We now return to your regularly scheduled review...
First off, if you've not been following the series, yes, that is absolutely the story so far. It's great. Stop here and go read the series. If you have been reading the series, then you know the series is great and I'm not exactly sure why you're here, but I would guess you want a peek ahead at the next book as you're reading along or a bit of a reminder from the last book if you're already past this one. So, let's summarize things a bit, without too many spoilers, shall we?
In the first two books of Matt Dinniman's apocalyptic litRPG series, we witness an extinction-level legal action, whereby aliens claim Earth as their own and subject the (would-be) survivors to battle to the death in an end-of-the-world class subterranean dungeon, straight out of the latest RPG videogames... except deadly real - and deadly serious. Not only that, but it's truthfully all about the entertainment that the spectacle provides to all of the other sentient lifeforms in the universe. That's right - we're all just dying for ratings, likes, follows and subscriptions. There are eighteen levels to the dungeon, but no one's made it that far, before. In the first two books, Carl and co. make it into the dungeon and through the first three levels.
Book three takes place on the extensive fourth floor, known as "The Iron Tangle." Evidently, the aliens that observed Earth's progress for so many years either mistakenly thought that track-based transportation was some form of torture... or they simply saw the amazing potential it held for it. The Iron Tangle is a hellacious interwoven circuit of trains of all sorts, filled with commuting monsters... and, as always, a limited amount of time to gain access to the stairs to descend to the next level down... or die.
In Carl's progression so far, he's displayed quite the knack for blowing things up, both literally and figuratively, and he's not real happy at aliens subjecting him and the rest of Earth's population to deadly games for other's enjoyment. For that matter, he's not happy with them forcing the monsters to play the part of the monsters. Everyone else may be playing the game, farming monsters for XP and even taking out other players to improve their rankings, but Carl wants to take out those responsible for the whole thing... he doesn't hate the players - he hates the game.
Others with Carl's compassion, sense of fairness and, well, pluck and tenacity are few and far between. This makes it unlikely for them to meet up with each other in any given dungeon and have a chance of taking on the establishment. Enter The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook. Someone, at sometime in some previous iteration of a world dungeon, has created a persisting book that seeks out like-minded Dungeon Crawlers and provides them with tips, tricks, notes, thoughts and some degree of comradery with each other, even though each Dungeon Crawler who obtains the book realizes that the previous owners are most likely dead. It's a way to make a mark, share an advantage... perhaps a way to turn the tide... and, at the very least, ways to "stick it to the man" or whatever it is running the show. It's important to keep the book a secret and make it at least appear like Carl came up with whatever he learned from the book, by reading it when he's in the bathroom (one of the few moments of privacy that remains for the Dungeon Crawlers) and then putting his own spin on whatever it is or seemingly basing the new knowledge off of things he's already done. He mustn't let the powers that be find out about the book's existence.
Meanwhile, Princess Donut and her royal court are all making their way up the leaderboards... which increases their chances at better sponsors, which improves their rewards and power-ups... but also puts crosshairs on their backs, as other Dungeon Crawlers can collect large bounties by killing high-ranking Crawlers from the top of the leaderboard. In the midst of all this, however, Carl and Princess Donut are slowly but surely building a large network of Dungeon Crawlers... and those Crawlers are networking with Crawlers they meet. This interaction and communication allows our heroes to help a large number of Dungeon Crawlers to make it past obstacles and puzzles that they couldn't have surpassed on their own. Of course, there are also some heroic moments where Princess Donut and her Royal Court take on a bit of daring do to rescue large numbers of Dungeon Crawlers.
There are growing rivalries, more revelations about how the game works and character development, of course. Luckily, the Royal Court has a bit of an advantage in having Mordecai, a very knowledgeable veteran Dungeon Crawler turned Trainer / Non-Combatant NPC as Donut's Manager. Well, that is until he gets zapped out of play for days for attacking another Non-Combatant NPC. Was it a setup? Sure! This douche was basically Mordecai's arch-nemesis. It was clearly a move to hamstring our fearless heroes... and it worked to leave them up to their own devices, for a time.
This printing of the books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series includes a chapter of bonus material at the end of each book. In The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, this chapter is called Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret. It provides a bit of a glimpse at some not-so-happy NPCs as they're working toward some actual plans of their own... something... unscripted. Specifically, in this particular bonus chapter, we get a glimpse at the backstage awakening of Gary, a story-bound Non-Combatant NPC with a pivotal role, which led to... hmm... a lot of pain. And deaths. He died so many times. In the end, however, it was sort of a redemption story. The bonus chapter focuses on Gary's awakening and recruitment into the Pineapple Cabaret. And then another recruitment inside the Cabaret. That's right, there are secret happenings unbeknownst to those running the secret happenings unbeknownst to those running the show. How fun!
Seriously. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series is one that I'm flying through and enjoying every minute of it. If you're not in here, yet, get on down here. It's a wild ride. Highly, highly recommended.
