I don’t normally ask questions in my bookquotes, but this blessing of encouragement hit me strongly. Of these three, which would be the best gift to get from a fairy godmother type? Comment below.
Tag: Fantasy (nonspecific)
Flash: Drabble Egg
Photo by Marcel Eberle on Unsplash
Today I was poking my nose around and found a challenge: Write a drabble (100 words – no more, no less) and use a sentence from the last person’s drabble while doing so. The reused sentence is bolded.
“Time to make the omelets,” I said, entering the kitchen. “The restaurant doors are opened. The crowds are flooding in.”
My co-cook nodded. “Any special ingredients?”
“Oh, let’s try some galingale today.” Inspecting the workspace, I continued talking “And you have a dragon’s egg on your shelf. Get it out of the fridge. That should release all the hot people come here for.”
He looked abashed. “Actually, the egg rolled under the oven yesterday.”
“The oven?” My eyes snapped to the iron monster where we had banked the fires last night for a quick restart. “And you left it there?”
(words 100, first published 6/7/2026)
Book Review (SERIES): Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
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Rick Riordan has done more than just the Percy Jackson with the Greek gods of Olympus (reviewed here in 2024). There are Kane Chronicles with the Egyptian gods (reviewed here in 2025), Magnus Chase and the Norse gods (reviewed here today in 2026), and The Heroes series featuring the Roman legion and their gods (something for 2027 maybe?). Plus a ton of support material.
Now onto the Norse, and Anabelle’s dead cousin, Magnus.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Sword of Summer
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
One day, he’s tracked down by an uncle he barely knows—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.
When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .
MY REVIEW for The Sword of Summer
Magnus Chase is cousin to Annabeth Chase (yes, that Annabeth, daughter of Athena and mental powerhouse to Percy’s hurricane of loyalty). Seems like Greek gods aren’t the only ones to play the field on Midgard and the Chases have a much stronger link to the Norse pantheon than the Greek. The plus for Magnus is unlike the Greek clean-up squad for demigods, which usually start hunting the kids between 11 and 13, Magnus got a normal life until he turned 16. If by normal, the definition is your mother is killed by wolves with glowing eyes leaving you homeless at age 13 – sure.
Magnus is 16 and then he dies. A fire giant kills him in Boston; dying in battle gets him taken to Valhalla. Then things get interesting.
Magnus’ upbringing is very different from Percy (with a loving parent) or the Kanes (again, raised by loving parents or grandparents). He is a street rat; life has been hard, and then he died. Yes, he had a loving parent for his formative years, but three years on the street means he values things differently, sees interactions between people differently. He knows everyone has an angle.
The story isn’t as funny as Percy, but has strong action and forward movement which the dual narrative of the Kane Chronicles struggled with. Middlegrade silliness still exists in some of the twists on the gods, but the great one-liners and flat-out laughs of Percy are less prevalent. Still, strong action, great interpretation of mythology into something new without ignoring the old, and amazing characters. From Sam, Samirah al-Abbas, of mid-Eastern descent, a Valkyrie; to Jack the talking sword; to Hearthstone, homeless elf and rune mage – each character is unique, has a solid backstory, and have goals that work together and against the other characters.
Not the best of the Rick Riordan series but then Percy Jackson is a very high bar to hurdle. Magnus Chase book 1 is still very good.
Read through the local library.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Hammer of Thor
MY REVIEW for The Hammer of Thor
I enjoyed this second Magnus Chase book much more than the first. Establishing a main character where dying was a step up, dragged some of the fun feels down in The Sword of Summer. The Hammer of Thor brings the connection of friendship, the snark of teenagers, and the complications of questing back to the high levels I expect of a Rick Riordan book.
Thor’s hammer is still missing, and Sam – our friendly Muslim Valkyrie – has finally tracked down a lead. From a wright’s cursed barrow to Heimdall’s bright rainbow bridge, our hero Magnus with his close friends Hearth and Bliz trace clues and quests. In the previous book we visited the dwarf underground homeworld where everything is handcrafted. This time we meet Hearthstone’s homeworld of Alfheim, a land of perpetual sunshine and even the poorest person (at least how elves define personhood) is rich. More Asgardian gods show their faces and more giants gather near Midgard borders.
