A Parade of Horribles

Dungeon Crawler Carl #8

by Matt Dinniman, Jeff Hays (Narrator)

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.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Humor, Dystopia, Adventure

21 pages, Audible Audio

First published May 12, 2026

About the author

Matt Dinniman is the best-selling writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the published author of dozens of short stories and a gaggle of books. In addition, his art publications—from greeting cards to stationery kits to calendars—can be found in boutique and stationery shops around the world. Also, he strongly feels like a pretentious twat when he writes about himself in third person.

Reviews

[AC2316 · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mongo shrieks with excitement!" 🦖

[baohua]

i think about this book at least 50 times a day and i question what i'm supposed to do with life until it is in my hands. i have never needed a book so bad or wanted a year to pass by in the blink of an eye more than i do now when it comes to carl's book of boom

[Mattie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unity, support, family, and kneecapping bitches.

[Melanie (meltotheany)]

i can't believe i am actually caught up :[

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 ★★★

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Patreon Reader*

Uh, Carl? Are you fucking sure? Holy shit.

[taylor ❤️‍🔥 · Rating 5 out of 5]

"𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩, 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨."

picking up on the heels of faction wars, carl and donut are thrown into the 10th floor which can only be described as a combination of mario kart and mad max death race. the ai continues to go completely off the rails, continuing to find ways to pit the crawlers against each other. our favorite crawlers (and side characters - im looking at you jamal and samantha) are forced to make decisions they'd hoped would never become a reality, continuing to force them deeper into the darkness.

just like every other dungeon crawler carl book, matt dinniman has managed to weave an absolutely insane and cohesive storyline that makes you laugh through its usual crude humor. seriously, very few authors could manage to weave the amount of foreshadowing that he did throughout this entire series that has lead up to this point.

first off.. oh my god??? this is a masterpiece and possibly the best book in the series so far?

this book definitely focused more on the politics and world/universe dynamics than the previous books but it was 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 necessary. it not only gives us insight into what's going on in the universe but it perfectly sets up for book 9, which is going to be absolutely bonkers.


𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 ⋆˚࿔
guys... THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME FOR ME TO START MY ARC?!? im truly so excited i think i could cartwheel around my entire house right now.

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 / 𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

[Evan O’Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the sake of spoilers I will say nothing except this is the best one.

[Sara]

matt hurry up I'm dyin over here

[Brandi]

I am not embarrassed to admit - I started this series in June 2025 - and have since listened to books 1-7 - TWICE as of November 2025. I don't know what to do with myself without Carl & Donut. I need this book yesterday. May is so far away...

[Maude Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last 3 chapters of this book are actually insane.

[Ashley]

A+ cover, no notes. Love the colors. Love the tiny Sir Rendlegore, and the judgmental Donut in her sunglasses. Happy to see also that Carl still has his luscious locks. Don't know why there's a truck with a chicken on it, but happy to find out.

[LambchoP]

Will this be the last book of the series, or are there more books planned?

[Jasmine]

I fear I will become insufferable the day this releases

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!*]

Really sad this is no longer titled Carl's Book 0' Boom.

[Temi (temisreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carl, Princess Donut, and the gang return to enter the 10th floor of the dungeon in what I can best describe as a chaotic game of mario kart mixed with death dying dangers at every corner. Carl and Donut continue to steal my heart and be the best partnership and the side characters shined in this one! I can’t say much about this plot because it is book eight in a series but Matt Dinniman manages to write this absolutely insane storyline that is funny, makes your heart race, and is vulnerable all at once. Carl and Donut find themselves having to make hard decisions and just like with every DCC book, the ending was absolutely nuts. Everything is about to hit its crescendo and I am equally excited and terrified for what’s to come in the final books!

Thank you Berkley Publishing | ACE and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review!

