Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Sometimes escapism is the only way to tolerate real life, and Gig Harbor author Matt Dinniman’s absurdist fantasy featuring accidental hero Carl delivers in spades.
Carl is a 27-year-old Coast Guard veteran from Seattle who broke up recently with his live-in girlfriend when he discovered she was cheating on him. Like a chump, Carl promised to look after his ex’s tortoiseshell Persian, formally known as Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk. When Donut gets stuck in a tree, Carl begrudgingly goes out to rescue her, dressed only in a leather jacket and a pink pair of his ex-girlfriend’s Crocs, and inadvertently saves his own life when his seven-story apartment smashes to the ground and completely disappears.
Spinning in circles, Carl soon realizes that ALL of the buildings have disappeared. A robotic voice intones, “Surviving humans, take note.” It continues: “Every interior of your world has been crushed and all raw materials … [are] being repurposed for the subterranean World Dungeon.”
Carl has one hour to decide if he will try to fend for himself on the outside, or enter the dungeon, knowing that after he enters, he may not leave until he has completed all 18 levels. Shivering in the subzero temperatures of an unusually cold January night, Carl doesn’t dwell on it — he dashes into the dungeon, Donut clinging tightly to his shoulder.
Gamers will immediately recognize the setup: a dark, fantasy realm with mysterious chambers, hordes of dangerous creatures, rules, rewards and challenges, loot boxes filled with potions and weapons, and no clear objective except to survive the level, descend to the next one, and repeat. Every time Carl and Donut encounter something new, information boxes pop up in their minds’ eyes, giving them a little bit more knowledge to go on.
The AI delivering the intel seems to have a sassy, sadistic streak. Take this message: “New achievement: Trailblazing Cat Lady. You are the first crawler to have entered the World Dungeon accompanied by a cat. You must really love that thing. Too bad you’re both probably going to die a horrible death at any moment. Or maybe not.”
Using his limited knowledge of role-playing games and first-person shooter video games, Carl fumbles his way through Level One, learning how to read dungeon signs, access his inventory, and maximize both his and Donut’s strengths to stomp out Goblin Engineers, blast Borough Bosses and avoid murderous fellow Crawlers. With Donut’s charisma and wickedly sharp claws and Carl’s ingenuity, they become a formidable (if pantsless) duo.
This book will thrill gamers with its nonstop action and sarcastic repartee, especially if they can tolerate a significant number of f-bombs, sexual innuendoes and gruesome corpses. Non-gamers may be a little lost, but the occasional line drawings illustrating chapter headings add a touch of whimsy and hint at the gooey heart at the center of this book.
For all his bravado and seat-of-his (missing) pants decision-making style, Carl is a softie who would love nothing more than to be back in his quiet apartment, fluffy cat cozy on his lap. If “Dungeon Crawler Carl” turns out to be your jam, you will be happy to know that there are several more titles in the series, including such gems as “Carl’s Doomsday Scenario,” “The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook,” “The Gate of the Feral Gods” and more. (Whatcom County Library System offers the Dungeon Crawler series in book, eBook and eAudiobook formats; place holds at wcls.org.)
Christine Perkins is executive director of the Whatcom County Library System, wcls.org.
(Originally published in Cascadia Daily News, Friday, March 13, 2026.)