Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

On July 27, 2025 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday8 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 6 January 2020)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book Two

Length: 11 hours and 28 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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After falling in love with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book in the epic Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I have decided to continue diving into this incredible series of adventure, friendship and adversity, with the second novel in the deeply impressive LitRPG series Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. Dungeon Crawler Carl was so damn fun, and I chose to start reading this awesome sequel the very moment I finished the first book in the series.

The dungeon crawl to determine the fate of planet Earth has begun, and it is already the highest rated show in the entire galaxy. However, the games have only just began, as the human crawlers who survived the training levels of the game now must contend with the horrors of the dungeon’s third level.

The unlikely team of the pants-bereft hero Carl, his now sentient cat, Princess Donut, and Donut’s pet dinosaur, Mongo, have already survived great adversity in their initial forays through the dungeon, but now the game is starting to get even more chaotic. Starting off the level with the ability to chooses new races and specialised classes, Carl and Donut have some serious upgrades to face the full horrors of the dungeon, and they are going to need it.

This new level of the dungeon, known as the Over City, is the sprawling ruin of a once vast city, laid low by a devastating calamity. Many creatures still haunt the now destroyed streets, including the horrifying remains of a once popular circus, while in the seemingly safe town they use as a base, murdered prostitutes rain from the sky as part of a malevolent scheme. However, while Carl and Donut face all manner of monsters and mayhem tackling these horrors and the quests that lay behind them, the greater danger may lay outside of the dungeon, as old and new enemies from the alien races descending on Earth are determined to make Carl’s journey as difficult as possible. Can these two unlikely companions and their pet dinosaur survive the carnage to come, or is their doomed crawl through the dungeon about to come to an end?

Well damn, now that was a really impressive follow-up to the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was an outstanding novel from Dinniman that ups the craziness and ensures that you are still absolutely hooked on its brilliant storytelling, intriguing LitRPG elements and awesome humour. I frankly couldn’t stop listening to Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and I have to give it another five-star rating for how much fun I had with it.

Dinniman came up with another great story for Carl’s Doomsday Scenario that continues right after the events of the first book in the series. One of the shorter novels in the series, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario avoids any recap material and instead jumps right into the plot, which covers the entire time the protagonists spend on the third level of the game. Cleverly bringing in some cool new elements at the start, the protagonists are soon grinding through this new level. The plot mostly focused around two of the quests that the protagonists choose to participate in, one involving a cursed circus, and the other involving a sinister plot of sacrifice and murder in one of the floor’s main towns. Dinniman plays through both major plot elements in a similar manner to quests from a particularly deranged RPG game, and you soon get invested in both the scenarios, and the protagonist’s unusual or explosive ways of dealing with the situation. Both major quest lines involved carnage, exploration, a dash of mystery, and an array of intriguing new characters, and allow for the protagonists to keep getting stronger and more experienced.

These quest-focused sequences are well balanced by an array of events that tie them into the larger series story of the protagonists playing the dungeon game. The protagonists become involved in several events outside the dungeon which helps introduce long-term antagonists and hints about some of the future obstacles to come. You also get some interesting updates about some of the recurring characters introduced in the first book, many of whom are clearly going to have a bigger impact on the story in the future. All these elements blend well into one cohesive and exciting plot, and I loved how well Dinniman balanced the various unique story elements and kept making the overall narrative of the series even more elaborate. These plots all come together for Carl’s Doomsday Scenario’s big finale, which was as hilariously epic as possible. Dinniman really ramped up the tension for this final part of the book, and you are constantly on the edge of your seat as you wait to see who survives and how. An epic story that perfectly continued the overarching Dungeon Crawler Carl narrative, while also providing some very memorable moments that allows Carl’s Doomsday Scenario to stand on its own.