[Agnus Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was able to read the first posting of this as a Patreon member. Its pretty good. I'll be interested to hear the audiobook because Jeff Hayes is brilliant and there are fucking songs in this one. I think I know how the series is going to end...but I'm not going to say anything here.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive the way these books have grown increasingly batshit insane while also maintaining a tenuous hold on comprehensibility

[Jodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOLY SHIT. I inhaled this like my life depended on it. I need the next book NOW

[Haley Hylton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Dinniman, you aren’t the first man to make me laugh and cry but you sure are my favorite

thank you netgalley for this book 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[Ben Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

i simply cannot wait to see where this series goes from here

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the pre-release copy of A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman. Below is my honest review.

WHAT A RIDE (literally)!

This one takes place on two floors of the dungeon, floors ten and eleven. Ten is like Wacky Races, the old Hanna Barbera cartoon, but with death and destruction and dismemberment and disgusting things. Our crawler fam find themselves on random mounts/vehicles, racing through weird places, hoping to avoid awful deaths, all while working through quests and storylines that the AI has been setting up all along AND attempting to rescue as many sentient beings from the dungeon as possible.

I won't spoil how that turns out, but then comes the Parade of Horribles, also known as floor eleven, and a weird little reenactment of past events and the crazed AI's pontificating... followed by an Arena where CHAOS HAPPENS, of course.

And of course, the way our faves get themselves out of messes is wildly entertaining... and leaves me ready for the next installment and really dreading the long wait.

Five stars, highly recommended for DCC fans, fans of talking cats, and fans of silly fun extremely ridiculous awesome LitRPGs. But do yourself the favor and start at book one if you haven't read them all!

[Emma Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. I realize I am biased because I 100% love this series, but alas, here we are. I will admit I didn't love the 10th floor. I was bored a lot of the time, and the races weren't really my favorite. If this review had been based solely on that floor, I probably would not have rated it as high; however, the 11th floor made it all worth it. Some of the quotes in the last 20% of the book gave me chills. It made me so excited to see where the story is going to go. I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

[Sawyer Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, I did not like the theme of the floor it felt so rushed and while the stakes were high I did not feel it. The ending was great I have no idea where it is going from here.

[Liz S ( Liz & Liz get Literary) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars. Infinity stars. I am so obsessed with this series.

This was the first book in the series where I actually felt as though we were in an apocalypse situation. Everything is literally life or death and as weird as it is...it's even more cutthroat then the other books. Every single page was filled with the question, how the HELL are we going to survive this?

Dinniman just does a fantastic job of keeping you on your toes..whether that is laughing, stressing or crying because yes I did all 3.

Thank you to Matt and the publisher, Ace, for the ARC. I am so entirely grateful.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

holy shit, lol.

that was a wild ride. i thought the pacing of this one was excellent; though it was shorter than the last few, it felt just right. things are speeding up and i can’t wait to see what’s coming.
side note, my guess about carl’s plan was not in fact correct, but I’m not mad about it.
however. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT FOR BOOK 9
*I read the NetGalley ARC*

My updated DCC Ranking -
Book 8 - A Parade of Horribles
Book 5 - The Butcher's Masquerade
Book 6 - The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Book 7 - This Inevitable Ruin
Book 4 - The Gate of the Feral Gods
Book 3 - The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
Book 1 - Dungeon Crawler Carl
Book 2 - Carl's Doomsday Scenario

[Graeme Rodaughan]

Now landed. Off to the races...

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you haven't read the series yet you need to.

yesterday.

[Alexandria · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh my god

[Levi Kaplan · Rating 4 out of 5]

excited to hear people’s thoughts on this one. i found it to be weaker than books 5-7 but still really fun. the last like 50 pages was peak dcc and absolutely floored me. cannot wait to start reading book 9 as the chapters come out on Matt’s Patreon

[Juste · Rating 5 out of 5]

If someone two months ago would have told me that I would cry so much over the books about a guy and his talking cat running around the dungeon and trying to survive I would have not believed them. 8 books later I am pretty sure there are drugs in these books.