Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman starting on April 25, 2024.


Happy Reading!

Looking forward to this!

1. Dungeon Crawler Carl (read separately on Vagabond last year)
2. Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Jan 25) [link]
3. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Feb 25) [link]
4. The Gate of the Feral Gods (Mar 25) [link]
5. The Butcher's Masquerade (Apr 25)
6. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (May 25) [link]
Series is unfinished, Dinniman currently working on #7 and posts regularly on Patreon & Royal Road

audio: no library/subscription copies. Not Audible Only either, but I don't see them elsewhere...
ebooks: all on KU
If folks find more, let me know, will update.

Pretty much gotta watch for sales

I cannot stress enough how much I adore this series. I finished this one and I loved it and I think I am going to revisit my ratings and bump them all up to 5 stars. I wish I had stopped to mark some of the many times I LOL'd while listening to this, these are just so much fun. <3 (view spoiler)[I was concerned about the end of the last book with the Odette/Beatrice thing and while I am still not certain about Odette's motivations I am good for now with where that while thing is. I loved when Donut lost her shit on Bea when the cameras stopped. When Mongo got "violated" and then the whole "Mongo slept with her mom" I was dying. And when Carl tried to enter the masquerade and the guy was like "Do you have shoes? Or pants?" Loved this so much!!! I loved when Carl attacked the hunters right off the bat and also how he is using his platform to expose the shady parts of the game. Meanwhile Dinniman and his epilogues! What the shit was that? I like Katya but man Donut >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> her by a country mile and Donut has to survive!!!!! (hide spoiler)]

The series has improved with each book and while I am enjoying the humor and action as Carl & Donut expand their group and more crawlers are killed the feelings are there as well. Cannot wait for the next one!!!

I am so so so looking forward to starting this... I'm trying to choose my day for max attention-span, but it's end of school year and everything sucks...

I hear ya... it's why I paused on Mask of Mirrors for like 6 days... I wanted a "focus day"... and I think it worked out decent and was totally worth it...

I did a bunch of meal prep, laundry, etc. Sunday and I listened for a good part of the day and I admit I did LOL many times, it was like keeping me company while I was doing shit around the house.

@Ian--exactly! @Ann-Marie--that sounds like a perfect day for audiobooking...

Feeling less bad about being so far behind lol
I started during a no-focus day and put it down again so I could give it the proper attention it deserves because I love these! WIll probably read tomorrow

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Feeling less bad about being so far behind lol
I started during a no-focus day and put it down again so I could give it the proper attention it deserves because I love these! WIll probably read tom..."

I assure you, I am much more behind than you are.....

SATURDAY IS HERE! I have a crapton of housework to do so finally started this beautiful baby... Loving it so much! Through Chapter 29 and taking sporadic notes... but not always sure when things happen.

Somewhere before Chapter 19--(view spoiler)[Mordecai is a cutesy kuma! Kuma means "bear" in Japanese, and Japanese are very well known for having a huge cute streak, so I'm imagining something like Rirakuma or Kumamon (mascot for Kumamoto Prefecture), only with big sparkly eyes.

Carl ambushing the hunters was pretty awesome--though the first dude he marked--when he looked at Carl with "a look of betrayal"--I felt bad for the guy, and bad for Carl, taking this step... It feels like, he's crossing a line, the kind of line that turns revolutionaries into bad guys... What was I reading recently that took this philosophy? Oh, The Will of the Many. Anyone not actively against the status-quo is as good as supporting it and is thus just as bad as the actively corrupt governing party.

Still, I do like the freshness of the take. Instead of a holier-than-thou "I will not stoop to their level" MC, Carl is grayer, and definitely fitting into his Anarchist/Agent Provocateur class--it doesn't matter if the Hunters are people--they made their choice, they face their consequences, and Carl puts the blame where it belongs--with the corporations running their lives like a game.

I'm very curious about the rushing river Carl is starting to notice--did using the ring make it louder? Though Carl's mention of it sounds like it is something that is potentially useful... it also seems to appear when he remembers his parents... Berserker?

And Carl has "spectacular" plans for this floor... mentioned after he takes out the Doomsday Bomb to play with it... I thought he would need the Gate in conjunction with using the bomb...

Beatrice showing up--that went down a lot more gently than I'd anticipated. AND OMG I LOVED DONUT BLOWING UP AT HER! I know she's been through a lot recently--but she's still so self-centered, thinking that showing up and seeing them... like, her running to them for hugs--she has no idea what they've been through, and their last interactions with her did not merit hugs.

