If you’re a reader, a gamer or a fan of science-fiction-adjacent pop culture, it’s probably very nearly impossible to have avoided the phenomenon that is “Dungeon Crawler Carl” by now.

It’s on the New York Times best-seller list. People are talking about it in book groups all over the internet. There’s merch in stores like Box Lunch and Hot Topic.

Peacock gave a series order to a TV adaptation Friday, with Chris Yost of “The Mandalorian” as writer and executive producer. This year’s San Diego Comic Con will have a DCC panel.

It was inevitable. Still, I resisted.

“Popular” doesn’t equal “good,” after all. And in my experience, much LitRPG is— not to put too fine a point on it— badly written, gimmicky crap. So, yes, I resisted mightily.

(Background: “LitRPG” is short for “literary role-playing game.” It refers to novels that use the mechanics of that type of game to inform the story. For example, characters may “level up” or must use common character creation rules for attributes such as “strength,” “charisma,” etc.)

Two things changed my resistance. One, I started seeing people whose opinions I respected lauding the books. Two, some of these people were not folks I generally considered readers.

Big fan here of anything that gets people to read and like it. I gave in and picked up book one, appropriately just titled “Dungeon Crawler Carl.” (There are eight books with two more expected. Author Matt Dinniman first self-published before Ace Books acquired the series.)

And damned if I can’t get it out of my head.

I’ll try to keep this relatively spoiler-free, but you should know that this is a post-apocalyptic scenario. There’s death, and a lot of it, both as part of the setup and in the books. There’s a truly egregious amount of violence and gore, and though some of it can be a bit cartoon-y, some of it feels all too real.

Our hero, Carl himself, is a survivor, both of the original apocalypse and in the dungeon the books are set in. I went in thinking Carl rather one-note. He’s a tank, in game terms. Big. Strong. Not dumb, but not a shining beacon of intelligence either. Stuck in boxers because the dungeon keeps finding ways not to give him pants.

But there are layers here.

I’m only two books in, but I can see this theme of quiet, resourceful, steady resistance in the face of overwhelming odds, and it speaks to me. I’d guess it’s speaking to a lot of people right now.

“You will not break me. You will not fucking break me.”

Carl is, at his core, a good person, I think. The dungeon is forcing him to do things he really doesn’t want to do, but he’ll keep saving who he can, doing the right thing when he can and inspiring others to do the same.

Planting seeds, to quote one of his thoughts. I, for one, can’t wait to see those seeds sprout. And that is how this series gets you.

There’s humor too, of course. All you need to know is that Carl’s main companion in the dungeon is Princess Donut (not her full name), his ex-girlfriend’s champion Persian cat. It’s not too much of a spoiler to know Donut gets an upgrade to full speaking character early on, and while she can be a bit obnoxious, she’s also a riot. The cast of characters only grows from there—and they make a big guy in boxers and a talking cat in a tiara look prosaic.

Sometimes the storylines do feel a bit convoluted, and I suspect that will only get worse as the series continues. The LitRPG elements can feel a little clunky, and that will be worse for those who aren’t as familiar with them. The cast of characters is large by the end of the second book, so I imagine it could get truly unwieldy very quickly.

But there’s heart here, folded in with the violence and occasionally ridiculous humor. The relationship between Carl and Donut is an unexpectedly sweet one, and there’s backstory there. There’s heroism. There’s fighting against a huge, capitalist system that seems to see everyone as merely a cog in a money-making machine. There’s death. There’s also triumph.

Maybe we all need some of that right now.

“You will not break me. Fuck you all.”

Announced Friday, Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Doors is behind the planned TV series, and MacFarlane will serve as an executive producer. Dinniman is co-executive producer.

About the writer

Jill Keppeler is a writer and editor from Buffalo, N.Y.