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Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Hacker Approved

Recommended as fun, funny, light reading, with the audiobook narration especially praised. Critics call it pop fiction and say it is not science fiction with interesting ideas.

Summarized from 62 comments.

Recommended as fun, funny, light reading, with the audiobook narration especially praised. Critics call it pop fiction and say it is not science fiction with interesting ideas.

recommend
48
criticize
6
months recommended
11 of 13
median owned, 3 owners said
1 year

Why people love it

  • Fun, funny, entertaining read · 7

    dungeon crawler carl is a great series. never read a litrpg in my life and i probably won't again but DCC is really fun

    Jul 2026 · comment

    it is fantastic! I love how it looks like dumb, chaotic fun on the surface

    Dec 2025 · comment

    This is one of the funniest and most beautiful books I have ever read.

    Dec 2025 · comment
  • Audiobook narration praised · 7

    Anyone talking Dungeon Crawler Carl NEEDS to give the audiobooks a listen, the voice acting is better than anything I've ever listened to.

    Dec 2025 · comment

    The talent of Jeff Hayes and Soundbooth Theater have ruined other audiobooks for me.

    Dec 2025 · comment

    One of the few novels that I think it actually much better in audio format.

    Dec 2025 · comment
  • Good escape and mental break · 4

    The Dungeon Crawler Carl books really help my brain take a break without actively disengaging the actual thinking parts.

    Feb 2026 · comment

    it’s making me happy and that’s what I’m looking for anyways

    Sep 2026 · comment

    I recommend both as a way to try to escape the loop.

    Aug 2026 · comment
  • Strong characters and emotional investment · 4

    I was impressed with how well-written it was, and how much I empathized with the characters.

    Dec 2025 · comment

    I haven't been this enthralled with a book series in decades.

    Dec 2025 · comment

    Easily the biggest introspective surprise of the year.

    Dec 2025 · comment

What people warn about

  • Not really science fiction, pop fiction · 2

    Dungeon Crawler Carl is not science fiction. At least I would not recommend it to someone looking for science fiction with interesting ideas.

    Apr 2026 · comment

    Disagree for dungeon crawler carl & any of the Bobiverse - while they're fine books, wouldn't class it in the category of interesting ideas, it's just pop fiction.

    Apr 2026 · comment
  • Not for some readers · 3

    Not for me but I might give it another chance

    Sep 2026 · comment

    found it harmless and not worth the money

    Sep 2026 · comment

    There's no point reading rubbish.

    Sep 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 62 comments. Each links to the original.

  1. Dungeon Crawler Carl is not science fiction. At least I would not recommend it to someone looking for science fiction with interesting ideas.

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division”

  2. Anyone talking Dungeon Crawler Carl NEEDS to give the audiobooks a listen, the voice acting is better than anything I've ever listened to.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Things and Stuff of 2025”

  3. The Dungeon Crawler Carl books really help my brain take a break without actively disengaging the actual thinking parts.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “2 in 5 Americans did not read a single book in 2025”

  4. dungeon crawler carl is a great series. never read a litrpg in my life and i probably won't again but DCC is really fun

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Craig Mod built his own Good Reads”

  5. I was impressed with how well-written it was, and how much I empathized with the characters.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  6. The talent of Jeff Hayes and Soundbooth Theater have ruined other audiobooks for me.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  7. One of the few novels that I think it actually much better in audio format.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: Books in 2025”

  8. it is fantastic! I love how it looks like dumb, chaotic fun on the surface

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Things and Stuff of 2025”

  9. This is one of the funniest and most beautiful books I have ever read.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Show HN: See what readers who loved your favorite book/author also loved to read”

  10. I haven't been this enthralled with a book series in decades.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Things and Stuff of 2025”

  11. it’s making me happy and that’s what I’m looking for anyways

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  12. I laughed, I cried, perfect match for my sense of humor.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  13. A very different experience from traditional audiobooks.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  14. Easily the biggest introspective surprise of the year.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  15. the male narrator is just that good at female voices

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  16. I recommend both as a way to try to escape the loop.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Doomscrolling at work wastes time, but the real cost is what happens after”

  17. A great fun way to unwind after programming all day!

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  18. was worth it for the characters and laughs

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  19. Jeff Hays is an incredible narrator.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  20. I really enjoyed them as audiobooks.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  21. It's light and entertaining.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  22. Disagree for dungeon crawler carl & any of the Bobiverse - while they're fine books, wouldn't class it in the category of interesting ideas, it's just pop fiction.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division”

  23. Not for me but I might give it another chance

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  24. found it harmless and not worth the money

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  25. There's no point reading rubbish.

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  26. Dungeon Crawler is doing a really good job of setting up and laying the groundwork for more meaningful conflict in future books

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  27. a massive commercial success where we the readers revel-wallow in the graphic suffering of the fictive protagonists/victims

    Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  28. One of the more fun aspects in the early books is the main character Carl dealing with that cat being loud

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “I built a low-latency AI companion that plays Skyrim with me”

  29. kind of an implicit response to a whole class of 'what if the world worked like an RPG' fiction

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division”

  30. It is so good :), this one is a bit more absurdist, I think, but equally dark.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Show HN: See what readers who loved your favorite book/author also loved to read”

  31. your review saying it’s like Always Sunny made me want to read that next

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Show HN: See what readers who loved your favorite book/author also loved to read”

  32. Just finished the latest Dungeon Crawler Carl book, bought on day 1.

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?”

  33. Most books I've read in a year since I read the Expanse series.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  34. I did this with Dungeon Crawler Carl, but now I finished all 7

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Ticker: Don't die of heart disease”

  35. I've also been enjoying Dungeon Crawler Carl like many here.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

  36. he told me that I would probably like Dungeon Crawler Carl

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  37. Somewhere between being obsessed with Dungeon Crawler Carl

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Surviving the Streaming Dungeon with Kafka Queues”

  38. after furiously consuming all the dungeon crawler carl

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “U.S. kids no longer reading for pleasure”

  39. I'm on my about 10th re-read of Dungeon Crawler Carl.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

  40. It's pretty much interesting from the very beginning.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Every novel is boring until it isn't”

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