I was a bit less struck by this volume, although it remained a fairly enjoyable read.

The book opens well, with best-laid plans ganging agley and the party soon stuck in an unexpected and perilous situation. There's also some interesting social bits creeping in as we learn more about the harsh "rules" of adventuring.

Unfortunately I felt the adventure rather bogged down, with the peril drawn out longer than I felt was interesting. Once I realised the course they were stuck on, I had to slightly mark time while waiting for them to get there, because the actual journey felt rather repetitive. I prefer dungeoneering sections to be mostly glossed over, with only the punchy sections shown.

The reunion and the 18th floor revived my interest and I enjoyed reading about them. However, the climax of the book felt, well, boring to be honest. The final battle is very long and drawn out, but of course we know the outcome. I also found the descriptions felt increasingly unlike the atmospheric touches I expect in a novel, and increasingly like artistic or stage directions, as though the author were actually telling us what the manga or the film of this scene should look like. I'm sure that's a consideration these days but it didn't feel right for a novel. Unfortunately I also found the repeated scenes of people charging up newer and more impressive secret powers not to be very interesting.

Fundamentally, what I find enjoyable about these books is a light-hearted mixture of adventure, socialising and discovering a fantasy world. The author's notes to this book explain that they wanted to focus heavily on the dungeon itself this time, and unfortunately I don't find the mechanics of the dungeon very interesting. This volume falls short on the conversations and interactions between ordinary people that I find interesting, and places an increasing emphasis on Dungeon Stuff and on heavy-handed foreshadowing of Bell's epic destiny. I suppose an epic destiny was inevitable in this series, and I'm afraid I will not retain my interest in the face of it. I prefer light-hearted adventures and romance in dungeon-town. ( )