A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman
Blurb:
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.
Review:
Dungeon Crawler Carl was one of the first LitRPG series I decided to dive into. Since then, I’ve explored many of the staples within the genre, as well as several recommendations from friends, and I’ve yet to find anything else to top it.
I now get to share my thoughts on A Parade of Horribles, book 8 in DCC, and another of my all-time favourite series.
Dinniman continually delivers a strong blend of high-stakes action and unexpected developments, often infused with wild twists or poignant emotional beats. I often find myself leaning towards an idea of what to expect (in this case, a gory, death-race style level) and then I’m reminded of just how chaotic and absurdly entertaining things can get in this series, veering so far from my initial expectations.
Traditional LitRPG elements, such as stats, do take a backseat in this book in favour of more character and plot development, and the fact that I didn’t even notice until ruminating afterwards speaks volumes to how gripping and addictive this series is. Dinniman excels at propelling the story forward at just the right pace. For example, he gives ample time and depth to levels that play an important role in the dungeon while skimming or skipping entirely over those that would undoubtedly provide a tedious experience.
However, Dungeon Crawler Carl would not be the success it is, or provide me with as much enjoyment as it has, if not for Jeff Hays’ audiobook narration. I am in awe of his skill as a narrator. He really brings all the characters to life and creates a truly immersive experience that unsurprisingly garners a great deal of investment in the story. I’ll admit that his work on audio has contributed greatly to my rating of five stars for many of the books, which might have been lower if I had read them physically. This is one of the reasons why I make sure to add the caveat of “audiobook review” on platforms such as Goodreads and StoryGraph.
The only standout aspect that troubles me is the abundance of plans and reveals that seem to constantly come out of left field. It could be that I’m not paying close enough attention, but I’ve actually come to accept it as a feature—something that adds to the hilarity and fun.
QUICK SPOILER THOUGHTS:
The fact that only a handful of crawlers remain, while most of the high-stakes development is now taking place outside the dungeon, is wildly intriguing. The speedrun through the eleventh floor was also a surprise, not to mention Scolopendra becoming a crawler and unlocking all exits. There was so much packed into this book. I can’t begin to imagine where things will go from here. The wait for book 9 will be difficult.
