During the pandemic, self-published author Matt Dinniman found himself out of work and with plenty of time to write his web novel Dungeon Crawler Carl, now a massively popular series of books . This wonderfully imaginative LitRPG sci-fi novel is about an ordinary guy named Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s sassy diva of a cat, Princess Donut, as they discover that aliens have transformed Earth into a massive, televised dungeon crawling real-life video game. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
The enemies they encounter are many, varied, and completely bizarre and they have to continually come up with creative and entertaining ways of dispatching them in order to gain viewers as they work their way down to each level of the dungeon. Because the story is told in the manner of a roleplaying game there is a lot of minutiae about stats, armor, weapon choices, loot, etc. However, the quick pacing, sharp humor, and creative world building make it an easy read where you want to know what completely bonkers situation Carl and Donut will encounter next. It’s very addictive.
If you enjoy Dungeon Crawler Carl, there is plenty more where that came from – there are eight books in the series so far with two more on the way. Also, producer Seth MacFarlane has purchased the rights to the series and is making it into a live-action TV show.
Phil Skeltis, Librarian
Clinton-Macomb Public Library
40900 Romeo Plank
Clinton Township, MI 48038
586-226-5047
he/him
