Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman starting on September 9, 2025.


Happy Reading!

Thank you!

1. Dungeon Crawler Carl (Jun 9) [link]
2. Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Jul 9) [link]
3. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Aug 9) [link]
4. The Gate of the Feral Gods (Sept 9)
5. The Butcher's Masquerade (Oct 9) [linkTBD]
6. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Nov 9)
7. This Inevitable Ruin (Dec 9)
8. Carl's Book of Boom (expected late 2025 2026) (TBD)

We have requests up to here. What are people thinking for continuing with the series? Should I put in requests at 1/month? Or do y'all want a break and pick up later?

Ann-Marie and I are also blitzing the series again in Nov. Because.

If you're doing the re-read again in November, we can club Book 5-8 onwards then itself. I'm happy to wait after book 4 and resume back in Nov... whatever works for who all requested this originally...

I'm happy with going regular schedule on these--I want to pause everything else but I need my regular does of Donut & Carl... as far as I'm concerned, the November blitz is separate...

But I'll go with whatever the group needs.

I would join with one per month starting with book 5 in Oct.

I would also like to stick with one per month.

I couldn't wait any longer to start this one.

part way through Chapter 4: (view spoiler)[ I really hope that Carl and Donut fight Lucia and her two dogs and win. She is really nuts.

I know that it is early in this book but I like the idea of the bubbles so far. I am curious to see how our heroes are able to move on from this floor. (hide spoiler)]

LOL I feel that. I'll probably be here this weekend.

And I'll put in those requests for the last few then, keeping with 1/month.

I love you guys' enthusiasm, but one re-read per year is my limit .. and sometimes I need even longer breaks after a few years/re-reads...

Through chapter 21 and really enjoying almost everything about the story. (view spoiler)[ I did not like the gerbil killing part!

What a twist with Chris and Maggie. I didn't see that coming and will be interested to see how it plays out. I also really enjoyed the "Doris doesn't splat" potion title. What really made me pause and want to comment was the Lika being a sex doll that Ghazi has. It seems so absurd and fits in so well. (hide spoiler)]

I read this (again) yesterday and I still love it so much, especially because we finally get (view spoiler)[SAMANTHA!!!!! In all of her crazy, insane, OTT glory, I love her so, so much and dare I say she is vying for my favorite character overall? She gets so much more awesome in future books so if she doesn't seem like a keeper of a character just you wait. But there is the rest of the book as well lol Funny, action-packed, Carl's "plans" and how they all seem to fail yet succeed. Killing the chick who tried to take Zev's place, maintaining access to the cookbook, "Mongo is appalled", keeping lower level players on track even if they had to trick them into taking potions to stay sober, just all of it is so much fun. And man that ending, I know what happens and I am still excited to read the next again lol (hide spoiler)]

I would be fine with continuing here and starting again in November at the same time which may mean I am a psycho but yeah, especially since these early books are so short I'd be okay with whatever.

^_^ Rest of the series requests made! Then it'll be time to start reading the Patreon chapters...

So this is from Bedlam Bride but not really a spoiler, just a prime example of why I love Samantha so much and what all you first time readers have to look forward to with her <3

https://www.tiktok.com/@amishgirl281/...

I keep thinking of the Prepotente rant in Book 7 (Book 7 spoilers) after which Samantha (view spoiler)[starts to say I WILL KILL YOUR--- and is stopped... I think by Katia? And told to "Never say that to him. Never." And Samantha has a growth moment, where she says she doesn't really mean it... I don't remember the details... (hide spoiler)]

Samantha has a few moments in book 7 <3

Neck hole.

Started yesterday, and all I want to do now is curl up with this on audio and eyeread...

Found this lovely little tidbit, circa chapter 13ish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_E6P...
Not Jeff Hays, but pretty fun.

And oh gods, I think this is from book 6... Donut singing... but someone took the song and made an AI montage of a lot of the characters... it's really interesting seeing what they came up with... and eerie watching AI "live action":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWhZ...

Through Chapter 10 (view spoiler)[I keep noticing clues... I don't remember when this is revealed but I'm thinking this book or next book... regarding Chris... (view spoiler)[Carl asked questions about the Changelings v. Dopplegangers and the Valtay, and Mordecai says: "...There are Intellect Hunters who do the same thing, but the bodies start to rot almost immediately, and they are always hopping from body to body. Then there’s something called an Infiltrator. They are much more insidious..." And soon after that, we learn that Chris is alive and in the bubble. Oh, and there's that personality change right after people got their classes, and how he killed Frank... (hide spoiler)]

I really like how we're getting to know the NPCs more in this book. Not just disposable... (hide spoiler)]