hilarious. I love the gameshow setup of this dystopian novel and it's great learning about how to play along with Carl and Donut. The world building is excellent with more added as we read and learn more about the game. Since we learn about the world and characters as Carl and Donut learn about them it's easier to follow and not as overwhelming as an info dump like some fantasy books do. I really can't say enough about the audio book. All the voices are perfect for this book and help bring more of an experience to the whole book!!

Read this perhaps too quickly, but I think that goes to show how engaged one can get with the book. You’ll get to learn more about Carl, and Princess donut of course, and see how they grow in just book 1. I think because of how fast I finished this, I really want to jump into the next book immediately, I am honestly invested on how far Carl and Princess Donut get in these dungeons.While the plot is not unique, I appreciate that you the reader learn with Carl how to survive the dungeon, and see how Carl and Princess confront the issues ahead of them, and maybe even get glimpses of how things connect. It’s honestly a fun adventure to pick up, quick paced, engaging, and makes a lot of references to past pop cultures that brings a chuckle out of me.Give it a try!

This freakin book and series (I’m just calling it) is my Roman Empire! I will never stop talking about this book! The way I laughed my butt off and shook my head at the insanity of the adventures in this book will never end!We follow Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as Earth turns into a Mad Max/Survivor the TV Show kind of thing.I honestly wasn’t sure how I would feel about this book; it gives off a video game vibe. I enjoy playing video games but wasn’t sure how reading a video game would come across, and honestly, BookTok has led me astray with recommendations… 😏 But I ate this up! I’m so glad I took a chance!On to the next one!