The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
Quotes from the Book
Mana Toast. This is toast. It refills your mana. That’s it. Nothing more. Fuck you.
Cats are assholes. I get it. But do you know why people like cats, despite their asshole-ness? It’s because they don’t fucking talk. If they did, and they were all like you, they’d all be extinct because we’d have killed you all by now.
If we get to the point where we don’t help each other anymore, that’s when we stop being human.
Did we really just start a meth war between the goblins and the llamas?
Question: What’s the only thing standing between an innocent child and a happy, fulfilling life? Answer: You. The answer is you.
Reward: I SAID THE GHOST OF STEVE IRWIN SMILES DOWN UPON YOU.
Being eaten by a bugbear makes me uncomfortable, Carl. So if your boyfriend ogling your tootises keeps these easy-peasy bugs coming at us instead of more of those lava-spitting llamas, then you better buck up, get over your human male privilege, and take one for your princess.
You’re not going to break me,” I said. “You might hurt me, or kill me, but you’re not going to break me.
The last time the walls shook like this was when your mom came over for a visit.
New achievement! You’ve killed an armed mob with your bare fucking hands! Holy crap, dude. That’s kinda fucked up. Reward: You’ve received a Bronze Weapon Box!
Nor am I wearing a cloak that makes me look like I won a participation trophy at the special needs comic con, Carl. I’m a cat. Cats don’t wear pants.
New achievement! War Criminal. You have killed more than 20 non-combatants in a single attack! Question: What’s the only thing standing between an innocent child and a happy, fulfilling life? Answer: You. The answer is you. Reward: You’ve received a Gold Asshole’s Box!
Donut: THIS MUSIC IS MAKING MY HEAD HURT. WHY CAN’T THEY PLAY SOMETHING GOOD? LIKE OASIS.
Donut: CARL IT IS ANOTHER VILE MURDERER. Carl: I don’t think so, not this time. Also, I know you don’t have to type in all caps. I’ve seen you do it before. It makes you sound like you are yelling. Donut: I AM YELLING CARL.
When the Black Death swept through 14th century Europe, killing upwards of 200 million people and forever altering the course of human history, one of the original culprits of the epidemic was said to be the black rat, carrying plague-infested fleas into population centers to wreak their destruction. This is, in fact, not true. The true perpetrator was actually the Asian great gerbil, who took advantage of the warmer climate to travel the silk road and bring the disease into Europe. This is only important to know because Ralph, champion pit fighter of the kobold training grounds, lives his life in a perpetual state of rage. Why? Because he feels that human death toll of 200 million is much too low, and he will do everything in his power to triple that number. Starting with you. The only survivor of a family of gerbils left to starve by a child who’d grown bored with the pets, Ralph had to commit unspeakable acts of cannibalism in order to endure. Part earth rodent, part the embodiment of death, Frenzied Gerbils are regular mobs one might encounter on the fifth or seventh floors. But Ralph here is special. He has dedicated his existence to fighting and training in hopes that one day he might exact his revenge against the humans he so despises. He is fast, he is angry,
You will not break me.
New Achievement! You read a book! You managed to make it all the way through the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book without throwing it against the wall! Reward: You get to read the next book!
So if you read this and enjoyed it, please review it. It’s against Amazon’s rules to offer a prize to those who review books, but I will risk Amazon’s wrath and offer my services to be the father of your babies if you post a review.
Mongo shrieked with joy and began to vigorously devour the remains, filling himself up so much his stomach bulged afterward. The little dinosaur puked on the floor and then ate that, too.
Bad Llama. Level 3. It’s a llama, but it’s bad. If he were human, he’d be covered in prison tattoos and would be hanging out in front of the Circle K hitting on 14-year-old girls. They might be willing to sell you something if you have good stuff to trade. You won’t want to get hit by their spit.
Your creature crapped in my mother’s ashes,” Mordecai said, shaking his head. “This is so not worth it. Not worth it at all.
I am already one of god’s most perfect creatures, so I won’t be changing race when the opportunity arises. I was born a cat, and I will die a cat. In fact, I’m going to have to insist that Carl choose a cat race as well.
You attacked and caused damage to a mob that is more than 75 levels above your own. The fact that you’re reading this suggests you’re the luckiest fucker in the dungeon. Just remember, luck goes both ways, like your mom. Reward: You’ve received a Platinum Lucky Bastard Box!
The corpse had looked like a party sized sausage and green pepper pizza that had been run over a few times
If we die, I want you to know that I love you, Carl,” Donut said. “I don’t love you as much as I love Miss Beatrice, because she’s, you know, she’s my person. Or as much as I love Ferdinand. But I love you.
There was a difference between giving aid and sacrificing yourself for people you didn’t even know.
