Each floor of the dungeon in this series has a unique theme and rule set, and this is true for both floors included in this book, the 10th and 11th. The 10th is a racing format where the crawlers are split up and competing in insane race stages against teams of NPCs, and sometimes each other. Each race has a different rule set and severe consequences for anyone who comes in last. This is a complicated set up that can be difficult to follow at times, but it is offset a bit by the 11th floor, which is the titular Parade of Horribles, and is a rather simple concept. The AI that runs the dungeon continues to become more unstable, and external political forces also get involved to make this one of the most chaotic books in the series, and that is saying something. So has the story remained compelling, or has this series finally jumped the shark?

It is really getting close to the latter as it feels that Dinniman just wants to make every floor more ridiculous than the one before it. I have also begun to struggle with the sheer number of characters and NPCs involved in the story, and it makes it so that I care little about them as individuals. Combine that with complicated sets of rules and secret character plans that are based on obscure items someone happens to have in their inventory, and I have become less attached to what is going on. Now there were some bright spots in this one, and I did get a chuckle of the Karaoke scene, but overall I hope the scope is reeled in a bit for the next one. After these two floors, the number of surviving crawlers is now pretty low, so maybe things will start to feel more manageable. I am invested enough in the series to keep going, but I do long for the earlier days of the dungeon where things were a bit simpler. Which also makes me interested in the upcoming TV series based on this series, even if I am skeptical that they can truly capture the magic of the main characters when adapting to video.

Jeff Hays is the narrator of the audiobook version and this is the first time in the series that I felt like reading might have been a better option than listening. I think Jeff spent half the book screaming in a myriad of different voices and it just got annoying after a while. Yes I get it that races are supposed to be high stakes and full of adrenaline, but it went too far. Save my eardrums Jeff, scream less in the next one.