Tag: Fantasy (nonspecific)

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Comments I wrote during a buddy read of THE BUTCHER’S MASQUERADE

Page 3 – Remaining Crawlers 85, 223 … Down from 8 billion. Only 0.001% of humanity left.
(Am I going to count the percentage on the hunters too? Dang straight I am.)
Remaining Hunters: 360

Page 8 – “I want a lawyer,” I said. “I’m not touching those things until I talk to one.” 
In the last book, didn’t Mordecai warn about lawyers and getting them involved?

Page 11 – Carl is high at 47, and all the hunters are starting at 50. But….. with no experience. I don’t think that is going to go well for them.

Page 57 – Boom today.  Carl is on the floor. There will be a boom today and a boom tomorrow.
There is always a boom tomorrow.
Here a boom, there a boom, everywhere a boom-boom.

Page 65 – 35 dead hunters. Not quite 10%, but it is a start.

Page 89 – Remaining hunters 1,013 … Are these guys mental?

Humanity 83,995 – loss of 1,228. About a 15% loss. Adding about the equivalent in hunters.

Are you sure you want to do that boyos?

Page 128 – I think the whisper in the back of Carl’s head is the Valtay brain upgrades that aren’t *quite* capable with the Dungeon Crawler human wetware. You KNOW they haven’t done backward capability testing at all. And I bet all the patching they’ve done hasn’t gone through sandbox testing.

Page 141 – All those questions Carl is asking, basically is making a recap episode. I wonder if they asked for it, or if it is just a naturally occurring activity. Recap episodes are always good when you start a new season/floor. What happened is it that happened last time … Carl is making it look natural.

Page 179 – Carl is having to do a lot of non-grinding. First the Daughter storyline, and now the visit to Odette. It’s good he started off with the Big Boom. It’s the only think keeping him up with the other crawlers.

Page 179 –  “I thought since I loved you, that meant you loved me.”
Odette muttered something under her breath.

Oh dear…did you love Mordecai or did he love you, but you cared though you didn’t love him back until it was too late. As crawlers, as mentor & crawler, it was always going to be too late, wasn’t it?

Page 181 – “free* of charge”
What is the asterisk for?

Page 210 – “When one values coin above life, you should target the coin, for it hurts them more. “
Okay, that is going to become a bookquote. (If you see some you like here or in other books, ping me. For the non-Charlotte people who join this thread – Hi! I’m @erinpennbooks over on TikTok and @erinpenn7745  on YouTube and I make little shorts of Bookquotes with the cover and music.)

Page 225 – Oh BOY is this a big book!!! 707 pages.

Page 225 – I am working on downloading quotes from Goodreads right now and ran across this one:
“We will all have to work together to make sure you’re incompetence doesn’t continue.”
This is like the teacher saying – well, everyone flunked the test. … If it is the entire class, is it the classes fault or the teacher’s fault?

Page 225 – I can’t seem to find anything with the count of hunters who entered the game – just the 1,013 after over 50 of them are dead.

Page 227 – No, no. Please. You can’t do this. I’m a real person. Not a crawler or an NPC. A real person.

Oh, I would see red on that one too, Carl.

Page 264 – “actual Valtay landing vessel” …”at the bottom of the ocean”… “Not far from headquarters“
Oh, that information is going to be useful some day.
“most interviews will occur here from now on”
Even better.

Page 278 – Have they named that poor cleaning bot yet? Does it get to level up? It should be able to level up all the work it does.

Page 292 – “I just judged…”
This is the Shatner Saturday Night Live “Evil Kirk” sketch where he asks if a fan has ever kissed a girl all over again. So uncomfortable. So true.

Page 293 – “before you sent them to die in MY dungeon”
The “I am not trapped here with all of you, you are trapped in here with me” trope. One of the politest versions is Captain America asking people if they want to get off the elevator. Carl is never going to be that polite.

