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Caverns and Creatures #4
Critical Failures IV
The adventure continues. Tim and the C&C gang face their most difficult challenges yet. Horses die. Eyeballs are eaten. People are urinated on. A god is born.
417 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 22, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
June 16, 2017
Critical Failures IV (Caverns and Creatures #4) by Robert Bevan is not like the previous hilarious books. This fell so short of the others. It has a few giggle moments but really... I laughed my ass off on all the others and this was just meh... What was with Tim? Same sort of jokes but flat...I bought CC5, hope Bevan is out of his slump because I have all his other books and this is the only one I found disappointing. 2 1/2 stars rounding up to 3.
July 25, 2025
Echoing the sentiment that this is not as good as the first three- but it's still pretty good. I had a handful of solid laughs as opposed to the total rollercoaster of parts two and three. The story seems to indicate a new direction into exploring the fantasy world and incorporates the role-playing mechanics in interesting ways. Our heroes are split up and must find their way back together to defeat the evil slob dungeon master. Bevan has a real talent for storytelling, and his foul-mouthed sex and poop obsessed jokes highlight frequent twists and turns as the story goes into unpredictable shenanigans of role-playing rule tropes. It is really dirty, though; that's like 70% of the reason most people are going to read this.
May 3, 2016
Having binge-read all four Critical Failures novels over a week, definitely time for a review.
Firstly, the good: Bevan is a strong writer and story-teller. His style is pacey and engaging, and his narrative sense meant I was always wanting to read just one more chapter. I found all of his books to be page-turners, a true guilty-pleasure read. In that sense, I don't regret the (relatively little) time I spent reading them. And having invested thus far, I'll probably read number five when it comes out.
However, on to the bad. Beyond "story", Bevan provides very little. The main protagonists are thinly drawn, mostly one-dimensional at best. After spending 1,000 pages with the same characters, this sparcity of depth is really inexcusable. What little characterisation they do have is pretty unpleasant, some of which is required to fuel Bevan's ultimately tiresome toilet humour (funny on occasions, but more misses than hits). Perhaps this is why in this fourth instalment, two of the main drivers of the action are the newly created Tanner and largely reinvented Randy. In addition, focusing on this book alone, there was an opportunity to shift tone slightly into an Pratchettian satire on Western religion: sadly, it was dodged in favour of a deus ex machina ending that played entirely for weak laughs and tied everything up far too easily.
The setting is similarly ephemeral. We have a handful of locations that receive enough detail to truly picture them: the Whores Head Inn, the Chicken Hut, and the short-lived PortTown. The City of Cardinia, setting for much of books 1, 2 and 4, exists as little more than a name. The use of the outlying geography reminded me more of an old text-based computer RPG (East for Lighthouse Rock, South for PortTown) with no real sense of place. If this was intended as an ironic reflection of Mordred's poor world-building, it didn't come across this way to me.
If you enjoyed the first couple of books, and you have nothing else on your "to read" list, you might as well keep going. If you've got as far as Book IV, you're probably a role-player, in which case the in-jokes and sense of familiarity will probably provide enough extras to keep you interested. They're not expensive, and Bevan does just about enough to make me want to find out what happens next. But it's never because I care about the people or the places, and certainly not because I have a need for more fart or erection jokes. Given Bevan's undoubted talent, to me this is a real shame.
Firstly, the good: Bevan is a strong writer and story-teller. His style is pacey and engaging, and his narrative sense meant I was always wanting to read just one more chapter. I found all of his books to be page-turners, a true guilty-pleasure read. In that sense, I don't regret the (relatively little) time I spent reading them. And having invested thus far, I'll probably read number five when it comes out.
However, on to the bad. Beyond "story", Bevan provides very little. The main protagonists are thinly drawn, mostly one-dimensional at best. After spending 1,000 pages with the same characters, this sparcity of depth is really inexcusable. What little characterisation they do have is pretty unpleasant, some of which is required to fuel Bevan's ultimately tiresome toilet humour (funny on occasions, but more misses than hits). Perhaps this is why in this fourth instalment, two of the main drivers of the action are the newly created Tanner and largely reinvented Randy. In addition, focusing on this book alone, there was an opportunity to shift tone slightly into an Pratchettian satire on Western religion: sadly, it was dodged in favour of a deus ex machina ending that played entirely for weak laughs and tied everything up far too easily.
