Dungeon Crawler Carl Is Ridiculous, Brutal, and Awesome on Audio
I got into Dungeon Crawler Carl after searching for a good LitRPG series and seeing it recommended a million times. LitRPG is huge genre, and as a writer who had never read any – but who’d played a LOT of RPG computer games and D&D – I wanted to give it a go.
On nearly every site that discussed such matters, (by which I mean Reddit forums,) Dungeon Crawler Carl was mentioned as being both a good example of the genre, while also being quite violent and funny. I like all those things.
I bought the book, and somehow bought the audiobook by accident
I got the book on Kindle and started reading it. It was a lot of fun, and I immediately knew this was a series I would enjoy.
A couple of days later, I was on a crowded train and thought I would read on my phone. I went to my Kindle app and was about to open the Dungeon Crawler Carl book when I realised I had apparently also bought it on audiobook. Given the crowds, listening seemed the easier option.
I was soon sniggering away and loving how much the audiobook enhances the story.
The audiobook is something else entirely
The narrator is Jeff Hays, and he is genuinely extraordinary. Hays is the founder of Soundbooth Theater and has narrated over 400 audiobooks, but Dungeon Crawler Carl is the series that has made him something close to a cult figure.
Every character gets a unique and memorable voice, accent, and inflection – from the goblins on floor one to Carl himself. More impressively, he doesn’t just read aloud. He speaks directly to the listener, with comedic timing that sets him apart.
He also layers in music and sound effects that give the whole thing an almost radio-drama quality without ever tipping into cheesiness or going over the top.
Princess Donut (a talking cat) also gets a voice that is imperious, hilarious, and oddly touching. Perfect for a smart feline. (More on her in a sec.)
So what is Dungeon Crawler Carl actually about?
The premise is brilliantly simple and insane in the best possible way. Aliens demolish every human-built structure on Earth and transform the planet into an 18-level dungeon crawl. Survivors are forced to fight their way down through increasingly lethal floors.
Amongst those survivors are our protagonists: Coast Guard veteran Carl, who enters the dungeon in his underwear, and Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, Carl’s ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning cat. Donut is not just a cat for long. She becomes intelligent, very opinionated, and generally how you’d imagine a prize-winning cat to be. She’s also one of the greatest fantasy sidekicks I have encountered in years.
The twist is that the whole thing is a televised intergalactic game show, and the ratings matter. Killing monsters is necessary. Killing them entertainingly is rewarded.
It’s violent, often very funny, and beneath all the chaos there’s a surprisingly well-constructed story about power, exploitation, and what it means to perform survival for an audience that finds your suffering entertaining. It’s the Hunger Games with RPG mechanics and a talking cat who wears a tiara.
The series is written by Matt Dinniman and has become a New York Times bestseller. There are currently seven books, with Dinniman indicating he plans to release ten in total. The eighth book, A Parade of Horribles, was released on 12 May 2026 and runs to 704 pages. Once you’re in, you’re in for the long haul – and you won’t mind at all.
A TV show is coming
If you need any further evidence that this series has broken out of the LitRPG niche and into the mainstream, consider this: a live-action Dungeon Crawler Carl TV series is officially in development at Peacock, with Seth MacFarlane executive producing under his Fuzzy Door banner. Chris Yost (who has written for Thor: Ragnarok, The Mandalorian, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch) is set to write and executive produce. Dinniman himself is also an executive producer, which is a good sign that the adaptation won’t go badly off the rails.
The author has been candid about the key challenge: the CGI test for Princess Donut. He’s stated bluntly that they won’t proceed if the visuals aren’t good enough – pointing to MacFarlane’s track record on Ted and The Orville as evidence that Fuzzy Door knows how to make non-human characters work on screen. No casting has been announced, and a release date of 2028 at the earliest seems likely.
Just go listen to it
Dungeon Crawler Carl is ridiculous, brutal, inventive, and much smarter than it first appears. The books are great fun, but the audiobooks are even better. That is not a sentence I have written often, as I generally think if written as books, then the books are better than any other medium. (Although some audiobooks break that rule and I have listed recommendations here.)
The combination of Dinniman’s sharp, chaotic writing and Jeff Hays’ performance creates something that feels less like an audiobook and more like a one-man show staged inside your head.
If you play RPGs, you’ll love the mechanics. If you like dark comedy, you’ll love the tone. And if you’ve ever had a cat who clearly thought she was better than you, you’ll love Donut.
Start with the audiobook. You’ll thank me later.
At the time of writing, the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series is on sale for $0.99!