Book Summary - Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
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In this episode of Literature on the Rocks…
On this episode of Literature on the Rocks… we are descending into chaos with Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, and this one absolutely wrecked us in the best way. What started as a bizarre premise involving aliens, a dungeon, and a man in boxers somehow turned into one of our favorite reads of the year.
First, we need to talk about the audiobook experience because Jeff Hays deserves his own standing ovation. We were fully prepared to praise a talented cast of voice actors only to discover that he performed every single voice. Every. Single. One. From Carl’s grit to Princess Donut’s diva energy, the range is unreal and it elevated this story to another level.
This book is strange, wild, ridiculous, heartfelt, and somehow deeply addictive. The dungeon levels are chaotic, the stakes are brutal, and the humor lands in a way that sneaks up on you. Carl’s determination not to let the system break him anchors the madness, while Princess Donut quickly became our royalty. We adored her. No notes. Zero.
Across the board, this was a three shot read for us. We loved it so much that we have already continued on with the series, fully invested in whatever insanity the dungeon throws next.
Naturally, we had to honor Princess Donut with a cocktail inspired by her beloved Dirty Shirley from later books, but with a little Lit twist.
The Royal Remedy
Ingredients:
1 ½ oz vodka
½ oz grenadine
½ oz vanilla syrup
Sprite to top
Lemon and cherry for garnish
Directions:
Fill a glass with ice and pour in the vodka, grenadine, and vanilla syrup. Stir gently to combine, then top with Sprite. Give it one more light stir to blend the flavors without losing the fizz. Garnish with a lemon slice and a cherry, then sip like dungeon royalty.
Our Dungeon Crawler Carl prompts are live and we want to know if you fell down the dungeon rabbit hole as hard as we did. Mix up a Royal Remedy, join the conversation, and listen in for our full breakdown and ratings.