The setting is similarly ephemeral. We have a handful of locations that receive enough detail to truly picture them: the Whores Head Inn, the Chicken Hut, and the short-lived PortTown. The City of Cardinia, setting for much of books 1, 2 and 4, exists as little more than a name. The use of the outlying geography reminded me more of an old text-based computer RPG (East for Lighthouse Rock, South for PortTown) with no real sense of place. If this was intended as an ironic reflection of Mordred's poor world-building, it didn't come across this way to me.
If you enjoyed the first couple of books, and you have nothing else on your "to read" list, you might as well keep going. If you've got as far as Book IV, you're probably a role-player, in which case the in-jokes and sense of familiarity will probably provide enough extras to keep you interested. They're not expensive, and Bevan does just about enough to make me want to find out what happens next. But it's never because I care about the people or the places, and certainly not because I have a need for more fart or erection jokes. Given Bevan's undoubted talent, to me this is a real shame.
July 16, 2017
I loved this book like all the others but seriously Tim, why do you have to be such an ass! Back with the gang of misfit friends that are a perfect group of friends, with Cooper, Tim and Julian... oh yeah and Dave. The guy's are drunk - again, what's new.
My favourite line:
“I’m going to do everything in my power to erase this from my memory."
Tim, your sister's upset that she's now a elven vampire, give her some support! OMG Dennis and Randy need to be together, I didn't like them at first for obvious reason but NOW I want them to be a couple; they are kind of in that sort of relationship already so - Make it official guys!
Mordred you fucker, now that your in the C&C too, they have an easier time to get to you, hurt you and then force you to get them back home in the normal bodies! And Tony the Elf, you just crack me up with your sass and your humor. I feel so bad for Chaz, the poor bard - he's doing his best with what he has! I love Ravenus, Julian's familiar, he is such a good bird companion; I love how innocent he is and that he takes everything literally. And Cooper leveled up, oh yeah, and Julian leveled up to, he became a level 3 sorcerer! I think Butterbean, vampire/elf Katherine's Animal Companion, is so cute.
My 2nd favourite line and wise words to live by:
but just because I don’t know for a fact what actually happened, it doesn’t mean I have to accept the first crackpot theory somebody pulls out of their ass. That’s how religions are formed.”
I do feel sorry for Tim in the end, I hope he makes up with his friends and all is forgiven because I feel like he needs to be redeemed from these bad choices.
My favourite line:
“I’m going to do everything in my power to erase this from my memory."
Tim, your sister's upset that she's now a elven vampire, give her some support! OMG Dennis and Randy need to be together, I didn't like them at first for obvious reason but NOW I want them to be a couple; they are kind of in that sort of relationship already so - Make it official guys!
Mordred you fucker, now that your in the C&C too, they have an easier time to get to you, hurt you and then force you to get them back home in the normal bodies! And Tony the Elf, you just crack me up with your sass and your humor. I feel so bad for Chaz, the poor bard - he's doing his best with what he has! I love Ravenus, Julian's familiar, he is such a good bird companion; I love how innocent he is and that he takes everything literally. And Cooper leveled up, oh yeah, and Julian leveled up to, he became a level 3 sorcerer! I think Butterbean, vampire/elf Katherine's Animal Companion, is so cute.
My 2nd favourite line and wise words to live by:
but just because I don’t know for a fact what actually happened, it doesn’t mean I have to accept the first crackpot theory somebody pulls out of their ass. That’s how religions are formed.”
I do feel sorry for Tim in the end, I hope he makes up with his friends and all is forgiven because I feel like he needs to be redeemed from these bad choices.
