Yeah, these books are funny and exciting. That was apparent in the first book but what stands out more and more is the dynamism and complexity of the characters and how none of them can be easily defined. They evolve. It isn’t always clear what drives them and what they’ll do, but when it happens, it makes sense. You get the feel that these are real people (like us) stuck in a series of impossible situations. You love them, hate them, are curious about them. Even after all these books I feel I still don’t truly know Carl but I find out more and more as I read: more about Carl’s past through a flash of memory he recalls from his childhood, more about his motivations by his reactions to novel moral problems. The author is telling multiple stories of each character. There’s the story of each person in the dungeon but there’s also the story of who each person was before. These are normal people that I’m actually really interested in. And when I think Ive figured someone out, they have already evolved into something slightly different, necessitated by the need to find purpose and retain one’s humanity amidst the horrors of the dungeon. I can’t wait to read more.