The Inky Phoenix | Dungeon Crawler Carl

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Dungeon Crawler Carl

Matt Dinniman

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The apocalypse will be televised!

Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition. You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.

Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.

Includes part one of the exclusive bonus story “Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.”

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Posts about this title from The Inky Phoenix

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Jun 11

Melissa Albert's Favorite Books!

where to start??

10 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Casey the Reader\ \ Casey\ \ • Jul 3

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[Now that I'm doing weekly reading roundups on Mondays, it doesn't really make sense to do a fave of the week on Fridays. I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do yet (I KNOW it doesn't have to be the same every week. But my brain does not! It likes routines!), but today I've got my June wrap up and a look forward at some books I hope to pick up in July. (Books marked with a * were gifted to me and books marked with a ^ I was paid to read.)\ \ For June reads, it's no surprise that all my faves (starred) were books I read for Pride Reading Bingo. Queer books forever!\ \ \ \ THE QUARTER QUEEN^\ \ WHY ARE PEOPLE INTO THAT?\ \ LONDON FALLING*\ \ ⭐️ SEVEN DEVILS\ \ ESCALA'S WISH^\ \ ⭐️ THE MAIDENHEADS*\ \ DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL (reread)\ \ ⭐️ SEASONS OF GLASS AND IRON*\ \ DIVERGENT (reread)\ \ POOL HOUSE*\ \ LOVE IS AN EX-COUNTRY\ \ RAISING ARTEMIS^\ \ THE FOREST ON THE EDGE OF TIME*\ \ ⭐ ONE OF THE BOYS*\ \ DEATH OF THE AUTHOR*\ \ ⭐ SHAPES OF LOVE*\ \

- *\ \ Here's what's on deck for July. (Ish...you know how that mood reading life goes.)\ \ \ \ MOSS'D IN SPACE* - This is the July Found Family Book Club pick!\ \ CHAOS* - This space romance series is a fave of mine and I've been saving this latest installment for when I needed a treat.\ \ MAKE ME BETTER* - Gailey is a fave author and normally I would have gobbled this up by now but for some reason I thought it was a fall release and therefore I didn't prioritize the ARC. Whoops!\ \ BLACK SALT QUEEN* - I've been meaning to read this fantasy about royalty, romance, and betrayal for awhile and the sequel recently came out so I better get to it!\ \ I LOVE YOU DON'T DIE* - I'd intended to read this for Pride Bingo and didn't get there. I adored Song's debut CHLORINE and am looking forward to more of that.\ \ THIS PRINCESS KILLS MONSTERS* - Another Pride Bingo fail. I've been very into cozy, comedic fantasy lately so I'm ready to wrap myself up in this one.\ \ OUT OF STEP, INTO YOU* - The last of my Pride Bingo intendeds. I thought Burch's debut YA novel a few years ago was seriously underrated, so watch out for me yelling about this one soon.\ \ Books I'm carrying over from June: My current reads are Love In A F-cked Up World by Dean Spade and Coldwire* by Chloe Gong.\ \ Other miscellaneous July reads: I run an in-person book club that reads spicy books and I our July pick is The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, which will be a reread for me. I also read the first chapter of Murder In The Dressing Room* by Holly Star yesterday. There will be other audiobooks because I can't commute without them, but I haven't picked any yet.\ \ Is that a packed enough TBR for you or what!\ \ Join for free or login](https://caseythereader.binderybooks.com/item/RjgobKuiwId4ySBsPVwi/)

June Wrap Up + July Hopefuls

26 books

Casey the Reader\ \ Casey\ \ • Jun 29

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I'm changing up Monday's posts! I'm going to try out moving my book reviews from Instagram to Bindery, and doing them in a weekly roundup style. I'll be giving a few bullet points about each book I read in the last week.\ \ Honestly, I'm a little nervous about this because I do not like change, ha. But we're doing it! Also, come on over to my Discord server and share your own reviews with the friendly folks there!\ \ Books marked with a * were gifted to me, books marked with a ^ I was paid to read.\ \ \ \ Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - This was a reread, and I've hollered enough about DCC that I won't subject you to too much more. I made my spouse listen to this on a road trip we took to try and get them into the series and it worked! Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised given that they rarely read fiction, let alone sci-fi/fantasy.\ \ \ \ The Maidenheads by Benny B. Johnson* - Y'all already saw my rave review of this! Honestly, it's a contender for a top book of the year for me. (And watch this space for my mid-year faves!)\ \ \ \ Escala's Wish by David James^ - I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It's a D&D style story with a faerie trying to complete a task that will allow her to end her exile from the fae realm, and it's told with the framing of a bard telling the tale to a tavern full of people. It's not the most complex story and doesn't have the most three dimensional characters, but it was full of heart, action, and silliness.\ \ Join for free or login

Mini Review Monday - July 29, 2026

3 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Jun 11

Melissa Albert's Favorite Books!

where to start??

10 books

Inkspoken Books\ \ amanda.the.bookish\ \ • Feb 22

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Poll:\ \ What should be our March Book Club pick?\ \ Hello Friends and Insiders! We are gearing up to choose our March Book Club Read, please vote! If you have a book you'd love to submit, please comment below :)

March Book Club - What should we read?