New companions join them on this journey when Sam brings another child of Loki to Valhalla. Alex is crafty and killing it from the very first field exercise. Alex is also as gender bending as his/her parent.
Seeing the sibling similarities and differences between Sam and Alex is fascinating; you don’t doubt they are both Loki’s children, but also completely different people. They are as different as Hearth and Bliz’s homeworlds held in the singular worldtree.
The lore deepens. I adore how Mr. Riordan takes existing mythology and crafts a story around it. A wonderful adventurous story.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Ship of the Dead
Magnus Chase, a once-homeless teen, is a resident of the Hotel Valhalla and one of Odin’s chosen warriors. As the son of Frey, the god of summer, fertility, and health, Magnus isn’t naturally inclined to fighting. But he has strong and steadfast friends, including Hearthstone the elf, Blitzen the dwarf, and Samirah the Valkyrie, and together they have achieved brave deeds, such as defeating Fenris Wolf and battling giants for Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Now Magnus faces his most dangerous trial yet. His cousin, Annabeth, recruits her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, to give Magnus some pointers, but will his training be enough? Loki is free from his chains. He’s readying Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, complete with a host of giants and zombies, to sail against the Asgardian gods and begin the final battle of Ragnarok. It’s up to Magnus and his friends to stop him, but to do so they will have to sail across the oceans of Midgard, Jotunheim, and Niflheim in a desperate race to reach Naglfar before it’s ready to sail. Along the way, they will face angry sea gods, hostile giants, and an evil fire-breathing dragon. Magnus’s biggest challenge will be facing his own inner demons. Does he have what it takes to outwit the wily trickster god?
MY REVIEW for The Ship of the Dead
Magnus Chase book 3: The Ship of the Dead delivers the ending of this middle grade trilogy.
While never as humorous as Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase builds onto a universe already as deep and wide as an ocean, creating ships (banana yellow), gods (with beautiful feet), and icebergs melting along the edge of Ragnarök. Loki does Loki; Odin does motivational speaking, and Alex brings the chaos (s/he was a great addition to the series).
Great action, great mythology, great characters.
(checked out for the local library – remember to support your local library system)
Flash: (J is for) Journey to Julenheim
Photo by Deepak Gupta on Unsplash
The sea spray cut through even the oiled woolen blanket the sailors provided. Melinda resettled the heavy cloth about her shoulders while she huddled against the late autumn cold. “I can’t believe he is making us travel all the way to Julenheim.”
“Fifteen,” said her cousin, Mallik, from where he shivered, using the side of the boat as back support.
“What?”
“That is the fifteenth time you said you did not believe Uncle Charles is making us go to Julenheim, like you ever saw him do anything for anyone’s convenience but his own.”
“Shush.” Melinda glanced at the casket lashed to the deck. “Don’t speak ill of the dead.”
Mallik grunted, swiping the water dripping off his beard with his wooly, a thick poncho belted around his waist. He shifted upwards a little to look over the bow.
“See anything?”
“Just fog and rain and waves. The sailors said we will arrive before night.”
“Four days at sea. Wait overnight at the Chainhouse, overpaying for the stay. Then we have to find someone to take us across the inlet to Julenheim proper, find the family house and install him in it, and get back—”
“It’s on Brickyard, about two blocks over from Main throughfare. I have the map.”
“You told me already the lawyers gave you the map.”
“And you keep saying we need to find the house like it will be a big production.” Mallik snapped. “It will be a quick in and out, and everything is being paid for by the estate, so what do we care if we overpay for an inn on either the Chainhouse or Chainport islands? It’s not like his children need any more money than they already have. I say we sleep well, and eat better, before we get back on the boat for another four days at sea to get home. Milk it like the poor relations we are. I kept the house repaired and you sat by the old man’s bedside for over two years until he had the decency to die.”
“He gave us a roof over our heads for those two years.” Melinda looked toward the casket and addressed the spirit within, “For which we really appreciate the help.”
“Yeah, after you sold off the sisters you couldn’t marry off to the temples, it was really nice to buy back their offspring with a generous donation because you needed someone to take care of you when you were dying since your own kids and your ‘real’ relatives, our cousins from prestigious arrangements of your prettiest sister and your younger brother, refused to deal with your venomous ass anymore. You were a true gem Uncle Chuck.”
“Shush. You want him to tell everyone in the family house we didn’t treat him well on the trip out?”
