Category: Science Fiction

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday4 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 1 July 2021)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book Four

Length: 18 hours and 3 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The chaotic fun of Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series reaches another impressive level in the awesome fourth book, The Gate of the Feral Gods, an exceptional read that I could not put down until its gripping and epic end.

I can officially say that I am incredibly obsessed with the Dungeon Crawler Carl books.  Taking place after all buildings on Earth are instantly destroyed and turned into an elaborate fantasy dungeon, all in the name of an alien reality show, the Dungeon Crawler Carl books are an incredible series that perfectly utilises its unique concept and LitRPG basis to create a particularly addictive story loaded with crazy action, over-the-top humour and an array of incredible characters.  I only started it a few weeks ago and I have so far powered through several books in the series, including Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario and The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, all of which were five-star reads.  Indeed, I have had such a great time with this series, that the moment I finished off The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook I instantly started listening to the fourth book in the series, The Gate of the Feral Gods, which continued the series in some outstanding ways.

After surviving the carnage of the Iron Tangle, Carl, Princess Donut and Katia have emerged on the fifth floor of Dungeon Crawler World Earth and must now contend with a new dastardly set-up.  Placed into a multitude of small, bubble-contained worlds, each remaining human party needs to assault castles contained within each of the bubble’s four zones.  If they succeed in capturing each zone’s castle, the dungeon stairwell will open and they’ll be able to advance to the sixth floor.

While the setup for the fifth floor seems simple, in reality it is a logistical nightmare, as the popular team of Carl, Princess Donut and Katia must navigate and master four very different environments within a rushed timeline, including a desert landscape infested with flying gnomes, a gigantic haunted crypt filled with traps, a besieged sand castle that is home to a powerful mage with relationship issues, and a derelict underwater submarine surrounded by gigantic sharks, all while trying to untangle a unique puzzle hidden in an elaborate quest storyline.  Worse, thanks to their high levels, the team are forced to rely on ineffective, low-level fellow crawlers to clear out the bubble’s zones, including those people who have barely survived the previous floors.

However, the elaborate new floor is only the tip of the problems facing Carl.  Old enemies from outside the dungeon are desperate to strike him down for the chaos he has caused, while the AI controlling the dungeon continues it erratic obsession with him.  As events heat up, Carl is given the unique chance to obtain a legendary artefact loaded with unimaginable power and terrible risk, The Gate of the Feral Gods.  If Carl can master the gate, he has the chance to keep his friends and loved ones safe on this floor.  But what happens when Carl decides to use the gate to strike back against those who have destroyed his planet?  You will not break him, but he will break everything in the galaxy to get his revenge!

Dinniman does it yet again as The Gate of the Feral Gods was another exceptional and epic novel that I could not stop reading.  Perfectly continuing the impressive story from the previous Dungeon Crawler Carl novels, The Gate of the Feral Gods was an ultra-exciting and complex novel, that brings laughter, excitement and powerful emotional moments in equal measure.  Another book in this series that gets a very easy five-star rating from me, The Gate of the Feral Gods was so damn good, and I had so much fun getting through this insane, but clever, adventure.

I really enjoyed the impressive story that Dinniman came up with for The Gate of the Feral Gods, especially as the author uses the opportunity to feature a more traditional fantasy narrative, while also building on the unique character relationships that have been an impressive part of the previous novels.  In a new dungeon floor with some unique quirks, you are once again drawn into the battle for Carl, Donut and Katia’s survival, as they attempt to understand their new scenario as the population of the entire galaxy watches their progress.  There are also some great new characters introduced in this early part of the book, who add some excellent human elements to the wider story.  Determined to clear their part of the floor, Carl’s team embark on some explosive initial actions, and I liked how Dinniman treated this early part of the story in a more traditional LitRPG manner, as the protagonists follow the quest elements laid out as part of the story.  However, it doesn’t take long for Dinniman to throw things completely off the rails, as there are some great scenes halfway through, including the return of an old friend with real inner anger, and a unique boss battle in a flying house that will have you cackling with surprise.  However, one of the more impressive events set around the middle of the novel sees Carl start to embrace his anarchist persona, striking back against his oppressors in his usual destructive manner.

The big events of the first half of the book have an impressive impact on the second half of The Gate of the Feral Gods, as the protagonists find themselves in a time crunch.  This forces them to go on some risky missions, including invading a giant sandcastle with some unique elements, as well as journeying beneath the waves, much to the horror of everyone’s favourite sentient cat.  The various intense challenges faced by the protagonists are usually overcome in some impressively inventive ways, I loved how well Dinniman hints at the protagonist’s eventual plans.  While this is unfolding, you get some interesting looks at the wider crawl thanks to flashes of other character’s battles, and Dinniman also provides some intriguing looks at the issues surrounding the outer galaxy.

While all the above elements are impressive and result in some epic moments, it pales in comparison to the final third of the book.  Thanks to the titular Gate of the Feral Gods, all hell breaks out (literally and figuratively), as the protagonists find themselves involved in the biggest escort mission ever.  Thanks to that, they get into some brutal confrontations, which help to define how desperate things are getting for the characters.  The final sequences of The Gate of the Feral Gods helps to cement this novel as a truly impressive part of the series, as Carl and Donut finally face down one of their oldest enemies, while also fooling everyone with a particularly chaotic scheme.  The set-up for the protagonist’s bold strike against their foes is very clever, and while there are a lot of hints about what is to come, Dinniman cleverly obscures the entirety of the plan, allowing for some awesome surprises that really show off how audacious the protagonists are coming.  This was honestly an incredible end to such a chaotic and compelling read, and it sets up the next book in the series perfectly, allowing for some impressive moments going forward.

I really enjoyed how The Gate of the Feral Gods turned out, especially as Dinniman turned what could have been a filler novel between two major parts of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, into a particularly powerful and intense novel with long-running implications for the rest of the series.  Due to its position as the fourth book in the series, The Gate of the Feral Gods is best read by those who have enjoyed the previous entries in the series, even with the protagonist’s useful internal recaps, especially as this book continues to feature and build on a lot of complex ongoing storylines and character arcs.  Once again written in the first-person style, Dinniman perfectly showcases his unique scenario, and gifts the reader with so much awesome action, fun humour, compelling characters, and surprisingly enjoyable LitRPG elements.  With a bit more of a slower pacing at the start of the novel, Dinniman gives this book time to breath after the crazy conclusion of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, and allows the characters, and the readers, time to get familiar with the new floor of the dungeon.  This complex new setting within the dungeon was extremely well crafted, and its unique features ensured that The Gate of the Feral Gods had a very distinctive feel amongst the rest of the series.  The focus on quests and the internal storylines of the level helped to amp up the fantasy vibe of the story, while Dinniman also set up a multitude of additional long-running storylines that have a big impact later in the series.  At the same time, Dinniman cleverly continued to showcase the wider universe outside of the dungeon and the way that these exterior events impact the protagonist’s battles, and vice versa, allowing for a particularly compelling narrative.

While I felt that The Gate of the Feral Gods had a slightly slower start, that doesn’t last long, as Dinniman adds in some amazingly exciting and over-the-top sequences that really stick in the mind.  The author proves extremely capable of completely going even further beyond the craziness of his previous novels, and I loved how fantastically outrageous things get at times, with giant boss battles, unbelievably dangerous traps, multiple crazy gods, and some deeply human fights, all making this story particularly epic at times.  The many, many action scenes within the book are so well written, and I loved how impactful, insane, and usually hilarious these sequences are, and Dinniman makes excellent use of the LitRPG part of the series, with so many cool elements from RPG games coming into play in entertaining ways.  Dinniman also does an excellent job expanding on a ton of complex elements of the dungeon in this novel by including various extracts from Carl’s Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, a secret compendium of knowledge from previous crawlers.  These extracts are each cleverly written in their own style, and I love how they highlight technical elements of the dungeon, as well as the emotional damage each of these previous crawlers experienced.  These LitRPG elements are further made better by the author’s unique sense of humour, which inhabits every aspect of the book and ensures that the reader is constantly laughing at all the insane moments, clever jokes, and over-the-top characters.  While this humour might not be for everyone, I felt it was perfect, especially as it blended with all Dinniman’s complex storytelling and the deeper emotional pain of the book, allowing for a very impressive overarching novel.

The thing that made The Gate of the Feral Gods really stand out was the author’s focus on character introductions, growth and powerful human moments, as the protagonists, their allies, and the various beings involved in the running on the dungeon, continue their chaotic journey together.  As with all the books in the series, the plot of The Gate of the Feral Gods revolves around protagonist and perspective character Carl, through whose eyes we see the plot unfold.  The perpetually exasperated and intense heroic figure who is desperately trying to save everyone he comes across, Carl continues to struggle in his role of leader and must keep coming up with dangerous plans to save his friends and beat the latest challenges of the dungeon.  While mostly serious, there is some fantastic humour and deeply sympathetic moments behind Carl, and it proves fascinating to see him struggle to maintain his anger and place as the reasonable one in the group, especially when it comes to his habit of blowing everything up.  The author also really dials up the rebellious anarchist aspects of Carl in this novel, as he starts fighting back against everyone he holds responsible for Earth’s destruction in some very cathartic ways.  Throw in the continued hints at the character’s traumatic past and his growing connection to all his friends, and Carl proves to be an excellent central character for this incredible book.

While Carl is a great main protagonist, this series would be nothing with his sentient cat companion, Princess Donut, who continues to be the highlight of most of the scenes she is in.  An overly dramatic, imperious and fun figure who maintains many stereotypical cat elements, Donut is the heart and soul of the book, and you have to laugh at all her funny jokes, entertaining reactions and the unlikely friendships and interactions she has.  Dinniman has fun building up the cat aspect of the character in The Gate of the Feral Gods, especially in the sequence where Donut finds herself underwater, and it was so damn entertaining to see her freak the hell out at times.  Much of the book’s humour also revolves around her unlikely partnership with Carl, and the way the two play off each other is just amazing.  While most of her personality and appearance is humorous in nature, it hides a deeper heart to it, as Donut’s child-like nature ensures that she is very reliant on Carl, and it was deeply moving to see them bond even further in this novel, and you can clearly see how close they are, even during the moments when Donut is deliberately annoying her human.  Probably one of the best cat characters in modern fiction, Princess Donut is so much fun, and I deeply enjoy every scene she is in.

While most of the book’s focus is on the central pair of Carl and Princess Donut, Dinniman continues to expand the incredible supporting cast of the series in The Gate of the Feral Gods, and I loved the brilliant storylines and development that occurs around these secondary figures.  This includes the third member of the protagonist’s party, Katia, who serves as the more reasonable and responsible member of the team.  It was fascinating to see how much Katia comes into her own in this novel, especially during a period where Carl and Donut are out of the game for an extended time, and she really steps up as a compelling alternative leader to the supporting cast.  Donut’s manager, Mordecai, a former crawler with issues, was a wonderful mentor figure for much of the story, and I quite enjoyed the interactions he has with the rest of the characters, especially Carl, while his attempts to keep his charges from doing anything too crazy are often ignored.  I also continue to be deeply entertained by the AI running the dungeon, whose over-the-top commentary, descriptions and jokes, add so much awesome and often concerning humour to the story.  There were some hilarious moments in The Gate of the Feral Gods where the AI continued to act a little crazy as its personality evolves to match the dungeon’s participants, including his continued messing with Carl, his weird foot fetish, and its own rebellion against the showrunners and people outside the game who are trying to restrict its fun.  Dinniman clearly had a ton of fun when it came to writing the AI’s actions, and it is so entertaining to see how crazy things get around it.

While all these returning major characters are great, one of the best things about The Gate of the Feral Gods was the way in which Dinniman brought in outstanding new characters, as well as reintroducing figures we haven’t see for a few books.  Some of the best new characters include Louis and Firas, two out-of-their-depth crawlers whom the protagonists must rely on.  Thanks to the encouragement of Carl and the others, they start to become much more effective as the book continues, and I loved their compelling growth in The Gate of the Feral Gods, as well as their impacts in their later books of the series.  I also must mention fun new character Samantha, renamed that by Donut from Psamathe.  A minor deity of unrequited love (or crazy ex-girlfriends), Samantha is a banished god trapped in the decapitated head of a magical sex doll.  Loud, rude, crude and constantly threatening every character’s mother, Samantha is probably the most over-the-top character in the series (which is saying something), but boy is she entertaining.  Perfectly introduced amongst the chaos of this book’s story, Samantha perfectly fits in amongst the main characters and becomes a major comic relief for much of the series.  Other great characters include some other fractious crawlers, the return of Chris from the first novel, who has gone through some major personality changes, a variety of insane gods including some unfortunately named demons, and various NPCs, whose existential plight becomes a major ongoing arc in the series.  All these characters, and more, allow for quite an entertaining and at times moving novel, and I really appreciate how well Dinniman utilises them in The Gate of the Feral Gods.

