The Butcher's Masquerade Review

Written: 15-02-2026

I think at this point it is safe to say I am a fan of Dungeon Crawler Carl so I am not going to go into the details that are persistent across the series in this review. If you want my opinions on that check out my other reviews for books in the series.

The Butcher's Masquerade has a couple of unique elements that made it really interesting to me. The fact that the hunters are there and are aliens who can be killed made for a good twist. This also really changes some of the tactics used quite a bit. Carl's gambit at the start of the book was a real highlight. The addition of guilds also mixed things up and allowed more collaboration without the side characters taking too large a role. However, I did miss the Katia being around since she went off on in her own party. The whole Butcher's Masquerade concept is also really well thought out and allows for some great interactions between all the crawlers and hunters since they are forced together.

I think Signet was one of the weaker parts of Carl's Doomsday Scenario for me and her return here was the weaker part of the book for me, especially the quest where they take the castle for her. It felt like it was really taking away from the interesting things happening in the rest of the plot at the time. However, when they get to the masquerade and Signet is involved it does all come together very well.

A few more bits that I really enjoyed, were the bargaining to get the special abilities for Bomo and The Sledge and how they were used. The way the NPCs were sent to the later floors. The fight with Vrah and then the con which Carl had to go to and interact with her mother. Throughout the book, the AI starting to show cracks. How the hunters reacted when it wasn't as easy to kill the crawlers as they expected it would be. And the epilogue, which showed it isn't just Carl breaking the game.

Overall, another great entry to the series and possibly one of my favourites. As the series goes on, I'm more and more interested to see what happens on the 9th floor. Other than the dip in pacing with Signet this is an excellent book in my opinion.