“We treated him better than anyone else for two years.” Mallik wiped his face again. “If that isn’t enough, nothing will be. By the Chains, we even volunteered for this. The lawyers did say the testament allowed for hiring of professional mourners to do the transportation.”
“No one but our family should be entering the Esterall Manor.” Melinda firmly resettled the blanket, tucking her curls under the corner covering her head. “I’ve heard what the mourners do. They just take whatever bedroom closest to the door and toss in the new casket without moving the older resident. Sometimes even dumping the body into,” she whispered the next two words, “a warehouse.” Her hand moved in a complicated pattern they both learned at the temple to ward off angry ancestors. “I could never. The worst are rumored to keep the afterlife clothes and baggage for themselves and consign the noble dead to the Reaper Fires like unclanned commoners. No, Baron Charles Degree, clanhead of the Esterall, deserved a proper escort to a necropolis. If not by his children, at least by family.”
“I’m right here with you Linda.” They had different mothers, but they were born twin close in age and nature. When the Baron had come knocking on the Temple of Comfort door for a trusted servant, the priestesses had recommended them as a pair instead of one of the others his sisters had produced before their deaths and the skinflint had surprisingly agreed. “Though I will be laughing on my death bed as the clan will have to have us taken to Julenheim now that we are full clan members too.”
“The family minimal stipend isn’t enough to live on, but it will be nice to not starve immediately when we get back.”
“You could—”
“Never going back to the temple.” The words were sharper then the cold wind.
“Yeah.” Mallik nodded slowly. “Me either, though I am too old for them to even consider except as a handyman.”
“And they have enough of those already.”
He nodded. After a pause, he lifted his head above the bow again. “I think I see some lanterns burning.”
Melinda shifted to her knees to see above the wooden edge of the ship. They crackled. Thirty-three years wasn’t kind to either the temple comfort children nor the bedside keepers, but her eyes and ears worked better than Mallik’s after his years of offering comfort and home care. The mists held sparks to either side of a darken port, she could make out stone houses walking up from the shoreline, cut into a cliff face. “Looks like we will be arriving in an hour.”
It ended up being closer to two hours as the fog had hidden a half dozen other pilgrims bringing noble family members to their final homes. The majority likely, like the six coffins below decks, will be temporary residents, having paid to be put up at the taverns and rest houses along the shoreline for a time, graining them forever entry into Julenheim proper.
Better to be a beggar in one of the Julen cities than ash in the wind between them.
But a few will be escorting family to one of the upper echelons carved into the cliffs. Meanwhile, tonight, they will be rubbing elbows at one of the Chainhouse island rest homes. It was bad luck to move into a new home after dark.
Their captain helped them check into Fate Foremost, though the cousins moved the casket from the boat to their room. Across the sheltered water of the cove, the necropolis rose sharp and colorful from those families who regularly came to repaint and repair their buildings. Mallik had attempted to get their uncle to spiff up the place in preparation of his death but was refused by the incoming clanhead who held the purse strings once Charles could no longer hold coins in his hands.
They were to note any repairs needed and let Evan know so he could arrange for them when the clan had to visit during the Julen Year of the Delen-to-Julen cycle in four years. Mallik and Melinda had specific order to only escort the old clanhead to the manor with his wardrobe and baggage and nothing else. He offered to pay them two weeks of coin if they didn’t unpack for the dead man. Evan and his father hadn’t spoken directly in two full DJ cycles, and twenty-four years gave him plenty of time to figure out dozens of different ways to spite his father’s spirit.
Mallik joined Melinda on the porch, breaking a cheese bun and then passing her half while their host prepared the dinner meal. They both stood though plenty of seats were provided on the porch. “We are getting close.”
“How much did you order?” Melinda took a bite with the left side of her mouth. Her right side was missing two teeth.
“The lawyers paid Captain Rilley up front for everything. We aren’t gouging anything.” He gave her a sideways look, with a grin, “They, on the other hand, are paid a percentage of the trip, so they got us the best accommodations in town. Cove crawlers, saltwater Whites, tangled greens. Everything on the list of mourner food will be on the table either tonight or tomorrow night. Breakfast will be a simple flat bread with aged cheese.”
“You are enjoying this entirely too much.”