As with the previous Dungeon Crawler Carl novels, I ended up listening to The Gate of the Feral Gods on audiobook, which is such an incredible experience.  These Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook are so damn good, and it’s one of the key reasons I have been able to so effortlessly binge this entire series.  The narration, done by the very talented Jeff Hays, perfectly captures the insane and over-the-top nature of the series, and so many elements of The Gate of the Feral Gods, including its humour, the intense action, and the impressive LitRPG inclusions, are deeply enhanced by having the story read out.  Hays complements this narration with unique and very fitting voices for all the characters, and I love all the elaborate and often hilarious tones that come out as a result.  It’s impressive how many new voices Hays comes up with each audiobook, and I loved the excellent consistency between audiobooks for the recurring characters.  The long-running voices for Carl and Donut are just perfect, especially as Hays perfectly captures the various emotions hidden within both figures.  I really love how much extra humour you get from hearing Carl’s exasperated voice at times, while the entirety of Donut’s excessive personality, including her hilarious overreactions and continuous outrage, are just amazing.  The rest of the cast are also voiced extremely well, and Dinniman pulls out some fun voices and accents in this book, including an acceptable Australian accent from a crocodile-themed crawler.  However, one of my favourite voices is still the one he uses for the Dungeon AI, and it is so much fun to hear Hays’s voice the various excited, mocking and occasionally deranged announcements and descriptions from this figure.  Throw in some subtle sound effects and vocal enhancements, that add even more umph to the narration, and The Gate of the Feral Gods is an exceptional listen.  I absolutely powered through the 18-hour runtime, and I cannot recommend this format enough, as you guaranteed to have an absolute blast listening to it.

With even more incredible carnage, character development and the author’s incredible humour, The Gate of the Feral Gods was another outstanding novel from Matt Dinniman.  Perfectly continuing the extended Dungeon Crawler Carl narrative and adding in some excellent, long-term characters and elements, The Gate of the Feral Gods is an amazing entry in this epic series, and I honestly couldn’t stop enjoy this novel.  I loved The Gate of the Feral Gods so much that I instantly dove into the next book in the series, The Butcher’s Masquerade, the very second I finished it, and I am so very glad I did. 

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Quick Review – Landfall by James Bradley

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Quick Review, Science Fiction, Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Penguin (ebook – 23 April 2025)

Series: Standalone

Length: 336 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Those in the mood for a though-provoking and powerful Australian crime fiction read would do well to check out the excellent 2025 release, Landfall.  Written by acclaimed Australian author James Bradley, Landfall was a clever and intense standalone novel that presented a gritty crime fiction scenario in a dark Australian future.

Plot Synopsis:

In an already swamped city, a disastrous weather system looms, making the search to find a missing child urgent.

A missing child.

A city on edge.

Time is running out…

The world is in the grip of climate catastrophe. Sydney has been transformed by rising sea levels, soaring temperatures and rocketing social divide and unrest.

When a small girl on the margins goes missing, Senior Detective Sadiya Azad is assigned to find her. She knows exactly what it is to be displaced, and swallowed by the landscape. A murder at the site of the child’s disappearance suggests a connection and web of corruption, but fear keeps eyes turned and mouths closed.

With few leads to go on and only days until a deadly storm strikes the city, Sadiya and offsider Detective Sergeant Paul Findlay find themselves locked in a race against time.

Chilling and utterly compelling, Landfall is crime writing at its best – and a terrifying vision of the future bearing down on us.

Landfall was an excellent and exciting novel from earlier this year that presented a compelling crime fiction read with a complex and emotionally charged background setting.  Taking place in a dystopian version of modern Sydney that is starting to flood due to climate change, Landfall follows Senior Detective Sadiya Azad and her new partner, Detective Sergeant Paul Findlay, as they attempt to find a child who went missing around the Tideline, a slum area of the city that has been most impacted by rising sea levels.  However, they soon find their investigation hampered by multiple elements including corrupt policing, uncooperative family members with their own political agendas, rampart social divides and more.  This proves to be a strong start to Landfall, and Bradley does a good job of setting up the reality of Sydney, as well as introducing the case and some of the key players.

The story takes an interesting turn when a murdered body is found at a site connected to the child’s disappearance.  Assuming the two cases are linked, the protagonists are forced to investigate suspects related to the murder victim and her corporate ties, and the missing child, trying to find out who is responsible, while also dealing with the dark threat of an oncoming tropical cyclone that looks set to destroy half the city.  At the same time, several other key perspective character are introduced, including Tasim, a refugee living on the streets, who witnesses the abduction and finds himself dragged into events, and Sadiya’s dementia-suffering father, Arman, whose fractured mind provides greater context to their family’s history, as well as showing the early days of some of the environmental crisis’s impacting the world.

These character-focused storylines combine nicely to create an intriguing and compelling overall narrative, and I liked the various themes and outlooks at the future they contained.  The main investigative focus of Sadiya’s narrative is well balanced by the more human stories of Tasim and Arman, and Bradley also makes use of some intense flashback sequences to really build up the tragedy surrounding all these figures.  The mystery narrative also goes in some interesting directions, and while the culprit isn’t too surprising, Bradley does a good job focusing on the characters building their case and pulling together the conclusions.  Unsurprisingly, the climax of Landfall comes together amid the cyclone, with all the characters facing the storm in different ways.  This last part of the book, while dramatic and featuring a high-stakes backdrop, was a little rushed, and could have used a little padding to make it more satisfying.  Still, this is a mostly well-balanced narrative that allows for a good conclusion to the main story arc while also allowing Bradley to make all his thematic points.

Landfall ended up being an excellent overall read and Bradley succeeded in pulling together a complex novel with a lot of moving parts to it.  The central mystery element of the novel, while compelling on its own, was greatly enhanced by the author’s examinations of the future, which features some dire predictions and warnings, wrapped up in very human stories to make them even more impactful.  While an excellent police protagonist, I felt that Sadiya’s personal story was a bit overshadowed by Tasim and Arman’s arcs, especially as Tasmin’s story about losing his family to heatwaves and the harsh journey to Australia, as well as the very realistic depictions of dementia with Arman.  All three of these character’s stories are well wrapped up in the final chapters of the book, although I do wish there had been another chapter or two just to showcase what happened in the aftermath.  The overall focus on the potential dire future for Sydney and the world was probably the most impressive and notable part of Landfall, and Bradley provided a compelling, if terrifying, portrait of probable events to come that gives this book a fantastic edge that scrapes the edge of overshadowing the main mystery, and allows for quite a powerful overall read.

With its complex characters, intense story, and compelling visions of the future, Landfall by James Bradley was one of the more distinctive Australian novels of 2025, and I was glad I got the chance to check out my first book from the author.  An extremely interesting novel that blends crime fiction with social messaging, Landfall comes highly recommended, especially for those with one eye on the future.

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Burn to Shine by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Science Fiction, Thriller4 Comments

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 4 March 2025)

Series: Rogue Team International – Book Four

Length: 19 hours and 9 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Bring on the chaos, carnage and craziness with the new epic Rogue Team International from Jonathan Maberry, Burn to Shine, which takes the reader on another dark and over-the-top ride in a deeply addictive thriller.

Readers of this blog will know that I am a massive Jonathan Maberry fan, having had the great pleasure getting to know and power through some of his biggest series.  Thanks to his intense writing, ability to pull together amazing characters and great attention for action and combat, all Maberry’s books really resonate with me, and pretty much all the Maberry books I have read have been 5-star novels in my mind.  Highlights include the dark 2024 science fiction novel, NecroTek, the creepy horror novel, Ink (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), as well as the brilliant Kagen the Damned dark fantasy trilogy, made up of Kagen the Damned (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022), Son of the Poison Rose (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), and The Dragon in Winter (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024).

While the above series and books are all outstanding, my favourite Maberry novels are the iconic and long-running Joe Ledger series.  Following the titular troubled protagonist as he works as a part of an elite government special forces team detailed to stopping terrorist attacks or criminal organisations using advanced and unusual technology, the Joe Ledger novels were impressive and complex thrillers with over-the-top dark elements, that often featured some outstanding science fiction and compelling horror elements.  The original series, which ran for 10 books, features some amazing novels, including Patient Zero, The Dragon Factory, Assassin’s Code, Predator One and Deep Silence just to name a few.  Each of these novels were amazing reads on their own, although I also got really drawn into the ongoing storylines and recurring villains.

Following the end of the original Joe Ledger books, Maberry continued many of his storylines in the sequel Rogue Team International series, bringing back the major characters and setting them up as independent intelligence operatives working for themselves.  This series was also extremely exciting, and I have appreciated the way in which the author has continued some of the complex story arcs and villainous narratives from the first series.  The Rogue Team International books have so far featured Rage (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019), Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), and Cave 13 (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), each of which have been pretty damn amazing and filled with some dark and captivating narratives.

Naturally, I was very excited when I saw that there was a fourth Rogue Team International book coming out in 2025 with Burn to Shine.  The fourth book in the Rogue Team International series and the 14th overall Joe Ledger novel, Burn to Shine brings back the protagonist and his team in a big way, as they go toe-to-toe with some of the most dangerous recurring villains.  One of my most anticipated books of 2025, Burn to Shine had so much potential, and I read it the very first chance I got.

After suffering through another set of harrowing losses and intense damage to their already shredded psyche, the members of Rogue Team International are back in the fray.  Led by troubled veteran Joe Ledger and the enigmatic Mr Church, Rogue Team International continue to fight against elaborate high-tech threats and other strange occurrences across the world.  However, they are unprepared for their next dangerous threat, one that has emerged from the organisation’s combined dark past.

A powerful group of military contractors are expanding their influence across the United States, seeking to cause fear, division and political uncertainty.  At the same time, a series of planned attacks have breached and destroyed many of the world’s most secure bio-weapons research facilities, with the stolen diseases and technology being utilised to create chaos and fear through infected humans turned into living disease bombs.

As Ledger and his team try and counter these attacks, their path leads them to the mysterious town of Pine Deep, Pennsylvania, where a multitude of dark secrets are hidden.  Teaming up with old allies, new friends, and some of the more dangerous denizens of Pine Deep, Ledger and his team attempt to strike back against their enemies before a catastrophe is unleashed across the country.  But can even this deadly and unlikely group of heroes stand up to some of the team’s most dangerous enemies, including a ghost from their past who plans to burn the world to ground? 

Jonathan Maberry once again presents a gripping and deeply exciting tale with Burn to Shine.  A compelling continuation of his long-running Joe Ledger/Rogue Team International books, Burn to Shine had another great story that continued the author’s ongoing storylines by heavily diving back into the series’ past.  An excellent addition to the series that is guaranteed to keep you entertained all the way to the end.

Burn to Shine had an awesome narrative that presents its own unique tale, while also reviving multiple elements from the Maberry’s previous works, to create a novel very much designed for established fans of the author.  Starting off strong with an intense action sequence around the protagonists, Maberry also takes the time to establish multiple parallel storylines and plot threads, some of which are set well before the main narrative and showcase the emergence of the book’s antagonist and the formation of their new plan.  This allows for a very rich and intricate first half of the book, as you are given glimpses of the evil facing Joe Ledger and his team, while also watching the protagonists initially start to move to understand the new threat facing them.  This first half ends with an extended sequence inside a secret vault built to contain some of the worst bio-weapons the protagonists have encountered throughout the series.  Following a harrowing and tense descent into the vault while events get even more hectic outside, the protagonists eventually discover hints at the true mastermind of the new plot, as well as the insidious zombie-making weapon from their past that they seek to unleash.

The second half of Burn to Shine goes in some very interesting directions, as all the major characters start to converge around the town of Pine Deep, the centre of all things weird in Maberry’s shared literary universe.  Teaming up with some figures familiar to Maberry fans, the protagonists engage in a series of raids against the various bases of their opponents in some high-octane and particularly brutal sequences.  Due to the various over-the-top technologies and Maberry’s ability to imagine extremely bloody fights, these are some intense scenes, and the author really amps up the risk factor of the fights for his various recurring characters, with some very dark moments.

