I really enjoyed this book and feel that it might even be the strongest in the series so far. The author was able to commit to his promise of making this floor feel exciting and impactful, while also slightly narrowing the scope to return a bit of the focus to Carl and Donut. All while continuing the trend of things getting increasingly over the top and hectic.

Personally, I feel these books are at their best when Carl is doing unexpected things to break the system. When Carl has a plan. A plan that will fall through. And as it does we get to read through Carl thinking on the fly and trying to find any way at all to salvage the situation. The way Dinniman writes these situations is so fun to read.

However, in my opinion, these moments are at their best when it still feels like Carl has some small amount of autonomy, some semblance of being able to exert his will on the situation, not just have the will of others put onto him. This book does that better than possibly any currently released book in the series.

I can’t wait to continue this series, and would absolutely recommend this series to anyone that loves progression fantasy or lit rpg.

The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman. This series just keeps getting better! The Butcher’s Masquerade is another action-packed, laugh-out-loud installment in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and I loved every second of it.

Carl, Princess Donut, and the crew are once again thrown into absolute chaos, but this time, the stakes feel even higher. The action is relentless, the humor is razor-sharp, and the political machinations at play add a whole new layer of intrigue. Carl isn’t just surviving the dungeon—he’s shaking up the entire universe, and I am here for it.

The character development remains top-tier, and the twists kept me on my toes the entire time. I laughed, I gasped, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. If you haven’t started this series yet, now is the time. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this ride!
The Butcher’s Masquerade is the fifth book in the series. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“You're wearing a mask right now, Donut, and you don't know how to remove it. That's okay. You don't need to. Not yet. The mask is protecting you… What we went through just now was only a taste of what's coming, especially on the ninth floor. It's going to get worse before it gets better. We're going to lose more friends. We're going to have to do some pretty horrible things just to survive. So I need you to keep that mask on.
But one day... one day you'll find yourself someplace safe and without worries and without everyone watching, and it'll just fall right off. And it will hurt.“

#TheButchersMasquerade, book five of @mattdinniman’s #DungeonCrawlerCarl series, finds Carl and Donut on the sixth floor of the dungeon, known as the Hunting Grounds. In the first floor where outsiders can join the “fun,” hunters who paid money can hunt down their favorite crawlers to took their loot in preparation for the ninth floors Faction Wars. As Carl and Donut fight to stay alive long enough to attend the floor’s final party, they come face to face with some people they thought they’d never see again.

Book five was a solid entry into the series allowing for the characters to become a little deeper, particularly in their interpersonal relationships. We get to see more about the larger world this dungeon crawler world show is taking place in, and the ramifications for those on the outside about what goes on inside. While action generally took a backseat in this book, there was a wealth of interesting backstory folded in organically, never feeling like Dinniman was playing catch up or retconning his story.

Special thanks to @netgalley and @acebookspub for the eARC!

I never thought I would cry for a character named Princess Donut, but here we are.

Carl and Princess Donut return in the fifth installment of Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler franchise. They’ve entered the sixth floor, known as the hunting grounds. For the first time, gamers are allowed to enter the dungeon. Some sign up for fame, while others seek fortune, but none of them are prepared for the Princess Posse. The top crawlers receive an invitation to attend The Butcher's Masquerade, an end-of-floor celebration.

I am deeply invested in the characters, with my favorites being Princess Donut and Prepotente. Both are hilarious and surprisingly complex. Dinniman has given them depth that has made me fall in love with them.

This is also the best floor yet. The rules are simple, but the stakes are higher than ever. The straightforward nature of this floor allows for more focus on the characters, who are the heart of these books.

I want to thank NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing this advanced review copy. I previously read the first edition and listened to the audiobook, and I am thrilled to see this series gain recognition. The new editions are fantastic! I have the first three in hardback and have already placed my preorders for the next three. The covers are gorgeous! I love the colors and artwork, and I am also enjoying the bonus stories added to the end of each book.

This new edition is a perfect opportunity for fans to revisit the series. They look incredible on the shelf and hold up on rereads. I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a fun fantasy adventure with heart. For fans, these new editions are a must-buy!

A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade.”

The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds.

As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside tourists are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are here and ready to hunt. Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career.

But their prey is far from harmless, and this season they are fighting back.

Book five is my favorite installment so far. If you are like me and this series sounds like it is not your kind of read, just try it. You will not be dissapointed!

I am going to go ahead and admit that I don't totally understand what is going on all the time in this series, which I LOVE and recommend to everyone I possibly can. I think it is a cross between Ready Player One, The Hunger Games and The Muppets. I absolutely love Carl, Donut and Mongo. I have a soft spot for Katia, and I understand they are playing some sort of intergalactic reality game they did not agree to. Organisms can cast spells and assume other forms. My partner has listened to the series on audible and when he knows I am reading one of these he always asks me what is happening at the moment and I always say something like "I don't know. Donut said this."

There is a bit of a surprise character reveal midway through this book that I did see coming, but it warmed my heart to see how it played out.

This particular one has some pageants and opportunities to let Carl save other crawlers and outsmart the hunters. In this one there are more alien hunters, which are basically like rich people who want to come into the game and kind of cheat and have privileges the crawlers don't.

If this isn't an overall symbolic critique of the working class vs capitalism's oligarch's, I don't know what is.

Everything Donut says or sings is amazing.

I never understand fantasy, and although I don't understand this completely I really love it. That probably sounds weird, but it is true. I read somewhere that Seth McFarlane's production company has bought the rights and is planning a streaming series and when I see it on film I will get it and then I can re-read and love it more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ace publishing, an imprint of Berkley for the ARC. Book to be published April 8, 2025. Obviously I have already pre-ordered my trophy.