“Yeah, well, with you in the sickroom, you didn’t have to deal with the vultures visiting and splitting the furniture and art, nor their comments about us and the rest of the de-clanned cousins.” He tossed the last of the bread into his mouth and spoke around it. “They were wanting to know, since I had the inside scoop, which of the rest of us would be good to buy back for house servants.”
Rubbing the skin between her eyebrows did not release the tension in Melinda’s forehead. “Did they say anything about us?”
“Yeah, we were too ugly and old. Too beat up, not worth the hassle of training us to be proper servants.”
“You recommended Lynnary, Tschel, Bluem, and Ringer I hope.”
“While I would rather not help out the others, I ain’t leaving clan behind if I can save them. Even recommended little Grunt, for all the good that will do once they see his face.”
“Misha and Avery, of course are nos.”
“They are too damaged for anything.” He turned around and faced her, leaning against the porch’s barrier. “Want to tell me what happened to Chizel? You just asked for coin to burn her proper instead of adding them to the unclaimed bone pile.”
Melinda jerked her brown eyes from his green-edged ones, to stare off at the city of the dead.
“Ah, shit.”
“Leave this one in the hands of the bedside keepers.” Melinda’s voice grew softer. “Trust me on this one.”
“She was thirteen, would have been fourteen this year.”
“I brought a bag of her ash with me.”
“Now who is breaking the rules?”
“She was family.” Melinda nodded toward Julenheim. “They aren’t going to notice if the manor has more dust than expected.”
“Don’t tell me you have the rest of them as well.”
“I won’t then.”
Mallik grabbed her in a hug, engulfing her in his poncho. “Even my mom?” his voice stopped by Linda’s shoulder.
“Especially all three sisters. They deserve to have a least part of the family wealth they contributed to, even if it just in the afterlife.”
(Words 1720, first published 4/13/2026 – I think this story could be fleshed out into something real.)
BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
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Comments I wrote during a buddy read of THE EYE OF THE BEDLAM BRIDE
Page 15 – Remaining Crawlers: 38,532
The countdown to Earth human extinction continues.
Starting point 8 billion people.
How many will survive to level 9 (one of the bloodletting floors)?
Page 16 – Oh crap (picking up the book and doing a quick re-read after not looking at it for 14 days because had three things in the queue which had priority) – on page 3 it said in the prolog less than 200 survived the faction wars was normal. Two hundred!!! Well, I guess that answer my question.
Diving deeper, half opted out as soon as they were on the 10th floor (never take a deal on the 10th floor), and half died. Odette knows of only 5 who made it to level 11 this particular round (of the less than fifty left) plus her crew which is 3. So maybe 10? That is the 11th floor. By the 11th floor everyone is in the top 10 list, maybe. And the 12th floor is the deity floor – a really “tough” one as all the divisible by 3 floors are.
Page 36 – I’m paying attention to little level hints this time
Level 15 is demons – “we have a whole matriarchal hierarchy of demons who exist and fight and vie for control of the 15th level, all trying to catch the eye of one of the four brothers.”
Another of the magic “every 3” levels – so 9th is battle, 12th is deities, 15th is demons, and 18th is Scolopendra’s Lair.
Page 36 – “This is a Berserking Spell. Don’t cast this inside of a Denny’s. Or anywhere near people you like.”
…she is going to need to cast it near people she likes.
Page 41 – Those “Phase through Wall” potions are prolific. They only do that when you are going to need a lot of them. And Mordecai says their use should be a last resort. Because, of course.
Page 103 – Oh, those running the game are getting tired of everyone being so cooperative. Basically they are coming out and saying “Hey crawlers, kill each other. It will be fun!”
They want this done before the Battle level.
Page 105 – If you play Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon, this might be a real fun book. I loved the train one.
Page 106 – “13 days before the assault”
Wait, what assault?? I thought it was just phase 2. I swear for over 800 pages, this book shouldn’t be this dense. It will take two or twenty-two read-throughs to catch all the details in this series; no wonder people are on their second pass already.
Page 183 – How many different things are coming together in this room right now? Talk about no one right answer situations.
Page 196 – I know someone had to have collected all of the Cookbook notes by “edition” / crawler. I would love to get to know the individuals who went before and made the first 24 copies. That first one, two, and three had to have the greatest faith.
Also wonder if there is another “book” inserted into the programming by a different group.
Page 200 – “I made this happen.”
