It's a fun thing to think about.

This lovely book came in the mail today.

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Are there any other songs that feel like "part of the soundtrack," of the books, so to speak? Not the tunes referenced in the books.

The song "Province" by TV on the Radio just came on. I was struck by how well it felt so appropriate for those beautiful crawlers and NPCs. I'm not saying it's a song that you might choose at karaoke night or a parade or anything, but it gets me, you know?

So with the story ending, a part of me wonders if the last of Donut's enemies will appear. I speak of course of Angel, The Cocker Spaniel. Given Donut has been more vocal about her hatred for cocker spaniels than even talking about Gravy Boat or Bea, I can only wonder if the AI is saving this to be her "final boss."

After listening to all 8 books several times, I'm pretty sure the real identity of Hamed, the night worm is actually Orrin (sp?) I have a couple reasons for thinking so, if anyone would like to discuss. To be fair I don't know if this is a popular/extant theory.

Coworkers got me the lil poster for my birthday and then my family who’s never read the books got dragged to painting with a twist for my birthday. I have no artistic abilities whatsoever so I have to go back and fix the background soon, but I’m happy with how my lil art wall is starting. Waiting on a check and then I’m going to go on the official merch website and continue my collection.

Hi all! I'm a novelist myself and got my MFA in creative writing and have been having a really fun time analyzing DCC and what Matt does so well. I worked hard on a short little essay about 7 things I think he does brilliantly in this series that make the books such bingeable reading. Not everyone in my own circle knows or reads the series so I hope its ok to share with the people that get it.

Also HI ZEV.

Hello oooh Florida Crawlers! Anyone going to the DCC game this Saturday? It's too hot for me to attempt cosplay but will be wearing my Princess Donut and Mongo shirt!!

https://www.orlandocitysc.com/tickets/dungeoncrawlercarl

"DON'T GASLIGHT ME, JESUS"

I swap between audiobooks and reading but the narration is so good I find myself regularly bursting out laughing. No one else I know has read this far into the series. I just needed others who understood.

If you were dropped into the dungeon and could choose just one character to stick with you, who would you pick?

Not necessarily your favorite character. I mean the one you genuinely think would give you the best chance of surviving.

Curious to see whether everyone picks the obvious choices or someone completely unexpected. 😅

I got tickets to the meet and greet tomorrow and since Dragon Con is this weekend, I’ve got a full Carl costume ready to go, complete with Donut and Samantha. I’ve got Samantha on wheels and a fishing line so it looks like she’s rolling around behind me.

Too much for a meet a greet? It’s my first one and idk how much the other attendees are going out. Just wondering how out of place I’ll be with all of it.

I have loved DCC for his endless endurance to continue. I do not have that strength and I recognize that I have been broken. What do I do next?

After the absolute chaos of the 11th floor as everyone is recovering Carl reaches down to pick up a dead Horrible’s masks.

“Gershwin Banks, CEO Dictum Waystation Controls Ltd.” JUSTICE!!

That’s the company that set up the Naga (edit: MANTID!!) crawler (Evelyn) they sponsored to die at the top of the tower as an advertisement. And as she succumbed to the inevitable ruin and her impending death the ad to bash their competitor played out.

“There is no shortcut to safety! Never Trust Gordon Waystation Outfitters”

Which I very much want to make into a T-shirt.

With how social media is, I’m now being inundated with ads for DCC merch. Have you all found any official sites, insta accounts, etc… that sell legitimate merch?

I received these stickers and luggage tag as gifts for my birthday. How lucky am I? These are adorable and hilarious.

I heard about DCC about 2 months ago. Read all 8, and this morning I just finished re-reading of Book 4 Gate of the Feral Gods. On to the re-read of book 5!

So many thoughts on what's happening with the System Ai and the OAI alluded to and explained.

The Eulogist is the center system, right? The original collective mind consisting of all the primals minus the Apothecary?

