Dungeon Crawler Carl is a science fantasy LitRPG book series written by American author Matt Dinniman. Initially self-published by Dinniman via online publisher Royal Road, it and its seven sequels were acquired by Ace Books in 2024.
The series follows Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, two of the few survivors of the mining, transporting, processing, and consumption of Earth's resources by an alien corporation, as they are forced to compete in a dungeon crawl recreated from those resources for an intergalactic reality show program. The eighth book was released in May 2026, with plans to complete the series with one additional volume split across two books.
the first eight books have sold over fourteen million copies, with its popularity aided by the audiobook, performed by Jeff Hays of Soundbooth Theater. Additionally, a television adaptation has been greenlit for production by Peacock, and there are further plans for graphic novels, a card game, and a tabletop role-playing game.
Premise Carl, a United States Coast Guard veteran, and Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend's cat, are part of a few million beings that escape the elimination of the human species and mining of Earth's resources by one of several corporations that run the galaxy-spanning Syndicate. In an attempt to survive the world-ending event, they enter the World Dungeon, an eighteen-level dungeon crawl borrowing ideas from tabletop role-playing and video games, reconstructed from Earth's resources. The efforts to survive by Carl and other survivors, referred to as "crawlers", are live-streamed across the universe as a game show called Dungeon Crawler World: Earth, a process that has been used for numerous seasons by the Syndicate to fund the mining operations of other planets. Among the rewards Carl earns for entering the dungeon is an enchanted pet biscuit. Carl feeds the biscuit to Donut and she becomes sapient, able to talk and use magic.
Carl and Donut meet several other crawlers, non-player characters, and aliens, some of whom become their allies. On their journey, the crawlers must select a character race and class and fight mobs, bosses, and gods. They are rewarded with new gear, experience points, and improved attributes all in an effort to become stronger and survive the deeper levels of the dungeon. The dungeon itself is run by a "System AI" that provides crawlers with information, sets difficulties, and distributes loot boxes via achievements. On each level, crawlers have a limited amount of time to reach the stairs to the next dungeon level before they are killed when the current level collapses. As part of Dungeon Crawler World, crawlers seek popularity with the audience to gain sponsors that can provide them with better gear that is critical for survival. Survivors of the ninth floor and beyond can accept deals, typically indentureships to serve as NPCs in several future seasons of the Crawl, to one day become citizens of the Syndicate. Carl, Donut, and other crawlers vow to fight back against the Syndicate to reclaim Earth and end the Crawl for good. During their fight, they learn that the increasingly-erratic System AI is threatening the fate of the known universe.
Characters
Carl, a Coast Guard veteran who enters the World Dungeon without shoes or pants. Princess Donut, a sapient tortoiseshell Persian cat and a former cat show champion who belonged to Carl's ex-girlfriend Beatrice (Bea). The System AI, the aggregate intelligence which is running and administering the current edition of the crawl. Mordecai, a former crawler nearing the end of his tenure, serving as Carl and Donut's tutorial guide, and later as Donut's manager. His changeling race forces him to change his form on every floor. Members of Team Meadow Lark, employees and residents of a nursing home who Carl befriends. This includes nurses Imani and Yolanda, handymen and brothers Brandon and Chris, and elderly resident Elle. Katia Grim, an Icelandic art professor who selects a shape-changing doppelgänger race and joins Carl and Donut's party. Mongo, a Velociraptor that Donut gains as a pet. Samantha, a violent, chaotic, and obscene demi-goddess trapped in the head of a sex doll. Rend, a Tummy Acher (a sentient creature with a round, tough body and legs) that Carl is given as a pet from another crawler. Miriam Dom, an Italian goatherd, and Prepotente, a goat from her flock who was transformed into a humanoid, sapient goat at the start of the dungeon. Zev, a fish-like alien who works for the Borant Corporation as a dungeon admin and serves as Carl and Donut's public relations manager. Odette, a former crawler and host of one of the more popular talk shows associated with the dungeon who discreetly helps Carl. Lucia Mar, a South American crawler. Around 13 years of age, the youngest crawler in the dungeon, with an apparent split personality. She is accompanied by her two Rottweiler dogs. Florin, a former mercenary soldier crawler who chooses a crocodile-like race. He claims to be from France, but has an Australian accent. Daniel Bautista, a tigrin race crawler believed to be from the Philippines known for his collection of beanie baby-like magical creatures and who falls in love with Katia. Firas and Louis, two laid-back crawlers Carl meets on the fifth floor, whom Carl helps to groom into competent crawlers. Li Jun, Li Na and Zhang, a trio of Chinese crawlers and former warehouse workers who Carl befriends. Li Jun and Li Na are brother and sister, while Zhang is Li Jun's best friend who is also secretly in love with Li Na. Juice Box, a changeling NPC who spearheads an NPC revolt. Quasar, Carl's lawyer and a grey-like alien known as a Nullian. Scolopendra, a giant centipede that acts as the overall dungeon boss, which crawlers must kill to be able to leave the 18th floor. When awakened, she emits her nine-tier attack that can target all living creatures in the dungeon with devastating results.