September 7, 2016
Sorry, friend who keeps loaning me these. This is the exact point when I couldn't stomach the extremely crass humor of the series anymore. No more!
May 3, 2017
Fans of the pillsbury doughboy, ghostbusters, or extremely religious persons with no sense of humor may wish to avoid this volume of the series.
I'm sure I'll read volume 5 when the author gets around to writing it, I wouldn't mind if he wants to cut back a bit on the toilet humor, after a while it's really not that funny anymore.
I'm sure I'll read volume 5 when the author gets around to writing it, I wouldn't mind if he wants to cut back a bit on the toilet humor, after a while it's really not that funny anymore.
September 11, 2017
I thought this would conclude the Caverns and Creatures series. I guess I was wrong. The problem is I don't know how engaged to the story I'll still be when the fifth book is out. The four-book box set suited me because I wasn't left hanging after each book had ended. Anyway, I'm rambling.
The book was really good, true to its style and a worthy successor to the other three. A few typos here and there, but the overall result was OK. I like how Bevan keeps the reader interested, even now with his characters scattered all over the place. The New God was a nice surprise and it made me want to watch the Ghostbusters for some reason...
P.S. Bodily functions and fluids of all kinds still are a major part of the story. Consider yourselves warned.
The book was really good, true to its style and a worthy successor to the other three. A few typos here and there, but the overall result was OK. I like how Bevan keeps the reader interested, even now with his characters scattered all over the place. The New God was a nice surprise and it made me want to watch the Ghostbusters for some reason...
P.S. Bodily functions and fluids of all kinds still are a major part of the story. Consider yourselves warned.
April 27, 2017
I think this might have been the best of the series so far. I'm invested in the characters at this point. And it was hilarious. It had some serious LOL moments. These books are the perfect interlude between more cerebral novels. Jonathan Sleep does a great job narrating but the audiobooks take so darn long to come out that by the time the audiobook comes out, I've forgotten what happened in the last book. So I'm jumping straight in to CV 5. Probably tonight.
February 21, 2017
Fantastic ending!!!!!
This book has a great story, fun engaging characters and a great sense of humor. If you have a strong stomach and low sensitivity to blasphemy, this book is for you!
This book has a great story, fun engaging characters and a great sense of humor. If you have a strong stomach and low sensitivity to blasphemy, this book is for you!
May 30, 2023
For the fourth installment, this is still a hilarious story. This story never fails to make me laugh.
December 2, 2015
Let us bow our heads and praise the doughchild
That's kind of all I really had to say right now... keep writing stuff. Um. Keep it real. 2 required words.
That's kind of all I really had to say right now... keep writing stuff. Um. Keep it real. 2 required words.
October 1, 2018
Well, it's more of the same. There's a lot of poop and piss jokes and a lot of sexual inuendo but other than that, there's somewhat of a storyline with the party breaking up and every part going on its own little adventure, which is fun. The creation of Jesus Christ and the subsequent processing of that event is glorious though.
Quite fun, but still very juvenile. Still, I want to close this series, so I'm soldiering on!
Quite fun, but still very juvenile. Still, I want to close this series, so I'm soldiering on!
January 1, 2020
Started a bit slow and tried too hard at first, but found its pace later with an extreme pkot with high stakes. This time, religion got what's coming to it.
Most of the charecters were developed nicely (except from Tim). And more dick jokes.
Most of the charecters were developed nicely (except from Tim). And more dick jokes.
April 17, 2018
4.5 best one in the series so far. It's quite funny if you don't mind dirty jokes. Some really interesting plot twists. I'm looking forward to the next book.
December 9, 2019
This was a fairly good story, but not a lot seemed to happen. There were still some fairly humorous scenes, but a lot of the jokes felt a bit forced. Overall, the story was still entertaining and enjoyable.
March 24, 2017
This will never end. The writing is about the same as in the fist one and the jokes start to repeat (how many times will the characters fear being raped by a dude?). The crew is growing more bizarre with each book but honestly, I was hoping the child rapist and gay hick weren't going to stay for the next book but here they are, as main characters no less. It just went too wacky.
