Review: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

Blurb:

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 New York Times bestselling Dungeon Crawler Carl series—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.

Review:

I finally get why people say this series is addictive. If you’ve read my review of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, you’ll know I had mixed feelings. And despite that, when I finished reading my last book (A Song of Legends Lost) and had to pick what to read next, a little voice in my head whispered “DCC”. 

So, here we are! The fourth floor. Carl, Donut, Mongo and Katia continue their journey, this time appearing in a train car. The fourth floor is revealed to be an intricate network of subway lines, train tracks, and platforms that our characters have to navigate. Unlike the last book, this one throws the reader straight into the action, forcing our protagonists to really fight before they can relish the sweet taste of a saferoom.

That high-energy, fast-paced opening just engaged me in a way that reminded me of the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book. First, I got a whole chapter’s worth of action, survival, and escape. Then chapter two rewarded me (and the protagonists) with a ton of items that left me with a huge smile on my face. With those two chapters, I knew I was in for a crazy ride. 

SPOILERS AHEAD!

What I liked:

The Fourth Floor was everything that I felt was missing from the Third. The mystery was actually interesting, the plot was tight, and the pacing was breakneck. I don’t think there was a single chapter where I felt bored. On the contrary, I actually slept late every night while reading this one because I just needed to squeeze in an extra chapter or two. The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook honestly featured the best of DCC. An improved version of it, if you ask me. 

The Fourth Floor is a genuine puzzle that the crawlers need to solve. And, it takes a lot of brainpower for Carl to figure things out. While he’s not always right, every single eureka moment, followed by the actual explanation of the plan as it is being executed, made for a thrilling ride. Carl’s ingenuity—and craziness—shine in this one. And it comes off as organic. You could argue that some of the solutions came off a tad bit like plot convenience, but the journey itself was so entertaining that I couldn’t be bothered to count that as a negative. 

The plot, despite the convoluted train system puzzle, was very gripping. From Carl and Princess Donut’s attempts to integrate Katia into their group to—SPOILERS—their constant interactions with the survivors of Meadow Lark, to Crawlers attempting to assassinate Donut, to even Hekla’s betrayal and subsequent death, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook really raised the stakes for our heroes. Emotionally and narratively. There wasn’t a moment in the book when I didn’t feel like stopping. If it weren’t for the human need to sleep, eat and fulfil other living responsibilities, I would’ve devoured this LitRPG epic in a single sitting. 

Like I’ve said in my previous two reviews, my favorite part of this series is the dynamic between Carl and Princess Donut. In fact, Dinniman even made Mordecai, Mongo and Katia feel like a part of the family without their inclusion seeming off. Like later seasons of The Office, where newer characters like Andy and Erin added to the fun. While I wasn’t a fan of Katia in the beginning, hers ended up being one of my favorite character arcs in the book. 

The interview segments weren’t all that great this time around, but the rest of the book was so amazing that I was willing to pardon it. Even the lore dump and intergalactic politics didn’t feature as prominently as in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, which I believe helped keep the plot tighter. There were hints sprinkled everywhere, and we did get a few interesting tidbits, but not enough to derail the plot (pun intended) or slow down the pace. 

Lastly, the game mechanics were as interesting as in the first one. In fact, I felt like the ‘show’s manufactured plotline’ actually worked much better this time around than in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. 

All in all, I genuinely enjoyed my time reading this book. I’m surprised I didn’t just abandon my reading plans to dive into the next instalment. But, if you really want to relish something, it’s best to pace yourself. That being said, I feel positively restless to read The Gate of the Feral Gods.

What I didn’t like:

Almost nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true, but the negatives in this book were insignificant enough for me to skip writing this section. But this is a review, and I am not lazy.

The intricate railroad system was honestly super confusing. So much so that Dinniman even addresses it in a foreword before starting the actual story. All those colors and numbers started to get jumbled in my mind, but not following those details didn’t make the plot any more confusing; thankfully, the plot doesn’t rely on the readers’ ability to follow the overly convoluted puzzle that was the Fourth Floor.

Secondly, as you might expect from a book like this, we’re introduced to a whole bunch of new characters. Not all of them were as interesting. I might change my opinion on them depending on how the story progresses in the sequels, but for now, I had some mixed feelings. None of these characters was bad. It’s just that their inclusion didn’t really add much to my experience. 

Conclusion:

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook exceeded all expectations. Matt Dinniman takes everything that made Dungeon Crawler Carl epic and cranks it up a few notches.

TL;DR:

WHAT I LIKED: Everything

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: The train systems were confusing, some characters were less interesting