The Dungeon Crawler’s Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl #3) by Matt Dinniman

Format: Audio (Audible)
Read: June 2026

The crawlers are now on Level 4 of the dungeon, an underground railway-themed level called The Iron Tangle.

I liked the Iron Tangle. It was a puzzle for the crawlers to work out, though, so convoluted I’m not sure it made sense, but this isn’t the kind of book to worry about stuff making sense! It did seem a bit too difficult to me, like Katia worked it out, but it seemed no other crawler was close to solving it.

The most tension in this book for me came from the introduction of Katia at the end of the previous book, and Odette’s warning about Hekla’s motivations towards Donut. There can be no greater threat than that of Carl and Donut parting company! Carl doesn’t handle it the best; instead of talking to Donut or Katia he lets the suspicions fester. I found it stressful every time we knew Katia was (innocently) passing information on to Hekla, whom we don’t know if we can trust. The later scenes with Brynhild’s Daughters were incredibly tense, and I found Hekla very disturbing as a character.

I really like Katia, and I enjoyed her growth as a player and becoming a part of the party. It’s good to have a different personality to balance things out. Donut also continues to get stronger and mature, and is often underestimated by Carl. Mordecai has changed again, but thanks to his temper ends up out of action for a good chunk. I do hope the “what’s Mordecai’s story?” subplot doesn’t get dragged on for too long.

The titular cookbook is a new plot mechanic to help Carl stay ahead in the game. I don’t mind the idea of it, but it highlighted for me a weakness in Dinniman’s writing. Sometimes he tries to write Carl being reflective over his situation in the game, the world that is now lost, and expresses his anger, but never quite carries it off for me. I find the “You won’t break me” asides intensely cringe (because of Jeff Hays delivery), and the often shoehorned in surface-level reminisces from his sad childhood and abusive father, feel forced and a bit random. It’s all too shallow to have an effect on me.

As I get further into the series, I am finding myself tiring of Carl a little bit. This could be me tiring of the way Jeff Hays performs him. I think I’m able to imbue all the side characters with more depth and personality because they’re not really being written,  just filtered through the POV, I can put it down to Carl’s general lack of perception and fill in the gaps myself!

This isn’t the kind of book I’m going to read for the depth in character study, so for now I’m content to let it slide past me because I’m still finding the world and the plot entertaining, and I still want to know more about. Still, I need a bit of a break from it, so I’m going to read something else next.

For Law of Fives, this counts as a 500-page book… though I did listen to it on audio!