June 25, 2019
Amusing
Amusing C&C as usual. However definitely my least favorite; I'm the Critical Failures series; a little too disjointed this time. Often difficult to keep track of everything and everyone. Ridiculous ending. And Tim has turned into an absolute horrible character.
Amusing C&C as usual. However definitely my least favorite; I'm the Critical Failures series; a little too disjointed this time. Often difficult to keep track of everything and everyone. Ridiculous ending. And Tim has turned into an absolute horrible character.
February 18, 2019
What it's about: The ongoing attempt of people from Earth to return there after being magically sent to a world based on a "Caverns & Creatures" (C&C, a.k.a. Dungeons & Dragons) campaign.
What I thought: Basically, this is like a D&D campaign - it keeps unspooling, headed for an ultimate goal, but wandering around a bit on its way there. The pacing for what is going on is not terrible; in fact, in places, things are a bit under-developed. But the story just keeps going, and the next books are, to my mind, not going to live up to the value-for-cost. I got the first four books for about a buck each, which was about right, IMO.
Why I rated it like I did: Alright, I'm out. I can only take the plot-driven story for so long with characters who just get less and less interesting. Tim just becomes more and more of a drunk jerk, and seems to grow more and more stupid and impulsive; I can only take four books of that before I just get too overwhelmed. Ironically, the one character who was driving me insane (Cooper) actually got a little bit of development; but then he was dropped out of the story until the last page, so I doubt it's going to stick.
What I thought: Basically, this is like a D&D campaign - it keeps unspooling, headed for an ultimate goal, but wandering around a bit on its way there. The pacing for what is going on is not terrible; in fact, in places, things are a bit under-developed. But the story just keeps going, and the next books are, to my mind, not going to live up to the value-for-cost. I got the first four books for about a buck each, which was about right, IMO.
Why I rated it like I did: Alright, I'm out. I can only take the plot-driven story for so long with characters who just get less and less interesting. Tim just becomes more and more of a drunk jerk, and seems to grow more and more stupid and impulsive; I can only take four books of that before I just get too overwhelmed. Ironically, the one character who was driving me insane (Cooper) actually got a little bit of development; but then he was dropped out of the story until the last page, so I doubt it's going to stick.
March 11, 2017
Great read
Very short and entertaining for a nostalgic Dungeons and Dragons like story. The story reads like your are living a role playing game.
Very short and entertaining for a nostalgic Dungeons and Dragons like story. The story reads like your are living a role playing game.
August 31, 2017
I love Robert Bevan' s writing. He is witty and laugh out loud funny. This was not my favorite of the Crital Failure book because the plot is a bit all over the place...the characters seem in a weird transition. Like this book was all a set up for book 4. Having typed that....it is still fun and funny and so worth the read!!!
June 11, 2021
Okay, I'm through with this series. The yuck factor was always over the top childish, but with the addition of religion bashing....I'm out.
June 19, 2024
It has been six years since I read Critical Failures III, so not surprisingly I was not up to speed on the plot, and as I quickly realised, the characters.
This story pretty much runs staight on after the last book (as best as I can recall) and as such there is no time for character refresher courses.
To give a quick overview of the story so far: (Not a spoiler for this book)
4 friends were playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) (but to avoid copyright issues the Author has called it Caverns & Creatures (C&C)). At some point in their game, Mordred (being the Narrator/Master of the game) became upset at the 4 players and using some magic dice, sent the 4 friends inside the game they were playing. So now they are fighting monsters for real, as their characters. With me so far?
The four main characters are:
Julian the leader and Elven magic user.
Dave a dwaven cleric (Ability to heal characters)
Tim a halfling (Hobbit) who is borderline alcoholic
and Cooper the half-Orc who provides all the fart jokes.
This group of misfits bumbled around in this new world for 3 novels and dozens of short stories, and eventually they find a way back to the "real world". This happened in Novel #3. Unfortunately when they returned to the "real world" they appears as their characters, and not as themselves.