I'm not sure I get the implications of the Valte corporation being removed as sponsors, or Donut's comment on "vive la revolucion"... I feel like there's something connected to earlier books that I've forgotten... though I remember Donut really hitting it off with that Princess sponsor... (hide spoiler)]

Up to Chapter 29--(view spoiler)[Seems like it's mostly side-quest so far with the Half-Elf/Naiad lady and decapitated Samantha.

The part with the almost-hunter Gnoll with high charisma... oh the irony, when she said "It's not like I'm an NPC or a Crawler, I'm a real person!" Yeah, wrong thing to say to Carl, even though I did feel bad for her. Carl's taking these deaths on, to send a message to other "almost-hunters" that this kind of action isn't ok and WILL have consequences... (hide spoiler)]

So, I went to the DCC wiki to check Carl's class, since I forgot, and there's a trivia note on the bottom of Carl's page that says:
"In case anyone was wondering, Carl's right foot is 11.813" (or, more precisely, 30.004861 cm) long." LOL

And I crashed before getting much further yesterday, shucks.

Through Chapter 35--(view spoiler)[Holy crap, that panel... Carl might've been drugged, but he didn't give a shit, I didn't give a shit--it was frickin' awesome... and followed by some non-stop insane action...

Man, I love it when Carl actually gets to poke the Man in the Eye like that... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 36... LOL That's where the measurements come from... I think this is actually the first time I've really noticed the AI's foot fetishing... (view spoiler)[I think Carl should've gone with the foot upgrade... it'd make the AI happy....

Also, is it just me, or is this the first time Carl hasn't gone with the third option? (hide spoiler)]

Sounds like Nirkatze has a foot fetish ;)

Previous books just talked about feet a normal amount :D

The narrator has a full-on voice... and any time Carl resists, bad things happen... like the Gerbil Stampede in the previous book...

That panel appearance was hilarious and pretty much everything Donut did made me laugh! The thing with the feet is gross, I skeeve feet IRL and while I am not one to kink shame I cannot wrap my head about foot fetishes....

I have book fetish, not foot fetish...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxO...

I find it interesting how history has shaped fetishes too--like what was it with calves back in the 1500s? Or ankles? I know ankles were fetishized at one point. What is sexy about body parts period, honestly?

Finished and loved it.

These books are so long...

I'm not complaining...

It's just... you start listening, and thinking "so much has happened, it must be approaching the end"... and you open your audiobook and see you're barely 25% in...

I'm in the 2nd half of the book now, just need to do a quick recharge and I'll continue...

(view spoiler)[there so much secret plotting going on, and the characters can't really talk about it, without revealing to the enemy surveillance... so the few times things slip, I struggle to catch them... like when Donut commented on her Valtech plotting after the hostile takeover...

The TV show with Beatrice felt quick and kinda anti-climactic, but it was great to see Donut choose Carl.... and their bonding in general over their insecurities... and hints of possible SFF things going on in Carl's head with the ringing?... (hide spoiler)]

I just kinda gloss over the foot fetish stuff, most of the time, at this point...

(view spoiler)[Double Gonorrea sounds awesome... NOT... (or whatever it's called... it's burning double something, and the mantis chick has it now, and her one potential target committed dungeon suicide to avoid catching it... (hide spoiler)]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Feeling less bad about being so far behind lol
I started during a no-focus day and put it down again so I could give it the proper attention it deserves because I love these..."

I'm just now finishing April, I think... actually... just updates Spreadsheet to check, and I still need to finish Warm Hands of Ghosts as well... only May book I've read was Kate Daniels 5...

(view spoiler)["Trust me on this. You don't want Enthusiastic Double Gonorrhea."
(hide spoiler)]
Following this discussion, I get reminded how much I love this series. Give me book 7 soon so I can justify starting a re-read.

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Feeling less bad about being so far behind lol
I started during a no-focus day and put it down again so I could give it the proper attention it deserves be..."

I have been putting off the spreadsheet but I know I have to do so soon. UGH :(

Marie wrote: ""Trust me on this. You don't want Enthusiastic Double Gonorrhea."

Following this discussion, I get reminded how much I love this series. Give me book 7 soon so I can justify starting a re-read."

I am enjoying these so much I think they will join my comfort re-read list <3

Don't fall behind... trying to catch up on a backlog is the worst... even the spreadsheet... my travails with doing GR ratings/reviews rides strong... but at least I have a spreadsheet record...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Don't fall behind... trying to catch up on a backlog is the worst... even the spreadsheet... my travails with doing GR ratings/reviews rides strong... but at least I have a spreadsheet record..."