Page 296 – Hunter count
Trophy for Carl is up to 39, but he isn’t the only collector (last count for him was 34).
Remaining hunters is 914.
Okay, I can’t find anywhere with the count of original hunters. 1,013 with over 50 dead hunters already, so let’s say 1,063 for the total hunter count signing up. Last over all count was 1,013 (highest number) now is 914 – so 89 dead from the last count. 139 dead overall. Somewhere between 8.7% and 13% dead. It is a start for the hunters.

Page 317 – “that river in my head would roar”
Still not sure what that river is. Carl is insane, maybe. and I’m not sure what flavor, but they have broken him.
That’s okay. He will still break them all.

Page 317 – “I missed so much”
Interviews with Odette and others, a private storyline to follow, and now a con??? He’ll need to blow up half the floor to keep up with those that can grind.

Page 324 – “I did receive something quite useful from a Platinum Did-You-Really-Just-Cast-Fireball-in-a-Room-This-Small Box.”

Oh, I am not going to sleep until I find out just how small that room was. What time is it? One am … dangit.

Page 325 – Random XP … Carl, you know that XP has always been tweaked by DMs (or AI) to help the “narrative”.

Page 338 –  Fireball is an outdoor spell, Donut.

Thank goodness, I get to sleep soon. Now to just finish the scene/chapter/next page.

Page 435 – Trophies by Carl: 52
Hunters: 673 (from 1,063 would be 63% left)

Page 472 – The AI is railroading this level hard.

Page 479 – Of course there are Carl-nut ships fics. (which are WRONG, just like the initial Winchester ships for Supernatural.)

Page 513 – Trophies by Carl: 66
Hunters left 290 (27% left)

Page 521 – …hair was on fire. Again.
At least Samantha is having fun. She is completely bug-crazy bonkers, but she is having fun.

Page 539 – The Cookbook has been an interesting addition. It’s another layer of competing interests to the story, another layer of history, another group of people (long dead, but we readers are still bleeding for them).
PS. Love Crawler Drakea who carefully cross-referenced all the entries and marked the last one for each crawler that went before them.

Page 541 – Hunters with one hour left is at 264 (25%)
Remaining crawlers at 59,259 down from 85,223 (69.5% of the total translated to this floor. Or 0.00007% of humanity at the start of the crawl.)

Page 542 – “I do hope, sir, that your brought shoes for the event. And pants.”
“Nope,” I said.
If I was one to laugh a lot, I would be wheezing on this exchange.

Page 558 – There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of Dungeon Crawler seasons, so there are at least hundreds of crazy AIs out there (if they really do set aside energy to house them indefinitely). I wonder if this will come up in a Carl plan; or just impact something, especially for the final book of the series. Do the AIs connect?

Page 586 – We are not considered citizens, so oxygen and land are not a right.

Keep the poor fighting each other for survival and make a profit while at it.

Page 587 – “It seems in a universe so large, one shouldn’t have to live somewhere inhospitable. It seems like it would be easy to find a place to live in peace.” 

“It does seem like it should be that way, doesn’t it?”

Artificial scarcity is a trap that many get caught in.

Page 588 – Turning on your own party is inevitable in a game where there can be only one. The producers will string along Carl and Donut team as long as they can, so Katia would be the first to get hit. Maybe Samantha – after all a demon – but does she even count since she is not a crawler?

Page 608 – Samantha has entered the bathroom chat.

Page 626 –  They died because I asked for help
Have you seen the death stats, Carl? No one leaves these crawls alive.

Page 636 – Samantha always promises to kill mothers. I hope she gets her chance here.
(Dang it, this sex doll head is growing on me.)

Page 651 – 75 hunters left … half of whom are homeless or refugees … UGH!!
This countdown is no longer fun.

Page 707 – That may have been the biggest final boss battle I have ever read. Only one I can think of coming close is The Priory of the Orange Tree.

Page 707 – Final Thought: The Butcher is the Goddess of “Peace” and her mask for the masquerade is her pretending to be peace when the reality is to create a butchery.

