The Butcher's Masquerade

My favorite so far: Donut singing, the dinosaurs, the continued NPC awakening, the hunters, the crazy AI! For a 700 page novel, it flew by! More intrigue introduced with the sponsors suggesting more unrest in the galaxy than the crawlers could possibly know. AND the Crawler Con — that was so good. I was not expecting the Lucia Mar information AT ALL and the hunters were dropping major dirt on the larger world.

This series is definitely bloodier than what I normally read, but the world-building and character development is so good. For a fast-paced, video game-inspired, absolutely ridiculous book, it really delivers some serious social commentary.

I’m not going to pretend like I understood everything that happened in this book. All the planning and scheming went a little over my head. But I felt the pain. I didn’t even realize how much I like all these characters. Donut and Carl are obvious. I’m attached to them for sure… but the side characters? I didn’t know I was so attached to them and dammit Matt Dinniman, I know you’re going to rip my heart out.

There were so many levels to this story (figuratively and literally) and Matt does an incredible job weaving it all together into a complex but entertaining and emotionally wrecking tale of perseverance and survival. Budding relationships in a time of despair, rivals uniting against a common enemy, NPCs realizing show more they’re just part of the entertainment and choosing to fight back… it’s an incredible story.

They’ve been able to find a lot of loop holes to rules so I’m hoping they can find one for what’s to come. show less

The surviving crawlers have made it to the sixth floor, "The Hunting Grounds," where they get a 30 hour grace period before hunters who will be trying to kill them are released. After the way the fifth floor wrapped up, a lot of those hunters will specifically want to kill Carl (although one group in particular has brought along some truly horrifying arrows just for Louis). Also, it's time for Carl to fulfill his side of the desperate bargain he made with the producers of Vengeance of the Daughter way back on the third floor.

Another floor means more nonstop action and the introduction of a bunch of new complications to Carl and Donut's already very complicated existence.

How depressed will the later entries in this series leave me? It's show more a question that's been in the back of my mind for a while. Yes, we have times (like in the previous volume) when Carl manages to strike back some, but it's highly unlikely that there will be a "good" ending for the main characters, much less all the side characters readers might get attached to. The world in which this all takes place sucks. It's a capitalist hellhole in which the vast majority are left to fight for scraps in order to live, if they're allowed any sort of life at all. Not only that, this volume included a death I had thought would still be a ways off, and set things up for a future death that's going to be gut-wrenching.

So yeah, the darker aspects of this series are becoming more prominent, and if anything ends up killing my desire to continue reading, it will be that. For now, though, the darkness has yet to overshadow the bizarro fun moments, my interest in seeing what Carl will manage to pull off next, and my love of characters like Donut and Mongo. Still, for every triumphant assassination and bonkers talent show, there's horror-tragedy like Growler Gary.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Damn Matt, just damn.

How do you keep coming up with these imaginative situations, characters, spells, potions and hijinx? Regardless of how, book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, The Butcher's Masquerade, just keeps the ball rolling and we the readers love it all.

If you've read books 1-4 you're gonna read this. If you have not, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!
Pick this series up and get after it!

A seriously high four star...just damn.

We've finally reached the sixth floor and it's everything it promised to be. I laughed, I cried, I was amazed and I was grossed out. These books are just so much fun and I've really grown attached to the characters. I have no idea where Dinniman gets his ideas and I hope they never stop. Yeah, this one gave me a book hangover. I already can't wait to reread the series in the future.

Carl and Princess Donut descend another level and face off against the Hunters of the Hunting Grounds. Cooperating with as many other crawlers as they can, Donut and Carl take over towns, tame the wildlife, and take out Hunters left and right. It all leads up to the Butcher's Masquerade where everything comes to a glorious climax.
Carl's chosen deity causes trouble for Carl. Princess Donut becomes a Bard with all that entails. Mongo meets the females of his species. And there's a big allosaurus with a boa, tutu, and a wand.
Reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl books is a guilty, addictive pleasure. Princess Donut, Mordecai, Mongo, and everyone else just leave me craving more. I can't wait for the next book.

so, this book is pretty much the same as the previous books- Carl does his best to screw over/kill/twist those that put on the Dungeon - he loop holes his way, through. However, they are still fun - and I'm quite happy how this book finished up, something different plus we learn about Prepotente, who is even crazier up close. As usual, a lot of people die, and the characters are hardening themselves to the violence -things that they wouldn't do in the last book, they aren't batting an eye. This isn't bad - what you do to survive an impossible situation should change you. As for Princess Donut, I still love her. She is a Prima Dona with heart - and she is definitely becoming a force to be reckoned with. On top of it all, Princess Donut's show more entry into the pet talent contest is the biggest, most ridiculous, and awesome thing in this whole book. show less