---
title: "Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 2 to 5 by Matt Dinniman"
description: "Some Thoughts on books 2 to 5. I really do not like giving away spoilers in the middle of a series. When a book series is out and popular, it is pretty much inevitable that to discuss them, is to..."
url: https://bookwi.se/dungeon-crawler-carl-books-2-to-5-by-matt-dinniman/
date: 2026-10-07
modified: 2026-10-07
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Book Reviews"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 2 to 5 by Matt Dinniman

[![Carl's Doomsday Scenario: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 2 cover image](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/51kccfGaudL._SY445_SX342_QL70_ML2_-188x300.jpg)](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PBCD9Y7)**Some Thoughts on books 2 to 5.**

I really do not like giving away spoilers in the middle of a series. When a book series is out and popular, it is pretty much inevitable that to discuss them, is to give spoilers away to someone.

I have generally enjoyed this series. And I have enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. If I understand correctly, Matt Dinniman self published the first book in Sept 2020 and then the audiobook, narrated by [Jeff Hays](https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_audible_2?ie=UTF8&search-alias=audible&field-keywords=Jeff+Hays), was released about 18 months later. But somehow the 2nd to the 5th books were all released initially in print/ebook from January 2021 until February 2022. The publication pace slowed down, the 6th book released in June 2023. the 7th in Nov 2024, and the 8th in May 2026. Ace picked up the publication rights (but Dinniman kept the ebook rights) in 2024.

As a self published series, I think these are really good. But I also think the audiobook production and narration quality is part of what has made these so popular. The audiobooks are among the best I have heard.

For a fairly simple main storyline, the books have developed well. But by the time I hit the middle of book five I was getting a bit bored. This is a series where the whole premise is that the earth was captured and mostly destroyed and almost all of those who survived the initial destruction have been force to pay in a game to their death. This isn’t quite Hunger Games where the last human alive wins, but rather the humans have to complete against fantasy monsters or aliens in a world filled with Non Playable Characters (NPCs) that also get killed at a pretty high rate.

The basic story proceeds with a different level at roughly one per book. Each level is different. The goals get changed. An AI, who is a bit crazy and who keeps making sexual harassing comments to Carl, is in control of the game. Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat (who gets transformed into human level intelligence almost immediately into the first book) are generally likable characters. They are good people at heart even if they know they are in a bad situations and they end up killing people all around them, while trying to protect actual humans.

I won’t write much about the books or the plot. The first and second book feel like they are really a single story that was split into two parts. The third has a fairly changed level and a lot of nuance is introduced to allow for a more complicated story being told. The fourth is the real start of Carl fighting back against the game. The fifth again is about Carl working to figure out the boundaries of what he can do, while still not dying or being set up by the AI for death.

I am not a violence guy. These books are violent and characters are constantly dying. There is a lot of humor, but it is uneven and I think there are stretches where the fighting and the violence go on too long without enough humor. I appreciate that Dinniman is pushing back against modern culture, while telling a pretty good story. But he really could use an editor. The first book was 464 pages. Then 384 pages, then 544, 608 and 720 pages. Books 7 and 8 are 832 and 724 pages. At least a quarter of each book could be cut I think.

As much as I have enjoyed them I think I likely will put them down for a while and read/listen to something else for a while before returning to read them again.

My 11 year old is a big video game player. If these were not so adult in terms of the violence and humor, I think he would love them. But I think they are a bit too mature for him even if topically, they are right up his alley.