I loved how Carl’s Doomsday Scenario came together, although I must point out that you really need to read Dungeon Crawler Carl first. The plot of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario directly continues from the events of Dungeon Crawler Carl, and you could honestly combine the two to get one long novel without any issues at all. Indeed, this story does feel a little like a bridging novel between the introductory first novel and the heavily plot laden third book, although it still works well to tell its own fun story. While the point-of-view protagonist does recap some events in his head as the story unfolds, new readers trying to start at this second book would likely get lost in some of the plot details. As such, this is definitely a book for those who plan to read the series from start to finish, and those that are will find that Carl’s Doomsday Scenario features all the very best elements from the initial novel, including a ton of great action, some unique LitRPG elements, and the continued side-splitting humour that made Dungeon Crawler Carl so much fun to get through.

Dinniman makes excellent continued use of the first-person perspective to paint a compelling picture of the protagonists’ journey in this second book, and you really get drawn into Carl and Princess Donut’s adventures as a result. Thanks to the fact that they are experiencing all these scenarios for the first time, readers with all manner of LitRPG or RPG experience can easily enjoy this novel, and the author does an amazing job combining the more elaborate RPG elements into the larger exciting narrative. There are a ton of great new elements added in for this book, with things like class and species decisions, quests, elite NPCs, towns and more, adds some additional complexity to the plot which helps to make the story even more interest. These extensive LitRPG features are perfectly enhanced by the author’s comedic writing, and there are so many great jokes thrust into the story. This humour is well supported by the book’s overall outrageous nature, and all the over-the-top scenarios the protagonists encounter can be exceptionally funny at times. Thanks to how well Dinniman writes and combines these elements together, I was so invested in every part of the book, and it was fantastic to see the entire narrative unfold and watch the protagonists evolve with the game.

As with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the emotional heart of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario lies in the partnership between Carl and Princess Donut, and it was fascinating to follow these two unlikely heroes through the dungeon. Carl continues to be the gruff and over-exasperated central character through whose eyes we see the story unfold. A tired figure still reeling from the death of his planet, Carl continues to grimly stay alive for Donut’s sake, while also becoming more enraged at the full evils of the dungeon and the corrupt alien corporations controlling it. I really enjoyed the practical and often quite clever way he addresses the dungeon’s many challenges, and Dinniman does a good job showcasing his evolution as a player, even though he still mainly resorts to explosives and crazy plans. Indeed, Carl starts to develop a somewhat well-deserved reputation as a reckless figure, which is quite entertaining.

While Carl is the stoic centre of the plot, Princess Donut is the comedic heart of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and you just have to love her entertaining persona. Despite being sentient, Princess Donut is still very much a cat in nature and bearing, and it is hilarious to see her exaggerated personality clash with the more subdued nature of Carl. Her ability to get them into all manner of trouble with her fun-loving ways and lack of caution adds some great entertainment to the plot (Goddammit Donut!), while her love of attention and popularity perfectly plays into the reality television nature of the dungeon game they are in. Donut is an outstanding personality foil to Carl, and this allows for some very entertaining moments as a duo. However, while on the outside she is still the same silly and haughty cat you came to love in the first book, Dinniman has started to showcase Donut’s hidden depths, and there are some great moments when you come to realise that the cat is growing up and become more mature. A lot of this lies in the heartwarming relationship between Carl and Donut as the two continue to become a true team. I love some of the scenes when Carl and Donut are vulnerable with each other, especially when they are close to death, and you realise just how close they’ve become and how much they mean to each other. This connection provides some amazing moments throughout Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and you continue to become extremely invested in these two’s adventures.

Aside from Carl and Donut, there is an array of additional awesome characters featured in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, including a combination of figures from the previous novel and some new great characters. This includes Donut’s pet velociraptor, Mongo, who continues to grow into an even more dangerous killing machine. Despite some continued teething troubles about Mogo’s inability to control himself, Mogo grows into a key member of the team, and that intense scene where he defends Donut from harm cements him as a wonderfully beloved pet. The team’s NPC tutorial guide, Mordecai, gets an extended appearance in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, becoming Donut’s reluctant manager, and I loved the fun mentor role he adds to the cast, becoming the team’s voice of reason, which is often ignored by the protagonists. Dinniman also adds in an interesting third member of the party later in the book, who gets an effective introduction, even if they don’t play a major role in the plot this time around. Throw in an array of determined fellow crawlers, aliens who often have beef with Carl, and some complex mobs and NPCs whose unique stories the protagonists get dragged into, and the cast of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was so damn epic and really enhanced the overall story.