All this leads up to the big showdown between Ledger and the antagonists of the book, as he comes face to face with them in a very interesting location.  This showdown was very awesome, especially sandwiched amongst the other various conflict-laden storylines, and the author kept you on the edge of your seat as Ledger comes face-to-face with familiar opponents from the past.  While I love all the action and the way Maberry brought back a lot of previous story arcs, I did think that this ending was a tad rushed, and it relied way too much on having knowledge of Maberry’s first trilogy.  I also wished Maberry had taken some parts of this story a little further, perhaps with some greater tragedy, as it was a little frustrating that he didn’t follow through with the telegraphed death of a major character.  Still, this proved to be an excellent and exciting read, and there is also a very interesting final scene that provides some early, long-sought answers about one of the protagonists.

I have a great deal of love for how Maberry sets out his awesome stories, and his distinctive style always results in an impressive and layered novel, especially when it comes to his over-the-top thrillers.  Featuring a lot of dark, over-the-top elements and an at times near horror vibe, Burn to Shine was another classic Joe Ledger novel, which showcases his damaged protagonists facing off against complicated evil antagonists.  Thanks to the author’s utilisation of multiple character perspectives and scenes set in the past, this proves to be a very detailed book, and I loved the varied storylines that emerged and worked side by side with each other.  This includes a vibrant look at the antagonist’s plans from start to finish, which also involves the re-introduction of previously featured villains.  While not every detail of the antagonist’s sinister and over-the-top plans are revealed to the reader from the start, you get enough to really amp up the stakes of the plot, and it is compelling to see the protagonists act on the limited information they have.  The villainous scheme for Burn to Shine was a tad similar to some schemes from previous Maberry books, but it still produces some particularly captivating moments, especially towards the end.  I also quite enjoyed how Maberry tied the plot into a lot of modern issues, including disinformation, the use of fear in politics, fake news and AI-generated imagery, while giving it its usual excess and ultra-dark flair.  Throw in the author’s impressive action sequences, which are particularly epic, as well as the overly exaggerated villains, and this proved to be a powerful and layered novel that has all of Maberry’s typical charm and intensity.

While I had a ton of fun with Burn to Shine, this was very much a novel for the author’s established readers, although even some of them might get lost at times.  As I have hinted, the main villains of Burn to Shine are figures previously featured in prior Joe Ledger novels, including the series’ big bad, and one antagonist long believed dead.  While Maberry loads up Burn to Shine with a lot of internal recap moments in the protagonist’s head that gives the reader all the context they need to follow the plot, the true threat or emotional impact of these villains is going to be best appreciated by those who have read the previous books, especially Code Zero.  Maberry also takes the story further into his extended universe, as the plot becomes heavily enmeshed with his classic Pine Deep novels and brings in various characters from the original trilogy.  I must admit, as someone who hasn’t had the chance to read Maberry’s Pine Deep novels, I would have been a tad lost here unless I had previously read Ink, which featured several of these characters, and new readers may not quite understand their significance.  Even those who have read all the previous Joe Ledger novels might be a little confused with their inclusion, especially as these Pine Deep characters have never appeared in a Joe Ledger novel before, besides a couple of short stories.  As such, having such a big focus on them is a little surprising, and I felt that it mucked around with the flow of Burn to Shine.  Still, considering how good Maberry is at recapping or reintroducing key characters and storylines, most established Joe Ledger fans should be able to follow along fine, just keep in mind that the author is doing some deep cuts back to his previous novels.

As with all Maberry’s novels, the real heart of Burn to Shine lies in its complex characters, whose powerful stories and dark pasts allow for some deep emotional heft to the plot.  This is especially true for main protagonist, Joe Ledger, whose cracked psyche is always a key part of his appearances.  A very damaged figure, Ledger is a powerful part of Burn to Shine’s narrative and serves as the only first-person perspective character, influencing a lot of the novel as a result.  While on the surface he is a humorous, wise-cracking cowboy, determined to save the day no matter what, deep down he is haunted by all his past experiences, including the deaths of so many loved ones and the trauma of various missions.  Maberry has long perfected balancing the character’s various emotional states in his novels, and while Ledger provides a lot of the book’s humour, his darker side is a constant presence, threating to bubble out.  The author adds in some interesting additional emotional elements for Ledger to deal with this novel, including the return of an antagonist who previously caused him a lot of pain, as well as the protagonist’s battle with the knowledge that he may finally have the names of the people responsible for his earliest trauma.  The later of these is likely to be a big part of the characters’ battle with his vengeful emotional going forward, and it will be interesting to see how Maberry works them in.

Aside from Ledger, Burn to Shine is loaded with a ton of interesting supporting characters and protagonists whose various experiences help to shape the entire awesome story.  This cast includes a huge array of figures from previous Maberry books, and it was fun to see them continue to grow.  The most prominent of these characters include the mysterious Mr Church, whose secretive past has been one of the more intriguing ongoing storylines of the series.  Shown to be almost human in Burn to Shine thanks to the trauma obtained during the previous novel, Cave 13, Church has some excellent appearances in Burn to Shine, especially when it comes to facing down the antagonists.  I loved how well Maberry balanced this more fragile version of Mr Church with his mysterious persona, and the final scene where you get some interesting answers about who, or what, Church is, is very impressive.

The various other members of Rogue Team International are also great parts of the book, including the member of Ledger’s fire team, each of whom have their own distinct personality and complexity in this book.  Maberry provides some great moments for all these characters to shine, and I felt that an interesting early part of the novel where the organisation’s resident psychiatrist, Dr Rudy Sanchez, dives into the trauma all the supporting characters are feeling after Cave 13, added some excellent emotional depth to the plot.  Throw in the fascinating Pine Deep characters I mentioned above, as well as two of Maberry’s more complex and memorable antagonists, who return in a big way here, and the cast of Burn to Shine is very impressive, and you really get drawn into this dark struggles and battles.

Anyone who has read my previous Maberry reviews will know that I had no choice but to enjoy Burn to Shine on audiobook, as it is honestly the only way to enjoy one of the author’s novels.  This is primarily because of the author’s long association with legendary actor and audiobook narrator, Ray Porter, who has lent his epic voice to most of Maberry’s exciting novels, and the result is always something very special.  Porter is the perfect narrator for Maberry’s amazing and intense novels, bringing all the necessary energy, excitement and darkness you need to convey the author’s complex and twisted plots, and he is one of my favourite audiobook narrators.  Porter effortlessly brought Burn to Shine to life from the very first word, and you swiftly get drawn into the story as a result.  Everything from the dark content, the complex story elements, and the extensive action is extremely well conveyed and flows so quickly.  I particularly enjoyed how Porter once again perfectly inhabited all the characters featured in Burn to Shine, with impressive takes on all the unique figures.  Special mention must be given to Porter’s personification of the main protagonist, Joe Ledger, as the narrator has long mastered capturing all of Ledger’s pain, internal conflict and fantastic humour and presenting it to the listener in an outstanding way.  The rest of the characters are also showcased in a really awesome way, and I still love the ultra-calm and controlled voice used for Mr Church, as well as the more sinister and often unnatural voices for the crazy antagonists of the book. I honestly loved every second I spent listening to this audiobook, and it was another outstanding performance from Ray Porter and one of the best audiobooks I enjoyed in the first half of 2025.

Once again bringing all the carnage, complex characters and dark storylines you have come to expect from a Joe Ledger novel, Burn to Shine was another amazing read from Jonathan Maberry, and one I deeply enjoyed getting through.  A very interesting entry in Maberry’s long-running, combined series, Burn to Shine was an ultra-exciting and chilling Rogue Team International novel that proves very easy to power through.  I look forward to reading more of Maberry’s novels in the next few months, and I currently have the tough decision of if I want to read the advanced copy I have of his upcoming release, Cold War, or wait to listen to it on audiobook.

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Waiting on Wednesday – Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Science Fiction, Waiting on Wednesday2 Comments

Due to forgetting to post a Waiting on Wednesday up last week, I’ve decided to do a second entry today on top of my Waiting on Wednesday for The Trespassers by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez.  To make it even more interesting, I’m going to highlight a very awesome and entertaining upcoming book from one of my new favourite authors, Matt Dinniman, with the fantastic and no-doubt bonkers 2026 release, Operation Bounce House.

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Those who have been paying attention to my blog the last couple of weeks will know that I am currently obsessed with brilliant, and slightly unhinged, author Matt Dinniman.  This is because I made the ill-advised decision to try the first entry of his Dungeon Crawler Carl books, and I’ve been unable to stop reading the series since.  Set around an amazing group of characters, including a stoic former Coastguard member, Carl, and his now sentient cat Princess Donut, the Dungeon Crawler Carl starts with the destruction of every building in the world, and then follows the remnants of humanity who are forced to compete in a massive fantasy dungeon as entertainment for trillions of alien viewers across the galaxy.  A unique and amazing take on the LitRPG genre, the Dungeon Crawler Carl novels have been a constant ball of fun, and I love Dinniman’s crazy creativity, great characters, amazing humour, and the general elaborate nature of the entire story concept. 

Due to all these awesome elements, as well as an exceptional audiobook adaptation, I have powered through the first five books in the series, including Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Handbook, The Gate of the Feral Gods and The Butcher’s Masquerade, and I’m currently making great progress through the sixth novel, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride.  All these books have been exceptional, five-star reads, and I will probably dive into the seventh book, This Inevitable Ruin, within the week.

Naturally, after having such an incredible time with Dinniman’s main series, I have become very curious about what other books the author has written or coming out on the horizon.  While I am particularly excited for the potential eighth Dungeon Crawler Carl novel next year (which I have no doubt will be one of my most anticipated reads once I finish This Inevitable Ruin), I also noticed that Dinniman has an intriguing standalone novel coming out in early 2026, which I am very keen to get my hands on.

That book is the epically titled Operation Bounce House.  Set for release in February 2026, Operation Bounce House has an excellent science fiction plot that sees a human colony planet forced to defend itself from killer robots, piloted by bored, corporate-sanction Earth gamers.  This novel sounds really dawn awesome, and it looks set to be one of the more entertaining, and bloody, science fiction releases of early 2026.

Plot Synopsis:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BECOME YOUR PLANET’S FINAL BOSS?

All New Sonoran colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do is run the family ranch and keep his family’s aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking.

But when his planet’s transfer gate finally opens and restores instant travel and full communication between Earth and his planet, New Sonora, there’s a complication.

The colossal Apex Corporation is hired to commence an ‘eviction action’ – exterminate all life on New Sonora in preparation for a reboot. And they charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines, remotely pilot them, and make it a game.

The game is called Operation Bounce House . . .

And New Sonora is its playing field.

Oliver and his friends soon find themselves fighting for their lives against these machines. But with the help of an old book from his grandfather, Oliver is determined to defend the only home he’s ever known.

 

Now this is going to be good.  I love the sound of Operation Bounce House, and it looks like Dinniman is planning to continue his trademark carnage.  Falling into a similar, anti-authoritarian plot about innocent people adapting to the dark rules of the soulless corporate entity trying to destroy them as the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, Operation Bounce House is probably going to feature similar over-the-top action, this time facilitated through various robots.  It will be very interesting to see how Operation Bounce House comes together, and I imagine that this book will be a little less LitRPG and more science fiction with some game-inspired element.  However, even if the mechanics of the novel change, I’m still expecting that Dinniman will provide an intriguing set-up, followed by a comedy-laden narrative, featuring compelling and likeable characters, complex themes, and the author’s fantastic comedic charm.  As such, this will likely be a very intense and exciting book, and I look forward to seeing how the entire awesome story comes together.

I’m going to be honest here; Operation Bounce House pretty much became a must-read book of 2026 for me the moment I started Dungeon Crawler Carl.  Matt Dinniman has shown himself to be an extremely exceptional author, and I have no doubt that his next release is going to be just as impressive as his main series of books.  Operation Bounce House sounds like a particularly amazing standalone novel, and I cannot wait to see what crazy antics and over-the-top moments Dinniman fits into this upcoming release.  One of my most anticipated science fiction books in the first half of the new year, Operation Bounce House is going to be pure, chaotic fun, and I am so there for it, especially if it has a good audiobook version.

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday6 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 19 March 2021)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book Three

Length: 16 hours and 54 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Matt Dinniman’s elaborate tale of carnage and comedy continues with the third entry in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, another exceptional and highly addictive novel that I could not get enough of.

Those familiar with this blog will know that I recently discovered the sheer insanity that is Matt Dinniman’s epic Dungeon Crawler Carl books.  An outstanding LitRPG series that sees Earth demolished by aliens and turned into a massive, multi-layered fantasy dungeon that the surviving humans need to fight through and descend, all in the name of reality television, the Dungeon Crawler Carl novels are an incredible collection of books with some amazing depth to them as they follow two of the more explosive dungeon crawlers, the gruff Carl and his now sentient cat, Princess Donut.  I powered through the first two books in the series, Dungeon Crawler Carl and Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, in no time at all, and both were epic five-star books.  Due to how incredible these first two books were, I just had to continue the series, and I instantly started listening to the third book, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, as soon as I finished off Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and boy was it something special.

