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Caverns and Creatures #2

Critical Failures II

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Finding themselves permanently stuck in this strange new world, the gang tries to make the best of it by finding the nearest tavern and getting shitfaced. The plan goes just fine until they lose Katherine and Chaz. They soon discover that they aren't the first players Mordred has sent to this world.

233 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2013

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Robert Bevan

138 books724 followers

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
Profile Image for Dan Schwent.
3,196 reviews10.8k followers
May 14, 2014
Trapped in the world of Creatures and Caverns, Tim, Dave, Cooper, and Julian struggle to find their way home, meeting a community of individuals also accosted by Mordred along the way. But what has happened to Katherine and Chaz?

The gang from Critical Failures is back in a second outing, continuing their quest to escape the world of Creatures and Caverns and settle Mordred's hash.

The humor of the first book is in full effect in the sequel. The D&D in-jokes continue, as does the bodily function humor. In addition, the boys have matured a bit, both in experience level and character-wise.

The story is a direct continuation and deals with another group of displaced C&C players, making a go of it in a fantasy world after being banished there by Mordred.

I thought the vampire subplot was very well done. My favorite part of the book, other than the masterwork wooden stake carved in the shape of a penis, was the excellent use of the Bag of Holding.

If I had to pick something to gripe about, it was that the humor was wearing a little thin by the end. However, since I just finished the first book, I imagine I was suffering from overload. Wait, I have something else to gripe about: Where is the next book?

If you're a D&D gamer with a sense of humor, you won't want to miss this. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Profile Image for Montzalee Wittmann.
5,171 reviews2,334 followers
August 29, 2017
Critical Failures II: Fail Harder (Caverns and Creatures #2) by Robert Bevan picks up where book one leaves off. I bought the audio version and giggled and belly laughed all the way through this book! I listened to it while trying to clean house but had to stop and laugh so many times... That was the best time I have ever had house cleaning! I also listened to it at night before bed and couldn't stop. This book is addictive. Slapstick funny, childish, crazy, things you would never expect, but hilarious just the same!
These gamers were magical sucked into a game by the game master. Now they are trapped. They are the characters they played in the game. Orc, half-elf, etc. They meet up with others that the evil game master sent over. The story is so great! I am giggling thinking about the story!
I bought all four books and can't wait to hear the next book. I usually never buy audio because it takes so long to 'read' because I read so fast I could have several books read in the same time but the voices that are used in this book is so funny in themselves it just adds to it. I adore these books, esp. on audio! I would give it more than 5 stars if I could. These books are probable made for adult males that play D&D but I have never played games and I am a 60 yr old woman and laughing at this silly book. Funny as hell! I think this one was better than book one!
Profile Image for Maria Kramer.
681 reviews23 followers
August 12, 2016
Did this book really need to exist? Probably not. Also, in this volume the casual sexism reaches new heights with Katherine literally shoved into a bag for a lot of the time. Did the author not expect girls to like vulgar, nerdy comedies, too? He probably just didn't think about it very much. I probably would have stopped here if I had my druthers, but a friend loaned me these, so on to volume three!
Profile Image for Sharon Stevenson.
Author 46 books303 followers
October 28, 2013
'Critical Failures II: Fail Harder' is the continuing hilarious tale of a small group of RPG players who are trapped in the fantasy realm of Caverns and Creatures.

I have to say I'm loving this series. The first book was brilliant, and although the short stories were excellent I had been dying to find out what was next for the guys and where Chaz & Katherine have been hiding all this time. Their story continues as they discover there are others like them who've also been sent there by Mordred.

I wasn't sure where the plot would go from where the first book left off but it managed to both shock and satisfy. There are some really cool twists to the story, and there are definitely as many laugh out loud moments as there were in the first book.

The ending shocked and left me wanting more. Brilliant continuation to a fantastic fantasy comedy series. Can't wait for the next book. Highly recommended!
Profile Image for Bram.
266 reviews74 followers
September 18, 2018
The story of our unlikely heroes continues, with more shit & piss humor, more "yo momma" jokes, more swearing and more sexual inuendo.

There isn't all that much too say about this, as it's the exact same experience as the first one. Not very intellectual, funny in a juvenile kind of way, highly entertaining if you like this genre and overal just a fun romp.

Kudos for the narrator that did the audiobook. He does incredible voices which makes the whole thing so much more fun.
24 reviews1 follower
September 18, 2016
Wow, what a great follow-up to an already great story. This story had it all. Brilliant conflicts, ingenious solutions, and lots of laugh-out-loud moments that resulted in embarrassing moments for me as I read on the city bus. And the ending ... wow ... clearly unexpected and made me want to dive right into book 3.
Profile Image for Andy Ribaudo.
93 reviews4 followers
January 31, 2021
Finished the first book today and immediately jumped into and finished the second one the same day.