As with the first book in the series, I chose to listen to Carl’s Doomsday Scenario on audiobook, which is frankly the very best way to enjoy this incredible novel, especially as the having the crazy story and the antics of the characters read out is so much fun. Coming in with a run time of 11 and a half hours, this is one of the shorter entries in the series, and I managed to finish off this audiobook in a few very entertaining days. I deeply appreciate the fact that Jeff Hays continues as the narrator of this second audiobook in the series, as he really impressed me with Dungeon Crawler Carl. Hays has an amazing array of elaborate voices that perfectly fit so many of the unique characters featured in this novel, and he carries over several of the key tones from the first audiobook for the recurring characters. His voices for Carl and Princess Donut are particularly good, and I love how effectively he still captures their complex personalities, including Carl’s frustrations and anger, and Donut’s comedic over-excitement and infectious personality. His best voice still probably remains the system AI running the dungeon, as the sheer amount of excitement, sarcasm and comedic timing Hays brings to reading out the AI’s notices is so damn good. Throw in a cool array of new character voices, as well as some modulated tones for characters who have changed race or attributes, and this was such an impressive listen that will have you laughing like crazy. I cannot recommend the audiobook format of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books enough, so do yourself a favour and make sure to check them out.

My newfound obsession with Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series continues unabated as I powered through the second book, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, in no time at all. an outstanding sequel that perfectly continues all the amazing story elements from the first book, while adding even more layers to the elaborate scenario. Fast-paced, constantly entertaining, and with some impressive emotional depth to it, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was particularly awesome, and I had an absolute blast reading it. Indeed, I loved it so much that I once again instantly dived into the next book in the series, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, which is proving to be just as incredible as its predecessors.

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Runaways Volume 1: Find Your Way Home by Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka

On September 13, 2018August 23, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Comics/Manga, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, LGBT+, Superhero, Young Adult1 Comment

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Publication Date – 8 May 2018

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From bestselling young adult fiction author Rainbow Rowell and exciting Marvel artist Kris Anka comes the revival we have all been waiting for, with the return of Runaways.

Years ago, six young friends found out a terrible truth: their parents were members of a supervillain group known as The Pride and were working towards the destruction of the planet. Uncovering their hidden powers and strengths, these friends, genius Alex Wilder, the sorceress Nico Minoru (Sister Grimm), alien Karolina Dean (Lucy in the Sky), mutant Molly Hayes (Princess Powerful/Bruiser), mad scientist offspring Chase Stein (Talkback) and proud dinosaur owner and daughter of two time travellers Gertrude Yorkes (Arsenic with her deinonychus, Old Lace), became the Runaways to escape their parents’ evil plans.

After the death of Alex and all of their parents, the surviving Runaways become family and even brought in new members, including the cyborg Victor, the Skrull Xavin and the time displaced mutant Klara. While the team’s plans to live in peace were often disrupted by their forced heroics, for a time they were happy. But even the best families have a hard time staying together in the Marvel Universe, and following the death of Gert, Xavin’s forced departure for the stars, the events of Murderworld and the elevation of several members to the Avengers, the Runaways have gone their separate ways.

However, one former Runaway has had a hard time letting go of the past. Stealing a time machine, the team’s wildcard member, Chase, has gone back in time to fix his biggest regret: the death of his girlfriend, Gertrude. But being brought back to life several years in the future is tough, and all Gertrude wants to do is reunite with her friends, even if they are now older than her. Chase is his old goofy self, but Nico and Carolina have moved on with their lives, , Victor is now just a head and Molly has moved in with her grandmother. Will the Runaways get together again, or have their subsequent adventures affected their relationships too much? And who is the evil scientist stalking them from afar?