After the cataclysmic end to the third floor of the dungeon, Carl, Princess Donut, their dinosaur pet Mongo, and new party member Katia have arrived on the fourth floor.  This new floor opens all manner of changes for the crawlers, with sponsorship programs, advanced living quarters, new crafting areas and a leaderboard, all needing to be considered by Carl and his companions.  At the same time, the difficulty of the game is ramping up, and this new level is far more complicated than anything they have faced before.

Known as the Iron Tangle, the fourth floor of the dungeon is a mass of interwinding subway tunnels and stations built from the world’s pillaged railway systems.  Tied together in an elaborate knot, thousands of different lines populate this level, filled with random subway and train cars loaded with monsters.  To survive and find the stairs to the next floor, the crawlers need to work out the elaborate puzzle of the Iron Tangle, including which areas are safe, where the monsters are coming from, and what trains can be used to get to important destinations.  However, the dungeon’s creators have populated this floor with all manner of nasty surprises, surprises designed to swallow all the crawlers they can find.

Faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle before them, Carl, Donut and Katia will need to work with all the crawlers on the floor if they want to decipher the mystery of the Iron Tangle.  Only by coming together can the remnants of humanity survive the horrors before them and find a way to continue descending to the bottom of the dungeon.  But can Carl trust his fellow crawlers, especially now that he has a bounty on his head and a potential traitor in his own party? 

Wow, wow, wow!  I honestly didn’t believe that the series could get even better than the awesome first book, but Dinniman once again proves me wrong by producing a particularly elaborate third entry that I once again fell in love with.  Featuring a clever and memorable new scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook was an exceptional continuation of the series, bringing back all Dinniman’s great characters, complex RPG elements and insane humour, and producing a particularly special story with it. This is another incredible Dungeon Crawler Carl book that gets a well-deserved five-star rating from me.

Like the previous entry in the series, the plot of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook covers the protagonists’ attempts to journey through a single level of the dungeon, in this case the massive fourth floor, which is made up of an elaborate tangle of monster-filled subway tunnels.  Thanks to The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook having a longer length than the previous novels and not requiring any substantial introduction material, Dinniman is able to spend a substantial amount of time fleshing out the exploration of this level, and the primary focus of the plot focuses on the characters trying to find the various tricks of the Iron Tangle.  While the narrative of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook is a little slower paced than the previous entries in the series, you soon get engrossed in this complex adventure narrative, especially as there is the usual fun humour, cool character dynamics and the inevitable explosive solutions to all the problems the characters encounter.  Dinniman also spends time expanding on some of the background character plots and wider universe narrative threads that give greater context to the events of the dungeon.  While these parts aren’t as prevalent as in the original novel, you still get some interesting continuation of the wider conspiracies and issues surrounding the crawl and the whole series, which come into play in some compelling ways.

While the first half of the book is very awesome and has some great moments, it is the second part of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook that really ensures that readers will come away from this novel particularly happy.  Starting with a fantastic and particularly bloody rescue sequence when Carl and his associates attempt to save a bunch of trapped fellow crawlers and initiate a group stand against the horrors of the Iron Tangle, the plan swiftly breaks down in some particularly memorable ways, with the entire dynamic of the dungeon changing in a single moment.  Other great scenes, including a confrontation between Carl and one of his main enemies in the dungeon, also add to the general drama of the novel, and I love how these complex moments, as well as the entire plot of the second half of the book, perfectly flows from the great build up Dinniman featured in the first half of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, as well as a multitude of other great plotlines the author has been building up throughout the series.

This impressive narrative eventually leads up to the big and massively destructive conclusion of the book, which was a perfect end to such a captivating novel.  Dinniman cleverly builds up the tension in the lead-up to this finale, and you know that the other shoe is about to drop in a big way.  When it does, Dinniman does not disappoint, forcing the protagonist into some elaborate life and death scenarios, including one particularly epic showdown.  I really loved how all these intense and action-packed sequences came together, and you are constantly on your edge of your seat as you wait to see what happens next.  The protagonist’s various creative plans and failed solutions in the face of these over-the-top scenarios really add to the outrageous entertainment value of the book, and I cannot emphasise enough what an awesome conclusion The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook had.  The author also cleverly sets up the events for the next book, with several hints at key moments to come, and you are left eagerly waiting for even more of the series, especially after seeing how crazy and intense things got in this novel.

Dinniman did another outstanding job writing this third Dungeon Crawler Carl book, and I really appreciated how he brought the same energy and level of excitement to The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook.  The reader is once again treated to an amazing amount of complex action, intriguing LitRPG elements, captivating character growth, and the author’s outstanding humour, which equates to a particularly gripping and intense read.  I liked that The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook had a much more effective pace than the second novel, and the entire journey through the floor was very well set out and quite captivating.  While the labyrinthine nature of the Iron Tangle is a little hard to follow at times, I think this worked well in the context of the story, as it helped to underscore the confusing puzzle that the protagonists had to solve, and you really have to appreciate the sheer inventiveness that the author threw into this distinctive fourth floor.

As with the second novel, I felt that people interested in trying out this series really shouldn’t start with The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, and instead they need to read the preceding novels first.  While this third novel does have a bit more internal recapping, as the protagonist thinks back to key events, Dinniman does drop the reader into the story immediately after the closing moments of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, which will confuse most new readers.  The author again builds on the cool LitRPG elements of the previous novels, adding in even more classic gaming features that the protagonists, and through them the readers, need to keep in mind as the book progresses.  All these features have an effective introduction so that anyone can understand their impact, no matter their experience with RPGs, and Dinniman works them into the wider plot extremely well.  As always, a lot of the dryer LitRPG elements of the book are made a lot more entertaining thanks to the over-the-top explanations, clever jokes, and the general insane manner in which the protagonists utilise them, and those reader’s with less interest in stats, abilities or equipment, will still have fun with the scenes focussed on them, especially as they feature some of the book’s funniest lines.  The rest of the novel also features a great comedic tone, and I laughed so many times throughout The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, especially as Dinniman keeps upping the ante with the plot and forcing the protagonist into even more ridiculous scenarios.

This great humour is well balanced by the often more serious character moments that Dinniman does a wonderful job inserting into the story.  Most of these revolve around the perspective character, Carl, who serves as the voice of the entire story.  A sarcastic, gruff and scarred figure, Carl serves as an excellent everyman protagonist for the series, and you soon get very attached to him, especially as he attempts to be the dungeon’s hero and save everyone he can.  The author builds up some really moving storylines around Carl in this third book, and I loved seeing his continued growth as the team’s unofficial leader, as his accurate insights and tactical ideas really move the plot along.  There are some very dramatic moments loaded in as Carl encounters the various dark sides of the dungeon, and I loved the big anti-authoritarian aspect to the character that Dinniman is expanding upon, especially as he witnesses more and more of the dungeon’s cruelty.  The inclusion of the titular Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, a secret in-game book that gives him hints and ideas to survive in the dungeon, was a fun twist, and I loved how it gave him even more explosive ideas, while allowing the author to explore his rebellious side even more.  Despite being a mostly serious figure, there is still a lot of humour around Carl, mainly from him being the straight man in a very ridiculous place, and you have to love his very reasonable reactions to some of the weird things he witnesses.  Dinniman also continues the very funny trend of having Carl gain a well-deserved reputation of being one the craziest crawlers in the dungeon, mainly due to his tendency of solving all his problems with explosives, and there is a lot of entertainment in seeing Carl’s various plans go further off the rails than intended.

In comparison to Carl, sentient cat Princess Donut is the fun face of the team, and it’s impossible not to love her various antics and over-the-top attitudes.  Her many entertaining quirks, including her obsession with fame, hilarious insights into humans, her long-running grudge against all Cocker Spaniels, her relentless use of all-caps in chat mode, and her general cat-like personality all add a lot of amusement to the novel, and you have to love the odd-couple relationship that forms with Carl.  So many of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook’s funniest sequences result from Donut’s antics and Carl’s subsequent reactions, and this novel would not be as entertaining without her.  Despite mostly being a comedic figure, Donut does get some serious interactions with the other characters, which help to showcase her character growth and protective nature.  Her occasional vulnerable and honest discussions with Carl really highlight their bond, and she has one of the best moments in the entire book when she overreacts after a friend is hurt.  I really cannot emphasise enough what a great character Donut is, and I really love that Dinniman decided to make this hilarious sentient cat one of his main protagonists.

I also must mention the newest member of the protagonist’s party, Katia, a shy woman who has taken on a shapeshifting race that allows her to act as an effective tank.  I must admit I wasn’t too certain about Katia as a character at the start of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, due to her understated personality and somewhat random introduction and inclusion to the team in the second half of the previous novel.  However, Dinniman steadily builds up her complex personality as the book continues, and thanks to the continued support of her new party, as well as Carl’s various attempts to hack her race features, she becomes quite an effective crawler, gaining a lot more confidence.  Her unique abilities and likeable personality nicely compliment the already existing team of Carl and Donut, and they end up becoming a well-balanced trio thanks to her inclusion.  The author also sets up an intriguing storyline around Katia’s conflicting loyalties between her previous party and the current group of Carl and Donut, which come into play perfectly during one of the novel’s big moments.  Katia ends up becoming quite an awesome part of the book thanks to these scenes, and I loved the excellent new dynamic she brings to the series.

Aside from these main three characters, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook features a really impressive supporting cast, especially as Dinniman brings back a lot of awesome characters from the previous two novels.  This includes Donut’s pet, Mongo, a giant velociraptor who was once again a fun addition to the plot.  While Mongo does get used a little less in the book thanks to the compact train cars of the setting, he made an impact when he did appear (especially to a certain gnoll) it is very entertaining to see Donut finally able to ride him.  The group’s manager, Mordecai, was once again perfect as the reluctant and exasperated mentor figure, who plays off the personalities of the main protagonists perfectly.  One excellent scene in the book ended up limiting Mordecai’s role in The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, which serves as an effective handicap for the protagonists, while also hinting at Mordecai’s traumatic past, and I look forward to the author expanding on that in the future.

This lack of Mordecai also allows for the author to feature a lot of additional characters, which fits the giant group teamwork focus of the plot, and it was fun to see some of Carl and Donut’s acquaintances from the previous two books return here, especially as several have changed in some very entertaining ways.  I need to highlight the return of antagonist Frank Q, whose big scene with Carl was one of the most powerful moments of the novel, especially as Frank seemingly gets his revenge.  Other previously mentioned antagonists, including some introduced outside the dungeon, are brought back here, often in a big way, and their interactions with Carl are always quite destructive.  Dinniman also focuses on an array of NPC characters in The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, and the dark plight of these poor figures helps to showcase both the protagonist’s empathy and the twisted nature of the entire dungeon process.  Finally, I again need to mention the hilarious AI who runs the dungeon, as the disembodied figure is easily the most hilarious character in the series thanks to his unhinged descriptions, brilliant references, and the twisted way he manipulates the crawlers to get the funniest result for the audience.  I love how Dinniman showed how the AI is starting to crack a little, especially when it begins rebelling against the corporation running the game (how dare they appeal the AI’s decisions), and I laughed so hard at so many things the AI said.  All these characters, and more, were very entertaining to follow, and I love the many rich character arcs and moments that the author cleverly inserted into the novel’s plot.

I have been having an absolute blast with the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, and I didn’t even hesitate in choosing to also listen to The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook on this format.  Unsurprisingly, this was another exceptional listen as the audiobook version of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook really helped to highlight all the best aspects of the book, including the great action, amazing characters and brilliant, over-the-top humour.  Coming in at nearly 17 hours, this was the longest Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks yet (they only get even longer from here), although I still managed to power through it in very quick order.  A large reason this audiobook was so good was because the very talented Jeff Hays once again impressed as narrator.  Thanks to his zany voices Hays makes this audiobook truly come alive, and I love how perfectly he inhabits all the crazy and complex characters featured within this book.  There is an outstanding array of accents, parody voices, and over-the-top tones from Hays in this audiobook, and all the voices were a lot of fun, especially for some of the big or exaggerated monsters.  I again need to highlight his excellent voices for Carl and Princess Donut, and it’s just amazing how he can embody both very divergent characters.  I also loved the voice he used for the system AI, especially as Hays brings out all the disembodied figure’s sass, anger and sadistic comedy with his reading of the announcements, especially when the AI gets freaky or mad.  This Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook also features the voice of Youtube personality The Critical Drinker, who voices a minor character in a well-done, if unnecessary, inclusion.  I felt this entire audiobook came together pretty damn perfectly, including the very funny ad for Soundbooth Theater thrown in at the end, and I honestly don’t think I would enjoy this series nearly as much if it weren’t for these fantastic audiobook productions.  I plan to listen to all future Dungeon Crawler Carl novels on audiobook, and I know I am going to have so much damn fun doing so.