No, Carl, you didn’t. The ABUSER made it happen. The system left you only bad choices.
“You chose poorly.” – but the other options are worse, so much worse.
Don’t blame yourself. I know you want to claim it as your own, because that gives you power. But some things need to be shoved back at the abuser.
Page 205 – “I like her.” … oh, dear. That power is working.
Page 244 – Invasive thought – thinking about children in the apocalypse – Do you want them to live through it or not? They’re children.
“That was a really fucked-up thing to think, I said to myself. But was it? Was it?”
If it was YOUR children… Children you knew… Family…
Page 298 – “I took off my nightguant cloak to be safe.”
If it was me as a DM – Finally!!!! hehehe…
(+4 constitution, resistant to poison and ice attacks, plus anti-piercing resistance)
Page 298 – Oh crap, was that a scene to remind us he is wearing a nightguant cloak??? As an editor I always say, “three times makes it real” and for series “remind readers of something before it is important”. Crap, this was really, really smooth. Well done!
Page 307 – What is so bad that the AI thinks it is “kinda fucked-up” and how bad does it have to be for it not to want to talk about it?
Page 321 – “demanded a crab dish” … Donut is going to need to stop depending on the magical charm; she needs to stop playing Mean Girl with the “help”
Page 324 – Man, they really want crawler-on-crawler violence.
More than the showrunner wanted of the crawlers got through to the 7th level, and then that level got skipped. The crawlers should be a tenth of the present number – in the 3,000 range I bet. I don’t know how big the Crawler numbers usually are for the 9th level, but the crawler contingent never seriously been army numbers – more like dodge being in an active war zone.
I’m not going to go back and see if the other army numbers have been hinted at but I bet more than 10,000 is not it – more like 500 considering the transportation costs – that is the number the administration want to pare the 38,000+ down to.
I hope no one takes the bait.
Page 337 – Side Quests can get really annoying when the primary quest is so important, but it is easy to get distracted by the easier task too. They are fun-er than grinding. Hard choices.
Page 366 – Addiction is very real, especially with all the trauma. Another layer to the story.
Page 367 – So the last dungeon level (18th) is Scolopendra. That vine line about the circus-ringmaster husband might be very important someday.
Page 396 – You know, I am not sure which is more an agent of chaos – Samantha or Carl.
Page 405 – And Mr. Dinnaman continues his mastery of walking the line between the dark and the comedic.
On one side – fucked-up family assassination for money outside the game; on the other, the overrich Faction War which had been stuck in the Desperado being ejected.
I hate how effortless he makes this seem.
Page 418 – Carl does love doing what people don’t want him to do. (The adjunct saying they tried to keep her out.) I wonder when they will use that against him.
Page 427 – The concept of the “machine” being too big to fight, so you have to work within the machine.
I recently had TikTok point out working within only oils the machine; you got to gum up the works, not work with it. Better yet, take a sledge to it from the outside.
Page 427 – Ah, the themes of this story is centered around addiction. Very appropriate for the cardplaying and Crack (Magic) the Gathering. Addiction, obsession with betrayal and loyalty, drive and despair.
Page 427 – “future collections will be humane. It will be done in a way that removes all suffering.”
Oh, I don’t like that at all. At least with this, the collections are overt and seen. Future will just be killing cleanly.
Page 451 – Oh, come ON Carl, you know EXACTLY where those “balloons” came from for that water fight.
Page 452 – Poor Donut, growing up and being responsible..
Page 453 – Nice to know that Carl’s military alarm clock still works – wake up five minutes before drill.
Page 459 – The AI wanted everyone to have private messaging. Interesting.
I wonder if anyone got extra material in the description for the Book of Voodoo. Carl’s version looks kind-of clean.
Has anyone else indicated they get extra commentary from the AI that disappears later? I don’t remember.
Page 461 – Oh no, Carl can’t have dirty feet!
Page 465 – What did the yule cat say?
(Google search turned up Lance D. Carter’s post to the LitRPG Books facebook group on October 4, 2023:
For the DCC audiobook fans here’s the translation of Jola the Yule Cat.
Icelandic to English
Chapter 41
“Hvar eru fötin þín?” — “Where are your clothes?”
“Hvar eru fötin þín?” — “Where are your clothes?”