If you had told me at the beginning of the series that a LitRPG series about shoeless guy in boxer shorts with a talking cat would go as hard into the emotional depth as this one has, I’d have guessed you’re lying. Princess Donut and Carl (as well as a little bit with Katya) go through a helluva lot in this installment as the game begins its relentless attempts to break their spirit. Sure it’s funny and a ton of fun (there is an entire subplot of Carl dealing with his vaping attorney). But it also has a ton of emotional depth…

Here’s a quote from Princess Donut after they witness the horrific death of some of their fellow humans/crawlers:
“Carl, Why doesn’t it hurt as much as it should?”
This book has its talking cat pondering the nature of desensitization. She, Carl and the rest of the crawlers are forced into this horrific situation and they have to put on a mask to survive and protect themselves.
I won’t spoil much more about it. This is my favorite volume so far and if it weren’t for the epilogue, I’d have given it 5 stars. But Overall I LOVED IT.

Four and a Half Stars.

🪩 🎤 𝔹𝕦𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 🎤 🪩

What do you get when you combine a dancing dinosaur pet competition, vengeful praying mantises, naked tattooed half-elves, a fan convention, foot fetish AI, warring galactic governments, and plenty of violence?

The fifth book of the *Dungeon Crawler Carl* series, of course.

Donut and Carl have reached the infamous sixth floor, *The Hunting Grounds*, where aliens from across the galaxy can pay to hunt the Crawlers. But this time, Carl and the remaining humans of Earth aren’t going down without a fight.

Things get even more complicated when Carl attracts the attention—and wrath—of Vrah, a legendary hunter who’s terrorized the Hunt for seasons.

Another change? This year’s Hunt will culminate in the first-ever Butcher’s Masquerade, an exclusive party for the elite hunters and their prey. Sensing a trap, Carl must figure out how to save his friends, and frenemies, while struggling to retain his humanity in the process.

Of all the series I discovered in 2024, Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl is easily my favorite. These books are incredibly fun and cleverly written. They make me laugh so hard I cry, and yet, the plot twists and depth constantly blow my mind. They also manage to pull at my heartstrings in the most unexpected ways, showing a surprising amount of compassion.

I also decided to give the audiobook a try, and I’m so glad I did. Jeff Hays is phenomenal! Honestly, I wish he could narrate everything I listen to. He’d make grocery shopping sound epic.

If you enjoy action, sci-fi, laugh-out-loud humor, and outrageous amounts of absurd violence, The Dungeon Crawler Carl series should definitely be on your 2025 TBR. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

Dungeon Crawler Carl continues to entertain us in this 5th book in the series. This time around much of the conflict is between the "crawlers" and groups of "hunters" who are there to kill off as many crawlers as they can. Of course, the hunters have all sorts of unfair advantages, some of them built in but some of them "cheats" that are not supposed to occur. Carl does everything he can to level the playing fields, wreaking havoc amongst the hunters and the alien races and organizations that sponsor those hunters. Carl continues to develop his extended group of allies, while also attempting to help the many less powerful friends and allies that he has accumulated along the way. Princess Donut (so very much a cat) continues to provide lots of fun moments for us along the way, even surprising us (and Carl) with how well she sometimes makes her way through some of the stickier situations.

Matt Dinniman is doing it like no one else. I wasn't a huge fantasy / science fiction series reader until I started on this series, and now I can't stop! Each book is better than the last, there isn't a bad book in the bunch. Dinniman does an amazing job of moving between dark humor, emotional moments, chaotic insanity, and terror. Each plot in his books are unique and fresh, and I cannot wait to finish the series. I'm really glad they're getting new covers too ... the original covers are a little goofy and these covers make the book more much appealing on the shelf. Overall, 5/5!

Dungeon Crawler Carl continues to amaze with its ability to balance humor while also acknowledging that Carl and the rest of the party are experiencing true horror in this crawl. This is my absolute favorite of the series so far. I think it felt like a turning point, the stakes are higher, the politics are more present, and the characters continue to grow and shine in a way that is so impressive.

Welcome crawlers to the sixth floor, the Hunting Grounds.

Thus far, this has been my favorite book in the series. As we rejoin Carl, Donut, and company, we have reached the second of the "story-bound" levels of the dungeon; the infamous Hunting Grounds. Now, along with the standard AI-generated mobs and the continuation of the Scolopendra storyline from the third floor (book two in the series Carl's Doomsday Scenario), the Earth crawlers have to deal with alien hunters gunning for them as well, intent on acquiring the crawlers' magical gear for use in the Faction Wars on the ninth floor. However, as seen at the end of the previous book, Carl has already dealt a major blow to the Scolopendra-storied floors, and Carl starts this floor off making it even more difficult for the alien factions eventual storyline activities. There are a lot of various elements from the first five books in the series being tied together here, with a much more encompassing look at some of the other "famous" crawlers as their paths intersect with Carl's party. We also get an even more intense glimpse at the galactic politics being played out as a proxy war here inside the dungeon. The action never stops as even the final chapters set up some very clever twists that will surely have intense consequences on Carl and Donut.

The entire book was just filled with "wow" moments that just kept me going "just one more chapter". If i had any criticism, it is that Mordecai has been relegated to much lower importance than previously as even his extensive knowledge is challenged by the abrupt changes to the dungeon and its operation. I can see how his contributions may have needed to be tamped down a little, but his manager role, especially on this floor, has been sorely diminished in favor of Carl's ever expanding NPC associates.

I’m honestly speechless—I absolutely love this series . The story completely captivated me, and I couldn’t put it down. I’ve been recommending it non-stop to everyone I know, and I raved about it so much to my coworkers that now they’re all reading it too. It’s one of those books that stays with you long after and makes you giggle.