With yet another explosive story, loaded with great characters, clever RPG inclusions and the author’s outstanding humour, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook was extremely epic, and I could not get enough of it.  The best book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series so far, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook was ultra-impressive, and Matt Dinniman did an exceptional job bringing everything together.  I enjoyed this novel so much that I once again decided to start reading the next book in the series the moment I finished this one and then continued after that.  As such, I am currently in the middle of the fifth book in the series, The Butcher’s Masquerade, after loving the fourth book, Gate of the Feral Gods, and both are incredibly awesome and so much fun.

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Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday8 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 6 January 2020)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book Two

Length: 11 hours and 28 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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After falling in love with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book in the epic Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I have decided to continue diving into this incredible series of adventure, friendship and adversity, with the second novel in the deeply impressive LitRPG series Carl’s Doomsday Scenario.  Dungeon Crawler Carl was so damn fun, and I chose to start reading this awesome sequel the very moment I finished the first book in the series.

The dungeon crawl to determine the fate of planet Earth has begun, and it is already the highest rated show in the entire galaxy.  However, the games have only just began, as the human crawlers who survived the training levels of the game now must contend with the horrors of the dungeon’s third level. 

The unlikely team of the pants-bereft hero Carl, his now sentient cat, Princess Donut, and Donut’s pet dinosaur, Mongo, have already survived great adversity in their initial forays through the dungeon, but now the game is starting to get even more chaotic.  Starting off the level with the ability to chooses new races and specialised classes, Carl and Donut have some serious upgrades to face the full horrors of the dungeon, and they are going to need it.

This new level of the dungeon, known as the Over City, is the sprawling ruin of a once vast city, laid low by a devastating calamity.  Many creatures still haunt the now destroyed streets, including the horrifying remains of a once popular circus, while in the seemingly safe town they use as a base, murdered prostitutes rain from the sky as part of a malevolent scheme.  However, while Carl and Donut face all manner of monsters and mayhem tackling these horrors and the quests that lay behind them, the greater danger may lay outside of the dungeon, as old and new enemies from the alien races descending on Earth are determined to make Carl’s journey as difficult as possible.  Can these two unlikely companions and their pet dinosaur survive the carnage to come, or is their doomed crawl through the dungeon about to come to an end?

Well damn, now that was a really impressive follow-up to the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.  Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was an outstanding novel from Dinniman that ups the craziness and ensures that you are still absolutely hooked on its brilliant storytelling, intriguing LitRPG elements and awesome humour.  I frankly couldn’t stop listening to Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and I have to give it another five-star rating for how much fun I had with it.

Dinniman came up with another great story for Carl’s Doomsday Scenario that continues right after the events of the first book in the series.  One of the shorter novels in the series, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario avoids any recap material and instead jumps right into the plot, which covers the entire time the protagonists spend on the third level of the game.  Cleverly bringing in some cool new elements at the start, the protagonists are soon grinding through this new level.  The plot mostly focused around two of the quests that the protagonists choose to participate in, one involving a cursed circus, and the other involving a sinister plot of sacrifice and murder in one of the floor’s main towns.  Dinniman plays through both major plot elements in a similar manner to quests from a particularly deranged RPG game, and you soon get invested in both the scenarios, and the protagonist’s unusual or explosive ways of dealing with the situation.  Both major quest lines involved carnage, exploration, a dash of mystery, and an array of intriguing new characters, and allow for the protagonists to keep getting stronger and more experienced.

These quest-focused sequences are well balanced by an array of events that tie them into the larger series story of the protagonists playing the dungeon game.  The protagonists become involved in several events outside the dungeon which helps introduce long-term antagonists and hints about some of the future obstacles to come.  You also get some interesting updates about some of the recurring characters introduced in the first book, many of whom are clearly going to have a bigger impact on the story in the future.  All these elements blend well into one cohesive and exciting plot, and I loved how well Dinniman balanced the various unique story elements and kept making the overall narrative of the series even more elaborate.  These plots all come together for Carl’s Doomsday Scenario’s big finale, which was as hilariously epic as possible.  Dinniman really ramped up the tension for this final part of the book, and you are constantly on the edge of your seat as you wait to see who survives and how.  An epic story that perfectly continued the overarching Dungeon Crawler Carl narrative, while also providing some very memorable moments that allows Carl’s Doomsday Scenario to stand on its own.

I loved how Carl’s Doomsday Scenario came together, although I must point out that you really need to read Dungeon Crawler Carl first.  The plot of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario directly continues from the events of Dungeon Crawler Carl, and you could honestly combine the two to get one long novel without any issues at all.  Indeed, this story does feel a little like a bridging novel between the introductory first novel and the heavily plot laden third book, although it still works well to tell its own fun story.  While the point-of-view protagonist does recap some events in his head as the story unfolds, new readers trying to start at this second book would likely get lost in some of the plot details.  As such, this is definitely a book for those who plan to read the series from start to finish, and those that are will find that Carl’s Doomsday Scenario features all the very best elements from the initial novel, including a ton of great action, some unique LitRPG elements, and the continued side-splitting humour that made Dungeon Crawler Carl so much fun to get through.

Dinniman makes excellent continued use of the first-person perspective to paint a compelling picture of the protagonists’ journey in this second book, and you really get drawn into Carl and Princess Donut’s adventures as a result.  Thanks to the fact that they are experiencing all these scenarios for the first time, readers with all manner of LitRPG or RPG experience can easily enjoy this novel, and the author does an amazing job combining the more elaborate RPG elements into the larger exciting narrative.  There are a ton of great new elements added in for this book, with things like class and species decisions, quests, elite NPCs, towns and more, adds some additional complexity to the plot which helps to make the story even more interest.  These extensive LitRPG features are perfectly enhanced by the author’s comedic writing, and there are so many great jokes thrust into the story.  This humour is well supported by the book’s overall outrageous nature, and all the over-the-top scenarios the protagonists encounter can be exceptionally funny at times.  Thanks to how well Dinniman writes and combines these elements together, I was so invested in every part of the book, and it was fantastic to see the entire narrative unfold and watch the protagonists evolve with the game.

As with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the emotional heart of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario lies in the partnership between Carl and Princess Donut, and it was fascinating to follow these two unlikely heroes through the dungeon.  Carl continues to be the gruff and over-exasperated central character through whose eyes we see the story unfold.  A tired figure still reeling from the death of his planet, Carl continues to grimly stay alive for Donut’s sake, while also becoming more enraged at the full evils of the dungeon and the corrupt alien corporations controlling it.  I really enjoyed the practical and often quite clever way he addresses the dungeon’s many challenges, and Dinniman does a good job showcasing his evolution as a player, even though he still mainly resorts to explosives and crazy plans.  Indeed, Carl starts to develop a somewhat well-deserved reputation as a reckless figure, which is quite entertaining.

While Carl is the stoic centre of the plot, Princess Donut is the comedic heart of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and you just have to love her entertaining persona.  Despite being sentient, Princess Donut is still very much a cat in nature and bearing, and it is hilarious to see her exaggerated personality clash with the more subdued nature of Carl.  Her ability to get them into all manner of trouble with her fun-loving ways and lack of caution adds some great entertainment to the plot (Goddammit Donut!), while her love of attention and popularity perfectly plays into the reality television nature of the dungeon game they are in.  Donut is an outstanding personality foil to Carl, and this allows for some very entertaining moments as a duo.  However, while on the outside she is still the same silly and haughty cat you came to love in the first book, Dinniman has started to showcase Donut’s hidden depths, and there are some great moments when you come to realise that the cat is growing up and become more mature.  A lot of this lies in the heartwarming relationship between Carl and Donut as the two continue to become a true team.  I love some of the scenes when Carl and Donut are vulnerable with each other, especially when they are close to death, and you realise just how close they’ve become and how much they mean to each other.  This connection provides some amazing moments throughout Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and you continue to become extremely invested in these two’s adventures.

Aside from Carl and Donut, there is an array of additional awesome characters featured in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, including a combination of figures from the previous novel and some new great characters.  This includes Donut’s pet velociraptor, Mongo, who continues to grow into an even more dangerous killing machine.  Despite some continued teething troubles about Mogo’s inability to control himself, Mogo grows into a key member of the team, and that intense scene where he defends Donut from harm cements him as a wonderfully beloved pet.  The team’s NPC tutorial guide, Mordecai, gets an extended appearance in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, becoming Donut’s reluctant manager, and I loved the fun mentor role he adds to the cast, becoming the team’s voice of reason, which is often ignored by the protagonists.  Dinniman also adds in an interesting third member of the party later in the book, who gets an effective introduction, even if they don’t play a major role in the plot this time around.  Throw in an array of determined fellow crawlers, aliens who often have beef with Carl, and some complex mobs and NPCs whose unique stories the protagonists get dragged into, and the cast of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was so damn epic and really enhanced the overall story.

As with the first book in the series, I chose to listen to Carl’s Doomsday Scenario on audiobook, which is frankly the very best way to enjoy this incredible novel, especially as the having the crazy story and the antics of the characters read out is so much fun.  Coming in with a run time of 11 and a half hours, this is one of the shorter entries in the series, and I managed to finish off this audiobook in a few very entertaining days.  I deeply appreciate the fact that Jeff Hays continues as the narrator of this second audiobook in the series, as he really impressed me with Dungeon Crawler Carl.  Hays has an amazing array of elaborate voices that perfectly fit so many of the unique characters featured in this novel, and he carries over several of the key tones from the first audiobook for the recurring characters.  His voices for Carl and Princess Donut are particularly good, and I love how effectively he still captures their complex personalities, including Carl’s frustrations and anger, and Donut’s comedic over-excitement and infectious personality.  His best voice still probably remains the system AI running the dungeon, as the sheer amount of excitement, sarcasm and comedic timing Hays brings to reading out the AI’s notices is so damn good.  Throw in a cool array of new character voices, as well as some modulated tones for characters who have changed race or attributes, and this was such an impressive listen that will have you laughing like crazy.  I cannot recommend the audiobook format of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books enough, so do yourself a favour and make sure to check them out.

My newfound obsession with Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series continues unabated as I powered through the second book, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, in no time at all.  an outstanding sequel that perfectly continues all the amazing story elements from the first book, while adding even more layers to the elaborate scenario.  Fast-paced, constantly entertaining, and with some impressive emotional depth to it, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was particularly awesome, and I had an absolute blast reading it.  Indeed, I loved it so much that I once again instantly dived into the next book in the series, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, which is proving to be just as incredible as its predecessors.

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Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday12 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 21 September 2020)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book One

Length: 13 hours and 31 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Have you ever had one of those books or series that everybody seems to be talking up all the time?  Lately for me that series has been the Dungeon Crawler Carl novels by Matt Dinniman.  An intriguing LitRPG series, the Dungeon Crawler Carl books are a funky and hilarious fantasy and science fiction hybrid that places its outrageous protagonist into an unlikely alien reality show filled with subterranean dungeons inspired from classic RPGs.  A series with a very interesting premise, I have been seeing so much online about the Dungeon Crawler Carl books over the last couple of years, with everyone praising it and really talking it up.  Despite not having a lot of experience with the LitRPG genre (except for Ascension by B. F. Rockriver), I decided to check out the first novel in the series, also titled Dungeon Crawler Carl, to see what all the fuss was about, and boy did that have an excellent result.

When aliens come to Earth, first contact is far more brutal and unusual than you could ever expect.  Instead of communicating or conquering, the aliens instead instantaneously collapse every single human-made structure down into the ground, killing everyone who was inside.  Only those standing outside at the time survived, and they are given a dire choice: either remain on the planet’s now desolate surface with no shelter, or journey down into the subterranean 18-level dungeon that has been formed from humanity’s repurposed buildings.

