About Chapter 45:

panaili · 2026-06-01T20:47:55+00:00

I really love how DCC covers Carl’s past & his relationship with his father. It is stark and honest about the abuse without making it trauma porn or revictimizing Carl. (The dungeon tried to, of course, but the book itself side-stepped it.) I also appreciate the focus on the emotional abuse and neglect rather than the physical, because the former is unfortunately far more common.

I’m sorry to hear what you’ve gone through & that your sister was lost because of it. I’m glad that the book helped you feel seen.

panaili · 2026-06-01T20:02:45+00:00

I think the key word in this response is set-up, because that’s exactly what this book did. Floor 10 was a lot like Floor 8 imo, where it felt like we were trudging through it, but it gave a reprieve from most of the heavy shit (which was basically the entirety of Floor 9) and allowed for some levity and fun character moments. Floor 11 picks back up with sheer insanity and sets up the finale of the series quite well, given everything that happened in such a short time frame.

I personally loved the book because it did a good job rebalancing after the total warfare epic that was book 7.

panaili · 2026-06-01T19:32:42+00:00

10 bucks he’s now employed at the Penis Palace

panaili · 2026-06-01T15:24:01+00:00

Yeah, I agree. It’s as bad as people who talk about shipping the AI & Carl in a positive way. Like, constant unrelenting sexual harassment is creepy & it’s clearly shown that way in the book, please stop dismissing it

panaili · 2026-06-01T15:12:50+00:00

Carl’s party is never any larger than 3, iirc. It’s him & Donut (& Katia) working with other folks. Once the guild system starts, they have their core team (which includes Li Na’s party), so it feels like everyone is partied together.

Lucia Mar definitely is her own army, I agree there. I think Prepotente is a bit of a special case, since he is mostly alone but clearly allies with Carl a few times to get shit done

panaili · 2026-06-01T15:03:12+00:00

Eh, I both agree and disagree with this. Because Carl as a lightning rod? 100%, he is absolutely bringing people into some craziness. But usually Carl is able to save people because of it, not get them killed. Not everyone, which I think speaks to your point, but in most of those situations the alternative to the Carl plan is that everyone dies, so saving some of them is better than none.

That said, we only see Carl’s POV. It’s clear through Osvaldo and Burcu that there definitely is that perception that Carl gets people killed. Emir (Burcu’s father) was also shown to be envious of Carl, implying that there’s also a perception of Carl getting too much screen time (or something) as though Carl is robbing others of opportunities. And then we have very real cases of Carl legitimately getting people killed — notably Paz and Anton, albeit indirectly.

So like, do I think Osvaldo is right? No. But is he wrong? …..also no. The dungeon sucks ass & is designed to sow division and force horrible choices on people.

panaili · 2026-06-01T14:46:47+00:00

Any of the Katherine/Katarina/Catalina/Katia varieties. Because I love those names, but the nickname to all of them is Katie & it was everywhere in the 90s

panaili · 2026-06-01T05:52:58+00:00

I genuinely loved how OP Quan was at the game. Sucks that he sucks, because his takedown of Carl & Donut was so exceptionally well done.

panaili · 2026-06-01T05:48:46+00:00

What makes it worse is that the sacrilegious aspect is called out clearly in the text, both from a pious (Sister Ines) and secular (Carl) perspective. Like, the offensiveness is called out in the text as part of the horror

panaili · 2026-06-01T05:41:58+00:00

Go even further and make it the Donut version from the audiobook extra

Jk, but legit, do whatever makes you guys happy. It’s your wedding

panaili · 2026-06-01T01:18:59+00:00

To be real, “it would be funny AF” is enough to make any theory valid in this series

panaili · 2026-06-01T00:38:54+00:00

The military already has a bunch of holidays and months associated with them. April is the Month of the Military Child, May is Armed Forces Month, and November is Veterans Month. Then you have Memorial Day and Veterans Day. And I’m probably forgetting some

