annieb123's Review of The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #3)

by Matt Dinniman

Welcome to the Iron Tangle! Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, have to team up with other contestants not just to survive, but to solve a deadly puzzle in this third, mind-twisting novel in the addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.

Earth has been transformed into the set of the galaxy’s most watched game show: Dungeon Crawler World, a nightmarish, multilevel, video game–like dungeon filled with traps, monsters, and mind-bending puzzles. Carl and Donut have survived so far, but this fourth level is unlike anything they could imagine. The Iron Tangle: an impossibly complicated subway system tied together into a knot of trains of all kinds, from classic steam engines to sleek modern cars. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations aren’t always what they seem, and the exit is perpetually just a few stops away.

The top ten list is populated, and Carl and Donut have made it. But that popularity comes with a price. They each now have a bounty on their head. They must work with other crawlers to solve the puzzle of the floor, but how can they do that when they don’t know who to trust? The secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly useless book.

Welcome, Crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon.

Includes part three of the exclusive bonus story “Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.”

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook is the third book featuring Dungeon Crawler Carl (and Princess Donut) by Matt Dinniman. Originally published in 2021, this reformat and re-release from Penguin Random House on their Berkley Ace imprint is 544 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a fun and well written take on light comedic dungeoncrawler fantasy. MC Carl is unwillingly thrust into a starring role in a survivor reality TV contest when an alien invasion puts a major crimp in *everyone's* day. Princess Donut (his ex-GF's pampered show cat) is along for the ride, and the book is positively bursting with sarcastic humor and improbable situations, with viewers from across the universe tuned in to see what happens next, and which contestants get eliminated, permanently. Each adventure sees the contestants thrust into a new floor of the dungeon with new loot, new puzzles and traps, and ever more creative ways to crash and burn.

It's not at all derivative, but the bonzo, zany humor will likely appeal to fans of Charles Stross and Tom Holt.

Four stars. There are currently 6 books in the series with a 7th due out in 4th quarter 2024. It would make a great choice for a genre buddy/binge read. It's definitely full on silly, but it's diverting.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Reading updates

31 October, 2024: Started reading

31 October, 2024: Finished reading

31 October, 2024: Reviewed