Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and authors for the eARC.

Chaotic, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt—Carl and Donut’s latest dungeon run balances wild mechanics with real character growth. A little overstuffed at times, but still a blast from start to finish.

Okay, I feel like we’re really getting somewhere now! And I finally know who the Samantha is that I see on DCC-themed t-shirts.

As if normal gods were manageable, now feral gods came out to play. I understand that scandals increase viewership, but I think this was a little too much. First you enclosed crawlers in a bubble and then tied their fate to other castles being captured. I'm all about a good fight where I'm only dependent on myself. When I have to rely on others, alarm bells ring.

When it's about survival, I don't think I can trust human kind (doesn't matter if they changed their species or not). We are famous for our backstabbing, and we do it well. On this floor, Carl and Donut had to team up with 3 other groups and make sure they could capture their castles. Carl being Carl, wanting to save everyone of course. put himself, Donut, his friends. and NPCs in harm's way.

We are seeing a little bit more of the wonders of the cookbook. It's such a clever way to hide a valuable resource like that. Because unless you are really into cooking (but also why would you do that in a freaking dungeon), you would not flip pages of a cookbook. Well played crawlers!

We made it to the 5th Floor and, wow, was this book a doozy. Filled with more crazy antics from our favorite Crawlers, Carl and Princess Donut, along with gods, new NPCs, and a massive two-headed puppy. This book explored more of the alien politics outside the dungeon and gave some interesting tidbits that will make for interesting story arcs in later books. Overall, I highly enjoyed the 5th Floor, and I'm really looking forward to the 6th Floor....plus what is Odette up to??? Inquiring minds want to know!

This series has me in a chokehold. While this is not my top book in the series, I still enjoyed following Carl and Donut as they helped the others free up different areas. I love seeing Carl's character grow.

This series continues to just be the craziest, wildest, best ride ever! Carl and Donut continue to work their way through the floors of this horrific game they have found themselves in. All of our original characters (the still alive ones) are still there and we gather more as they try to survive the set up of floor five. I will always root for Carl and Donut, especially as they move from one crazy idea to the next. I love this series and cannot wait to read the next installment.

At this point the entire series is blending together into one glorious LitRPG because I barely put one down before I pick up the next one. I am amazed at the way Dinniman manages to stay true to his story, but bring fresh ideas to each book. I was a bit disappointed that some of my favorite side characters were relegated to chat due to the circumstances of this floor of the World Dungeon, but I'm excited to see what Carl and crew can do in the next book when they're all back together.

I am also continually astonished at the real emotion and moral quandary that is brought to this story more and more as we dive deeper into this dungeon. Carl's constant refusal to buy into the game while at the same time, he is excelling at it. Carl's refusal to be broken at times seems like insanity, and I can see him teetering on the edge of something. I truly don't know what I'm going to do when I catch up to what's published and don't have the next book waiting for me.

In book 4 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut have made it to the next level. This one is filled with sand storms, 4 castles that they have to conquer, warrior gnomes, a haunted crypt, and a submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. As with all of the previous books this was filled with snarky humor, and like all of the previous books, Princess Donut stole the show.

So, if you didn't think they could get any more out there, we'll you were wrong! This may be the best one yet - adventure, humor, and totally off the wall.

Carl is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite characters. I’m impressed with his moral compass, even with all the horrible things happening. He’s constantly beaten down, and he refuses to break. There are several moments in this book that his will not to break was intense. All you can do is hope he never does.

I need people to stop reviewing these books so critically. You are reading it completely wrong, if that’s the case. A lot is happening in this book, and there is less downtime. I do miss a little more of the chats between Princess Donut and Carl that are not about the impending doom! I am very excited about the additions of characters in this one. The long-awaited Samantha makes her appearance. I adore the group that Carl has managed to wrangle together. They have grown together in this book. I would almost say, we are getting a bit of “found family” going on.

This book took a darker tone. Don’t get me wrong, people are living in a war, but this one goes there. Carl starts making crazy decisions to fight back in some way. I don’t want to say too much because I’m so far into the series. If I haven’t convinced you to pick this series up yet, I wish you would! Shout out to the AMAZING Jeff Hays!! The audiobooks are so good, and he’s a mastermind.

“This I swear on my life. One by one, I will break you. I will break you all.”

Thank you, Ace, for the e-ARC. All thoughts are my own!! I also own the audiobook and hardcover. I’m all in! 🙂

3.5⭐️ rounded up.