Series of Transcripts for Dungeon Crawler Carl

1. Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 1-3 (12/16/2025)
2. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 1 (12/17/2025)
3. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 2 (12/19/2025)
4. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3 (12/20/2025)
5. Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 4-6 (2/17/2026)
6. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4 (2/18/2026)
7. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5 (2/20/2026)
8. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 6 (2/21/2026)

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Comments I wrote during a buddy read of THE GATE OF THE FERAL GODS

Page 1 – Remaining Crawlers – 178,887
1,172 bubbles that is 154 crawlers per bubble at about 40 crawlers per quadrant

Page 110 – “You keep destroying governmental buildings, Carl,” Donut said. “People are going to start thinking you have a problem with authority.”

Page 112 – “There are no other towns,” I said.
There is no other Earth. There is no where else to go.

Page 114 – Louis and Firas should have taken a Drunken Master specialty, just saying.

Page 120 – You received a bronze benefactor box from Valtay Corp … you received a silver from Open Intellect Pacifist Action Network.
Oh, are they in competition with each other?
(further reading) – no, I don’t think they are, but I wonder if that happens with other crawlers.

Page 121 – The Pacifist Group – you know in previous books, it mentions some of the Cookbook crowd opted out at certain levels. Did they survive whatever deals those were to eventually become the Pacifist Action Network (PAN)? Now they are in a position to get one of their own through it?

Page 129 – Do NOT look up Acrotomophilia.

Page 131 – “As always, safety came last.”
Just one big OSHA violation.

Page 134 – “The Gate of the Feral Gods” … wait a minute, back up to p. 54 and the Feral Goose
Anything “feral is bad news”.
You know, “anything bad news” is Carl’s middle name. He is going to love this.

Page 134 – This is where these quests for this bubble overlap: the submarine, the Tomb, the Mad Mage, and the Dirigible Gnomes.

Page 152 –  “Katia, I have a job for you.”  — She blinked and looked at me. “What do you need me to do?”  — “Two things. First one is a little gross.” 

In this world, I’m going to need you to define “a little gross.”

Page 162 – He needs to do the wrap your ankles up and rub your feet on the wall thing. The dungeon really has been working overtime on his behalf and deserves a reword.
Would you reward the dungeon? I think this would be easier for hetro-females to do than hetro-men.

Page 166 – “Leon might have been a tax attorney in another life.” – in this dungeon, that might actually be the case of what they were in a previous season.

Page 229 – The things this robot says! Please stick to bad Garfield quotes please.

Page 268 – “Audiences like drama, not melodrama.”
The cold fish is both right and wrong about that. The MIX of comedy and drama is the best, with a sprinkle of pathos about in about 1% of the episodes. I mean, that is why the Dungeon-Crawler series is so popular; you get invested and are heartbroken when the poor fools die.
The episode when Buffy’s mom “She’s cold.”; the firefly “I’m a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.” Doctor Who 5th form ending “Adric?”, etc.

Page 275 – Donut grumbled something under her breath. It was something along the lines of “Talking Fancy Feast.”

Page 302 – Revisiting childhood trauma is always fun. But, yes, important to realize the mindset his father and programmed into him and decide to do better.

Page 450 – PUPPY!!!

Page 488 – I loved the interacting storyline of “our” bubble. That particular bubble was well-written. I bet the options were rigged for the top-ten – they were matched up to the best storylines. Over 1,000 bubbles with four different puzzles each – you know over half of them were written by interns; Borton might have even done a High-School competition of “write a storyline and see it in action” to help boost numbers as parents proudly watch a story about bubbles and blood – “my kid wrote that!” for the lesser watched participants.

Page 556 – Thinking about writing up the review. Can’t really say this there, but this floor actually preps you for the lower floor. With only between 25-100 crawlers available to help you solve your quest, well, that is the number you will be facing at lower levels. Since no one has made it past level 11, I wonder if the game hosts even know how to create appropriate level activities for the final levels.

Page 572 – Oh that can’t be good. Odette, you crab-infested woman, what are you doing?