For those few million human survivors who journey into the newly labyrinth, they soon encounter a fantasy-inspired dungeon, filled with traps, monsters, loot and other dark dangers to navigate.  These survivors, known as dungeon crawlers, need to keep moving downwards in the hope of reaching the 18th floor and the promised reward it contains.  Death and dismemberment are a near certainty in the dungeon, so contestants will need to learn how to kill mobs, find enchanted gear, learn new combat skills or magic and keep getting stronger, all before the level they are on collapses.  However, this dungeon is far more that a contest of might and magic; it is the most popular reality program in the galaxy, seen by untold trillions of aliens, and only those crawlers who can gain a strong following and rich sponsors are likely to survive.

Into this chaotic situation is thrown unlikely hero Carl.  A simple man caught outside in his underwear as he attempted to retrieve his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, Carl soon finds himself fighting for his life in the most ridiculous of circumstances.  Teaming up with the now sentient Princess Donut, Carl finds that the dungeon has a steep learning curve, and he will need all his resolve, cunning and the friendship of a superpowered cat to survive.  However, as Carl and Princess Donut accidently become two of the most popular contestants in the game, they will need to contend with everyone who wants them dead, both from inside the dungeon and without, as they constantly move downwards.  Dangerously overmatched, completely overwhelmed, and with a distinct lack of pants for Carl, this unlikely duo will need to learn how to survive big and show the universe and the unhinged AI controlling the game that they are worth keeping alive.

Goddammit Dinniman, how could you create something so damn addictive.  It turns out that for once the internet crowd had this 100% right, and Dungeon Crawler Carl was everything they said it would be and more.  A clever, intense and overall hilarious romp through a cool LitRPG scenario, Dungeon Crawler Carl had me hooked very early on and I absolutely powered through this epic adventure novel which I just had to give a full five-star rating.

I really, really loved the cool story in Dungeon Crawler Carl, which starts off quickly and never lets up all the way to the end.  Starting with a quick but effective introduction to Carl, which then leads to the world collapsing and him being forced to enter the dungeon with his cat, you are soon immersed in this new crazy world, with some bloody opening fights setting the crazy tone for the rest of the novel.  After an in-depth sequence that explains the rules of the world, Dungeon Crawler Carl takes off again at a fast pace made even more entertaining thanks to the introduction of the now sentient cat, Princess Donut.  Forced to keep fighting through monsters, traps and other obstacles, the action and excitement never lets up, and I really appreciated how Dinniman naturally flowed the protagonists into fresh scenarios, including unusual boss fights, explosive opportunities, and starting a meth war between goblins and fire-spitting llamas.

The second half of Dungeon Crawler Carl goes in some very interesting direction, as the protagonists encounter other Crawlers, with some very different results, while also ensuring the full and often ultra-bonkers horrors of the first two levels of the dungeon keep coming at you hard and fast.  There is some great character development as the book continues, both literally and figuratively, and it was interesting to see the characters evolve to face the unique threats of the dungeon in their own way.  Dinniman threw in some clever and often hilarious solutions to many of the obstacles the protagonists face (although most of them involve explosives), and you’re constantly on the edge of your seat as you wait to see how they will survive going forward.  There is also some excellent universe expansion as the characters experience the reality-television obsessed world outside the dungeon, which often leads to some hints of the dangers to come later in the series.  These upcoming elements are well placed into the book, which allows the readers to anticipate what is to come, while not distracting from the main plot points.  The conclusion of Dungeon Crawler Carl comes a little after the big events of the book, but it sits in a good place as part of the wider series.  This novel ends up being an exceptional read on its own, while also being an excellent first entry in the series that perfectly sets up the many over-the-top adventures to come.

This proved to be a very cleverly put together novel, and Dinniman really excelled at utilising the unique elements of the LitRPG genre and utilising in his story.  Featuring a very cool explanation for why the protagonists are trapped in a fantasy dungeon (alien reality television show to determine the fate of the planet is an awesome plot idea), you soon get engrossed in the LitRPG themes of the book, as the characters are instantly forced to battle mobs to survive.  Due to the time limits built into the plot, the protagonists are quickly forced to adapt to the new way of living (or dying), and the reader is given a crash course in the mechanics of the game system.  I found these to be quite fascinating, and you really get engrossed in the various levelling, skills, magical items, achievements and other elements of the game, which fans of RPGs of all varieties will be familiar with.  The dungeon itself is a unique blend of classic fantasy creatures and tropes, with exaggerated elements of modern human culture, allowing for modern references to go together with fights against goblins and other creatures.  Dinniman also adds in a great reality television element to the plot, as the protagonists are forced to earn followers and appeal to a wider audience to improve their chances, like The Hunger Games on steroids.  The author does an excellent job of setting these unique elements up, and it’s a great extra edge to the typical LitRPG elements.

Dinniman ensures that these LitRPG elements continue to be quite entertaining throughout the entirety of Dungeon Crawler Carl thanks to a variety of factors, mainly humour.  Nearly every scene in this book is incredibly funny of various levels, including entertaining character interactions, reactions to over-the-top scenarios, various subtle jokes, and a large amount of more noticeable adult humour that reflects the crazy situation and big personalities of the plot.  I personally loved how Dinniman enhanced all the game elements of the book, such as item and mob descriptions, achievements, skill discussions and more, by including comedic summaries loaded with jokes, references and the barely controlled fetishes of the AI running the dungeon.  These wacky descriptions made the more LitRPG-heavy parts of the plot flow a lot better, especially as readers with less interest in RPGs can still have fun with these scenes.  Dinniman works to make various other LitRPG elements more entertaining for casual readers in various other ways, such as ensuring all the scenes featuring the chat function are quite distinct and humorous due to Princess Donut’s insistence of only writing in caps.  I honestly was left laughing out loud multiple times throughout Dungeon Crawler Carl, and the sheer ridiculousness of the story, as well as the often quite inappropriate, yet hilarious jokes, was just too much for me.

While there is a definite focus on comedy and jokes in Dungeon Crawler Carl, Dinniman also adds in some real emotional heart to the story, mainly through the focus on the protagonists.  The relationship between the perspective protagonist Carl, and the now sentient cat Princess Donut adds some excellent and powerful depth to the book, especially as they grow to be a compelling team.  While initially thrown together in unlikely fashion, the grumpy Carl and the amusing Princess Donut, who has all the smugness and confidence of a prize-winning cat, turn into the ultimate odd-couple, made even more entertaining by the fact that the cat is much more powerful than Carl.  Dinniman throws in a lot of very entertaining quirks for both characters that makes you love them; however, it is the more subtle examination of the protagonist’s deeper emotions that help to enhance this narrative even more.  This includes Carl’s deep internal anger, brought on by various factors, the despair he feels at the complete destruction of his world, and his continued attempted heroics, even when it puts him at greater risk.  I loved how both Carl and Princess Donut both grew to become quite dependent on each other as the book continued, and while there is still a lot of growth needed for both, you can see that their bond is going to be the powerful centre of the plot.

Aside from Carl and Princess Donut, Dungeon Crawler Carl is loaded with an outstanding array of characters who each bring their own brand of fun to the plot.  I personally enjoyed the protagonist’s guide, Mordecai, a veteran former crawler who provides advice on how to proceed, while also hiding the trauma of his own adventures in a previous dungeon.  There was also an array of compelling and distinctive mobs, alien night show hosts, and other creatures associated with the production, who on the surface are quite entertaining and funny, but whose deeper tragedies work to highlight just how dark the dungeon process truly is.  There are also some other distinctive fellow crawlers thrown into the plot, and it is interesting to see how humans will react to the terrible situation before them, either becoming heroes or dark villains.  Finally, I must mention the AI running the dungeon, who proves to be one of the more entertaining figures in the book, despite not appearing in person in any way.  His very over-the-top commentary and descriptions for all the game mechanics was ultra-hilarious, and there are so many great jokes there.  However, it was the AI’s more subtle actions that proved to be the funniest part of this electronically ethereal figure’s inclusion, as it guides the game to suit its own interests and desires.  This includes giving very specific items to the protagonists to produce the most amusing story, while other rewards and loot encourage Carl to remain barefoot and lacking pants throughout the game for “reasons”.  I felt that this excellent cast really matched the over-the-top story that Dinniman threw together for Dungeon Crawler Carl, and every character made an amusing and memorable impact on the story.

I ended up checking out the audiobook for Dungeon Crawler Carl, which was honestly exceptional, and I cannot emphasise enough just how effective this format enhanced Dinniman’s great story and outrageous humour.  Narrated by Jeff Hays, who might be one of my new favourite audiobook voice actors, all the action, intensity and the distinctive characters of Dungeon Crawler Carl came across exceptionally well in this format, and I absolutely loved how effectively Hays conveyed the entire craziness of this novel.  The narrator provides an excellent voice for the protagonist, Carl, that served as the base tone for most of the narration, and you really get to feel the protagonist’s fear, determination and continued exasperation, especially when he encounters all the crazy twists and inclusions.  Hays’ voices for the other characters of Dungeon Crawler Carl also helps to make this audiobook stick out.  For example, the tone that Hays choice for Mordecai perfectly fit the tired, old mentor, while his Princess Donut voice is so damn entertaining, especially as you can fully appreciate the character’s catlike nature with Hays’ high-pitched and demanding voice.  Hays also captures all the fun features of weird mobs of the dungeon, including goblins and other sentient creatures, and there are some very striking and funny voices featured there.  However, it is the tone he uses when speaking in the voice of the AI running the dungeon that is the best.  Cheerful and sarcastic, Hays perfectly captures this computer program’s weird sense of humour with his narration, and I loved the boisterous way he reads out the achievements, the skills, item stats and more, especially for more colourful descriptions that require accents or other creepier voice changes.  This outstanding narration worked on so many levels with Dinniman’s unique style, and I frankly could not get enough of listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl on audiobook, which is just the best way to check out this novel.

Overall, I had an exceptional time with Dungeon Crawler Carl, and this series instantly became my new obsession.  Fun, outrageous and constantly exciting, Dungeon Crawler Carl lives up to all the hype surrounding it, and I was really impressed with Matt Dinniman’s ability to craft a complex story that will potentially get better with each new entry.  Honestly the best way to showcase just how much I enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Carl is to reveal that as soon as I finished this first book I instantly started listening to the sequel, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and then the third book, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, soon after that.  I will probably end up powering through this series in the next few months, hopefully before the eighth book comes out next year, and I cannot wait to see where Dinniman takes this beautifully unhinged plot next.

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Waiting on Wednesday – Blindside by Michael Mammay

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller, Waiting on WednesdayLeave a comment

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I once again jump ahead to 2026 and highlight an especially awesome upcoming science fiction thriller that I am really excited for with Blindside by Michael Mammay.

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Back in 2018 I had the very great pleasure of reading the debut novel of new author Michael Mammay, Planetside. An intriguing science fiction thriller that sent a retiring military officer, Colonel Carl Butler, to an alien planet to find a missing soldier, Planetside turned into quite the clever and exciting read, and I really got attached to its complex narrative and maverick protagonist. Ending on a massive and well-written twist, Planetside was an exceptional read and was one of my favourite books of 2018. The series continued strong from that point on as Mammary released more cool additions to the Planetside series, each of which pit the protagonist against human corruption and corporate greed in the depths of space with Spaceside (one of my favourite books of 2019), Colonyside (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and last year’s intense read Darkside (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024).

Due to how impressive I have found them the Planetside books soon became a must-read series for me, and I eagerly grab the latest entry as soon as it comes out.  As such, I am very keen to get my hands on the recently announced next novel in the series, Blindside.  Set for release in March 2026, Blindside will once again put the protagonist in great danger as he faces the dark consequences of his past interferences.

Plot Synopsis:

Colonel Carl Butler charges back into the world of military crisis, corporate malfeasance, and intergalactic mystery in the action-packed fifth Planetside novel from science fiction master Michael Mammay.

Carl Butler has returned to his home planet from the moon Taug and is looking forward to some rest and relaxation. But following two mysterious deaths connected with the Taug mission, he realizes that the intruders that recently set off his home’s security system might be looking to add him to the death toll.

Having been Butler’s muscle on numerous missions, Mac is no stranger to getting involved with mysteries that should be none of his business. So when the daughter of one of his gym members goes missing, he offers to help. Mac assumes she’s a simple runaway, but the case turns out not to be so clear-cut. Wondering if these strange occurrences are somehow related, Butler—along with Mac, Ganos, and the rest of his small crew—once again finds himself neck deep in intrigue.

As the clues for the various cases begin to intertwine, Butler sees the hand of an old enemy at work, and…well…he’s never been one to sit back and wait for something to happen. Gathering the team, he heads off across the galaxy to confront his suspects head-on.

But this time, they’re waiting for him.

