The Gate of the Feral Gods
By Matt Dinniman · Narrated by Jeff Hays · 580 pages pages · March 2022
The Gate of the Feral Gods
One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell unlocks. Floor 5 is a floating island system where the format shifts from dungeon crawling to territory capture. Alliances form and break. Donut refuses to go in the water. She goes in the water.
What makes this book matter
The AI's relationship with Carl shifts from quirky background gag to active plot element. Carl avoids stepping on frenzied gerbils and the AI sends an ENDLESS wave until he complies. He stomps fifty. He receives "You're the Reason Why Daddy Drinks!" Katia contextualizes it: "the equivalent of a psycho ex-boyfriend going nuts and trying to murder you and your entire family because of something you didn't even know you did." The AI is not comic relief. The AI is becoming something else.
The moment everyone remembers
Donut gets knocked unconscious and wakes up hundreds of feet underwater. She fights giant sharks, swims to the surface, and rows to shore looking like a drowned rat. Carl: "Well. That was pretty awesome." Donut: "Go fuck yourself, Carl."
Also: Dinniman invented "Tserendelgor" specifically to screw with Jeff Hays. Then made the character appear repeatedly. Hays gives a notable pause every time. The meta-level author-narrator fuckery is a running delight.
Key introductions
- Sponsor auction system (3 slots per crawler)
- Bubble/territory capture mechanics
- The AI's escalating instability
- Carl begins worshiping Emberus on Floor 5