The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman – Review

Published: October 22, 2024

Publisher: Ace

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl #3

Genre: Fantasy, LitRPG

Pages: 544 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 4 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Welcome to the Gun Show!

The top ten list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face.

The Iron Tangle. An impossibly-complicated subway system built out of the world’s subterranean railway systems, all combined and then tied together into a knot. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations are less than safe, and the exit is always just a few stops away.

But there is hope. For the first time, the crawlers are all working together. The loot is better than ever. And 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.

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I haven’t been able to resist coming back for the third installment of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series because they are just plain FUN. It feels like ages since I’ve picked up a series that I can just blast through because it’s the perfect blend of action, comedy, and plot. I’m glad to say that the third installment continues that trend, but seems to start focusing a little more on the growth of the characters and a deepening of the plot.

Carl, Donut, and crew have just barely made it to the fourth floor of the dungeon, which is a chaotic system of trains called the Iron Tangle. I admit, I wasn’t particularly excited about this setting at first because how much can you really do with a bunch of trains and stations? Well, turns out you can do quite a lot even if the multitude of lines and dungeon rules make things a little complicated to keep track of (pun intended). The addition of Katia to the party becomes more essential on this floor as she levels up her tanking abilities and the group thinks of new, violent ways to combine their skill sets. I admit, even though the setting grew on me, the amount of time it took the characters to progress seemed to slow to a crawl and the pacing stagnated somewhat around the middle of the book. Fortunately there were some exciting revelations and twists that got this speeding train of a story back on the rails.

I continue to enjoy the dungeon mechanics and the creative ways the characters use their abilities much more than I initially expected. There was a confrontation brewing between Carl and Donut and another large, powerful group of crawlers since at least the second book that finally came to a head and was rather shockingly resolved. There’s also a bunch of external politics between various factions that are running the dungeon, assassination attempts, and some more exciting showdowns that we have to look forward to in future installments as Carl and Donut progress through the dungeon’s many levels. Carl himself is also beginning to toy with the idea of breaking the system entirely with the aid of the titular Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook. 

Overall, this was an exciting installment that kept me engaged despite some pacing issues and a hefty page count. I find myself genuinely looking forward to the next installment to see what antics the group gets up to next, especially since they’re leveling up and things are getting deadlier by the level. I can understand the massive popularity of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and find myself right there along with the other fans, waiting for the next installment.