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mightyjor's review against another edition
4.0
3.75/5 Stars
Honestly I almost gave up on this book like 6 times, despite it having some brilliant scenes of tension and payoff that are the best the series has done so far. First, let me get out of the way my biggest complaint:
This level of the dungeon sucks. It's confusing to navigate, annoying to read about, and half the time I couldn't visualize or follow most of what was described. The author calls attention to the fact that it's meant to be confusing, even going so far as to write a forward to the book saying as much. Problem is, it's still confusing and that makes it not very fun to read or visualize. I understand there are people who sit down with a pencil and graph paper and try to visualize this whole thing, but I listen to this in my car and read it in bed while trying to fall asleep and that's just not how I consume books. Even in the text of the book, the game show element of it allows for some fourth wall breaking scenes calling attention to how confusing it is. It still doesn't make it fun to read.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the good, and there's a lot of it too. There is a huge chunk of this book dedicated to building tension between Carl and another dungeon crawler who may or may not be trying to secretly kill him. This whole sub-plot is absolutely fantastic. There's so much tension slowly building for a big chunk of the book and it has a very satisfying pay off, though some elements of it did seem a bit overly convoluted. Once this section is over, I'm not sure we ever get back up to those heights again. That's not to say that the ending of this book isn't good. It's excellent as well, though it does relate back to needing to understand the layout of the dungeon and finding ways to turn that to our heroes advantage, which, again, was just kind of tedious to read about.
The power ups here are great and there's lots of great power leveling, which is something I love in these books. Not much else to say about that.
Overall though I'm still really happy with the series and hopefully we can get back to some less confusing layouts for book 4.
Honestly I almost gave up on this book like 6 times, despite it having some brilliant scenes of tension and payoff that are the best the series has done so far. First, let me get out of the way my biggest complaint:
This level of the dungeon sucks. It's confusing to navigate, annoying to read about, and half the time I couldn't visualize or follow most of what was described. The author calls attention to the fact that it's meant to be confusing, even going so far as to write a forward to the book saying as much. Problem is, it's still confusing and that makes it not very fun to read or visualize. I understand there are people who sit down with a pencil and graph paper and try to visualize this whole thing, but I listen to this in my car and read it in bed while trying to fall asleep and that's just not how I consume books. Even in the text of the book, the game show element of it allows for some fourth wall breaking scenes calling attention to how confusing it is. It still doesn't make it fun to read.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the good, and there's a lot of it too. There is a huge chunk of this book dedicated to building tension between Carl and another dungeon crawler who may or may not be trying to secretly kill him. This whole sub-plot is absolutely fantastic. There's so much tension slowly building for a big chunk of the book and it has a very satisfying pay off, though some elements of it did seem a bit overly convoluted. Once this section is over, I'm not sure we ever get back up to those heights again. That's not to say that the ending of this book isn't good. It's excellent as well, though it does relate back to needing to understand the layout of the dungeon and finding ways to turn that to our heroes advantage, which, again, was just kind of tedious to read about.
The power ups here are great and there's lots of great power leveling, which is something I love in these books. Not much else to say about that.
Overall though I'm still really happy with the series and hopefully we can get back to some less confusing layouts for book 4.
montaniel_the_third's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
tiger_moth23's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
dfculver's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jeriandcats's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mellamaron's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
4.5 rounded up because itโs Carl and he is my book boyfriend.
This one was a little more crazy and a little longer with sections of mechanics and dungeon stuff that felt like it was a bit too much. I still loved it - and I have a new respect for Katya! But this was a small step down from the previous book, very small. I still absolutely LOVE this series and am telling all my acquaintances about it ๐
This one was a little more crazy and a little longer with sections of mechanics and dungeon stuff that felt like it was a bit too much. I still loved it - and I have a new respect for Katya! But this was a small step down from the previous book, very small. I still absolutely LOVE this series and am telling all my acquaintances about it ๐
sellen14's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
hannahelaine's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
spacebras's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Matt Dinniman does it again??? He's almost making me change my opinion on cis-white men (almost).
I'm a sucker for stories that surround the innate personal need to help and support each other and that is where Dinniman works best. When things are the worst, the indominable human (and alien) spirit perseveres!!!
I also totally fuzzed out on the intricates of the plans and the railway lines, so I definitely tailored my experiences lol
I'm a sucker for stories that surround the innate personal need to help and support each other and that is where Dinniman works best. When things are the worst, the indominable human (and alien) spirit perseveres!!!
I also totally fuzzed out on the intricates of the plans and the railway lines, so I definitely tailored my experiences lol