Early on in this series, Donut received a magical crown and of course she put it on before reading the description. The warning on the crown stated that the wearer would become a member of the Blood Sultanate and would not be able to leave the 9th floor of the dungeon without killing every other member of the Sultanate. This was a permanent liability as removing the crown does not negate the effect. She eventually replaced the crown, but that too was a mistake, because it allowed that same crown to be forcibly placed onto the head of fellow crawler Katia in a later book. At that point there was no way that both Donut and Katia could both reach the 10th floor, but it was a problem for another day. No longer. The 9th floor, known as Faction Wars, is finally here and it is one of the most deadly floors in the dungeon. Add on the Donut/Katia situation and there is no way that Carl makes it to the 10th floor without losing someone he loves. 

This entire series is weird, over complicated, and often inappropriate, and it just keeps finding ways to be more of all three. Any hope that this series would steer in the direction of a more traditional dungeon crawl ended long ago, so all you can do is buckle up and go along for the ride. I have come to care for the characters, and I do enjoy the additional layer to the story that comes with the revelation of the galactic conflict going on outside the dungeon, so I have no plans to stop. However, things are also getting so ridiculous that I have asked myself more than once "Why exactly am I listening to this audiobook?" I'm not sure what it says about me, but despite the many flaws in this series, I will eagerly look forward to the next book.

It isn't just me either, as this series is wildly popular, and in August of 2024 it was announced that Universal and Seth MacFarlane have collaborated to acquire the rights to turn it into a TV series. I'm not sure the world is ready for a show based on these books, and I am pretty certain they will screw it up, but I will still have to watch it just to bear witness to the insanity of this decision.