Page 572 – Carl is playing the long game in a game where you not suppose to think beyond surviving the next hour. Him taking out about a quarter of the issue with the next level is genius.

Page 580 – I hate the Hamsters Twins, but…it is in character for this type of species.
My dad did an aquarium with guppies at one point while I was growing up. So guppy males are attracted to a black spot on the female – this black spot gets bigger the more pregnant she is – so they are ALWAYS chasing her when she is pregnant.

Series of Transcripts for Dungeon Crawler Carl

1. Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 1-3 (12/16/2025)
2. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 1 (12/17/2025)
3. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 2 (12/19/2025)
4. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3 (12/20/2025)
5. Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 4-6 (2/17/2026)
6. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4 (2/18/2026)
7. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5 (2/20/2026)
8. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 6 (2/21/2026)

I made it through three more amazing Dungeon Crawler Carl books!!!!

Why is Matt Dinniman making them larger and larger????? (I need sleep soooo badly now.)

Bonus for this series is the Storygraph BuddyRead Transcripts which I will drop during the rest of the week.

Dungeon Crawler Carl Series
Book 1: Dungeon Crawler Carl (levels 1 and 2 of the dungeon – 464 pages)
Book 2: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (level 3 – 384 pages)
Book 3: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (level 4 – 544 pages)
Book 4: The Gate of the Feral Gods (level 5 – 608 pages)
Book 5: The Butcher’s Masquerade (levels6 and 7 – 720 pages)
Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (level 8 – 832 pages)
Book 7: This Inevitable Run (level 9 – 880 pages)
Book 8: A Parade of Horribles (level 10 – forthcoming in June 2026)

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE GATE OF THE FERAL GODS

New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.

You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

Here’s the thing. It’s never easy. Carl and his team can’t go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can’t-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

MY REVIEW for THE GATE OF THE FERAL GODS

Less than 200,000 left of the 8 billion, separated into small bubbles of teams between 40 and 200 people.

I loved the interacting storyline of the bubble. That particular bubble was well-written. I bet the options were rigged for the top-ten – they were matched up to the best storylines. Over 1,000 bubbles with four different puzzles each – you know over half of them were written by interns; Borton might have even done a High-School competition of “write a storyline and see it in action” to help boost numbers as parents proudly watch a story about bubbles and blood – “my kid wrote that!” for the lesser watched participants.

The fish-folk are beginning to cut back information from the outside, but they are too late with Carl. He is working two major things now: get as many crawlers networked together as possible and prepping for future levels. The networking was just beginning on paying off when everyone got chopped up into separate bubbles – but there is also a work-together needed to solve the bubble puzzles in order to get the staircase to the next level.

I love how Mr. Dinniman continues to give us so many layers to each story. We got the one puzzle in front of us within the dungeon. The interacting puzzle within the bubble. The bigger layer of the level and the Feral Gods. The interaction with other crawlers, some allies and some enemies and some just begging for help. The PR of the show. The politics beyond the show. The other dungeon levels upcoming with other problems.

This series can be a wild ride of adventure, a mystery puzzle with dozens of moving pieces, or a political statement about exploitation. Or all three. Read at whatever structure and entertainment you want.

Now it is time for me to sleep. I should not read 500+ page books in one sitting; I can’t help by read Dungeon Crawler Carl books in one sitting. These books refuse to be put down.

Read through the local library system.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE BUTCHER’S MASQUERADE

Attention. Attention. The gates are down. The hunters are loose.
Run, Run, Run.

A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade.”

The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds.

As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside tourists are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are here and ready to hunt. Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career.

But their prey is far from harmless, and this season they are fighting back.

MY REVIEW for THE BUTCHER’S MASQUERADE

Each book of this series gets longer, with this installment over seven-hundred-page volume broken into four parts. Between side quests (the recital (new) and the elite storyline from level three being revisited), ongoing plans, dealing with being top crawlers and the chaos that brings, a con for the crawler fandom, and, of course, the themed challenge for level six, there are a LOT of moving parts and storylines needing building, climaxing, and resolving.