He's "trapped" and "sleeping" in some way?

There were allusions made to different camps trying to sway the SysAI one way or another in what to do about the Eulogist, as stated in the speech to Donut about Growler Gary's "relationship problems"

Im having a hard time wrapping my head around the motivations of all the OAI actors we may be seeing in the next chapter. Agatha pretty clearly is an OAI, the Apothecary is out of the dungeon but could conceivably enter at any time (connections to that little girl seen with Lucia?) (Maybe Agatha IS the Apothecary?)

And the gods seem to be inspired by pre-collapse OAI, with Scolopendra representing the Eulogist, but not controlled by the AI? But bound to the ai's containment zone (which is still growing)

And that note about [Error] being some kind of trick up the Sys Ai's sleeve? Im pretty confident [Redacted] is the ork thing going on in the Pinapple Cabaret (and apartlently desperado club, and Sheol) but [error] is different?

What do yall think? There's a lot to digest before book 9 comes out.

Also a note: I know a couple new chapters are already out on patron but im waiting till the whole book comes out to read any of book 9 so please keep that in mind

We parked at the same time and as I was getting out of my car and looking around, I saw her license plate. I snapped my attention back and tried not to be weird, lol. She said it's not the first time someone spoke to her about her plates!

Fully prepared for light drizzle. You've used an everyday household item to cross the treacherous waters of a crawl that has, at last count, killed 99.7% of your species. The umbrella is not armor. The umbrella was never armor. It previously belonged to a man on the third floor who also believed it was armor. Your fellow crawlers are wearing enchanted plate forged by the gods of six dead worlds. You are wearing shorts. The viewers adore you the way one adores a raccoon in a storm drain: with real affection and no expectation of survival.

Reward: You’ve received a Bronze Adventurer Box! It contains a second umbrella. Do not open it during combat.

Rereading the crave portable place the third time and I'm at the part where they are describing the biological bush mount thing. They describe that the avernous creeper thorn is something that can grow very quickly and eventually can take over a whole planet but it doesn't grow on "this floor".

Not sure if this is future setup, but could be.

Saw this fellow fan on the road at a stop light!

Okay, so I know the flair is for book 8, but I just started so plz no spoilers (aside from what I already know, will explain later)

End of book 7…hit me like a monster truck. Talking about of course, Katia’s decision. If she went with the original plan, on heading to floor 12, then we would have an amazing reunion to look forward to! But that last second twist…damn. Effectively ‘killing off’ that character by making her ineligible.

I will note here, that I am personally wrecked by this as she was my favorite ever since her highlights in the Iron Tangle. Doppleganger is such a cool race, and so many creative moments. Based on her story with poor Annie, it makes perfect sense that she ended up going with that option.

All I’m hoping for is some reason to bring her back. My theory is that there will be something in a later book that brings her back to the dungeon, being that it’s been a constant line “anyone who enters the dungeon…dies in the dungeon”. Which would be horrible, but I’m holding hope that we aren’t done with her.

I soft spoiled myself looking at her wiki entry. Scrolling down to the sections labeled “spoilers” but you have to click on them to show. They had sections for “spoilers for book 3-7” but no section for “spoilers for book 8”. So now I know they don’t mention her anymore in the Parade of Horribles….the sadness keeps coming…

If you’re reading this, Matt, find a way to bring her back, I beg!

Maybe it's just me, but to me, Parade of Horribles felt by and far as the weakest book in the series. I'm assuming this was the penultimate to the penultimate, and Matt was just setting a bunch of stuff up. But yeah, personally, it felt like I was just getting through it, where the rest of the series I just couldn't put down. Does anyone else feel like this?

EDIT: Floor 11 was pretty interesting and I really enjoyed it. But 10 felt so rough and honestly kind of boring...

EDIT 2: I am now VERY well-acquainted with the term "ante-penultimate", so thanks everyone. Please excuse my ignorance.

-A chemistry major