Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is the first in a longer series about a former Coastie who survives the apocalypse only to find himself participating in an intergalactic reality show with his ex-girlfriend’s cat.
Who Recommended this book? This was a double recommendation!
First, Julia Fuentes and I met as middle school paras doing lunch duty together. Julia also ran the middle school D&D club at the time and later went on to DM a group my son ran with. She makes very cool driftwood art on the side.
Then Jenirae Wolff seconded the book. She is an amazing human being whom I met in college back in Colorado. She kept me going through the roughest patch in my life and was there to help take care of two of my babies after they were born. Violet is partially named for Jenirae (her middle name is Raebecca) who along with being a historian, artist, and generally cool person, has great taste in books.
What did I think?
I loved Dungeon Crawler Carl, read the book in a day, and put my name on the hold list for the next three at the local library. I am pretty far down on the list for all of them, so other people obviously agree. This book was a delightful romp from first page to last. There was plenty of action, nuanced characters across the board, and a handful of laugh out loud moments.
The plot felt like a D&D game that my friends and I might play, and yet while it was fairly simple, the character work was truly stunning.
Dinniman obviously knows how to craft characters. Even though there were some characters who are largely on the page to provide exposition, they have backstories and depth of personality that make every interaction feel like it has the potential to be a side quest.
One of my favorite aspect of the book is the creative way that the author uses things like loot drops and the internal messaging system to seed potential plot nuggets. Each character essentially has a bag of holding (a limitless magical storage system) which means that they are constantly picking things up and filing them away. Now, I can’t imagine the spread sheets the author is keeping to track all of this stuff, and some of it may never come into play, but the fact that it is on the page means that is fodder for possibility and imagination.
When I finished the book I flipped to the front and was thrilled to see that there are already several books in the series so I don’t have to wait a year for the next one. This reminds me of some of my favorite series and I am excited to continue on the journey.
Who would I recommend this to?
I would recommend this book to most folks, certainly anyone with a D&D background. There are elements here that, out of RPG context, may leave the uninitiated a little lost? Also this feels like a love letter to RPGers in a way.
There is some PG-13 humor, maybe PG-16 in the more conservative groups. Maybe a couple fat references; lots of swearing! Violet read the first few pages and then took off with the book when I finished it and honestly it’s nothing she won’t hear in the hallways at school, but I won’t be suggesting this one at 4H or Girl Scouts…
This isn’t an introspective read; there isn’t any romance at this point though I imagine we will be meeting the ex-girlfriend in one context or anther at some point in the series; the social commentary is light but available. If those are things that are “must haves” for you then this probably isn’t a great fit.
A Writing Prompt to get you in the Matt Dinniman Spirit:
Two unlikely characters are thrown together into a wild situation. Later, they are interviewed about it on a nationally syndicated morning show. (At least three characters, all nuanced, with unique character voices.)
Mamasquatch the Writer 
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