This is not high-brow literature, but it's fun, easy RPGLit.
Profile Image for Ron.
76 reviews5 followers
July 1, 2018
Well that’s two for two with this series. These books are made for Audiobooks and Johnathon Sleep, the narrator of the audiobooks, nails the performance of each character. I found myself belly laughing many times and replaying parts of the book as missed parts from laughing so hard. Never would I have thought that a series of books so sophomoric and juvenile would bring me so much joy, but they have. I have to say one of my favorite components of the story are the acquisition of items and the leveling up of characters. I love that the author keeps the reader engaged that these characters are still role-playing!

This series, along with the Spells, Swords, & Stealth series and the Magic 2.0 series have lead me to believe that fantasy books are probably my favorite genre. There is something about taking people from this world we inhabit and placing them into a D&D like situation that I adore and find ever endearing.

I’ve read reviews that people are turned off completely by the sexism and infantile dialogue that is rife within this series, but I’m not bothered by it one bit as it’s done intentionally and Bevan is an equal opportunity offender.

The ending of this book came with a nice surprise and I can’t wait to get into Book 3, but not yet as I need to pace them out. I could easily devour the six books in this series within a four-day weekend, but I’m taking my time and enjoying every minute of these hilarious and fun books. I can only hope that Bevan continues to dish out books within this series.
Profile Image for Merewyn.
106 reviews10 followers
March 12, 2021
😅those poor poor horses...

Just what does Julian have against horses??🤔
Cooper winds up being kinda heroic in different parts, Katherine makes a poor life decision, Tim is a sneaky rogue in the finest tradition of that class, and the rest of the gang are plucky heroic too.😊
Still lots of poo, vomit, and cussing.
🤗but all the silly jokes make me laugh... a lot😂
Profile Image for Gilbert Stack.
Author 92 books77 followers
March 30, 2022
The cast of Critical Failures returns to discover how they can actually survive in a D&D style world and two things happen to them almost simultaneously. The first is that most of the group of second level characters find a bar with a whole lot of people in exactly their situation—real-earth people transformed into their characters and stranded on this world by the insane Cavern Master, Mordred. They are angry and frightened that our heroes think they have killed Mordred (however accidentally) in our world because it means they can never get home.

The second thing happens to Tim’s sister Catherine and her boyfriend (who weren’t part of the original game but got caught by Mordred when they figured out something was wrong). Catherine is mesmerized by a vampire who takes both of them home.

So, that’s the set up—lots of other characters annoyed with our (admittedly annoying) heroes and Catherine the “willing” prisoner of a vampire. But there’s one more problem. Four of the newly discovered players turned actual characters are in this world willingly. They’re middle school kids who love being able to live their game and are tough enough that no one can discipline them. And it looks like they are going to be really angry when they find out their friend Mordred has been killed.

So there is plenty going on in this book. It’s not quite up to the standard of the first, but it’s still a lot of fun. Trying to rescue Catherine from the vampire leads to many hilarious situations and I absolutely loved the way that most of the “players” reacted to being caught in their game world. They don’t want to risk injury and death so they are trying to make non-adventurer lives for themselves while they figure out how to get home.

The ending to this one is superb and sets up what will hopefully be a great sequel.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
Profile Image for InexactEarth.
145 reviews5 followers
November 29, 2019
This was a wicked fun ride!! It definitely improved on the first book, and the characters felt more developed. Not to worry, there are still lots of fart jokes and childish innuendo! Had me laughing so hard I was crying! Definitely looking forward to book 3!
Profile Image for Troy Neenan.
Author 13 books11 followers
May 18, 2019
The master of gross comedy fantasy is back in his next instalment of Critical Failures. Before getting into the meat of the book you need to be warned that this book is really not for everyone. It includes slapstick, fart jokes, crude language, toilet humour, and the main characters are completely useless.

In the last novel several idiots got transported into a role-playing game for angering the Game Master. A few fights, a lot of fart jokes, and Tim managed to trick Mordred into killing himself.

Plot: The guys are introduced to other people of Earth that Mordred transported to the table-top role-playing game. Tim's sister Catherine gets kidnapped by a vampire and it is up to the party to save her. But naturally things get complicated as some of the people that Mordred sent to his make-believe world get in the way.

Characters:
Tim: Before getting sucked into the game world Time was a drunk with only a few prospects. Having been turned into a halfling his drinking problem has escalated. While more intelligent than the rest of the party he is rarely sober enough to use it.
Dave: The but of the joke. Dave becomes the target of many of Cooper's insults.
Cooper: The mascot of the series. It is always interesting to see what a low Charisma and Intelligence score can do.
Julian: The most naïve party member. He is new to the game and can't get his head around the racism and the violence that is common place in this world.
Catherine: A bitch and the damsel in distress. Catherine is hot and knows it.

