Dungeon Crawler Carl (#1-3) by Matt Dinniman: Review and Analysis

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Origins

https://youtu.be/IhKXpb37gXU?si=b5XHbp11vOqq-NSN

The Pitch

Almost from its inception, Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman has survived and evolved based on its own success—progressing and growing in the publishing world not unlike its protagonist leveling up and descending in the World Dungeon. 

The story began with the author posting a few segments online, which gained enough traction—combined with the onset of the pandemic—to encourage Dinniman to try self-publishing the first book in October of 2020. By 2024, the series had proven successful enough for Penguin Books to secure the rights—mirroring the story of There Is No Antimemetics Division, which I looked at earlier this year.

When I briefly mentioned the series last week, I didn’t expect to be returning to discuss it in greater depth so soon. (I again thought today’s post would be about Widow’s Bay, but alas the back half of the series has yet to pull me back in.)

So today, a proper spoiler-free pitch before I dive into a light review & analysis of the series’ first three entries.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG progression fantasy which, at its best, feels like it offers the highlights of video games, action films and Tabletop RPGs in book form. It follows likeable, fun characters and gives you strong reasons to care about them.

The imagination and worldbuilding here are excellent, striking an essential balance between fantastical absurdity and rules-based logic. The series both mocks and embraces tropes of these games in a way that demonstrates knowledge, care, and creativity.

The third book is called The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, referencing the real life anarchist text, and so I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that it is also where Carl truly embraces his goal of surviving long enough to do real damage to the system around him. That (for now) background storyline is certainly the most interesting to me, so I figured it would be important to include in a pitch to anyone with similar interests.

I don’t think Dungeon Crawler Carl will be for everyone—but it absolutely has a broader appeal than I would have imagined before trying it myself. These books are just about as smooth reading as can be, so consider giving them a shot!

And if the LitRPG elements absolutely aren’t your thing, consider checking out Chain-Gang All-Stars instead; it features a similar oppression-as-entertainment idea but is perhaps a little more realistic and believable!

Now, finally, let’s wade into some spoilers.

Dungeon Crawler Carl 1, 2, 3; cover design by Will Staehle

Best in Dungeon

The series follows Carl and his pet-show-cat-turned-intelligent-being Princess Donut as they enter and explore the World Dungeon—created by advanced aliens by rapidly recycling the Earth as we know it. They’re two of only a few million survivors of this sudden apocalypse, placed into a deadly game show where they could technically win back authority over the planet if they complete the 18-floor Dungeon. Though we soon learn that over the centuries, possibly millennia, no one has ever made it past floor 13.

As fun as monster-slaying and lore-exploring is, I’ve consistently found the strongest moments in the series so far to be the emotional character-focused ones. (Who are you and what the hell did you do with Zach? Yeah, great question.)

Maybe it’s how few and far between Carl and Donut’s moments of reflection are that make them so poignant, but it’s genuinely powerful every time they think back to their lives beforehand in connection to what they currently face. Carl’s memories of his abusive father and trying-her-best mother, and of his ex-girlfriend Bea preparing to give Donut away for a new show cat, give important context, purpose, and depth to the story.

The same is true for their interactions with other Crawlers, hearing their life stories and building bonds of empathy and shared humanity, and sometimes even with the Dungeon’s NPCs—real people forced into playing roles and living or dying at the whim of Crawlers and storywriters alike.

The System and Carl’s dream of taking it down have to be the other main highlight. Similar to Chain-Gang All-Stars, the story turns humans fighting for their lives into the ultimate reality show—complete with sponsors, talk shows, attempts at outside interference and edited narratives skewing/misrepresenting reality. So in addition to completing quests and surviving traps, Carl and Donut must also navigate celebrity status and agent drama and the expectations of various writers, owners and audiences if they want to have a hope of staying alive. Carl repeating himself all the while, "You will not break me."

So I simply adore that Carl receives the Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, an illicit journal from past Crawlers similarly bent on structural revenge against the system. Likewise, the relationship between the Dungeon’s owners and its System AI (the game’s Dungeon Master, more or less, with a foot fetish you wouldn’t believe) is shown to already be surprisingly antagonistic. It’s exciting to see Carl learning about all the cracks in this world and preparing to start driving wedges between them.

And again, the imagination is just a blast. Just about every Crawler has their own fascinating race/class combo that blows even the most extravagant homebrew D&D game out of the water. There’s a Top Ten Leaderboard and it’s honestly just a blast to see Dinniman having fun coming up with the best and baddest and showing off highlights from their journeys.

Carl and Princess Donut, art by Luciano Fleitas

Favored Prospects

As fun as these books are, I think there’s definitely still room for improvement. (I know, the series is almost done, but this is what I’m hoping to see as I keep reading.)

As nice as the moments of reflection and rebellious anger are, they could be better. In addition to having the Cookbook, Carl’s chosen class is the ‘Compensated Anarchist’. And it’s all well and good that he’s rightly angry at the oppression of the Dungeon, but I need to see him start recognizing that the same faults existed (in different ways) in the world before. 

That will require more flashbacks and reflections, which I think could also get meatier. Part of me is worried that Dinniman’s already running out of inspirations pulled from Carl’s previous life. And I know, I should have more faith. But so far I’m not seeing a ton of depth waiting to be explored.

(I can’t help but speculate that Bea and/or Carl’s father will make some form of reappearance, either somehow as fellow Crawlers or maybe as NPCs or mishmashed Bosses, and frankly I can’t wait.)

Finally (for now), I will just say that there are some parts of these genres that don’t translate as well into novel form. Dinniman tries to make the rules-explaining and -lawyering as interesting as possible, but sometimes it just feels like a headache. Likewise with some of Carl’s plans, inventions, and constructions; it can really break the flow sometimes.

Part of the issue might be the audio format, where there’s no option to just skip past these things. But I think it’s just worth noting about the series!

Carl, Princess Donut, and Mongo, art by Naomi Dale

“Now get out there and kill, kill, kill!”

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a genuinely fun fantasy story told through a fairly unique lens, with moments of humour and heart but also of tragedy and rage.

I think it artfully shows the parallels between all of our numbers-go-up games and our world which tells us to keep accumulating wealth and materials at all cost. Both the Dungeon and Late Stage Capitalism demand that we throw empathy, community, and individual thought under the bus in order to secure our own perilous future in a world we have no control over. 

And I hope Dungeon Crawler Carl continues to demonstrate the importance of empathy, community, and individual thought in resisting those same systems. Whether by family or fireworks, I’m very much looking forward to seeing Carl tear the system down.

Thanks for reading and until next time <3