After the world ends one evening, those who survive are offered the choice of trying to live off of a destroyed planet or to head underground and become reality stars in a weird alien video game reality show where the goal is to live until the next level. Carl and his ex-girlfriend's show cat (Princess Donut) choose the latter…

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL by Matt Dinniman was my first ever LitRPG and I found it to be a fun (traumatizing) time!

Carl and Princess Donut are such a fun duo and the formatting of the story really leans into the video game/role playing aspect, which I’ve never consumed before and (as a non-gamer girlie) found very intriguing.

This story is DARK. It’s the end of the world and the remaining population are killing each other in order to survive/make good tv, however, Dinniman works in some humor to make it not feel so doom and gloom.

Parts of the RPG did drag for me and some of the language wasn’t my favorite, but I’ve heard the audiobooks are amazing, so if I do continue with this series, I think that will be the route I go (literally need to know what happens to my queen, Princess Donut 🐱)

Thanks to Ace, Berkley Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!