A Parade of Horribles

Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 8

By: Matt Dinniman

Narrated by: Jeff Hays

It’s off to the races in the explosive eighth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they’re forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Well, normal for the dungeon.

Races. Get from point A to point B, and don’t come in last. After each race, they pick an upgrade for their vehicle and the track gets more challenging. It all seems a little too normal, a little too simple.

Ignore those strange glitches that are occurring with increasing frequency. Don’t listen to those whispers about what’s happening on the mysterious eleventh floor, something the system AI calls A Parade of Horribles. Nobody, not even the showrunners, knows what that means. Just that the AI has ominously dubbed it “a coming-out party for the ages.”

Everything is fine, Crawler. I repeat, everything is fine.

Carl hates that it’s business as usual. The rules of this floor have taken away his agency. That just will not do.

So Carl is planning a party of his own. It’s a plan so dangerous, so insane, he can’t even consult his friends lest the AI put a stop to it. Because if it goes wrong, it’s not just the end of Carl and Donut. No. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.

©2026 Matt Dinniman (P)2026 Soundbooth Theater

Love it

Never have I ever in my adult life been so excited for a book to come out.

10/10

Everyone at work is confused why I keep talking about a guy named Carl and his cat Princess Donut.

Incredible

This series only gets better and better! Not only is the plot solid but the writing is so tight. This series transcends litrpg

ALSO Jeff takes this to the next level!!!

Tighter Pacing, High Stakes, and Pure Brilliance

After the sprawling complexity of The Inevitable Ruin, Parade of Horribles felt much more focused and easier to follow. The pacing benefited greatly from fewer side quests, allowing the main narrative to really breathe without losing its edge. From Donut’s incredible power move early on to—quite possibly—the greatest Phil Collins rendition in literary history, this entry proves Matt Dinniman is a master of his craft. Whether he has every thread planned from day one or is just a genius at payoff, the way he calls back to previous levels is brilliant. A must-listen for fans!

Weaker Dungeon, Carried by Strong Characters

The dungeon is the weakest in the series, and that saddens me to think. But, the characters and their journey that we have is something wonderful that is much more the focus of the book than the dungeon aspects. It is a quieter note than the previous book, and it needs to be because we can’t try to meet the energy of the last book in the same way. So Dinniman does what you need to, change the script and let the story focus in a different way.