What I like: I have listened to the audiobook about ten times now and it never gets old.
What I don't like: Again, this is not for everyone. If you like South Park I recommend it.
Profile Image for Megan Murphy.
274 reviews12 followers
August 29, 2017
Immature, raunchy, addictive, hysterical and oh so good. The gang is back again-still in the land of their RPG game as the characters they created. We start off where the first book left off, how every good campaign starts...in a tavern. They soon realize they are not the only people Mordred sent here. Friends are made, tricks are played and with Cooper around you can bet enemies are made as well. Twists, turns, magical spells, and more adventures await you in this sequel.

After the first book I was left not wanting to finish the series because of the type of humor. Although this book kept nagging in the back of my head, I just had to see what these crazy guys did next. My D&D group even created a campaign where we became characters we created and sent to our D&D realm (just like the book) after I told them about it.

An adult read, and yes I mean adult, as long as your not shy about offensive humor. This book will make you laugh like crazy and bring you back to your gaming days, even if you have never played any RPG games.
Profile Image for Colin.
Author 5 books140 followers
November 18, 2020
So, the adventures of low-life gamers magically transported to the realms of their favorite RPG, "Caverns & Creatures." continue! Our heroes continue to try to find a way back home to the "real" world, while dealing with a vampire who has kidnapped Katherine (and Chaz, by default). They run afoul of some young gamers who *like* that they have ended up in this world, as well, including some high-level jerks who call themselves the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Finally, it looks like they may have figured out a way to use magic within the C&C world to get home . . . Anyway, it's fun, and easy reading, though it is not great literature by any means (and is quite conscious of this - it has no pretensions to being great literature, focusing on dick and fart jokes . . . much of the plot of this one end up hinging upon a dildo . . . ). But it is a lot of fun.
Profile Image for Thomas Cardin.
Author 14 books28 followers
October 23, 2013
Holy cow! Everything I have said about the previous book and the shorts goes double for this.

It is one thing to read a book well into the night and wee morning, but to do so while chortling and guffawing? Yeah, it's sorta like that!

What happens between those pages, stays between those pages, OK? I think I lost a point of wisdom reading, but I definitely gained a point of constitution (which I needed by the end (two words: masterwork weapon)).

"All the vomit!" is going to be one of my new war cries now.

I want to say that the trick with the bag of holding was done in a campaign I ran about 20 years ago...To this day there is a guy running around with a efreeti trapped in his bag of holding.

Highly recommended. Read the first book first, and prepare to bust a gut.
Profile Image for Dr. T Loves Books.
1,505 reviews12 followers
February 14, 2019
What it's about: The adventure continues... Trapped in a D&D world, six people try to figure out a way to get back to reality before they get killed. Things get more complicated when one of them gets taken by a vampire.

What I thought: Cooper is still unpleasant, but in book 2, there are several places where I literally laughed out loud thanks to some combos of weird situations and D&D references.

Why I rated it like I did: There are actual moments of character development (they are brief and rare, but they do seem to exist). I laughed. It was a step up from the first book.
Profile Image for Melody Kepler.
Author 6 books49 followers
August 15, 2020
Bevan continues the hilarity in this sequel. With lots of unexpected turns of events and some twists that take you in directions you didn't anticipate, this book was well done. I read it in two days(which is fast for me). I can't wait to get into the third book after Critical Failures II left me on a huge cliffhanger!
Profile Image for David Campbell.
68 reviews
February 2, 2017
Great yarn and a great distraction!

If you have ever played Dungeons and Dragons you will instantly get a great nostalgic effect from this book. Wonderfully full of surprises and twists and turns!
Excellent read!
Profile Image for David Suski.
Author 1 book7 followers
June 18, 2017
Absolutely hilarious. I can't in good conscience give this a 5 star rating due to it lacking any real depth but damn it was funny. Way funnier than the first one, and possibly one of the funniest things I've ever read.
Profile Image for Brian.
Author 6 books3 followers
November 10, 2016
These books are fun to read if your not offended by profanity and juvenile humor. I'm moving on to the third book so clearly Bevan must be doing something right.
Profile Image for Joseph Spuckler.
1,511 reviews31 followers
October 8, 2020
Still fun. The humor hasn't gotten old and Cooper is one of the most interesting characters despite his charisma. Listened to this on two days after finishing the first book
Profile Image for Tory Thai.
865 reviews5 followers
March 20, 2022
This has to be one of the funniest book series I've ever experienced. I absolutely just can not put this down.

