Audiobook Review – The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 3) by Matt Dinniman, Narrated by Jeff Hays (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Humor
Length: 16 hours and 54 minutes
Publisher:‎ Soundbooth Theater
Release Date: May 14, 2021
ASIN: B094X214V9
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series
Source: Bought Audiobook
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“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.”

Series Info/Source: This is the third book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I bough this on audiobook.

Thoughts: I am just going to put out there right away that this has been my least favorite Dungeon Crawler Carl book so far. I still really enjoyed it a lot, but I didn’t absolutely love it like the first two. I think this is because The Iron Tangle is too technical and confusing and hard to follow. My family listened to this on audiobook and by the end we were still confused about exactly what the Iron Tangle was and how it worked.

Welcome to Level 4 of the dungeon. Character races and classes have been chosen, and now Carl and Donut are on to the more mysteries and adventures. For Carl and Donut, finding the stairway to the fifth floor is going to be more of a mystery and more dangerous than any floor yet.

While I respected that there was a complicated puzzle here, it was really hard to follow what was going on, especially on audiobook. The plot started to feel incredibly repetitive with them getting on trains and getting off on stations and fighting stuff and repeating all over again. The environment was just too monotonous.

I did enjoy some of the new characters we met and some of the abilities Donut and Carl gained. I also enjoyed that we got a deeper look at the employees on these levels and what they are going through. With less achievements happening, there was a bit less humor in this book as well. This felt less like an adventure and more like a strange mind game full of twisted trains.

I still really liked the book. I love Donut and Carl as characters and enjoyed how the subplot involving Helka’s (sp) daughters played out. I just didn’t like the setting and working behind this level that much, and my family agreed. We have just started listening to the fourth audiobook and that one has been much more interesting so far.

My Summary (4.5/5): Overall I really like this book but not as much as the first two in the series. The train setting got repetitive and seemed overly complicated. I continue to enjoy the world-building and characters. There is also a lot of awesome action and the politics external to the dungeon are getting increasingly interesting.