The Gate of the Feral Gods

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Carl, Donut, et al have reached level five, where dungeon crawlers have been split into hundreds of ‘bubbles', each with four different quadrants. And of course, there are quests all over. This time, many of them involved gods, feral and otherwise.

Review
The seams began to show in the previous book, and here the stretch to keep things fun is even more evident. There are so many groups and characters and quests to keep track of that it's all something of a muddle. Dinniman does a great job of keeping the characters engaging, but not so well on clarity of his overcomplicated plots. That said, this was a lot more fun and quicker to read than the much shorter book I read just before it.

As noted previously, part of what's appealing is that Carl is smart and practical, and makes all the right choices. Unlikely as it may be, he probably falls in what some call the ‘noblebright' category, because he's compassionate and make the ‘right' moral choices. In a world that's awful and violent (I mean his), it keeps the tone lighter in that he's clearly a good person many of us can identify with.

Dinniman's juggling a lot of balls in this series, and I find it hard to keep track of most of them. I can't say they drop, exactly, but they do vanish from sight for long enough that you just have to take on faith that they're in the right place the next time you see them. The physical environment in particular can be hard to keep track on. It's not a crisis, but it would be more fun if I could consistently picture what in the hell was happening.

As with book three in the series, the loot boxes, etc. are beginning to wear thin. There are only so many amazing tools you can find. Dinniman clearly recognizes this, and is introducing some new dynamics. He also leans more heavily in this volume into the arc of the series overall – Carl's long-range plans for the sadists (or maybe just capitalists) that run the dungeon. That's a very good thing, as the story is beginning to really need more than just level-based scenery. However, to achieve Dinniman's goals, Carl's intentional hiding of information from the reader has become much more evident.

There's an odd little epilogue to the book that is interesting, perhaps important, info to have, but doesn't feel it fits well in the book. That's preceding the official ‘backstage' extra, which is more obviously stuck on and not (so far) essential to the plot.

All in all, still fun, but starting to wear. Happily, the next level/book should bring the capitalist dungeon investor factions more directly into focus, allowing Dinniman to bring out that side of the story more. He's also clearly slimming down the immediate cast, though I didn't see that as a major need.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.