Blindside sounds like another epic entry in the Planetside series, especially as eternal busybody and constant thorn in the corrupt galaxy’s powerbrokers, Colonel Carl Butler, is once again causing trouble.  Having the enemies come after the protagonist this time, rather than having Butler visiting new locations and uncovering rampart corruption, is going to be a cool twist to the typical Planetside series, and I’m very keen to see how everything unfolds.  You have to imagine that Butler is once again facing off against a corrupt corporation who he has managed to annoy.  However, as Butler has found himself involved in quite a few dark situations throughout the course of the series, the trick is going to be finding out which specific corporation or old enemy (or perhaps multiple corporate opponents) are coming after him.  This should result in an intense and compelling narrative, especially if some of the people close to Butler get hurt as part of the attack against him.

Based on my experiences with this series, I predict that Blindside is likely to be another intense and exciting science fiction thriller, that will include some cool mystery and high-level stakes.  I’m very curious to see how Mammay will handle the investigation in this next novel, especially when it hits closer to the protagonist’s home.  From what I understand, this next book will feature more narration from major supporting character Mac, so it will be interesting to see how this changes the pace.  Mammay will likely also lay in the usual outstanding action sequences, resulting in quite an exciting and powerful read, and I cannot wait to see how everything unfolds.

Due to how damn impressive the first four Planetside books have been, Blindside is already one of my most anticipated books of 2026, and I am extremely excited to read it.  Featuring another awesome plot that will continue the deadly adventures of a terminally nosey old-soldier, Blindside looks set to be one of the stronger books in the first half of next year, and I already know I am going to love it.  I will probably once again try to check out Bindside on audiobook, primarily thanks to the narration of the legendary R. C. Bray, and I have a feeling that this new entry is going to be something really special.

Top Ten Tuesday – Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2025 (Fantasy and Science Fiction)

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, List, Science Fiction7 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics.  For this latest Top Ten Tuesday participants need to list their top anticipated releases for the second half of 2025.  I am planning to do two versions of this list, one that will exclusively look at upcoming thrillers, crime fiction, historical fiction, and more, and this one that will focus on upcoming fantasy and science fiction books.

2025 has so far been a pretty amazing year for books (something I will cover in next week’s Top Ten Tuesday), with some outstanding and impressive novels coming out and blowing me away.  However, the year is far from over and there are so many incredible and epic-sounding novels set for release in the second half of 2025.  To fill out this list I have scoured my list of anticipated upcoming releases and tried to work out which of the books coming out between the start of July and the end of December I am most looking forward to.  I already have a couple of these books in advance, but I think it’s worth including them here, especially as I still need to make time to read them.

I had initially intended to only do a single list featuring all the genres, however, I ended up with way too many awesome upcoming novels on my radar.  So, to fairly feature them all, and to save myself from some hard decisions, I decided to split this post into two separate lists, starting with this one on fantasy and science fiction.  I still had to cut out several impressive upcoming releases, but I was a lot happier with how these lists turned out, especially as I was able to feature so many epic upcoming reads that I am going to have the most fun reading.  Due to how much potential that I think the entries on this list have, several have previously appeared in my weekly Waiting on Wednesday articles, as well as on my recent Winter TBR list.   So let us get to my selections and find out which upcoming novels are my most anticipated fantasy and science fiction releases for the second half of 2025.

Honourable Mentions

Seven Recipes for Revolution by Ryan Rose – 22 July 2025

A cool fantasy debut with an interesting cooking theme that I have had my eye on for a while.

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Katabasis by R. F. Kuang – 26 August 2025

A fantastic dive into academic hell from the acclaimed R. F. Kuang.

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King Sorrow by Joe Hill – 28 October 2025

A very interesting upcoming book from Joe Hill that will see a group of friends suffer the consequences of summoning a dragon.

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Warhammer 40,000: Voidscarred by Mike Brooks – announced for 2025

I’m very excited for the upcoming Warhammer novel by Mike Brooks that will set Aeldari Corsairs against Ork Freebooterz. Brooks is exceptional Warhammer 40,000 author, with books like Warboss, Da Big Dakka and The Lion: Son of the Forest really showcasing his talent, and I look forward to seeing this very fun upcoming book.

Top Ten List

Warhammer 40,000: Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok by Denny Flowers – 1 July 2025

There are several awesome Warhammer 40,000 novels still to come in 2025, but the one I’m currently most looking forward to is the epic novel Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok.  Written by the very talented Denny Flowers who has previously impressed me with books like Outgunned (one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels) and Above and Beyond (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024), Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok has a ton of hilarious potential as it dives into the most insane and diabolical “medical” practitioner amongst the brutal orks.  I already know this is going to be a clever and very funny read (especially after seeing Flowers write ork characters in Da Red Gobbo Collection), and I cannot wait to see what insanity awaits in this cool upcoming book.

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Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch – 8 July 2025

The always outstanding Ben Aaronovitch returns to his iconic Rivers of London series with the compelling upcoming Stone and Sky.  Part elaborate urban fantasy, part clever police procedural, Stone and Sky will see the series protagonist and his unusual family journey up to Scotland on a holiday, only to encounter a new supernatural mystery from the depths of the ocean.  Set to feature another amazing and addictive story told in Aaronovitch’s distinctive style, Stone and Sky will likely be one of the most captivating fantasy novels of 2025 and I look forward to continuing the series.

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Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland – 15 July 2025

In the last year I have had an amazing time checking out the awesome fantasy novels of the Broken Blades trilogy by Mai Corland.  Following several dangerous killers as they are forced to pull off impossible missions for a power-hungry king, the first two books, Five Broken Blades and Four Ruined Realms, have set up an outstanding story with some brilliant characters.  Fans of this series will be getting a conclusion to the trilogy later this year with Three Shattered Souls, which should be particularly epic.  I cannot wait to see how Corland wraps everything up, and I already know I’m going to love it, especially in its elaborate audiobook format.

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The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso – 19 August 2025

Another great upcoming fantasy murder mystery novel I have my eye on is The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso.  The sequel to Caruso’s amazing 2024 novel, The Last Hour Between Worlds, The Last Soul Among Wolves will see the series protagonist caught in a cursed mansion during a doomed will reading.  Looking set to combine a classic murder mystery scenario with Caruso’s elaborate fantasy world, The Last Soul Among Wolves has a ton of potential and I cannot wait to check it out.

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Born of an Iron Storm by Anthony Ryan – 26 August 2025

One of my favourite fantasy authors, Anthony Ryan, returns with the second book in his awesome Age of Wrath trilogy, Born of an Iron Storm.  The amazing sound sequel to his 2024 novel, A Tide of Black Steel, Born of an Iron Storm will continue the elaborate adventures started in Ryan’s last book.  Set to once again feature a cool Norse-inspired setting, compelling characters, and all manner of plots and conspiracies, Born of an Iron Storm sounds pretty damn incredible and I have no doubt this is going to be one of the better fantasy releases of 2025.

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Cold War by Jonathan Maberry – 14 October 2025

The always impressive Jonathan Maberry continues to showcase his brilliant writing skills with Cold War, a fantastic upcoming follow-up to his 2024 dark science fiction novel, NecroTek.  Pitting human scientists and soldiers trapped far away in space against ancient cosmic horrors, Cold War should be another gripping read, especially as the humans are fighting back using their powerful, death-powered alien mechs.  Likely to be another particularly dark and haunting read, Cold War has the potential to be an incredible sequel, and I am very keen to check it out.

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The Blackfire Blade by James Logan – 23 October 2025

Last year I had the very great pleasure of reading the outstanding fantasy debut, The Silverblood Promise by James Logan.  An elaborate and compelling fantasy adventure that saw a young man travel to an unfamiliar city to try and uncover his father’s killer, The Silverblood Promise was an amazing read that blended cool worldbuilding with a great conspiracy storyline.  I had a ton of fun with this first book from Logan, and I have been quite eager to get my hands on the sequel for a while now.  Luckily, I only have to wait a few more months as Logan’s second book, The Blackfire Blade is one of the big fantasy releases of October.  Continuing to follow the protagonist’s quest to find clues related to his father’s murder, The Blackfire Blade takes the reader to another elaborate fantasy city within the same realm and forces the characters to uncover the new setting’s dark secrets to get what they want.  I have no doubt this is going to be an impressive book, and I cannot wait to see how Logan continues his amazing series.

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Our Lady of Blades by Sebastien de Castell – 6 November 2025

One of the more impressive fantasy novels coming out later this year is the very cool novel, Our Lady of Blades.  The next book in Sebastien de Castell’s The Court of Shadows series, Our Lady of Blades will be another standalone novel in the author’s Greatcoat universe, that will build on the previous novels Crucible of Chaos and Play of Shadows.  Our Lady of Blades will explore a new location in this universe and will feature a The Count of Monte Cristo inspired plot, as a mysterious masked duellist returns to a corrupt city to get justice and restore her family through any means necessary, all while the big conspiracy of the series continues to unfold.  Based on how exceptional the last two books in this series have been, I feel that Our Lady of Blades is going to be a top book of 2025, and it is one I am especially keen for.

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The Strength of the Few by James Islington – 11 November 2025

Probably the most anticipated book for fantasy fans coming out in the second half of 2025 is the elaborate and intriguing novel, The Strength of the Few by James Islington.  The sequel to Islington’s highly acclaimed The Will of the Many (one of my favourite books, audiobooks and Australian novels of 2023), The Strength of the Few, will continue to follow Islington’s compelling protagonist as he attempts to undermine the empire that destroyed his family, while uncovering the hidden secrets from the past.  However, this book looks set to be even more complex as different versions of the protagonist are split amongst three separate worlds, each of whom must face its own troubles and adventures.  I am extremely intrigued to see how this split narrative is going to work out but based on how damn exceptional The Will of the Many was, I have very little doubt this is going to be a particularly epic novel.

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Star Wars: Master of Evil by Adam Christopher – 11 November 2025

The final book that I want to highlight on this list is the impressive and character-focussed Star Wars tie-in novel, Master of Evil by Adam Christopher.  Set to follow Darth Vader during his early days as a Sith Lord, Master of Evil will provide some complex insights into this iconic villain’s mind as he attempts to uncover the true dark side of the Force.  With a very cool plot idea, and an even more awesome cover, Master of Evil has certainly caught my attention, and I cannot wait to see Christopher’s take on this legendary Star Wars character.

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That is the end of this list.  I am extremely happy with how my latest Top Ten Tuesday article turned out, and this list contains an intriguing collection of upcoming fantasy and science fiction books that should prove to be incredible reads.  I think that every one of the books I mentioned above has some amazing potential, and most, if not all, will probably end up with a full five-star rating from me.  Make sure to also check out my next list where I dive into upcoming thrillers, crime fiction, historical fiction and more.  Let me also know if any of the above interest you and let me know what your most anticipated releases for the next six months are in the comments below.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Young Adult2 Comments

Publisher: Scholastic Audio (Audiobook – 18 March 2025)

Series: The Hunger Games – Book 0.5

Length: 12 hours and 48 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed author Suzanne Collins presents the next epic and heartbreaking entry to her iconic Hunger Games series with the brilliant prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, then you’ll probably be more than familiar with the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, as well as the major film franchise that it spawned.  Set in a dystopian future where 24 teenagers are forced to fight to the death each year, the Hunger Games franchise is a very cool and inventive young adult series that expertly blends great characters, an overarching anti-authoritarian narrative and a ton of complex action with its excellent central concept.  I have been a massive fan of the Hunger Games since watching the first movie, which I went into blind and ended up deeply enjoying.  I have since read all the books, including Collins’s previous prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents, all of which are extremely awesome and contain exceptional stories that cleverly add to the larger setting.

While I have enjoyed all the awesome Hunger Games books that Collins has so far written, there has always been one intriguing story from the universe that I always felt needed to be expanded on, that of the rascally old drunk mentor Haymitch Abernathy (played perfectly by Woody Harrelson in the films).  I especially have always wanted more detail about Haymitch’s own Hunger Games, which were briefly summarised in the second novel, Catching Fire.  Well, Collins has just granted one of my fondest literary wishes as her latest book captures just that with Sunrise on the Reaping.  Sunrise on the Reaping has been very high on my to-read list since it was first announced, and it was one of my most anticipated novels of 2025, as well as a much-anticipated film in late 2026.  I had a real blast listening to it, and boy did Collins take her story to all the dark places I wanted, and further beyond.

May the odds be ever in your favour!

As the dawn breaks on the 50th annual Hunger Games, few people have cause to celebrate, even young District 12 bootlegger Haymitch Abernathy, whose birthday unfortunately falls on Reaping Day each year.  Despite growing up in a totalitarian dictatorship, Haymitch believes that he has a good life, with friends, family and the love of his life.  However, he is unprepared for just how badly a single moment can change everything.