Princess Donut has named your party The Royal Court of Princess Donut. Princess Donut has changed your title to Royal Bodyguard. Princess Donut has changed her title to Grand Champion Best in Dungeon.
Did you know?
- The novel was originally self-published in 2020 and first serialized via Royal Road before its print and Kindle release.
- Print rights for the series were acquired by Ace Books, a Penguin Random House imprint, in 2024.
- The first book sold more than 2.7 million copies and the series surpassed 10 million copies sold by mid-2026.
- The hugely popular audiobooks are narrated by Jeff Hays and produced by Soundbooth Theater, with audiobook sales outpacing print and e-book sales.
- A live-action television adaptation is in development at Peacock with Seth MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door Productions.
- Author Matt Dinniman worked as a cat-show illustrator before writing full time.
About Matt Dinniman
More by Matt Dinniman
The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
The Gate of the Feral Gods
About the book
Dungeon Crawler Carl is a science-fantasy LitRPG novel that opens after an alien corporation has stripped Earth of its surface life and converted the planet into an eighteen-level dungeon broadcast across the galaxy as a reality show. Carl, a Coast Guard veteran caught outside in his boxer shorts, and Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend's pampered Persian cat who gains sapience after eating an enchanted biscuit, are among the few human survivors forced to descend through the dungeon's deadly levels for the entertainment of an alien audience.
The book threads broad comedy and absurdity through genuinely dark material, using the game-show framing to satirize corporate exploitation, spectacle, and the power imbalances baked into systems people are forced to play within. Author Matt Dinniman has described humor as a coping mechanism that helps carry the characters through horror, and the novel leans on video-game and tabletop RPG mechanics, stat screens, achievements and loot, both as plot engine and as pointed social analogy.
Originally self-published in 2020, the book became a word-of-mouth and audiobook phenomenon, with the first volume selling more than 2.7 million copies and spending many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list; print rights for the series were acquired by Ace Books in 2024. Critics including Laura Miller and Gabino Iglesias praised the series' inventiveness and momentum, noting how its gaming framework sharpens its commentary even when the page-to-page action grows repetitive.
Key characters
- CarlCoast Guard veteran and protagonist, thrust into the dungeon in only his boxer shorts
- Princess DonutA pampered Persian show cat who becomes sapient and Carl's crawling partner
- MordecaiThe pair's tutorial guide and Donut's manager within the dungeon system
- KatiaAn Icelandic woman who joins Carl and Donut's party
- SamanthaA demi-goddess whose consciousness is trapped inside a sex doll's head
Book details
- First published
- 2020
- Length
- 444 pages
- Series
- Dungeon Crawler Carl #1
- Reading time
- 7 hours
- Author
- Matt Dinniman
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Goodreads rating
- 4.45 (450k ratings)
Critical reception
- The first book sold more than 2.7 million copies and spent many consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
- Critic Laura Miller praised the series' gaming mechanics as a rich analogy for real-world power imbalances.
- Reviewer Gabino Iglesias praised the novel as never becoming boring despite minor repetitiveness.
- The series was nominated for the 2026 Arthur C. Clarke Award and named Books-A-Million's inaugural Book of the Year for 2025.
Series & reading order
- 1 Dungeon Crawler Carl
- 2 Carl's Doomsday Scenario
- 3 The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
- 4 The Gate of the Feral Gods
- 5 The Butcher's Masquerade
- 6 The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
- 7 This Inevitable Ruin
- 8 A Parade of Horribles
Movie & TV adaptations
- IMDb
- IMDb
Keep reading
The Gate of the Feral Gods
The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
Homestuck
Tricked
No Mercy
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
Sweep in Peace
Magic Slays
Infinity
Discount Armageddon
Hounded
Monster Hunter International
Ballistic Kiss
Proven Guilty
Hexed
Seventh Grave and No Body
My Commander
Nimona
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Magic Triumphs
John Dies at the End
Hard Eight
Peeps
Burnt Offerings
Kiss of the Night
Kill the Dead
The Curse of Tenth Grave
You Slay Me
Sandman Slim
Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between
Angel
Skin Game
Blood Rites
Kingdom of the Wicked
Endless Knight
Hunger
Last Stand of Dead Men
Fablehaven
Angelmaker
The Throne of Fire
The Eternity Code
The Final Warning
Iced
The Laughing Corpse
Death Bringer
Firefight
The Hunger But Mainly Death Games: A Parody
The Red Pyramid
Grip of the Shadow Plague
This Book Is Full of Spiders
The Ship of the Dead
Dragonwatch
Halfway to the Grave
Seduction and Snacks
Bite Me
Death's Mistress
A Plague Upon Your Family
Second Grave on the Left
The Boy Next Door
The Twisted Ones

