Rating:  5⭐️

This author continues to amaze me with the depth of his writing.  It’s a fast paced science fiction/game Lit story, so jam packed with mind boggling elements, new technology gifted or created, and incredible characters who at this point it doesn’t even matter what species they or were after the alterations made to their bodies during the game. 

It’s a brutal, messy, murderous and very sad slog from point to point as the players, including now the NPG players, try to keep going, until they get the chance to reach the next stage and level of the game. 

Each book is one travel experience to the next level, with enormous losses, some wins with explosive attacks and equally devastating consequences. 

The players we know and are familiar with can level up their skills and equipment, get sponsors, and also find a bigger bounty on their heads as they become popular. Carl, Princess Donut, Donut’s pet raptor Mongo, new player Katia have formed a team, albeit temporarily until Katia gets reunited with her old team of women players. One with a leader of many agendas. 

This time the focus is on trains and subways. That’s how the players must travel to the next destination, their safe spaces, and the elevators to the next level when the designated time comes. 

It’s full of new horrors, so so many body parts, and just when it’s a bit too much, things like this happen. 

Carl is speaking to a NPG who just wants to read and has only a few books. 

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. I pulled five Louis L’Amour books from my inventory. I’d read each of them already, from Sackett’s Land to Lando. I’d actually read almost all of them already, but I didn’t want to give them all up. “I’ll trade you these five for five of your books. Straight-up trade.””

So happens I love these myself. And some of the books Carl chooses? The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. All beloved reads of mine. 

The narrative of quietly familiar scenes offset those that can immediately flow from high action intense scenes to the dramatic ones of fear, frustration or rage when Carl has a raw break alone to react with the reality of their situation and the insane amount of loss that they have suffered and will continue to endure going forward. 

It hits the reader then equally hard. Keep the tissues nearby. 

It’s hard not to care about the players. But this game is one where you find it hard to believe anyone will survive it. 

I’m heading quickly to the next level and story. 

The cover illustration is incredible. It’s so well done and exact to the characters and storyline. Honestly, you rarely see this fantastic artwork these days. 

Cover Illustration by Luciano Fleitas Cover Design by Toby Dinniman

Series not complete/Dungeon Crawler Carl:

Dungeon Crawler Carl #1

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario #2

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook #3

The Gate of the Feral Gods #4

The Butcher’s Masquerade #5

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride #6

This Inevitable Ruin #7

Buy link

        The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3

Blurb 

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

• Publisher: Dandy House
• Accessibility: Learn more
• Publication date: April 2, 2021
• Language: English
• Print length: 534 pages
• Book 3 of 7: Dungeon Crawler Carl