Selected as one of his district’s Hunger Games tributes, Haymitch suddenly finds himself torn away from everything he loves and must contemplate fighting for his life to survive in the Capitol’s arena.  However, this is no ordinary Hunger Games, it is the second Quarter Quell, and twice as many tributes have been taken from each of the districts, ensuring that his games will be the largest and most brutal battle ever seen.

Forced to compete alongside three other District 12 tributes, including one of his best friends, an oddsmaker whose family prospers by betting on the games, and the most stuck-up-girl in town, Haymitch knows that his chances of survival are slim.  However, something within Haymitch wants to fight back against both the Capitol and the controlling President Snow.  Finding unlikely allies, Haymitch seeks a way to make his impending death mean something and to strike a blow that the Capitol can’t ignore.  But can Haymitch survive long enough to make his stand, while still keeping true to his own loyalties and friendships? The fires of rebellion start to burn here, but Haymitch will soon find out that when flames start, people get burnt.

Well hot damn, that is how you do a prequel.  Suzanne Collins once again shows why she is the leading lady of dystopian young adult fiction, with the brilliant and powerful Sunrise on the Reaping.  A devastating prequel to her original Hunger Games trilogy that perfectly tells the haunting tale of Haymitch Abernathy, Sunrise on the Reaping was an exceptional novel that I can’t help but give a full five-star rating to.  This is a must-read for all fans of the Hunger Games series, but be warned: you won’t be prepared for how tragic the book gets.

I honestly have so much to say about the epic new story that Collins came up with for Sunrise on the Reaping, although I really don’t want to ruin anything for those who have yet to read it.  I will say that if you think you know the story from the summary in Catching Fire, then you are very, very wrong, as Collins twists everything you thought you knew about the 50th Hunger Games and Haymitch Abernathy, while breaking your heart in so many ways.

This dive into tragedy is very well established, and Collins does a brilliant job of initially setting the scene around young Haymitch and showing his early life, family and the other connections he has around District 12.  It doesn’t take long for Collins to turn the expected narrative on its head, thanks to a very clever bait-and-switch, and from that moment on, you really don’t know what to expect.  While much of Sunrise on the Reaping does follow the story beats you would expect from reading the previous books and from Catching Fire’s summary, Collins keeps cleverly turning or twisting them around, so that events like the Tributes parade, the pre-game training and the interviews go in some surprising and often even more traumatic directions.  At the same time, Haymitch has interesting interactions with an array of great supporting characters, many of whom will be very familiar to those who have read the previous Hunger Games books.  All this works to provide much more depth to a story that could have simply been about a massive teenage deathmatch, and which helps to drag you even more into the story, especially as it gives you some intriguing context about Haymitch’s upcoming actions.

Things get pretty crazy once the characters get into the games proper at around the halfway point, and Collins keeps this part of the story fast paced, as you watch Haymitch navigate the arena, surviving the fights and trying to enact his own plans.  This is the part of the book that really deviates from the previously shown version of these games, and I loved how much more detail and complexity Collins gives this latest batch of carnage as Haymitch tries to enact his own hidden goals alongside the previously known narrative.  This works to form quite a compelling plot, which I won’t talk about too much to avoid spoilers.  I will say that there are some truly devastating moments, and you cannot help but feel despair as you witness what really happened to Haymitch and his fellow tributes.  There are so many heartbreaking scenes scattered throughout this part of the book, as well as some great moments of rebellion and humanity, all of which keeps you hooked as you wait to see the brutal final moments of these games.  Collins does an amazing job wrapping everything up in a powerful way, although the conclusion is guaranteed to gut you.  While you know something bad is coming, the full enormity and devastation of the ending really does break you and ensures that will come away from Sunrise on the Reaping haunted and with a deeper appreciation of the rest of the series.

I deeply enjoyed how this epic novel came about, as Collins delivered a complex, powerful and distinctive character-driven read that has the right balance of moving character arcs, desperate survival, brutal tragedy and clever word building, all brought together by a series of shocking twists and heart-breaking reveals.  Once again told exclusively from the protagonist’s perspective, you witness events through the eyes of the young and rebellious Haymitch, which narrows the reader’s vision of the plot.  While I do hope that the film makers show some alternative perspectives like they did in the original Hunger Games films (i.e. what was happening in the control room), I think that this single-character perspective worked extremely well for the book, allowing the reader to get closer to the protagonist, appreciate his emotional reactions to the dark events unfurling around him, while also provide a great outsider perspective to the craziness of the Capitol and the arena.  Collins utilises this to tell a dark and haunting tale, and you are soon inundated with the many injustices Haymitch experiences that Haymitch experiences as he makes his may towards the inevitable Hunger Games.  I really appreciated how well Collins set out the various pivotal events of Sunrise on the Reaping, especially as there are some subtle hints about some of the big events cleverly scattered throughout both the early part of the book, as well as the brief synopsis of the games featured in Catching Fire.  I felt the author did an excellent job pacing everything out, and the reader is constantly on their toes as unexpected events hit the protagonist, and you never quite know what is going to happen next.

As with most of the books in this series, I found Sunrise on the Reaping to be a novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers, including both its intended young adult audience and older fans.  Thanks to the protagonist covering his adventure from start to finish, new readers can easily jump into the series here if they wanted to and not lose any of the book’s intensive impact.  Unsurprisingly, though, Sunrise on the Reaping is going to be best enjoyed by those readers who have enjoyed the rest of the Hunger Games books or movie adaptations.  Collins layers in a ton of references, cameos and hints at events to come, throughout the course of Sunrise on the Reaping’s plot, and eagle-eyed readers will have a lot of satisfaction picking up on them.  I personally loved some of the clever references to the previous prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents, including one scene where President Snow utilises some of his knowledge gained from his sojourn to District 12 to rattle Haymitch.  I also quite liked the author’s depictions of the games 24 years before the events of the first novel, and it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the events, especially after the more basic version that was showcased in A Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents.

One of the things that fans of the series will no doubt be interested in seeing is how the events of Sunrise on the Reaping are widely different to the summary included in Catching Fire.  While certain broad strokes of the event are the same as what Katniss and Peeta saw in the recording, most of what happened in the actual games and its lead-up is vastly different, with Collins showing some very surprising motivations and hidden events throughout the course of the book.  I found this to be extremely fascinating, mainly because it so cleverly invokes the overlapping theme of Sunrise on the Reaping: control of information as a powerful tool of authoritarian governments.  There are some very clever scenes where the Capitol edits and rewrites key events of the plot to suit their own propaganda, and it was fascinating to see tragedies, injustices and occasional flashes of kindness hidden away or completely erased to make Snow look good and Haymitch and the other tributes look like animals or noble patriots.  This allowed Collins to hide a very compelling early rebellion storyline amongst the events of the book, which puts the events of the main trilogy in a whole new light and makes you full reevaluate some of the supporting cast members.  Collins did this in a very clever manner which doesn’t devalue or contradict the events of the other Hunger Games novels but which allowed Sunrise on the Reaping to stand out as a major entry in the larger canon, with events that would resonate down the years.  I really cannot emphasise enough what an impressive act of long-term series writing this is, and you can tell that Collins put an exceptional amount of thought and planning into bringing this unique story to life.

This compelling read features an excellent and varied array of major and supporting characters, including a whole collection of major existing characters from the franchise, as well as several great new figures.  Collins wrapped some amazing storylines around these outstanding figures, and I was really impressed by how attached I grew to several of them, even though I knew what their eventual fate was likely to be.

Due to his role as the book’s main narrator and point-of-view character, most of Sunrise on the Reaping’s focus was around the young Haymitch Abernathy, and it was particularly fascinating to see a younger version of this iconic figure.  Initially shown to be a hopeful and confident teenager with ambitions of love and a future, you soon become quite attached to the young Haymitch due to his selflessness and his willingness to protect his friends and loved ones leading up to the games, as well as the inherent rebellious nature that makes him a target of the Capitol and Snow.  However, as the book continues and Haymitch experiences multiple tragedies, including a series of dark deaths, you witness his spirit start to break piece by piece.  While you had to know that Haymitch was going to have a hard time in this novel, especially after seeing the drunk and damaged figure from the original trilogy, it was still very heartbreaking to see every dark event that befalls him, especially while witnessing all his thoughts and emotions.  I really loved this deeper dive into Haymitch’s life, especially as you get to see why he had so little hope or resolve when you first met him in The Hunger Games, and this makes his entire story from the main trilogy even more impactful.  A truly amazing origin story for one of the best characters in the Hunger Games series.

Aside from Haymitch, Sunrise on the Reaping contains an outstanding array of supporting characters, many of whom Collins makes shine in the time that they appear.  This includes several great new figures, primarily those fellow tributes of Haymitch, whose story alongside the protagonist is highly impactful.  I’m not going to go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, but I felt that several of these new characters were extremely cool, and will no doubt become even larger than life on the big screen.  Highlights for me include Wyatt Callow, a young oddsmaker whose family business makes the other tributes distrust him; Louella McCoy, the youngest tribute from District 12, whose story is especially tragic; and Ampert Latier, a tribute with connections to a major character from the original trilogy.  Lenore Dove Baird, Haymitch’s love interest back home, is a very enthralling figure who has some potential connections to a major figure from A Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents, which allows for some very compelling and moving scenes.  Other interesting new figures included the cruel Capitol escort, Drusilla Sickle, and the reptile-obsessed stylist Magno Stift, while several other great characters step up in their own way.  However, it was the final District 12 tribute, Maysilee Donner, who really stole the show for me, and her fantastic wit and brutal barbs helped turn her into a major favourite of mine, especially when you realise that she isn’t as stuck up as people believe she is.

Collins wraps up this cast with several characters introduced in the original trilogy who have some memorable appearances here.  However, they aren’t just there to please the fans; Collins used them strategically to give a lot more depth to some of these recurring characters as you witness early key events in their personal history.  Many of these appearances helped to underscore why they are so willing to rebel or help Katniss, and I loved how well they were featured in the plot.  Special mention must go to a returning President Snow (the only character to appear in all five books), who was a spectacular antagonist in this latest Hunger Games book.  The author made sure to showcase Snow at his most cruel and vindictive during his scenes, and Collin’s use of him here was a pure masterclass of evil that you had to love.  I also need to highlight the fantastic deeper dive into Plutarch Heavensbee, whose motivations during the Catching Fire, are a little clearer after reading Sunrise on the Reaping, and it was awesome, if initially a little surprising, to see him so well utilised in this novel.

Overall, I think that the character work in Sunrise on the Reaping was quite exceptional, and I loved how well all these characters were featured in this book.  While the particularly large cast of supporting characters did mean that some tributes weren’t as well featured or explored as they could have been (this is also a side effect of there being twice as many tributes), the figures who were highlighted more than made up for this, and I loved the various complex and tragic story arcs that surrounded them.  I cannot wait to see how many of these characters come across in the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping film, although based on the recent casting announcements, they are going to shine so brightly when they appear.

As with the rest of the books in the Hunger Games series, I chose to listen to Sunrise on the Reaping on audiobook, which is an exceptional way to absorb Collins’s dark and brutal tale.  Featuring a runtime of just under 13 hours, Sunrise on the Reaping has a decent length that I managed to move through quickly.  Thanks to some great narration and an excellent pace, the audiobook format did an outstanding job of enhancing many of the best elements of Sunrise on the Reaping, especially the central characters and the emotional depth of the protagonist.  The narrator of this audiobook, actor Jefferson White, was particularly effective, and I loved how he brought the story to life with his voice.  His take on many of the characters was pretty damn perfect, with his voice for the young Haymitch being particularly effective.  His young Haymitch, which was the default tone for much of the audiobook, was a great take on a younger Woody Harrelson, and I really felt that he captured the characters many nuances and emotions.  I also liked how White tried to sing out the various melodies that were so intrinsic to the plot of Sunrise on the Reaping, which ensured that they were a little more impactful.  This outstanding narration really helped to enhance my enjoyment of the books’ epic plot, and I honestly felt that this was the best way to enjoy this exceptional addition to the Hunger Games franchise.

I think the above five pages are more than enough to showcase just how much I loved Sunrise on the Reaping, which was such a brilliant addition to the Hunger Games series.  Suzanne Collins honestly outdid herself with this incredible prequel, and you will not be prepared for how complex and emotionally traumatising this outstanding novel is.  I honestly cannot not stop thinking about how Sunrise on the Reaping turned out and this is easily one of the better books (and audiobooks) I have so far enjoyed in 2025.

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