Ratings60
Average rating4.5
A pantheon of forgotten gods. An old grudge between a talk show host, an heiress, and the man they shattered along the way. A rapidly deteriorating AI system. An inconvenient tiara upon the head of a friend.
It is bedlam on the eighth floor.
As management reels from the unexpected conclusion of the seventh level, the surviving crawlers stumble onto the eighth and find themselves scattered. It’s a map based on Earth’s final days before the collapse, where ethereal, intangible ghosts of humanity go about their lives, oblivious of the impending doom. Living amongst these ghosts are monsters based in Earth lore. “Legendary” creatures tied to the geographical location they inhabit.
Each team of crawlers is given a task: find and capture six of these beasts. The captured monsters will be turned into cards. Cards that can be summoned into battle again and again. The stronger, the deadlier, the better.
At the end of the floor, the bad guys will also have decks, and they will have some of the most powerful cards available. So it’s crucial to assemble the toughest squad possible.
But, like always, there is a catch. There’s always a catch.
As Carl and Donut know all too well, just because someone is captured, it doesn’t mean they have been tamed.
Her name is Shi Maria. She’s easily the most powerful monster in their area. If they want to survive, they must capture her. But she is no ordinary beast. She’s intelligent. She was once married to a god, a god who is now missing. Her special attack is known to drive one insane. They call her the Bedlam Bride.
“Beware, beware. Beware the Eye of the Bedlam Bride”
Featured Series
7 primary booksDungeon Crawler Carl is a 7-book series with 7 primary works first released in 2020 with contributions by Matt Dinniman.
Reviews with the most likes.
4.50/5.00
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride is an excellent name for this book. Simply awesome. This book delivers a powerful punch and exceeds expectations for book 6 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. The authors fabricates a fun and innovative combat style in this book which is just pure fun. Like book 5, book 6 leans in the horror of this genocide committed by the villains. There are moments where I felt as hopeless as the crawlers. Matt Dinniman has finally managed to wrench the emotions from me that was always needed for this series.
The struggle between the mudskippers, the AI, the syndicate council, the faction teams and the crawlers is simply excellent and super fun. The ethical dilemmas in this book makes me pause and reconsider this book. Is this really just lit-RPG, or is it as deeply thematic as many science fictions stories? The book evokes anger and not just the genocide but the gleeful exploitation of the survivors. It also makes us think, can consumerism really take such a horrible path ? Is this a dramatic version of our future ?
Carl's character takes an important step ahead as the fellow crawlers recognize and admit the role he plays. He has become general Carl. I cannot wait to see the aliens get slaughtered in the next book. Princess Donut takes a step back in this book, which I am disappointed by, but its okay. I am torn as to what I want from the series. Is it better to stay in the dungeon and entertain ? Or is the political intrigue of the galaxy a better choice to quickly end the series. I am not sure. Based on the story so far, I believe we will spend several more books in the dungeon.
The plot for this book is top quality. Just excellent. So many unexpected twists and turns, so many hopeless moments mixed with moments of hope.
Now get out there and Kill! Kill! Kill!. This Cascadia needs to die a slow painful death.
9/10
Everything was cool, that is all I have to say.
Another whale-sized book, another read-through-the-night plot, more interesting characters and surprising twists. It's getting darker and sadder.
And the aliens' goings-on are taking up more of the pages. These my eyes glaze over, there are too many groups and members of those groups, too many mythologies, gods, demi gods, inferior gods that are sisters and wives of the same junior god. So confusing! I just slide over it and hope it doesn't trip me up somehow, later.
I'm caught up now. I think the latest book has just been released so I'll probably have to wait several years before the San Francisco library will let it out of there hands. I find it shocking that the nearest library that has this book in any format is on the other coastline from me!