The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook is the third book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Either you already love the series and have read and listened to this book several times, or you can't believe that something that sounds so stupid is so popular. It is popular for a good reason.

As a little disclaimer, I binge read the first three books of this series, realized that I preferred audiobooks, discovered that the audiobooks are great, and went back to the beginning to start listening. So, I've read the first three books twice. I will absolutely go through the whole series again once I get to the end.

So, why are these books so popular? They have everything, but not just that. They have everything in just the right way. Often found family series are formulaic. That isn't bad. You can slowly introduce one new, soon-to-be beloved character per book, and I'm good with it. However, that isn't terribly subtle. Dungeon Crawler Carl is well-crafted in a way that definitely can't be said to be formulaic. Katia joined the group. However, the expectation that she would leave the group was set up clearly in book 2. Here we are in book 3, and while she moves toward the exit, she is also starting to really develop as a character. We start to learn more about her. She is trying so hard. Of course, there were warnings at the end of the last book about Hekla, the person Katia is going to leave the group for.

So, there is a lot of drama there, but none of it is drama for the sake of drama. No, we can understand why Katia wants to go back to Hekla's group. We think we know why Hekla is dangerous to the group, and while not nice, her reason is understandable in this incredibly dangerous setting.

Then, on top of all that, a character who the party has been relying on is taken away, changing the dynamics. This change is not only a smart but devious plot in the politics of the book, but a smart change by the author. This character had been dominating the party's choices, and now they are gone. What will happen next?

In addition to all these interpersonal issues, we have the side characters, of which there are quite a few. The people from the nursing home who Carl and Donut helped save in book one are still around, and as is so common with this series, they are people we care about, but there are issues and suffering there too. Other friends the party has made are in contact with them, not to mention the enemies. On top of that, the dungeon is full of NPCs, the game characters who could just be bad guys, made to be killed. Instead, we are encouraged to feel empathy for many of them. These are books where even the guy who stabs the characters you love in the back has a reason, and that reason is probably tragic and understandable.

I guess for me, these books are about cleverness and empathy, not only on the part of the characters, but also the author. The setting for this book is so complicated, but all those plot lines are wrapped up at the end in a way that makes the complication not only make sense but feel like it teaches us more about the characters and the world. As for empathy, a lot of what happens in the book tells us that we might see someone as a selfish jerk, but if we look deeper, we will see that they have reasons for what they do.

Obviously, I'll be listening to the next book. I don't need to tell you to read it, because if you made it to book three, then you will read it. However, if you haven't read the first book yet, give it two chapters. Either you will be hooked or you can put it aside. The books get darker and more complex from the first one, but if you can't handle the premise, then I don't think you'll suddenly be able to handle it more later. If you enjoy it, then you have a lot of wonderful reading ahead of you.