Mr. Dinniman continues to mesmerize with the fast-moving shuttle of the woven plotline. You will be mad and sad, laugh and cry and all the emotions in between with this fifth installment of Dungeon Crawler Carl.

I would like to compare this entire series to the short-story puns Isaac Asimov used to write – those things that were a little confusing at the beginning but you trusted that he would pull it all together to a very satisfying pun. Mr. Dinniman pulls everything together for some of the most epic final battles I’ve ever read while giving pathos and jokes in equal measure.

I would like to give a shout-out to everyone who loves Samantha, because I don’t like her that much but I know a lot of people do and situational jokes like her are one of the reason a lot of people are buying the Carl books. And those purchases encourages the author to keep writing them. So thank you.

Buy. Buy. Buy. (So he will write. write. write. and then we can read, read, read.)

(Book checked out through the local library.)

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE EYE OF THE BEDLAM BRIDE

A pantheon of forgotten gods. An old grudge between a talk show host, an heiress, and the man they shattered along the way. A rapidly deteriorating AI system. An inconvenient tiara upon the head of a friend.

It is bedlam on the eighth floor.

As management reels from the unexpected conclusion of the seventh level, the surviving crawlers stumble onto the eighth and find themselves scattered. It’s a map based on Earth’s final days before the collapse, where ethereal, intangible ghosts of humanity go about their lives, oblivious of the impending doom. Living amongst these ghosts are monsters based in Earth lore. “Legendary” creatures tied to the geographical location they inhabit.

Each team of crawlers is given a task: find and capture six of these beasts. The captured monsters will be turned into cards. Cards that can be summoned into battle again and again. The stronger, the deadlier, the better.

At the end of the floor, the bad guys will also have decks, and they will have some of the most powerful cards available. So it’s crucial to assemble the toughest squad possible.

But, like always, there is a catch. There’s always a catch.

As Carl and Donut know all too well, just because someone is captured, it doesn’t mean they have been tamed.

Her name is Shi Maria. She’s easily the most powerful monster in their area. If they want to survive, they must capture her. But she is no ordinary beast. She’s intelligent. She was once married to a god, a god who is now missing. Her special attack is known to drive one insane. They call her the Bedlam Bride.

“Beware, beware. Beware the Eye of the Bedlam Bride”

MY REVIEW for THE EYE OF THE BEDLAM BRIDE

The ride continues. The best world-building and character building and complicated plot building and mac-gyvering I have ever seen.

Not my favorite book of the series, and it shows in the “long” read-time (over two weeks). When I collapsed at night, I could sometimes go a couple-few days without returning. The reason is the mechanics for this level is not my favorite.

Each level of the dungeon has a different challenge and storyline. For the 8th level, the mechanics is a card game. I bet my friend who did professional poker playing loved it, same with the Pokemon and the Magic: The Gathering players. I’ve played enough card games to understand the mechanics, but ducked out of getting addicted. Like the Iron Tangle level, the setup is slow. The emotions stops and challenges along the way all are important, but not a wild ride (except that the whole series is a Wild Ride) until the very end.

And with a 800 page book, the “wild end” is over 100 pages, but DO NOT SKIP to the end. You need everything inbetween.

The themes of this book are addiction, trauma (always), and the power of togetherness. Addiction makes you pull away, togetherness helps you survive. A book this crazy should not be tackling themes this deep, but here we are, Carl, and Mongo approves.

Read through the local library system.

Series of Transcripts for Dungeon Crawler Carl

1. Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 1-3 (12/16/2025)
2. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 1 (12/17/2025)
3. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 2 (12/19/2025)
4. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3 (12/20/2025)
5. Book Review (SERIES): Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 4-6 (2/17/2026)
6. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4 (2/18/2026)
7. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5 (2/20/2026)
8. BuddyRead Transcript: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 6 (2/21/2026)