10 Best Books Like Dungeon Crawler Carl (That Aren't LitRPG)

Published Sep 19, 2026, 9:24 AM EDT

Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond. 

Dungeon Crawler Carl has become a bit of a cultural phenomenon over the past few years, bringing the LitRPG genre out of relative obscurity and into the mainstream. What began as a self-published novel by Matt Dinniman in 2020 has since exploded into one of modern fantasy and science fiction's biggest grassroots success stories, with the series surpassing 7 million copies sold.

The audiobooks have played an especially important role in that rise, with Jeff Hays' acclaimed narration introducing countless listeners to Carl, Princess Donut, and the deadly alien game show at the center of the series. Dinniman has said that roughly 3/4 fans at his events first discovered the books through audio.

That once-niche cult hit has now grown well beyond books, with eight installments published, tabletop projects underway, and a live-action Peacock adaptation being developed by Chris Yost and Seth MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door, Dungeon Crawler Carl has officially become a full-fledged multimedia franchise. And if you're looking for more books that scratch a similar itch, but don't necessarily operate around the LitRPG "mechanics" in DCC, the following selections are well worth checking out.

10 We Are Legion (We Are Bob) — Dennis E. Taylor (2016)

In We Are Legion (We Are Bob), Bob Johansson has barely finished arranging for his body to be cryogenically preserved when he dies and awakens more than a century later as the artificial intelligence controlling a space probe. From there, the novel thrusts readers into a sprawling adventure involving self-replicating Bobs, alien worlds, space exploration, and saving the future of humanity.

Audible named it its Best Science Fiction Book of 2016, with Ray Porter's audiobook performance becoming particularly associated with the series. Like Dungeon Crawler Carl, Taylor takes an inherently terrifying scenario and filters it through an irreverent protagonist whose humor helps keep the high stakes feeling somewhat low-stakes, and will certainly keep you engaged and entertained.

9 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams (1979)

If you haven't read it by now, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is essential reading if you're a fan of DCC. Carl isn't the first unfortunate human to watch Earth get destroyed before being swept into an absurd intergalactic adventure. Our protagonist, Arthur Dent, suffers essentially that fate at the beginning of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, escaping Earth's demolition only to discover that the wider universe is somehow even more ridiculous.

Douglas Adams' novel became an immediate bestseller following its 1979 publication and remains one of comedy science fiction's defining works. The humor is less violent than Dungeon Crawler Carl, but the combination of cosmic bureaucracy, bizarre aliens, impossible and absurd situations, and a bewildered everyman protagonist makes this an obvious read for fans of Dinniman's work.

8 John Dies At The End — Jason Pargin (2007)

Horror can be genuinely frightening and completely ridiculous within the space of a single chapter, something Jason Pargin demonstrated brilliantly with John Dies at the End. Originally released as an online serial before becoming a published novel, the story follows David and John after an encounter with a mysterious drug known as Soy Sauce exposes them to supernatural forces that shouldn't exist.

Publishers Weekly praised the novel for simultaneously spoofing horror conventions and delivering legitimate scares, and the story was eventually adapted into a 2012 cult horror-comedy directed by Don Coscarelli, starring Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes as David and John alongside Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown. The tone of this book should feel immediately familiar to DCC readers: grotesque monsters, existential horror, crude jokes, lovable idiots, and catastrophes that somehow keep getting stranger and stranger.

7 All Systems Red — Martha Wells (2017)

Reactor

Martha Wells' Murderbot would probably sympathize with Carl's desire to be left alone by the incomprehensible powers controlling his life. All Systems Red introduces a security android that has secretly disabled the module governing its behavior and would prefer watching entertainment to dealing with humans. Unfortunately, a dangerous planetary expedition forces Murderbot into exactly the sort of heroic role it never wanted. The first in an epic eight-part saga, All Systems Red kicks off what will certainly be an adventure you'll find hard to put down.

The novella became a major critical success, winning the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards. Murderbot's sarcastic internal narration, corporate dystopia, violent survival scenarios, and grudging attachment to its companions offer some of the closest non-LitRPG parallels to Carl himself. The series was even adapted into Apple TV’s Murderbot, starring Alexander Skarsgård as the titular SecUnit, with the well-received first season debuting in May 2025 and a second season already confirmed.

