Welcome crawlers to the sixth floor, the Hunting Grounds.

Thus far, this has been my favorite book in the series. As we rejoin Carl, Donut, and company, we have reached the second of the "story-bound" levels of the dungeon; the infamous Hunting Grounds. Now, along with the standard AI-generated mobs and the continuation of the Scolopendra storyline from the third floor (book two in the series Carl's Doomsday Scenario), the Earth crawlers have to deal with alien hunters gunning for them as well, intent on acquiring the crawlers' magical gear for use in the Faction Wars on the ninth floor. However, as seen at the end of the previous book, Carl has already dealt a major blow to the Scolopendra-storied floors, and Carl starts this floor off making it even more difficult for the alien factions eventual storyline activities. There are a lot of various elements from the first five books in the series being tied together here, with a much more encompassing look at some of the other "famous" crawlers as their paths intersect with Carl's party. We also get an even more intense glimpse at the galactic politics being played out as a proxy war here inside the dungeon. The action never stops as even the final chapters set up some very clever twists that will surely have intense consequences on Carl and Donut.

The entire book was just filled with "wow" moments that just kept me going "just one more chapter". If i had any criticism, it is that Mordecai has been relegated to much lower importance than previously as even his extensive knowledge is challenged by the abrupt changes to the dungeon and its operation. I can see how his contributions may have needed to be tamped down a little, but his manager role, especially on this floor, has been sorely diminished in favor of Carl's ever expanding NPC associates.

I’m honestly speechless—I absolutely love this series . The story completely captivated me, and I couldn’t put it down. I’ve been recommending it non-stop to everyone I know, and I raved about it so much to my coworkers that now they’re all reading it too. It’s one of those books that stays with you long after and makes you giggle.