Too late, I am hopelessly behind updating all means I use of tracking books. I found a list of my listening on Audible so will use that along with borrows on Hoopla and the order of downloaded books on my Kindle, not sure if that shows date finished but I'll figure it out. Honestly the task is pretty daunting which is why I have been putting it off which is making it worse so yay for vicious circles!

I can't imagine that. Sounds scary. I always update each read the day I finish or next. I have a scheduling reading app, GR and Story Graph where I update my pages before going to sleep. Then when I finish the book it's GR, StoryGraph, one review website, Czech version of GR if the translation exists and the app. Then on competition spreadsheet, check for fitting it into some challenge, update on Calibre, on my personal excel on three different tabs... Why yes I am addicted to stats/tracking.

Marie wrote: "I can't imagine that. Sounds scary. I always update each read the day I finish or next. I have a scheduling reading app, GR and Story Graph where I update my pages before going to sleep. Then when ..."

You're so organized Marie! I'm totally jealous!

I try to put my start/end dates in the spreadsheet when they happen, or I'll forget what I've been reading--but I don't fill in all the information until I've been good and logged it in GR with a review... mostly do my catch-up on weekends....

Timelord Iain wrote: "These books are so long...

I'm not complaining...

It's just... you start listening, and thinking "so much has happened, it must be approaching the end"... and you open your audiobook and see you'..."

LOL Iain's the opposite of me, I only just started noticing the foot stuff after y'all pointing it out for the last several books... (view spoiler)[And the rushing river thing... I'm really curious what that might be... it seems to be connected to Carl's past somehow, finding his mother dead... (hide spoiler)]

Looking at the wiki, it has some cool pages about each floor... collecting info that's thrown at us for a split second and I forget...

Start of Series: January 3rd, 2:30am -- survivors, some number of millions (maybe billions)... 1hr to find a dungeon entrance and join the competition

Floor 1 -- 5 day duration, 13m+ participants/crawlers, 75k stairwells, level 1-5 mobs, level 1-11 crawlers -- Tutorial Floor

Floor 2 -- starts a bit early on January 7th, 6 day duration, 1.3m crawlers remaining (over 700k lost when 1st floor collapsed/closed), 37.5k stairwells, level 1-10 crawlers (I think this means anyone that reached 11 died on floor 1) -- Tutorial Floor

Floor 3 -- starts Jan 13th, 8 day duration, 700k crawlers remaining, 18.75k stairs -- Urban setting, beginning of Volcano storyline that progresses every 3rd floor (3/6/9/12/15/18)

Floor 4 -- starts Jan 21st, 10 day duration, 389k crawlers, 9.4k stairs -- Train theme

Floor 5 -- starts Jan 31st, 15 day duration, 179k crawlers, 4.7k stairs -- Bubble Dome theme

Floor 6 -- starts Feb 14th, 17 day duration, 85k crawlers, 2344 stairs -- Hunting Ground theme

(view spoiler)[ Floor 7 -- starts March 3rd, 20 day duration, 38.5k crawlers, 1172 stairs -- fairytale maze -- broken/skipped

Floor 8 -- 21 day duration, starts March 3rd, 38.5k crawlers, 586 stairs, TCG themed (hide spoiler)]

Learning those semi-spoilers makes me even more excited for the impending release of the next book, since it means (view spoiler)[it's floor 9, the floor that's been hyped since book 1 and the crown Donut used to have... (hide spoiler)]

Clicking around on reddit, I also learned (view spoiler)[book 9 will be troublesome for the guy who can't handle the swearing, for Catholic/religious reasons... sounds like book 9 will be floor 12, the Battle for Ascendancy, which sounds like a God War themed floor... and will probably play big into Carl's god, not to mention the head of Samantha/etc... also, means more floor skipping, since book 7 is floor 9, and book 8 then needs to be floor 10/11 or both (hide spoiler)]

Also learned we're probably a year away from the release of book 7, sadly... it's shaping up to be the longest book in the series to date, for obvious reasons, and it's only like 33-50% written?... he releases a chapter or 2 a week or 2, and he's written 30-40 out of 75-100 probably chapters since September... sounds like he also travels alot for convention appearances/etc... the existing chapters are posted on Patreon... I'll be waiting for audio/full release...

Ann-Marie wrote: "I cannot stress enough how much I adore this series. I finished this one and I loved it and I think I am going to revisit my ratings and bump them all up to 5 stars. I wish I had stopped to mark so..."

Finished (almost... deep in the epilogues/bloopers)... (view spoiler)[Yea... the ending to this was as bonkers as expected... I wonder if we'll get more about Cascadia's screams at the start of the next book... i assume she's gonna be in trouble for her floor being destroyed...

The parody songs were hilarious, especially the Wonderwall/Dungeon Crawl one that Donut wrote about Mongo...