Runaways was a ground breaking series originally released in 2003 that focused on a fresh new group of heroes with no previous connections to other characters in the Marvel Universe. Created by Brian K Vaughan of Y: The Last Man and Saga fame and artist Adrian Alphona, Runaways represents some of their most significant work with Marvel. Runaways was an exciting tale of teenage rebellion which was amplified by the superhero elements. Featuring some incredibly iconic characters, the initial series of Runaways featured a fantastic enclosed story about crime and heroics in Los Angeles with only minimal inclusions from the outside Marvel Universe. Featuring characters who acted in a contrary way to the other superheroes by actively avoiding fights, making fun of costumes and team names (they never actually referred to themselves as the Runaways) and only using superhero monikers ironically, this was a fun series with some clever new ideas.

Following this initial run, the story became a more traditional superhero series, focusing on the adventures of the titular heroes as they fought crime and other threats in LA. There were a series of great adventures during this period, which included memorable events such as the tragic loss of Gert, Xavin’s sacrifice, several team-ups with the Young Avengers and involvements in the Civil War and Secret Invasion crossover events. The series would abruptly end in 2009, and readers would have to wait years to see a significant follow-up. The characters have appeared in several other series, including Daken: Dark Wolverine and Avengers Academy. However, the characters would not significantly return until Avengers Arena, where Nico and Chase found themselves trapped in Murderworld, and Avengers Arena’s follow up series, Avengers Undercover, which saw the return of Alex Wilder. At the same time, Victor would join the cast of Avengers A.I. An alternate version of the Runaways got their own series as part of the 2015 Secret Wars crossover even, and Nico would eventually become a member of the female Avengers team in A-Force.

With the release of 2017s Runaways television show, a new comic series of Runaways was announced by Marvel which saw the first run of the original characters in nearly nine years. This new series is helmed by acclaimed young adult fiction author Rainbow Rowell and dedicated Marvel artist Kris Anka. Volume 1 of their run of Runways, Find Your Way Home, contains issues #1-6 of the series, with a second volume to be released in October 2018.

Runaways has long been one of my favourite series, and is probably one of the best comic examinations of young teenage characters that Marvel has ever produced. As a result, I was very excited to get my copy of Find Your Way Home, and headed into this new series with high expectations. I was not at all disappointed by the result and really enjoyed this new series. This first volume expertly captures the heart and soul of the original series, reunites several fan favourite characters, and skilfully addresses all the tragic events that have impacted this team over the last few years.

The first thing that can be seen in this series is the extreme emotional damage that most of the characters have experienced over the last few years and the strain this has placed on the team. Because of all the pressures in their lives, the Runaways have disbanded and each have gone their separate ways. This appears to have affected team members Nico and Chase the most because of their traumatic experiences in the Avengers Arena series. Nico comes across as very emotionally compromised from the very first scene, while Chase is still obsessed with his greatest tragedy, the sacrifice Gertrude made to save his life. The other Runaways are just as damaged in their own separate ways. Karolina is apparently trying to live a normal life, but while she seems unhappy, she is the most reluctant to re-join the team, and her eventual return results in emotional upheaval between her and Nico. After dying, Gert finds herself alive again in the future with older versions of her friends, as well as an adult boyfriend. She spends most of the volume trying to deal with these significant changes, the fact that her only real family fractured after her death, and the emotional trauma she experienced dying. After his death in Vision, Victor spends the entire series as a disembodied head, and keeps his status hidden for most of the volume as he tries to work out if he wants to remain online and re-join the team. Of all the characters, Molly seems to be the most together, as she is being looked after by her grandmother and is her usually bubbly and high-energy self. However, her behaviour disguises the fact she knows about some of the deep problems happening around her, and her emotional breakdown at the end of the volume is quiet heartbreaking to behold. Overall, the creative team handle these deep emotional issues well, and I really appreciated the fact that they did not deny or shy away from the trauma that these characters experienced in other Marvel series.

