This is a hard review to write, because i LOVE this series. i eagerly away each new installment, and binge re-listen to each preceding book leading up to each new one. In each previous book the author did such a good job of balancing the laugh-out-loud absurdity of the dungeon levels with the all-too-human emotions running just under the surface. Book Six was a bit weighted on the heavy side, but this one tipped too far for me. which is odd because i also felt like this one was a non-stop action from start to finish. But.. even that felt like something that was almost going on in the background, while the many, many, side characters are setting up some trap, or scheming, or planning, or worrying, and Carl spends most of his time worrying about his friends or talking out-of-dungeon politics. Samantha, who is always good for a laugh, was absent from huge chunks of the book. don’t even get me started on Jamal/JarJarBinks. And, yes, Donut, i agree, Rend IS Scrappy Doo. Even the Dungeon AI (with a few exceptions) seemed more muted this book. i expected a lot more jokes about Carl’s hair.
There was all of this buildup to this floor of the dungeon, and while parts of it were very satisfying; too many things happened quickly or offscreen. and … yeah, i’m going to say it, everybody was just super depressed this whole book. which is probably realistic and reasonable; but after six books of Carl flipping off the cameras and proclaiming how he is going to kill every last one of them… suddenly everyone is having emotional breakdowns over the number of ENEMIES they’re killing. Even Donut! who is a Cat! and has never been particularly bothered by slaughtering their enemies before, gets all mopey about it. Listen, all i’m saying this there was a LOT of legitimately tense and emotional moments going on between the Former/Crawlers, Letting them revel in their victories would have been a nice release valve for them and the reader. There were also several face-to-face battles that i was anticipating that never happened.
All that said, there were some great moments. Carl’s first meetings with his brothers & sisters were particularly touching. Carl needing Katia to fix his hair was such a sibling moment. Carl struggling with his desire to both protect Donut and allow her to grow up to be her own person. Luis being a Disney princess. and Donut Sh*t talking everyone will never get old (OMG the conversation with the Orc warleader about the “rug”… rofl).
Giving this 4/5 because i love this series and while this didn’t meet expectations, it was still a good book. KEEP THEM COMING!!