6 The Last One — Alexandra Oliva (2016)

In The Last One, Alexandra Oliva delivers a similar take on the reality-show element that makes Dungeon Crawler Carl so disturbing, but without the aliens and RPG systems. A woman nicknamed Zoo joins a wilderness survival competition, only for a genuine catastrophe to unfold while filming. Because she assumes everything around her is still part of the show, she struggles to distinguish staged challenges from actual danger.

Kirkus called Oliva's debut an "astute and compelling" take on the post-apocalyptic genre, while other reviews highlighted its smart twist on reality-TV conventions. DCC readers should especially appreciate the unsettling idea of entertainment and real human suffering becoming one in the same.

5 The Dungeoneers — Jeffery Russell (2015)

Dungeon crawling doesn't require experience points or character sheets to be entertaining, and that's a truth Jeffery Russell's The Dungeoneers showcases perfectly. We follow Durham, a city guard who accidentally ends up traveling with a professional company of dwarves through a series of dungeons. These aren't reckless heroes chasing glory, but contractors hired to recover dangerous artifacts before aspiring chosen ones stumble across them.

Russell fills these adventures with traps, monsters, magical treasures, fantasy tropes, and the practical problems of treating dungeon exploration like an actual profession. It captures much of DCC's dungeon-based appeal while poking fun at the conventions behind fantasy adventuring, all without relying on LitRPG progression systems.

4 The Blacktongue Thief — Christopher Buehlman (2021)

Kinch Na Shannack has accumulated a staggering debt to the guild that trained him in thievery, forcing him onto a dangerous road alongside Galva, a knight searching for her missing queen. What follows is a brutal fantasy journey filled with goblins, giants, assassins, strange magic, enormous battle ravens, and monsters lurking beneath the water.

The Blacktongue Thief became a USA Today bestseller and earned particular praise for Christopher Buehlman's distinctive narrative voice. Kinch's crude wit and ability to joke through horrifying situations give the novel its strongest connection to Dungeon Crawler Carl, especially when the adventure turns unexpectedly grim.

3 The Kaiju Preservation Society — John Scalzi (2022)

Tor Books

Getting fired during the COVID-19 pandemic eventually leads Jamie Gray to a job that sounds almost mundane: helping an animal-rights organization care for extremely large creatures. The catch is that those creatures are kaiju (i.e., Godzilla-like creatures) living on an alternate version of Earth. John Scalzi uses that wonderfully ridiculous setup to build a fast-moving science-fiction adventure full of giant monsters, scientific mishaps, dangerous expeditions, and workplace banter.

The Kaiju Preservation Society won the 2023 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and was also a Hugo finalist. Its mixture of high-stakes danger and knowingly ridiculous spectacle fits right alongside Dinniman's more outrageous ideas.

2 Going Postal — Terry Pratchett (2004)

Moist von Lipwig begins Going Postal facing execution for a lifetime of fraud, only to receive an unexpected second chance running Ankh-Morpork's collapsing postal service. What sounds like a mundane punishment quickly becomes a battle against corporate greed, technological disruption, bureaucracy, and mountains of undelivered mail.

Considered one of Terry Pratchett's best standalone Discworld novels, Going Postal received a Nebula Award nomination for Best Novel in 2005 and is critically acclaimed across the board. Pratchett's talent for turning absurd fantasy situations into sharp social satire makes this an easy recommendation for readers who enjoy the commentary hiding underneath Dungeon Crawler Carl's explosions, monsters, and profanity.

1 My Sister, The Serial Killer — Oyinkan Braithwaite (2018)

While there are no aliens, monsters, dungeons, or magical weapons in My Sister, the Serial Killer, it's one of the more unexpected books on this list. Korede spends her time cleaning up after her beautiful younger sister Ayoola, whose unfortunate tendency to kill her boyfriends has now produced several bodies. The situation becomes considerably more complicated when Ayoola begins dating a doctor Korede secretly loves.

Oyinkan Braithwaite's darkly comic thriller was longlisted for the Booker Prize, became a Women's Prize finalist, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. Its gleefully macabre humor should resonate with DCC readers who enjoy laughing when everything has gone horribly wrong.

Dungeon Crawler Carl may be rooted in LitRPG, but its appeal reaches far beyond the stats, loot, and leveling systems that define the genre. Readers who love Carl's dark humor, chaotic adventures, strange characters, and escalating stakes should find plenty to enjoy across these fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and thriller picks.

Dungeon Crawler Carl