4 books

Nathan’s Booktok!\ \ Nathan\ \ • Dec 7 2025

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DCC book 8 reading!

Exclusive from Dragonsteel Nexus 2025. Jeff Hayes reads from Dungeon Crawler Carl book 8 (coming soon) by the lovely Matt Dinniman

#booktube #books #fantasybooks #booktok #dungeoncrawlercarl #litrpg #litrpgfantasyaudiobook

1 book

Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Aug 8 2025

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And Then I Woke Up - A different take on a zombie apocalypse. Had my staring at the wall when I finished\ \ Wake Up and Open Your Eyes - The Great Reawakening is coming and your far right family members are not safe\ \ Birdbox - An invisible monster is causing people to take their lives in horrific ways. The stress this book put me through\ \ The Memory Police - Little by little things begin to disappear. Most of the population forgets these things existed, but some remember. The memory police, make those that remember disappear as well. This is slow moving and quietly horrific.\ \ Pink Slime - A plague is taking over, and one woman and the boy she baby sits refuse to leave this city.\ \ Dungeon Crawler Carl - "The apocalypse will now be televised" is an pretty accurate description\ \ The Unworthy - Violent end of the world cult gets disrupted by a new member\ \ Tender Is The Flesh - Virus makes animal meat poisonous for human consumption, resulting in legalized cannibalism\ \ ON MY TBR\ \ Over Growth\ \ The Girl With All The Gifts\ \ Severance

The End Is Near - Book Recs

8 books

Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Jul 9 2025

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June Reading Wrap Up📖 30 books 📚

June Reading Wrap Up📖 30 books 📚 #whatireadinamonth #monthlyreadingwrapup #monthlyreadingrecap #whatiread #readingwrapup #junereads #bookrating #booktok #booktoker #rateingbooks #bookworm #bibliophile #bookish #thrillerbooks #horrorbooks #whattoread

30 books

Kist Reads\ \ Kist\ \ • Jun 27 2025

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(VIDEO) The best and worst books our two book clubs have read this year!

We’ve read 12 combined books in our two book clubs and I’m ranking them from worst to first!

FANTASY SICKOS BOOK CLUB January: The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman February: Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao March: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman April: (fiction*) The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones May: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie June: Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

HISTORY SICKOS BOOK CLUB January: Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes February: The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans March: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore April: The Achilles Trap by Steve Coll May: Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley June: Unruly by David Mitchell

Join us for July as we read Of Monsters & Mainframes by Barbara Truelove and Three Tigers, One Mountain by Michael Booth!

8 books

Kist Reads\ \ Kist\ \ • Apr 2 2025

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March Reading Wrap 📚 10 Book Reviews!

Rating and (spoiler-free) reviewing the 10 books I read in March, with a great mix of science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and ancient/modern history!

8 books

Kist Reads\ \ Kist\ \ • Feb 13 2025

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Hello, Sickos!\ \ The book contest for this month will feature three titles, which will be determined by a random drawing. To be automatically entered you need to be a “Follower” (free tier!) of the Sickos Bindery. Entries end at 2/28/25. The three titles are:\ \ And the Sky Bled by S. Hati (fantasy)\ \ House of Frank by Kay Sinclaire (fantasy)\ \ Crescent Dawn: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age by Si Sheppard (history)\ \ The first name drawn will have the ability to pick which of these they’d like to be shipped to them, and so on. I’ll be covering shipping costs.\ \ The Fantasy Sickos Book Club read for March will be Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. After performing so well in the February vote and receiving an overwhelming majority in a Yes/No flash poll in the Discord yesterday (and my own desire to meet Princess Donut), y’all made the choice easy. The History Sickos will still be voting between the usual four options within the next week. The discussions for these clubs take place in the Sickos Discord at the Sicko and Mega Sicko Bindery tiers.

Book Contest + Fantasy Sickos Announcement

4 books

Ezeekat Press\ \ Jaysen\ \ • Jan 29 2025

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EARLY VIEWING: Dungeon Crawler Carl | Book Club Review

Let us know what you thought of this one if you've read it!! And make sure to join us in the book club to discuss all month long!

My Other Places: Fable Book Club: https://fable.co/club/ezeekats-book-club-with-ezeekat-332055432165 Discord: https://discord.gg/5QqNANjdc7 Ezeekat Press Subscriber Community: https://ezeekat.binderybooks.com/

1 book

Ezeekat Press\ \ Jaysen\ \ • Jan 27 2025

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January Check in and Life Update

3 books

Fantasy & Frens\ \ Zoranne\ \ • Nov 19 2024

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Silly Little Questions V. E. Schwab!

Silly little questions with V. E. Schwab ◡̈ time stamps below!

0:04 - What is your current Roman Empire? 1:06 - Who will be your top artist on your Spotify Wrapped? 2:26 - Do you collect anything? 2:59 - What is an item you can’t live/travel without? 4:46 - What is a snack you always have in your pantry? 5:37 - How are your cats? 6:40 - Can you recommend a book?

6 books