⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook is chaotic, clever, and so much fun-like getting dropped into a logic puzzle made of subway tunnels, monsters, and absolute mayhem. Carl continues to be one of the most relatable protagonists out there: grumpy, sarcastic, emotionally drained, and just trying to survive a game that keeps getting weirder. His dynamic with Princess Donut (who remains an absolute legend) and the growing found family vibe makes this installment feel even more emotionally rich.

The dungeon floor this time around is the most confusing yet-think cursed subway system with twisted rules and wild boss mechanics, but that’s kind of the point. You don’t always need to get it to enjoy the ride. The humor is sharp, the chaos is constant, and Dinniman’s social commentary sneaks in between the explosions and snark.

While this wasn’t my favorite in the series (mostly because my brain gave up trying to track all the mechanics), it still hit hard in terms of character growth, emotional moments, and sheer entertainment value. Dinniman’s blend of absurdity and sincerity somehow just works—and I’m definitely ready for level five.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was definitely more cohesive than the last one (second in the series). This time they're on a train. The whole dungeon floor is like a train puzzle. I think having a vehicle helped this story stay on track.

This book cranks the chaos up (if even possible). It’s darkly funny, action-packed, and full of outrageous twists that keep you hooked. Carl and Donut’s dynamic is still gold, and the stakes feel bigger (and weirder) than ever.

I adore this series. Book three continues everything we loved from the first two installments while expanding the world and diving into a new, imaginative setting. It’s a wild ride, packed with intense emotional moments and a completely chaotic, intense climax.

Trains! I did not see the theme of this level coming, but it felt fresh and dynamic, if at times a bit confusing, as the characters navigate various train lines and bosses. It’s not unlike maneuvering through Shinjuku Station, except instead of dodging tourists, you’re battling intense monsters.

We also get intriguing new developments around portals, time, and the loss of time, that feel like they’ll become more important as the story continues. The titular Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook is a neat addition, with insight into past crawlers and their experiences.

There are twists, turns, and plenty of surprises. But more than anything, the heart of this series is the characters and seeing them grow, support each other, and face seemingly insurmountable odds together.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy. This review was written voluntarily.

In book three, the video game-style dungeon was full of looping train lines and stations full of monsters. I appreciated the author’s note at the beginning setting the expectation that there would be a lot of colors and numbers that could be confusing but would make sense in the end. I was able to just go with it and not try to make my own map in my head as they worked the mystery and tried to get off the floor before its collapse.

Mordecai was a helpful guide to the team but unforeseen circumstances forced Carl to solve multiple problems without him.

Carl and Donut continued to be a great team. Katia grew so much in this book. I’ve come to really like her character and I look forward to seeing more of her in the next book.

The consistent humor and epic battles with horror vibes make this series so much fun. Carl’s good heart makes it easy to root for him and Donut to succeed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley (ACE) for the ARC.

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook

“In a dungeon-transformed Earth, Carl and Princess Donut navigate the Iron Tangle’s complex subway system, solving puzzles while dealing with bounties on their heads and uncertain allies.”

Characters 5
Setting 5
Plot 5
Themes 5
Emotional 5
Enjoyment 5

Characters: 5/5
Again, the characters are top notch. Love Carl and Donut, and now we have Katia! (I know she was technically introduced in the last book, but I feel like she makes a bigger impact here.) As always, I love Carl and Donut, even Odette and Zev, but Katia was a surprise. I thought she was just there as a temporary character, but I love her almost as much as Carl and Donut. Her confidence just continues to climb throughout this book. She learns so much about herself and comes to really trust Carl and Donut. She just really rounded out their group, I think.

Setting: 5/5
As we saw in the second book, the setting for the third book was just as rich and thought-out. I did find the trains to be very complicated, but honestly didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal. I didn’t feel like it was any less without understanding it. What felt important was watching the characters understand and work together to understand the trains/train system. But it was again, different from the previous book and had its own sort of atmosphere to it that felt engaging, and different and exciting.

Plot: 5/5
I love how each book has its own mini plot, but the main plot of the whole series is still there in the background and Matt always manages to remind you that yeah, this is just for this floor, and to keep the bigger picture as a reminder who the real enemy is. What’s the ultimate goal??

Themes: 5/5
You still see the themes from previous books of friendship, found family, etc., but in this third iteration you find more resistance, survival, working together, the blurred line between entertainment and exploitation, etc.

Emotional: 5/5
The emotional impact was just as prevalent as the previous Carl books. I’m a scary amount of obsessed with Carl and Donut and any time something bad looks like it’s going to happen, I panic. I have an unhealthy attachment to these characters and feel the need to start the next book directly after reading the previous book. You also start seeing a change somewhat in the characters and their moods and their development.

Enjoyment: 5/5
I swear, each time I finish the book, I immediately begin the next book and expect it to fall short. Not super short, but shorter than the previous book and I am always pleasantly surprised. I enjoy each book in the moment of reading it and then it feels like it has a very satisfying ending, then I can’t wait to start the next one!

Hope these never run out, the adventure and humor just never ends! If you need something fun, fast moving, and off the wall, here you go. You just have to read these ...

Just finished this one today and I love how the characters and world are continuing to develop. Still laughing at dialogue between Carl and Donut, still in suspense waiting to see how each new trial will be overcome. Loving the work of Matt Dinniman and grateful for the opportunity to read this one from NetGalley!

I am absolutely plowing through these books because I am hooked. I think book three may suffer a bit from third book syndrome because it seemed to just throw everything and everyone into the plot and go here, damn.

