Delicious in Dungeon 14

So while I have been reading the German edition, I suppose this applies to any translation.

I rather enjoyed this finale of the Delicious in Dungeon series, along with the preceding books. I initially got into the series after watching the Netflix series with some incredulity and much enjoyment. The TV show is a pretty good translation of this source material overall.

After the show ends (at the time of writing on Netflix at least), the party continues on its descent into the dungeon. Soon afterwards, the tone of the series becomes a bit more series. The overall themes remain the same, but there comes a plot twist in who the main antagonist is revealed to be.

That twist is perfectly understandable, and fits well into the themes of the series. The major criticism I'd level against it is that it is a little too obvious: from the first moment it is hinted at, it becomes very clear.

The books then explore in flashbacks how the dungeon came to be, which adds a welcome alternative to merely recounting yet another dungeon monster's details and the obligatory recipe after its defeat. However good the flashbacks are at fleshing out the characters, they do not add much to the overall plot twist reveal. This is driven home mostly by the fact that the party themselves become aware of this reveal last, at which point the reader has been informed of it a handful times already, i.e. whenever some other group of characters learned about it.

The themes become a bit darker and more philosophical as well, but not jarringly so. Questions such as what it means to the nature of life to consume or be consumed, what consumption does to the consumer, etc. are expounded in more detail -- but always within the framework set by the plot, and rarely more heavily than necessary.

Finally, the last book wraps up the ending -- which holds few surprises, but ties up all loose plot ends rather neatly, if in a mildly unspectacular way. It's safe to say that while the first half of the series suggested some reasonably happy ending, the latter half threw that into doubt. So to see characters realize dreams (for the most part) was fairly satisfying.

In the end, I gave it the five star rating because it's "just right". All ingredients have their moment, but none take away from the others: the drama, the humour, the deep reflection, the plot -- both in its epic arcs as well as the more episodic forms -- the characters, etc. It's a truly well balanced meal.

Just... sometimes having a less balanced experience knock it out of the park on one axis is more enjoyable. But that doesn't take anything away from this one.