bibliosizzle

THE SIZZLE 🔥

Rating: ★★★★★
Content: Mild Violence 🔪
Genre: LitRPG / Apocalyptic / Adult
Vibe: Dystopian • Survival Games • Found Family
Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book #6

MY THOUGHTS (SPOILERS BELOW)

I hate how much I love this series. This book was phenomenal. The pacing was wildly fast and I read through the whole thing in just a few sittings. It is so crazy and chaotic but manages to have so much heart.

I laughed, gasped, andI cried like a baby. All in the same book. The way it ended makes me want to pick up the next one immediately.

Five stars. No notes. Well, actually, I have a LOT of notes, but they’re pretty much all about how freaking good this book was.

After loving book five, I wasn’t sure how Matt Dinniman could possibly keep that momentum going. But The Butcher’s Masquerade managed to be just as good in an entirely different way. Where the previous book really hooked me with its puzzles, character development, and relationships, this one was pure, glorious, emotionally devastating chaos.

The sixth floor was INSANE. The hunting grounds, the hunters, the constant danger, the ridiculous situations Carl and Donut kept finding themselves in. There was so much happening, and somehow Dinniman managed to make all of it work. It was chaotic without feeling pointless, and underneath all the absurdity was some genuinely incredible storytelling.

Samantha and Donut going at each other absolutely killed me. Their interactions are comedy gold, and Samantha continues to be one of the most unexpectedly delightful additions to this series. I cannot believe how attached I’ve become to a disembodied sex doll head with homicidal tendencies.

It really impressed me how much emotional weight Dinniman managed to pack into all that insanity. Running into other people from Earth, learning more about Katia and her foster child, and watching these characters try to hold on to pieces of their humanity while everything around them becomes increasingly horrific. Katia’s struggles, including the drug use, added another layer of heartbreak to a character I’ve already grown so attached to.

I love that Signet’s story came back around and got the resolution it deserved. There was something genuinely moving about that entire storyline, and I appreciate that Dinniman doesn’t just abandon characters and plot threads once they’ve served their immediate purpose. I will go to my grave upset that Carl didn’t sleep with her. LOL

Carl becoming increasingly involved in the politics behind the crawl is one of my favorite developments in this series. What started as a ridiculous, deadly game show has evolved into something much more complicated. Carl isn’t just trying to survive anymore. He’s starting to understand the system, the people controlling it, and how he might actually be able to do something about it. I LOVE where this is going.

I am super attached to Prepetente now too. Are you kidding me with the BREAKING THE SEVENTH FLOOR?! The absolute audacity. I was simultaneously laughing and staring at the page in disbelief.

What makes this series so special is that it shouldn’t work as well as it does. It’s ridiculous. It’s vulgar. It’s violent. It’s completely over the top. But underneath all of that is a story about friendship, grief, trauma, resistance, and what it means to remain human when the world is determined to strip that humanity away.

I honestly cannot come up with anything I disliked. Not one thing. This book delivered everything I wanted and several things I didn’t even know I needed.

Matt Dinniman, you magnificent, diabolical bastard.

On to book seven. Immediately.

READ IT IF… 🔥

You love watching a seemingly absurd premise evolve into something surprisingly complex, political, and meaningful.