5 Books to Read Next If You Loved Dungeon Crawler Carl

My first pick is actually a LitRPG series that I like more than Dungeon Crawler Carl. He Who Fights With Monsters excels in pacing with an off-balance main character that never stops moving forward. It's got a fantasy world, a unique leveling system, and just the right amount of comedy to balance out the darker elements.

The story follows Jason Asano, a Japanese-Australian man who is sucked into a parallel version of Earth and is forced to survive and adapt to magic and monsters. Unlike Dungeon Crawler Carl, the comedy comes from the main character, who slings absurd jokes and pop culture references nobody understands at everyone he meets.

The He Who Fights With Monsters series has 12 books so far with book number 13 releasing this October. In addition to the eBook and audiobook editions, you can also pick up a hardcover copy of the first book that was just recently released.

2. Defiance of the Fall

If you like the apocalyptic elements of Dungeon Crawler Carl, I highly recommend you check out Defiance of the Fall. The story begins in a very similar way: Earth gets suddenly integrated into the "System" as part of the larger universe. The story lacks the same level of comedy as DCC, but it has a main character fighting against all odds to survive and opens up to intergalactic politics later in the series.

The story is centered around Zachary Atwood, who finds himself completely alone as Earth gets integrated into the multiverse. He's forced to survive with nothing but a hatchet and pure luck as an invading force looks to plunder the planet for resources. He quickly realizes that leveling up and discovering the secrets of the universe through sheer bloodshed is the only way to truly thrive in this new reality.

There are currently 17 books in the series and a lot happens in that time. The story moves quickly with quite a few surprises thrown in along the way.

3. 1% Lifesteal

Robert Blaise's 1% Lifesteal series really surprised me in how good (and different) it is. Instead of relying on a main character who is suddenly thrust into an apocalypse, the story focuses on a world where the apocalypse already happened long ago.

Details

One of the key differences between this series and Dungeon Crawler Carl is just how different the main character is. Freddy Stern is a normal cashier with a harsh life living in a world of archhumans. After surviving a near-death experience, he finds himself gaining a talent and joining the part of society he's been barred from since birth. He isn't a hero, he's not fighting for justice, he's just a normal guy with new powers and a hatred for those who use their power to take advantage of the weak.

There are only four books in the series so far with a fifth on the way. And while there are comedic elements throughout the story, it doesn't have quite the same level of laughs as you'd expect to find in Dungeon Crawler Carl.

4. Unsouled (Cradle Series)

Although it's technically not a LitRPG, Will Wight's Cradle series is something I have to recommend to anyone even remotely interested in the genre. The similarities between these books and Dungeon Crawler Carl lie mostly in the writing quality and the larger political intrigue that happens later in the series. There aren't any talking cats or a sassy AI, but the story is just flat out good.

The story follows a young boy named Lindon who is born as an "Unsouled" with seemingly no hope to follow any path of the sacred arts of his village. No matter how determined and smart he may be, he is simply destined to remain powerless as others rise above him. That is, until the heavens themselves intervene and give him a path forward and a way to save everyone he loves. It's a progression fantasy all about struggling against powerful enemies and fate to ascend beyond mortality.

There are 12 books in the Cradle series and, unlike the other series on this list, it's actually already complete. If you're more into the sci-fi elements in Dungeon Crawler Carl, I'd also recommend his The Last Horizon series which follows a wizard space captain.

5. The Wandering Inn

It's difficult to talk about LitRPG without mentioning The Wandering Inn, and that's because it's one of those stories that has helped build the genre as a whole. The overall tone and direction of the story isn't really that similar to Dungeon Crawler Carl, but Matt Dinniman has called the series one of his favorites. The biggest similarity to DCC is that there's really nothing else like it out there.

The Wandering Inn is built upon excellent character and world building, all of which is centered around a girl named Erin Solstice and her inn. Erin is one of the many humans who were sucked into another world via a dimension-tearing spell and forced to survive any way she can. In this magical world, there's classes, levels, skills, and a ton of different races with differing political stances. While there is plenty of action throughout the story, the heart of the series is honestly the friends we make along the way.

The Wandering Inn is the longest-running LitRPG series currently available and you can read the whole thing for free directly from the website or check out the excellent audiobook versions. There is also a new paperback edition of the first book releasing next month.

Jacob Kienlen is a Senior Audience Development Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor's degree in communication and 10 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different pop culture topics -- from TV series to books and the latest Pokémon games.