Despite the high level of emotional trauma, there are quite a few very nice moments within the book that fans of the original Runaways series will really appreciate. The team coming together at the end of the volume to save Molly and Gert is an amazing moment. After viewing all of the above trauma, it was also great to see the team decide to get back together to become each other’s emotional support. I also challenge anyone not to get emotional during the scene where Gertrude is reunited with Old Lace, as the two mentally connected friends are finally reunited for the first time in years. Once again, the youngest Runaway, Molly, is the heart and soul of the team, and it is great to see that despite her age, she is still one of the most emotionally mature, giving sage advice and actually being the only person to notice the threats around them or the fact that Victor’s head is rolling his eyes at the events around him. I also love that she still has the same Marvel fangirl attitude that she had in the original series, as she spends time wearing Captain Marvel inspired leggings. Here’s hoping she gets to have some fun interactions with the rest of the Marvel Universe as she did before (the issue she spent running around with Wolverine is one of the funniest bits in Runaways’ previous run).

One of the more interesting parts of this volume is that it focuses more on the character interactions than on action or adventure. There really is not too much violence until the end of the book, and even then their biggest fight is against a group of psychic cats whom they do not actually want to hurt or kill. I think that this is a good choice for the first volume, as this allows them to really focus on the characters, while also showing off the difference this series has to a classic comic book story. Despite the lack of action, the series starts with one of the best scenes in the entire volume, when Chase appears in the middle of Nico’s apartment with a mortally wounded Gert. Nico, despite her shock and the implications of what Chase has done, tries to use her magic to try to save Gert. While Nico is a powerful magic user, all her magic is tied up in The Staff of One, her parent’s magical staff that has bonded to Nico’s body. The Staff of One can bend reality to what Nico requests, however, it will only do the specific spell once. This far along in their adventures, Nico has used a lot of spells already, including ‘heal’, and must use a range of more obscure or very specific statements to try and achieve her goals. The first sequence where she uses a huge range of different spells really shows off the unique and in some ways limited nature of Nico’s powers and really shows emotional depth right off the bat as the characters get more and more desperate in their attempts to save Gert, and there is palpable relief when they manage to save her.

This series of Runaways has a new artist at its helm, Kris Anka, and as a result the art style of Find Your Way Home is slightly different from the previous series. It still works well to show off the story, and the depictions of the characters’ superpowers being used are pretty cool. The new character designs are interesting, as Nico, Chase and Karolina are each given a different design to reflect how they’ve aged up since the last series. Nico looks particularly worn and sad at the start of the comic, and is definitely showing off the strain of her adventure. Anka has created an interesting look for Chase, and he now looks like a cross between a beach bum and a mad scientist. The other characters, Molly, Victor, Gert and Old Lace retain similar styles to those they had in the previous series. These similarities make a lot of sense, as Gert has time-travelled from the previous series, Victor is a cyborg head and Old Lace is a dinosaur. The artist has also chosen not to change Molly’s age too much, and thankfully she retains her distinctive looks and hats. One of the highlights of Anka’s work is the dinosaur Old Lace, and quite a lot of the book’s humour can be seen in her funny reactions and antics. Overall, I really enjoyed the new art style of the book and found that the new character designs suited the book’s necessary changes.

Runaways return in top form with this fantastic first volume, which sticks true to the core of the beloved original series while also going off in some interesting new directions. Rowell has created an intense narrative that expertly plucks at the heartstrings and examines all the problems and horrors that this group of young heroes have experienced since their initial run. This is a superb new start to an excellent series. I’m so happy to have my Runaways back, and I can’t wait to see how they resolve some storylines from the original series. This is definitely a must-read for fans of the original series, but this is also the perfect chance for new readers to find out about this awesome superhero family.