This one has higher stakes than the previous two and it felt like it. Dinniman really built up the tension here and the battles felt much better built out even if they were maybe too long.

New achievement: you've binged three books in a row.

This is such an entertaining series! I love how Carl and Donut are slowing increasing their posse while also working with the other crawlers to face the challenges together. Even the game’s AI is getting involved. As ever, the narration is the best part of this series. Jeff Hays is a genius!
I did bump it down to 4 stars though as the sexist language has been ramping up each book. I hope that doesn’t continue to be more prevalent as the series continues.

Another amazing book in the DCC series. I will admit the trains had me in a chokehold for the first good 30/40% of the book but once it all clicked that the trains were meant to confuse you, distract you from what was really happening it all made sense. Full of action, the banter is still a 10/10 Princess Donut the queen herself dove in to say Carl no questions asked and they are the Duo that I don’t think will ever split. Katai really stepped up, she went from this shy girl to a bad ass woman. She really fits the group and I’m loving the three of them and lingo together honestly!

That floor was a doozy but I’m so excited to see what the other books bring! This one gave me many late nights, Odette and this new PR manager have got many flags raised for me lol, how does this new manager know Odettes been giving advice on the back end of these interviews…. Still want to know what’s happening with our favorite manager and Odettes squabble, very much looking forward to this Samantha’s girl? And also do Carl and Katai end up together?

Truly love this series with my entire heart, I’m hooked and cannot stop talking about it lol!

A huge thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of this book in return of an honest review!

Onto book 4 Glurp Glurp!

Carl, Donut, Katia and Mongo are stuck in the Iron Tangle, a bizarro train system with, know, monsters the size of buildings, blondes named Madison, and employees whose memories seem to get erased. They are also without the help of Mordecai who has basically be iced for the majority of the time they are in there. Getting off this floor requires some feats that reinforce time and time again that Carl and the gang can’t save everyone. Oh and there is some backstabbing too and Donut gets PISSED.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not an hour of this audio goes by where I’m fully confident I understand everything that is going on yet I’m delightfully entertained. This one was hard to keep track of all the monsters and the different train lines. The heat is cranking on our heroes who are now potentially being chased by other Crawlers, which yikes. You can see that Carl is getting more rebellious as we go and it’s fun. We weren’t sold on Katia in this one but she is a good balancing personality to round out this crew. Donut yelling “you fucking bitch” at someone was a peak moment in this book.

This series is fucking awesome. Enough said.

"The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook" (Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 3) is a solid 3-star read for fans of the series, diving deeper into the absurd and dangerous dungeon.

It shines with its highly creative and mind-bending new level, the Iron Tangle, a chaotic subway system that's a puzzle in itself. The book continues to deliver on the hilarious banter between Carl and Princess Donut, and Carl's clever, often outrageous, solutions to impossible problems are a highlight. The introduction of the "Anarchist's Cookbook" itself provides a fascinating new layer to the dungeon's lore and offers unique twists.

Matt Dinniman does it again! I enjoyed this book, especially because of its callout/shout out to video games. It just gets more outlandish and more fun to read. I highly recommend this book (and the series so far).

Did I understand the Iron Tangle? Absolutely not. Did I enjoy being dragged along for the ride on these rails? Absolutely. I so desperately want to see Carl and Donut (and everyone else) out of the dungeon, but I know that if they're out of the dungeon, the wild adventures don't work quite the same. Dinniman has managed to make every floor different enough to keep reader interest and yet stay true to the premise that originally drew us all in. I continue to want to binge this series and I'm so glad I have 4 more sitting on my kindle.

Welcome to the Iron Tangle.

Another amazing installment to the series. The forth floor comes out of no where and hits you like a freight train. Literally. While I did find this book more confusing then the previous ones I think that was on purpose. The book and the floor were meant to be a puzzle that was not so easily solved and because it was convoluted it gave all the crawlers an excuse to start teaming up.

I really enjoyed the camaraderie that is starting to form. We still follow Carl and Donut but the world gets more filled out when we here from an impressive cast of characters outside the core team.

Overall while I did spend a chunk of time confused by the floor, and missing Mordecai I had a lot of fun with this book.

The world of Book 3 is so interesting and creative, I keep thinking about it long after I finished. I did appreciate the author's note at the beginning that reassured readers that the world was going to be *a lot* and that we didn't need to keep track of everything. I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride on the Iron Tangle. Love that we got to spend more time with Katia in this book and, of course, love any scene with Mongo in it.

Wow the ride continues! This series is fun a bit confusing but total fun! Don’t pass it by read or listen

Oh my, I think the plot finally showed up. The train environment gives us plenty of metaphors for the larger plot starting to pick up with this book, and slowly picking up speed as we get new elements to the run. The plot element is the title of the book, and now that we know we're going to get into trying to survive and fuck up the system as much as they can as they descent, I'm in for the wider ride. There's still some weird gender stuff going on (not the fun kind, more toxic masculinity and Carl being subjected to the average daily experience of a woman online re his feet), but I'm officially in for the full ride. (And, as it turns out, Kindle Unlimited currently has the books to this point due to exclusive licensing, so that's why you don't see it at libraries with the exception of hardcover copies.) Also Princess Donut forever and ever amen.

This is book 2, so if you've enjoyed the first one, you'll love this one! The third floor is open, we select races and start purchasing items, DOING SIDE QUESTS :D :D and...going on guest shows??? Brilliant fun!