The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

Blurb:

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.

Review:

I’m halfway through Dungeon Crawler Carl, and hope I can catch up to the series by the end of the year. An immensely popular LitRPG fantasy, there’s no denying the addictive entertainment that this series provides. Almost every reviewer I’ve seen talking about DCC almost always does so obsessively. And why wouldn’t they? It’s a damn enjoyable read. 

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook was one of the best reads of last year for me. It also set very high expectations for The Gate of the Feral Gods. But did it live up to the hype?

SPOILERS AHEAD!

What I liked:

I’ll admit, it took me some time to really get back into this world. The opening chapters felt a little dull to me, and I was worried it would end up like Book 2 again. I’m glad I was proven wrong. The moment Carl began scheming for this floor, things pretty much kicked into action, and there was almost no stopping from there. 

I’ll start by talking about my favorite part of the book: the characters. Carl continues to amaze me with his ingenuity and anarchy. He bends the rules when needed, always flipping the bird to both AI and the mega corporations that run this bizarre, exploitative game show. He’s the perfect protagonist for this kind of LitRPG story, and it’s always fascinating to read his thoughts both before, during, and after events. And Donut… what can I say about her that hasn’t already been said by fans across the internet? She’s the perfectly innocent, kind-hearted, sassy sidekick to the ingenious brute that is Carl. Together, they are more than enough to make this series special. However, the other crawlers have started getting more attention. Katia grows as a person and a crawler, as do the new additions and old allies. Overall, what Dinniman does brilliantly is treat his characters with serious grit. It’s easy to dumb down to tropes, but to let each character feel real in such an absurd, outlandish setting is one of the many reasons I love this series.  

And speaking of the setting, let’s talk about the fifth floor. Like the fourth, it features a uniquely improbable setting. Crawlers are divided into bubbles, each featuring four quadrants. Conquering all four quadrants is the only way for Crawlers to unlock the staircase to the next floor. While it might seem simpler than the previous floor’s surreal train system, the fictional plot surrounding these quadrants is expectedly complex. While we don’t really explore the plot in too much detail, the bits we get are intriguing enough to build on with your imagination. I do, however, wish that we had gotten a little more of the different quadrants’ mythology, outside of whatever I pieced together based on the AI’s descriptions. 

And speaking of the AI: it’s gotten a whole lot weirder and vindictive as compared to the last entries. Almost as if it’s reacting to Carl’s games and becoming more and more unstable. Which makes sense, because Carl is no less. I mean, what he did before that one sponsor ad shoot… just goes to show that he isn’t going to give up at all. No matter the cost. While I am not fully on board with his actions, I understand his need to revolt, albeit through surreptitious methods inspired by notes from the secret Anarchist’s Cookbook. 

Lastly, the ending. While I did feel that the whole sequence with the Feral Gods dragged on a little more than it should have, I loved how Dinniman tied up the ending. The entire sequence with Orthrus was as epic as you’d expect from a book like this. But my favorite part of the ending has to be the resolution of the Maggie My and Chris plotline. It was one of the most emotionally rewarding parts of this book. Plus, the entire epilogue sequence that switched over to different POVs, including—SPOILERS!—Brad and a still-alive Bea! I can’t wait to see what all this leads to in the subsequent instalments. 

Overall, quite an entertaining read. I liked The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook more than this one, but The Gate of the Feral Gods was epic and enjoyable enough to make me want to keep reading this series. 

What I didn’t like:

The overarching plot of the fifth floor had some of the same problems I had with the third floor featured in Book 2, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. The fictional plot was a little too convoluted. I’ll admit that Book 4 handled it much better, but it still felt too intimidating and complex. Besides, we don’t explore that plot or the four quadrants as much as you’d expect. Plus, the fact that we know this is all fictional makes it a little hard to care about. Unlike the fourth floor, the complexity of this one made some parts tedious instead of intriguing. I enjoyed the individual aspects of the plot, but together, it felt absurd in a bad way. Plus, the whole addition of the gods seemed to drag on for a little too long with the ending. I loved the ending, but I can’t help but remember wishing it didn’t drag so much.

There’s not a lot I can elaborate on with regard to the negatives. They were mostly subjective. I did find the beginning of the book to be a little dull, and really only started intriguing me after Carl and group broke out of their quadrant. So, you could argue there were some pacing issues. However, that’s mostly it. 

Overall, I still loved the book, and can’t wait to jump into the sixth floor with The Butcher’s Masquerade.

Conclusion:

After the last book, my expectations were sky-high, and I was wholly entertained. Dark, surreal, feral, Carl & Donut really have their work cut out for them.

TL;DR:

WHAT I LIKED: World-building, characters and their ingenuity, action scenes, game notifications and AI’s slowly deteriorating sanity, the ending.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: game plot of the fifth floor, some dull moments, ending drags on for a bit.