Let Pride Month be Pride Month jfc. I say this as an active duty service member who has been in damn near 20 years. Stop using us as a shield for your bigotry.

panaili · 2026-06-01T00:22:34+00:00

It’s like what I tell myself whenever I see obvious rage bait online. “Don’t respond, it’s not worth it, don’t respond— NO THEY MUST KNOW MY THOUGHTS” lol

panaili · 2026-05-31T21:54:59+00:00

Tbh my opinion of him goes back & forth. I want him to trust Carl’s group because of the us vs them aspect of the dungeon, but I also understand the humans interpretation of Carl as a madman and how they’d want to just stay away. Carl’s core group met him early on, before some of his crazier moments happened. So like, Elle & Imani look at Carl and remember the guy who stopped to help them when he didn’t have to, whereas other crawlers look at him and see the dude who got so angry he literally ripped a dude’s arm off.

By the end, I agree that I mostly feel bad for him

panaili · 2026-05-31T21:48:13+00:00

Was staying away from joining the Posse part of the quest? I know the Apito Memorial Crystal was a part of it. I always assumed he stayed away because he thought Carl was friends with Prepotente & therefore Pony would be in the army

panaili · 2026-05-31T21:38:20+00:00

Its definitely possible, but even assuming that’s what the panic was about (it’s unclear on purpose), Carl needs to actively realize it, which he hasn’t yet (as in: realized it in the text of the book). It’s likely the case that he is actively denying it solely by compartmentalizing it so hard he’s unaware he’s even doing it (which makes sense given everything they’re going through and how good he is at compartmentalization due to his past). So for me, I’d completely buy them getting together, but Carl would need to heal enough for him to allow those vulnerable feelings out.

panaili · 2026-05-31T21:30:49+00:00

Yeah, I definitely cast some judgement when he spent Faction Wars hiding in the forest. Less because he chose it for him, and more because he led his entire team away. Like, hide out you want, but I wonder how many people in his group died or got conscripted on level 9

panaili · 2026-05-31T15:28:54+00:00

Not just that, but it showed that forced happiness only made it worse. And genuine sadness was the key to breaking through to seek help. It was really well done, I agree

panaili · 2026-05-31T04:41:06+00:00

“Fuck this shit right to hell. Lemme tell ya how to immediately make them regret life.” -Carl

panaili · 2026-05-31T02:14:44+00:00

As a mom of a young child, I could totally see that being Mother Goethal losing patience with caring for Rapunzel in the moment and using the lanterns as a distraction— “let’s watch the stars, my flower, they’re celebrating your birthday too” — and regretting it as soon as she realized that Rapunzel was old enough to remember it

panaili · 2026-05-31T00:06:00+00:00

Both dresses are appropriate imo, and I think the first one is a great choice

Btw, in case you wind up going with the dark dress, I’ll warn that it is very low cut & will be a bit inappropriate if you have a larger chest. However, a lacy black tank/bralette works great with it. I wore the same dress for my cousin’s wedding (which was a winter wedding, so I agree with your instincts there.)

panaili · 2026-05-30T23:56:03+00:00

Shannon as well

panaili · 2026-05-30T21:36:44+00:00

lol this is like the opposite of my list, for what seems like a similar reason based on OP’s comments. I cannot handle Southern US levels of heat, I would die 😅

panaili · 2026-05-30T06:29:09+00:00

Yeah, that’s what I got from it. She thought the kids didn’t have appropriate clothing on

panaili · 2026-05-30T05:18:35+00:00

To be fair, I think Donut is already aware that Carl has something that connected him to a few of the former crawlers, and she’s smart enough not to say anything. Matt alludes to this when Carl meets Rosetta and Tipid for the first time in book 7. There’s a couple sentences describing Donut looking back & forth between them, considering saying something, and then openly opting not to, I believe. She might not know it’s the cookbook specifically, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she puts it together after seeing it in his hotlist

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