Dungeon Crawler Carl

Read Time: 2 Minutes

Dungeon Crawler Carl, written by Matt Dinniman, is now sitting comfortably inside the list of my all-time favourite books. Those that I go back to, time and time again. This was my first listen, but I already know I’ll be coming back again and again.

This was a perfect blend of dungeon crawl litRPG and bonkers humour. Fair warning – this book isn’t for the easily offended. F-bombs are dropped, carpet-bombed if you will, throughout this wild ride.

Planet Earth is the unfortunate next battleground for an intergalactic TV show. If you had anything over your head, you’re dead. But that still left millions of people. When the doors opened up, millions descended into the unknown.

What follows is a hilarious dungeon crawl through the first couple of levels of this worldwide dungeon. Hybrid monsters, some truly inventive and some of your more standard dungeon fare await. In the middle of it all stands Carl and his cat – Princess Donut.

Together they fight their way through batshit crazy encounters, with what seems like incredible attention to detail to the construction of this universe. This entire story flew by. Even at 13 and a half hours long, it felt like it was over too quickly. There is a massive storyline brewing here, with tantalising glimpses into what else is going on. I can’t wait for the next one.

The narration by Jeff Hays was top-notch. I’ve said in other reviews I’d definitely listen to him again, and so I have! The extra effort that’s been put into producing this really brings it all together. The voice of Carl has me cracking up. A combination of what sounded like (to me) Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) from Firefly and Puddy (Patrick Warburton) from Seinfeld suited the character to the ground.

The only issue I have is that the next one isn’t available yet! I am 100% certain that I’ll be spending a credit on it the second it’s available. Don’t wait. Get this now, and thank me later.