Its also incredibly well written too. My and my husband have been reading it at our own speed seperate and there just are so many memorable scenes to sit, laugh and talk about.

This is really crude humor but what the author did right was their pacing and managing to actually surround fun characters and plot around everything. So never did it feel like it was too much or getting too dumb. The dumb, nerdy and sometimes dark humor was just terrific.

This was one of those books I had to finish in a day because the pacing was so expertly done to keep you engaged and hooked that i couldn't put it down. Honestly this author is incredible and I'm such a fan now.

Everything was very cohesive and there was some really fun plot twists that I did not see coming. For a book that is surrounded my stupid humor it really manages to find some incredibly smart ways to make it all work to still be able to throw a twist at a reader.

I'm so eager to get into the next book of the series. This absolutely has been the most fun I've had in a while.
Profile Image for Erik Larson.
75 reviews4 followers
September 29, 2025
A Natural 1 in All the Right Ways
Critical Failures II: Fail Harder is the literary equivalent of rolling a critical fail and somehow landing in a pile of treasure. Robert Bevan doubles down on the madness, the profanity, and the sheer stupidity that made the first book a cult classic. This sequel doesn't just raise the stakes. It sets them on fire and throws them at a gelatinous cube.
The characters are still a disaster. The plot is held together with duct tape and bad decisions. And the humor? It hits like a fireball spell cast by someone who forgot to check the blast radius. I laughed so hard I nearly choked on my own hit points.
Bevan's world is a glorious mess of D&D mechanics, toilet humor, and surprisingly sharp satire. If you have ever played a tabletop game and thought, "What if everyone here was clinically insane," this book is your prophecy fulfilled.
36 reviews
June 24, 2017
This is the kind of book that picks up the story right were the first book in the series left off. No introduction or extra explanations to make it into a standalone story. I guess you can read it by itself if you have an understanding of the Dungeons & Dragons (I think 3rd edition), but you wouldn't understand all references to the previous story mentioned in it.

The pee and shit humor also gets extended with puke-related and more sexual jokes. It's not the highest level of literature but the more light entertainment to relax and laugh with. I actually chuckled out loud at the description of the death cry of the vampire as I had realized what had happened before it was explained a bit later in the book.
Profile Image for Matthew.
129 reviews12 followers
May 7, 2018
This book was very funny and flowed well. The first book was more of a story and this one followed more of an actual novel format. The first 2 books really read like a complete thought, not like two independent books. They aren't very long, but I really enjoyed reading this book. I had a little quorum paying $5 for a kindle book this short, but I am glad I got it and read it. Absolutely funny and fun to read. This book has the unlikely hero, the unlikely genius, the unlikely protagonist, and the terrible group of middle school kids that deserve to be spanked. If you enjoyed the first one, this one is better! The downsides to these books are obvious with lots of potty humor and terrible since of humor, but if you enjoy the first couple chapters then the whole book will have you rolling.
Profile Image for Mars Woody.
17 reviews
February 13, 2025
If you’re a fan of D&D and immature humor, this book is a wild ride you don’t want to miss! Critical Failures 2 continues the chaotic adventure of a group of friends from South Mississippi, trapped inside a game of Creatures & Caverns by a villainous Cavern Master. The writing is easy to read, and the humor will have you snickering to yourself more than once.

This is a comfort read for me—a perfect escape from everyday life. While some of the unfiltered jokes and slurs aren’t my favorite, they fit the unrefined nature of the characters. Overall, it’s a fun, ridiculous, and entertaining adventure. I’m definitely continuing the series!

Would recommend to: Anyone who loves tabletop RPGs, dark humor, and a bit of chaotic stupidity.
25 reviews
September 8, 2017
Basically there are two types of game players. Those who take the game incredibly seriously as if it was life, and those who do the exact opposite. These guys are the latter. I love the trashy lead female character. She just gives me all sorts of happy feelings. Love Tim, the alcoholic screwup everyone mistakes for a kid, and I love the HORSE gag. Never gets old. This probably isn't for everyone, but is right up my ally for rest and relaxation. I'll leave the serious hard thinking books for later.
Profile Image for Goth Gone Grey.
1,154 reviews47 followers
September 10, 2017
This is not a literary classic, it will not be examined for hidden meanings with hushed, reverent tones in a college class about fantasy literature. It's the written version of the campfire fart scene in Blazing Saddles; base, immature humor that you know you shouldn't be laughing so much at as an adult, but can't help it.

The continuing story of bungling PC's thrown into the game world is as entertaining as the first volume. Scatological humor and D&D references abound, so reminiscent of my favorite gaming group that I can't wait to delve into the next volume.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews

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