I assume Katya is gonna die on floor 9, now... or Carl & the Princess Posse are gonna break the game some more, and circumvent the rules, maybe with the Gate of the Feral Gods...

I wonder if Carl's gonna get the tribute memory thing from vendor/corpse at some point... it was the one that cost 100 Hands and was being contested near the end in the loot pile... it has god knowledge?... (hide spoiler)]

I can definitely see adding these to comfort re-reads... they're defiinitely good fun... I saw what you said about Archemi Online in the Book Sales thread, and I'm not sure of anything that can compete with Dungeon Crawler Carl for fun insanity, really...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "I cannot stress enough how much I adore this series. I finished this one and I loved it and I think I am going to revisit my ratings and bump them all up to 5 stars. I wish I had ..."

Regarding the epilogue and foreshadowing for the 9th floor (view spoiler)[I hope Carl can find a workaround that will allow both Katya & Donut to survive the floor but if this does not pan out and one of them has to die then so long Katya, it was nice knowing you. If Donut dies I will likely stop reading and the series would no longer be a comfort, favorite read for me, it would be among the worst things ever lol (hide spoiler)]

Yeah I feel like I want to reread these already because there's just soooo much that happens in them! Lots of action and some foreshadowing bits that are thrown in.. Lots of points mentioned that become relevant later on

Love all the details--thanks for doing that deep dive, @Iain! Dittoing everyone's thoughts re: Floor 9--(view spoiler)[and of course, keeping fingers crossed that Carl'll find some sort of cheat or work-around... maybe a revival spell? Katya dies technically, put her in inventory? Revive on next floor? (hide spoiler)]

Also curious about that Floor 8 note--(view spoiler)[TCG as in Trading Card Game themed??? (hide spoiler)]

Would definitely be down for comfort reread when the next audio comes out...

you can see cards on the cover of book 6

Timelord Iain wrote: "you can see cards on the cover of book 6"

So, of course I had to go and zoom in on that. (view spoiler)[And one of the cards is labeled "HEYZOOS!" and has the text "Uzi Jesus" on it... the art is just insane... (hide spoiler)]

Everything DCC is insane… including author backstory…

Almost became a pastor… nearly died… started writing while in ICU/hospital… and here we are…

Nirkatze wrote: "Love all the details--thanks for doing that deep dive, @Iain! Dittoing everyone's thoughts re: Floor 9--[spoilers removed]

Also curious about that Floor 8 note--[spoilers removed]

Would definitely be down for comfort reread when the next audio comes out... "

Count me in for that!

I'm starting this now. After finishing a good book that wasn't for me, I'm so glad I can return to a series I unambiguously enjoy.

Chapters 1-10

(view spoiler)[Carl is going full on unhinged, ever before the ring actually starts to corrupt him, and I am living for it. While he's shit about communicating, I think of him as fully in the right, and I can't wait to see him at least attempt to wipe out the hunters.

When I saw the cover, I thought the goat was Mordecai at first, which is why I was super confused when we met up with him and he was completely different. It's gotta be Prepotente. I wonder if something will happen to Miriam to force him to join up with Carl. I hope she doesn't die, cause while she's quite creepy, she seems nice.

The river in the back of his mind seems like a pressure building up. He's not resting and he's not sitting down to deal with everything that's happened to him in a healthy way. At first I thought it seemed like something to do with the ring, but it feels more naturally than that, especially when his response to it is that he can "rest later." (hide spoiler)]

As for the foot fetish stuff, maybe it's just cause I'm on the internet a lot, but I recognized it and got desensitized immediately lol. That's probably how Carl feels at this point.

So, I don't know how many of y'all follow Daniel Greene on youtube, but I check in periodically and found he finally did a review of DCC just last month--and also has an interview with Dinnamin & Hayes:

Review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNyD9...

Interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtiDs...

I don’t watch booktubers the way I used to… mostly watch comedy/improv lately

One of the bits mentioned in the interview is that Hayes and his company, Soundbooth Theater, are doing remakes of Dungeon Crawler Carl with a full cast in radio-play style--might be a fun experience for a reread. They've done "Season 1" (book 1) already, and the first episode is free to try. It's more pricy ($20) than the audible if you use a credit or find it on sale, but the money goes directly to the creators. Oh, that $20 is for the whole season, not for an episode.

https://soundbooththeater.com/series/...

It's also just really funny seeing clips in the interview (youtube link in first post, not link above) of Jeff Hayes doing Donut's voice. And then he talks about how Carl's voice is more challenging and Donut's is actually closer to his own register, lol.