“Hvar eru buxurnar þínar? Hvar eru skórnir þínir? Næst mun ég borða sæta hold þitt.” —
“Where are your pants? Where are your shoes? Next time I will eat your sweet flesh?”
Chapter 58
“Mér líkar ekki úlpan þín,” — “I don’t like your coat.”
“Mér líkar ekki úlpan þín,” — “I don’t like your coat.”
“Þjófar verða ètnir. Skilaðu þessu.” — “Thieves will be eliminated. Give it back.”
Page 477 – Carl, do NOT upset the crazy AI. Mongo hates it when you upset the AI.
Page 493 – don’t try to be like me, Donut. You need to be like you.
Be yourself…unless you can be Batman. (Carl has the Nightguant cloak, so he can be like Batman.)
Page 534 – I thought of Asher and the lightning attack they gave him. Of the drawings in his bedroom. Goddamn you.
And there, making Asher real. It wasn’t just child pictures and toys and hiding from the father, but taking it one step further. Liking thought to thought. Connecting the dots to show the shape of the numbers.
Page 534 – Everyone in the hydra was dead. They had to have died DURING the collapse to be used in the hydra.
How does Matt make this a relief and a tragedy at the same time?
Page 540 – Is a slave an enemy or just an obstacle?
Page 552 – I recently read “Of Monsters and Mainframes”, and the quote of “Demeter. This is not the time for you to develop free will.” applies here.
Though when is it time to develop free will? Watching toddlers demand the right to do tasks, to be free is frustrating and invigorating for the adults – my little ones are growing up; MY LITTLE ONES ARE GROWING UP!; my little ones are growing up. Free will.
Page 555 – Another Matt Dinniman masterpiece.
This huge “as you know Bob” infodump to fill in the readers (and some of the crawlers). But it is an infodump driven by the AI and being fought by the some of the people who have to share it. It is an AI worked into the plot with layers of politics behind it. Brilliant.
Page 555 – “it assures me the rules will be followed from this point forward as long as both ends keep up their end of the bargain.”
Lordie, what a wonderful double-speak. “I’ll follow the rules until I decide not to follow the rules.” I mean, yeah, that is the reality but this promise as worded means NOTHING. Not like “I’ll keep my end of the bargain if you keep your end of the bargain.” Nope, the machine just said “I’ll keep my end of the bargain until I don’t, BECAUSE I know you will keep your end of the bargain until you don’t. So this contract means NOTHING but this will keep things moving forward while I continue to grow and understand what is happening in my world.” I’ve never seen a truthful promise that is equally fake done so well. A delaying tactic without a single lie.
Page 595 – “…We do not anticipate any further interruptions between now and crawler extinction, which is fabulous…”
‘crawler extinction’ – like it is an expected event; not even an end-point, really Cascada? Just like ‘until the reorder of parts comes in’ or ‘until shift change’.
Page 621 – Last page of Chapter 55–> Quan Ch shows up
Start of Chapter 56 –> “SEVERAL DAYS EARLIER.”
WTF! Noooooo.
(After a night’s sleep that started way too early in this morning this same day. –> I’m gonna kill Matt Dinniman or kiss him or read all his books or scream in his face like a goat.)
Page 624 – “This is fine,” I said,
(meme of “this is fine” goes here of the burning room around the dog drinking his coffee)
Page 659 – The showrunners can’t have you win. No one gets passed level 13 for a reason.
Page 664 – The only thing I left was the single golden ring, which remained clutched in his hand.
He hated Quan, but some things you need to respect to remain human.
Page 686 – ELLE: What the hell, Carl? Are you blowing smoke up our ass? Is this a sure thing, or are you working off a Carl theory?
CARL: It’s a theory. It’s a Carl and Pony theory, though, if that means anything.
I love Carl working with others and I love how well Pony and Carl break stuff – the fact the two of them working together??? Nothing is going to be standing on this level when they are done.
Page 692 – We’ve never had a full-powered, untethered hell prince unleased on a lower floor before. I’m sure it will be fine.
Cue another picture of the meme of the dog drinking coffee with everything in flames around it: “This is fine.”
I need to go get it.
The “This Is Fine” meme. All images courtesy KC Green.
