Every Dungeon Crawler Carl Book Explained Before the Peacock Series

Dungeon Crawler Carl is one of those book series that seem absurd when you have to explain them out loud to another person. However, once you start reading this series (or listening to it in audiobook form), it becomes addictive pretty fast. The story follows Carl and Princess Donut, his extremely smart cat, as they find themselves in an alien dungeon after the destruction of Earth. The series is well-written and endlessly entertaining. The whole thing is wonderfully unhinged, constantly pushing its absurd premise further without losing sight of the characters.

To put it in terms a typical fantasy reader would understand, this series brings together deep world-building of Brandon Sanderson, the progression-fantasy appeal of Will Wight, and the darker humor and violence you might associate with Joe Abercrombie. Seth MacFarlane is adapting the series for Peacock. So, we thought this is the perfect time for you to find out (or revisit) what the entire Dungeon Crawler Carl story is all about.

1 Dungeon Crawler Carl

Dungeon Crawler Carl‘s story starts when Earth’s structures all of a sudden crumble, resulting in the death of billions of people, leaving Carl stranded with his ex’s cat named Princess Donut. The two quickly learn that this apocalyptic scenario was a result of the aliens’ dungeon-crawler game show. The two are helped by a veteran crawler named Mordecai to navigate their way through the dungeon, with Donut eventually attaining intelligence as a human.

2 Carl’s Doomsday Scenario

In the second book, Carl and Donut reach the third floor, the Over City, where the dungeon starts looking less like a monster-filled maze and more like an alien civilization. Carl takes on the Primal and Compensated Anarchist classes, while Donut embraces her celebrity background. They become involved with the Grimaldi circus and meet several important crawlers, including Hekla. By surviving the Doomsday Scenario, Carl and Donut establish themselves among the dungeon’s top survivors.

3 The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook

The fourth level introduces Carl to the Iron Tangle, which makes survival become increasingly reliant on an awareness of the dungeon rather than on brute force. The discovery of the Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook becomes the key to the system, the source of information for possible resistance. As Carl, Donut, and the other characters involved in their adventure become increasingly aware of the dungeon workings, their objectives start changing. Survival becomes a secondary objective; fighting starts becoming the primary one.

4 The Gate of the Feral Gods

In fourth book in Dungeon Crawler Carl, On the fifth floor, Carl and Donut find themselves navigating a world divided into enormous bubbles and controlled territories. The floor’s conflict draws them into the dangerous politics surrounding the Gate of the Feral Gods, with powerful divine beings entering the picture. Katia also begins establishing herself independently. Carl eventually uses the Gate to rescue more than 1,500 trapped crawlers, but unleashing the feral gods creates new problems for everyone who survives the floor.

5 The Butcher’s Masquerade

The sixth floor turns the crawlers into prey, as alien hunters pay to track and kill them in the Hunting Grounds. Carl and Donut have to survive while dealing with increasingly powerful enemies and the bizarre Masquerade event. One of the biggest revelations involves Signet, who discovers that her memories and identity have been manufactured. She sacrifices herself to break a seal and is pulled into the Nothing, dramatically changing the game and leaving Carl with even more reason to distrust those controlling it.

6 The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

The eighth floor in the sixth book of Dungeon Crawler Carl introduces the Ghosts of Earth and a new card-based system that forces Carl and Donut to approach combat differently. Their path eventually leads them to Shi Maria, the mysterious and titular Bedlam Bride. She puts an Eye of the Bedlam Bride on Carl, creating a permanent connection between them. As the floor descends into madness and the crawlers turn increasingly against the system, more than 33,000 survivors make it to the Ninth Floor, where the resistance becomes much more organized.

7 This Inevitable Ruin

The Ninth Floor becomes a battlefield as the Faction Wars force the surviving crawlers into competing armies. Carl and Donut become co-warlords of the Princess Posse. Alliances form between groups that previously had little reason to trust one another. Katia leaves through Orchid, while Larracos is transported to the Twelfth Floor. Justice Light also helps break the Nothing, and Scolopendra is awakened. By the end, Carl’s fight has clearly become a rebellion against the dungeon itself.

8 A Parade of Horribles

In the eighth book of Dungeon Crawler Carl series, The Tenth Floor changes the rules again, forcing the remaining crawlers to compete in deadly races rather than simply clear dungeon rooms. Carl and Donut have to build and upgrade vehicles while dealing with alliances, sabotage, and increasingly strange glitches in the system. The chaos reaches another level (Eleventh) when Carl summons Scolopendra and Donut accidentally uses an Enriched Pet Biscuit on her, turning her into the sapient Sexy Scolopendra. The book ends with the rebellion still growing and the dungeon becoming increasingly unstable.

Which Dungeon Crawler Carl book is your favorite so far, and which moment are you most excited to see adapted? Let us know in the comments!

Peacock’s Dungeon Crawler Carl TV series does not have a release date yet.