Just finished and this was the most insane volume so far!!! Wow! I need a day to think about how I feel about it...

The Moonwalking was awesome!!! Also, pretty much everything Mongo was involved with and Donut's reactions to it .. Hahaha!

This was definitely Donut's feelings book and I loved all of them!

And Mordecai being what he is on this level is just precious:)))

And the Two Brothers are Bulgarian! Yay!

The Enthusiastic Double Gonorrhea was...!!!!!!!!!

Chapters 11-64 (A giant leap forward but I just couldn't put it down, and we're going to the climax so I just had to jot down my thoughts.)

(view spoiler)[The way the story is presented, especially during the last
half of the book is really interesting to me. We aren't clued in to Carl's whole plans, kind of like at the end of The Gate of the Feral Gods. I think this is working to great effect, especially with the masquerade plan. Each chapter we get to see their notes, but not too much so that we know everything that's happening. I actually have the theory that it's possible people can still see their chats, so everything they're saying about the plan already being fucked is a lie. I think that'd be super cool and also super scummy of the Crawlmakers to straight up lie.

There's been a few moments of the river in Carl's mind racing, but not as much as I'd think. I wonder if this will be a multi-book plot thread/character development. I hope it is, or that we at least get a good conclusion to it in this book.

Donut definitely feels more active in this book, especially when we learn she's been doing things behind the scenes to start a revolution. It makes me want spin-off novels/novellas about Donut, and I'd also love to see what's happening with Bea.

So far, Prepotente hasn't done really all that much. If that really is him on the cover, he's got to do something mind-blowing in the masquerade. There was actually one scene where Matt reused the line "Prepotente was one of them," so either that's hinting at something or just an accidental reuse. If he doesn't have a major role to play coming up, I'll be so confused.

Also I hope Carl gives Vrah gonorrhea again. He does have multiple arrows. Chekov's gonorrhea arrow. (hide spoiler)]

Wait and see :D

This is completely insane! Action packed and as someone said, Carl is living up to the Anarchist label perfectly!!!

:(
Chapters 65-End

(view spoiler)[Despite killing all the hunters, NPCs, and mantises, it's hard to feel like the end of this book is a victory. Not only did we lose some characters I wished I could have seen more of (GWEN!!!), we skip a floor - guaranteeing that everyone will be underleveled - and now Katia is forced to be part of the royalty bloodbowl. I didn't even think you could force an equipment onto someone.

I wonder what exactly she wanted advice from Carl for. Was it to do with the blitz sticks?

I'm also still confused why Prepotente is on the cover. Sure, at the end he joined the party for a couple pages then did a wild as shit thing, but I don't think that's really worthy of cover material. Maybe Signet would have been more appropriate.

I dread the next few books, because I fear that even if the events don't break Carl, it will break me. (hide spoiler)]

The one upside (view spoiler)[to the skipped floor, is that more people survived... they've been wiping out contestants at an accelerated rate all season, leaving them at a bit of a numbers disadvantage?...

I also don't think Dinniman plans to write 18 books, even if this goes all the way to the 18th floor... I've seen mentions online that multi-floor books were on the table, skipped floors is another workaround...

If Carl can ever get away with it, he can skip any floor he wants with the Gate of the Gods...

Book 6 is floor 8 now, after the skipping of floor 7...
Book 7 is floor 9, and is currently being written and posted on Patreon...
Book 8 will be floor 10, 11, or both, because...
Reddit comments from Dinniman indicate book 9 will be floor 12, and revolve around the Gods/Ascendancy... and that's about as far as anyone has gotten in the dungeon in the past, I think?...

So whatever happens in book 10+ is who knows, at this point... (hide spoiler)]

I understand the anxiety though... These books have been getting progressively more emotionally brutal! I am not sure they wouldn't break me either...

I've been wondering if the cover art is by Dinnaman himself? Been meaning to look into that. Watched an interview where he talks about how he used to support himself by drawing pictures of people's pets at pageants.

Ok, stopped being lazy and looked it up. Apparently the cover artist is Luciano Fleitas:
https://www.artstation.com/lucianofle...

Quinn wrote: "Chapters 11-64 (A giant leap forward but I just couldn't put it down, and we're going to the climax so I just had to jot down my thoughts.)..."

I was going through this old thread as I'm 2 hours away from finishing the audio and saw your note Quinn, that made me laugh so hard. (view spoiler)[Also I hope Carl gives Vrah gonorrhea again. He does have multiple arrows. Chekov's gonorrhea arrow. (hide spoiler)] That would be so in line with this damn game :D

LOL those arrows!!

Every time someone posts in these threads I want to start a re-read immediately lol