The system AI is coming into its own personality. You don’t kill how it wants you to… oh you better watch out! Quests are coming from every direction like frenzied gerbils. And guess what? The players can be sued for going against what everyone wanted them to do! Donut and Mongo aren’t as active in this one but Carl and Katia really shine.

Book 4 is just as kookie and crazy as you would expect. I also feel like this one may have had more Easter eggs that are going to be critical on future levels…but we’ll see.

I think this is my favorite book in the series so far.

It perfectly hits that balance between comedy, drama, and heartfelt. I laughed out loud so many times my face started to hurt.

There is so much going on in this book that should not work. You should not be able to say an explosives expert, a sassy show cat, a human transformer, a wise old changeling who is currently a bird and a dinosaur have to decide what to do with a sex doll head that is housing a feral goddess. Spoiler they add her to the team that is trying to take down the alien overloards.

Why does it work so well?

What is Matt Dinniman doing to me?

It’s really unusual that I like EVERY SINGLE BOOK this much by book 4 but here we are. I haven’t found Anything I’ve genuinely disliked in these books yet. While the humor can be crude, I get it. It’s not meant to be the best situation ever and they need to laugh when they can. I appreciate that the characters continue to evolve and change. Their stories are unusual and hilarious or down right depressing at times but as we dig deeper into Carl and Donut’s past we learn so much more about them. I really adore these characters. Every character is so unique and has their own story. The characters and the pure insanity of the story keep me hooked the entire way through. I never know what will happen next and yet i’m on the ride and don’t want to get off. The more we dig into each character the more in love with them I become. I just hope my favorites don’t die!!! I’m not sure how I feel about Samantha yet but I adore Catia and Morticai soooo much! I need more!

"The Gate of the Feral Gods" (Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 4) continues to push the boundaries of its chaotic universe.

This book offers a fresh and ingenious dungeon level with new mechanics that keep Carl and Donut on their toes. The creativity in the challenges and monsters remains a huge draw, consistently surprising and entertaining. Fans will love the continued hilarious banter between Carl and Princess Donut, which is as sharp and amusing as ever. "The Gate of the Feral Gods" also expands the overarching lore and galactic politics, giving intriguing glimpses into the wider world beyond the dungeon and raising the stakes for Carl's ultimate goals.

Carl and Donut's journey through the dungeon continues to the 5th floor in this book. It is, if possible, even more outlandish than the previous floors. This was a nice change of pace scenery-wise as we're away from trains and into bubbles. This was also a change in that we see more of the politics happening behind the scenes and our characters undergo some great character growth. This is easily one of the best, most hilarious, insane, chaotic, and amazing series I've ever read. Thank you to Matt Dinniman for bringing us along on this wild ride. I cannot wait to continue onward and see what happens next.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Matt Dinniman does it again! I enjoyed this book, especially because of the homage to television game shoes. It just gets more outlandish and more fun to read. I highly recommend this book (and the series so far).

You can’t miss in this series! It is an amazing ride like living in a video game with the best partners. You rock and roll the whole way

Ah, the 5th floor. What delightful chaos this has been!

We are meeting some intense characters and getting into some serious sh*t. All the remaining crawlers are divided up in separate domes, each tasked with taking three castles before their dome opens and they are free to descend to the next level. Naturally, Donut and Carl are tasked with the impossible - take a floating castle with no possible way up and defended by angry gnomes. Should be easy, right?

This volume seemed to have a lot more going on behind the scenes. More and more we are seeing humanized glimpses of Carl from the past, and there's an excellent foreboding of things to come as a result, I think.

This is easily one of the most entertaining series I have ever read. I can't wait to keep going!

Hilarious and surprisingly heartwarming. Carl and Donut are the perfect duo in this post alien apocalyptic world.

4.5⭐️

Thank you to Berkey Publishing Group, the author Matt Dinniman, and NetGalley for allowing me to preview this title.

Dammit, Donut, you did it again! Yet another fabulous installment in this wonderful series. For this book, Carl and Princess Donut the Queen Ann Chonk, are on the 5th Floor of the Dungeon Crawl: Earth Edition. As always, the dialog is witty, but this book is focused on story development.

The previous books have been setting up character development, dynamics, and the workings of the dungeon. With this book, we start to get to the heart of the plot line, now and those to come. This book set up the warring alien factions, adding depth and intrigue to its already interesting storytelling. Princess Donut stays her sweet and charismatic self, but she is growing as a person (?) which has been a wonderful journey. I cannot wait to continue with this series as the story gets deeper, all while keeping the charm and hilariousness that originally drew me to it.