Few fantasy authors have the sort of name recognition as Brandon Sanderson, but one who is very much on their way is Matt Dinniman, the author of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Beginning as a self-publishing phenomenon in 2020, Dinniman's wacky LitRPG series made the leap to a wider traditionally published run in 2024, exploding in popularity as chronically online people everywhere were finally able to get their friends who haunt brick and mortar bookstores in on their new favorite series.
Fast forward to 2026, and Dinniman has just released his eighth novel in the series, sells out book signing events in a matter of hours, and has a TV adaptation in the works at Peacock produced by Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, The Orville). It's safe to say that Dungeon Crawler Carl is one of the most prominent new fantasy series of our current moment, and with good reason: the books are a blast, following a Coast Guard vet and his ex-girlfriend's show cat as they're forced to compete in an alien game show against outrageous creatures and obstacles, all for the televised entertainment of the viewing public.
During a recent interview with Collider's Maggie Lovitt at the FanX convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, it came out that not only is Brandon Sanderson a fan of Dungeon Crawler Carl, he's even taking notes about how to improve his own writing craft from the way Dinniman weaves his stories.
Sanderson has been vocal for decades about his constant quest to always be improving his writing, and Lovitt homed in on this to ask him what ways that was manifesting for him right now. Delighted with the question, Sanderson needed little excuse to dive headlong into talking shop about writing, hyping Dungeon Crawler Carl and its rock solid pacing.
"Recently I've been reading Dungeon Crawler Carl. I don't know if people...you should be reading [Matt Dinniman] if you're not, they're fantastic," he said. "And I've been studying his use of promise and payoff. What really makes Dungeon Crawler Carl fun is that he'll give you a tease, he'll give you a promise. This cool thing is coming. Then he makes you wait just long enough that you're like, 'Is this coming?' And then it happens and you're really excited for it. He's just so good at that, and it's a pacing lesson. And I think that I'm trying to learn from Matt Dinniman how to do that."
Brandon Sanderson thinks you should read Dungeon Crawler Carl
When Brandon Sanderson tells you you should read something, it's probably a good idea to listen. And really, we need little convincing. On a recent episode of Winter Is Coming's own Take the Black podcast, my co-host Marq Nettles dove deep into why he loves the Dungeon Crawler Carl books as well. The more time passes, the more you're going to hear from people about how great these books are. Why not take the leap and find out what all the buzz is about for yourself if you haven't already?
Matt Dinniman and Dungeon Crawler Carl's quest for world dominance continues. The highly-anticipated eighth book in the series, A Parade of Horribles, released in May 2026, which means there's plenty of meta fantasy goodness waiting for you. Ace is also dropping a shiny new deluxe hardcover edition of the first book on November 17, just in time for the holiday season. So even if you've read it already, you can give the gift of Carl to your loved ones and get them hooked on Matt Dinniman's immaculate pacing as well.
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