Development
Prior to writing the series, Matt Dinniman had made his living going to cat shows and drawing illustrations of cats for their owners. During his breaks, he began writing short segments of the story via the digital platform Royal Road in 2019, where it quickly gained popularity. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, most of the cat shows were cancelled, and Dinniman switched to writing the series full-time, as well as using Amazon for self-publishing.
While writing the series, Dinniman drew upon his experience playing MMOs such as RuneScape, as well as the concept of in-game chatting, which he noted "adds another element because there's all these different dynamics happening at once." Prior to writing the series, Dinniman developed a desire to write a novel with a death-game setting; he also wanted to include a tortoiseshell-colored Persian cat after seeing one at a cat show where he was working as an artist. Dinniman has said he did not initially plan for the cat to be sapient, and that this developed as he continued writing the series, as he tends to create and embellish the story as he goes. This eventually led to the creation of Princess Donut as she is presented in the series, a character that Dinniman has stated is vital to the series. Dinniman is known for his interaction with his fanbase and allows his Patreon subscribers to impact some limited elements of the story by voting on the outcome of external factors, such as loot box content, or to have much of The Eye of the Bedlam Bride taking place in Cuba.
The series includes dark and comedic elements. In an interview with Grimdark Magazine, Dinniman stated that it was difficult to maintain the balance between these two elements and that rather than automatically write a comedic scene after each dark one, he instead relies "on the characters themselves to get from point A to B, and humor is oftentimes a major coping mechanism." Dinniman initially kept track of the series' characters and storylines via a spreadsheet that grew up to 198 pages, requiring the use of a second spreadsheet to track the content on the first. The size of the spreadsheet eventually crashed Dinniman's computer, causing the author to hire someone to create a Notion database for better ease of use. While working on the manuscript for A Parade of Horribles Dinniman reported that he wrote for about eight to twelve hours a day, which he spent in his home as well as at bars and coffee shops.
In 2024, Dinniman stated that he planned for the series to span ten books, but that "nothing is set in stone". Dinniman confirmed his plans to end the series with the ninth book, split across two works, in a February 2026 interview.
Publication history Initial publication and Ace Books Dinniman began publishing Dungeon Crawler Carl on Royal Road in 2020. He self-published the first book in the series on Amazon on October 2, 2020, in ebook and paperback format. He would continue in this form until 2024, when print rights to the series were picked up by Penguin Random House, which released the first volume through the Ace Books publishing wing in mid-2024, while Dinniman was able to retain the digital publication rights. Ebook rights to the series are still held by Dinniman, who continues to self-publish digitally through Amazon. As of May 2026, eight novels in the series have been published, most self-published before the series was picked up by Ace Books.
In response to questions about whether the publisher would make changes to the series, Dinniman responded that the story would remain the same but that the series had undergone rigorous edits, and that the releases would contain parts of a bonus in-universe novella, Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.
Audiobooks
The main audiobook adaptations of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series have been narrated by Jeff Hays, who has produced the adaptations via his company Soundbooth Theater. Dinniman and Hays had met at an audiobook awards ceremony sometime before Dinniman had started work on the series, and became friends, leading to Dinniman reaching out to Hays for the audiobook versions of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Outside of a few guest voices, Hays voices all the characters in the books, around 200 as of the eighth book, all with different tone, pitches, and accents. Dinniman has stated that Hays's narration of female characters, particularly Princess Donut, is so convincing that he has had people ask him if Annie Ellicott, a Soundbooth Theater artist, was an uncredited narrator for the first book. Guest narrators include Travis Baldree and Patrick Warburton in book six.
Per Dinniman, sales of the audiobook adaptations of the novels have surpassed the physical and e-book copies of the series, and much of his fanbase first experienced the series via Audible.
In addition to the main audiobook version, the series has a separate production called an "Audio Immersion Tunnel", with a full-cast, original sound effects and music. According to the author, these will not replace the existing audiobooks and are a separate product.
Series entries
Second publication Starting in August 2024, Ace Books took over publishing the paperback and hardback versions of the books. Each book contains a passage of the multi-part novella Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.
Reception Reviews and accolades In a review of the first book for Locus, Gabino Iglesias criticized some jokes and said he found the book repetitive, but wrote that "the important thing here is that the novel never becomes boring" and that the "shortcomings are easy to overlook". Tonya Cherry of CKRM favorably reviewed the series, praising the audiobook narration and calling the series "a wild ride that blends humor, action, and a touch of heart, making for an unforgettable journey."
The first book was nominated for the 2026 Arthur C. Clarke Award.