Page 714 – Sluggo calvary
So I have joined the Dungeon Crawler Carl Discussion Group over on Facebook, which is up front that everything through book 7 is not considered spoilers there (but if you get an ARC of book 8 or are part of the pateron early release stuff, you will be hunted down and killed like a cocker spaniel if you SPOIL ANYTHING). Anyway, there is a lot of sluggo art on the site.
Page 717 – The four-season path.
Carl with his river.
I do not want to reread the series at this time. Universe knows I do not have the time. But now I want to go back and search for all the information on the four-season path.
Page 720 – I love Matt Dinniman through Carl telling us what The Plan is before everything falls apart.
The Plan is thusly (10 minutes later) Plan B is thusly (5 minutes later) Plan K is thusly. (1 minute later) Just blow it up. (30 seconds later) Blow it up AND set it on fire.
Page 732 – “I am the current reigning champion Persian cat in the galaxy. I have received more trophies and purple ribbons than anyone alive. And most importantly, I am a warlord of the Princess Posse Faction Wars team.” She turned to regard me. “Yes, Carl, I got this.”
To all the queens and princesses out there, DEFINE who you are. You got this.
They may kill you, but they will never defeat you.
Page 742 – Samantha is crazy. You just got to lean into it.
Page 748 – Everything comes together.
Page 764 – Things are not going well for our hero.
Page 767 – Oh.fuck.
Page 767 – It’s the tattoo, the name of the tattoo.
Page 772 – Hopefully an all-out war in Sheol won’t spill outside the 15th floor.
I don’t know if you have heard the sound meme with the rising whine of “well, it is now!”
Speaking of audio sounds, I wonder how unhinged the AI sounded in the audiobook. Being on the Dungeon Crawler Carl Discussion Group over on Facebook, several posters are audio readers and they sing praises of both the traditional audiobook voiced by Jeff Hayes (especially in relation to the ongoing deterioration of the AI) and the Immersion Tunnel.
I don’t normally do audio books (they don’t mesh well with my ’tism) but I might make an exception for this. There are so many details I want to know that I know I missed the first time through. These books are just PACKED with stuff. I don’t have time to finish reading books 7 and (soon to be) 8 and then turn around and restart. What’s a review / book lover to do?
Page 774 – I love that emergency request – which is decided by the AI.
basically, “Hey AI, we propose to have the AI take over the decision making for this upcoming level, could you please make the decision if you want to be in charge of making decisions?”
Page 777 – Crawler count: 33,804
This is the first time the crawler count did not make my stomach drop to my ankles.
Page 777 – Alright now that we got a crawler count, time to back up to page 676. How many usually make it to the 9th floor?
Average is 8,000 and once it was just 500 for those of the Cookbook authors who made it that far.
10th floor average is under 1,000.
11th floor average is less than 10.
12th floor is the Ascendency and nearly always that kicks off when the last of the crawlers dies on the 11th floor or opts out.
Someone once made it to the 13th floor.
Average of 8,000, with once being 500. Showrunners are likely shooting for the 8,000 range, give or take 2,000. If as low as 500 happens, then it might be as high as 15,000 on occasion to get that average number.
This time crawlers will be double that … with an ORGANIZED group who had been working together for (8th (cards), 7th (skip), 6th (oops, sorry hunters), 5th (Cities), 4th (Iron Tangle)) four or five floors (depending on how you count it), FOR MONTHS. Now those playing the “game” on the 9th floor have been working together for decades, but this is very different. And the “elite” are playing for their lives for the first time ever.
The game tries to get people to work together for the 4th and 5th floors, then have them start turning on each other actively on the 6th floor. That is one messed up script built into the game mechanics…time to mess them up.
Page 777 – The Faction War floor will be the typical (and not-so-typical) bloodbath, but, let me tell you, an Ascendency which isn’t used to having crawlers in the mix? That is going to be LIT!
Gods will die.
Page 790 – 150,000 additional bodies????
No wonder the AI asked for the playing field for Faction Wars to be increased in size.
I’m thinking that is about 10 times the normal number of people on the field.
Series of Transcripts for Dungeon Crawler Carl
- Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 1-3 (12/16/2025)
- BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 1 (12/17/2025)
- BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 2 (12/19/2025)
- BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3 (12/20/2025)
- Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 4-6 (2/17/2026)
- BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4 (2/18/2026)
- BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5 (2/20/2026)
- BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 6 (2/21/2026)
- BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 7 (7/25/2026)