In this novel #4 The 4 main characters, plus a few more friends/relations/passing strangers from the real world, as well as Mordred have ended up back inside the C&C world. The intrepid heroes are attempting to find Mordred, so once again they can return to the "real world". This basic plot is accompained by all variety of fart jokes and despite my best effort not to, I did LoL at several of them.
This story pretty much runs staight on after the last book (as best as I can recall) and as such there is no time for character refresher courses.
To give a quick overview of the story so far: (Not a spoiler for this book)
4 friends were playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) (but to avoid copyright issues the Author has called it Caverns & Creatures (C&C)). At some point in their game, Mordred (being the Narrator/Master of the game) became upset at the 4 players and using some magic dice, sent the 4 friends inside the game they were playing. So now they are fighting monsters for real, as their characters. With me so far?
The four main characters are:
Julian the leader and Elven magic user.
Dave a dwaven cleric (Ability to heal characters)
Tim a halfling (Hobbit) who is borderline alcoholic
and Cooper the half-Orc who provides all the fart jokes.
This group of misfits bumbled around in this new world for 3 novels and dozens of short stories, and eventually they find a way back to the "real world". This happened in Novel #3. Unfortunately when they returned to the "real world" they appears as their characters, and not as themselves.
In this novel #4 The 4 main characters, plus a few more friends/relations/passing strangers from the real world, as well as Mordred have ended up back inside the C&C world. The intrepid heroes are attempting to find Mordred, so once again they can return to the "real world". This basic plot is accompained by all variety of fart jokes and despite my best effort not to, I did LoL at several of them.
September 12, 2022
Cavern Master Mordred has escaped into his fantasy world minus his magic dice and the hunt is on to track him down again. Most of the characters (maybe all) still want to return to the real world, but even if they didn’t, Mordred is bent on conquering the world he created so he can get his revenge on the PCs. In addition to the delightfully incompetent original cast, Bevan treats us to three new characters, my favorite of which is Randy, who is a paladin who chooses for his god—Jesus Christ.
Now, I think everyone needs to be forewarned that everything that happens around Randy the Paladin from that point forward is sacrilegious to the max, but it is also hilarious as a fantasy world attempts to understand Jesus—something Randy never seems to understand very well. Bevan’s fantasy world interpretation is both hilarious and somewhat logical and it sets up a wonderfully madcap ending.
And while some characters seem to be trying really hard to take life seriously and accomplish something, we also get reminded in no uncertain terms that none of these people were particularly successful in their original earthly lives and those character flaws that hurt them in reality are also present in the fantasy world.
There were a LOT of surprises in this one. Four volumes is not enough for this series and I’m glad to note that there are several more to enjoy.
Now, I think everyone needs to be forewarned that everything that happens around Randy the Paladin from that point forward is sacrilegious to the max, but it is also hilarious as a fantasy world attempts to understand Jesus—something Randy never seems to understand very well. Bevan’s fantasy world interpretation is both hilarious and somewhat logical and it sets up a wonderfully madcap ending.
And while some characters seem to be trying really hard to take life seriously and accomplish something, we also get reminded in no uncertain terms that none of these people were particularly successful in their original earthly lives and those character flaws that hurt them in reality are also present in the fantasy world.
There were a LOT of surprises in this one. Four volumes is not enough for this series and I’m glad to note that there are several more to enjoy.
March 1, 2023
Let me start by stating that I've thoroughly enjoyed all of the D6 short stories and the previous 3 main stories in this series.
This book, however, felt long, tedious and littered with uninteresting characters. This is to say nothing of the racially charged language in the book which I found to be grossly misplaced and really detracted from the previous quality of the stories. I'm not sure what Bevan was going for with his language, but I hope this is the last we see of racially charged language in this series.
Moving on, with the addition of so many characters and the bouncing around that took place in the story, it was really hard to find an enjoyable stride to the book. Every time things were about to get interesting, Bevan switched gears completely and we had to re-remember where the characters were in the story. Tim was simply insufferable throughout the book and Dave was delegated to essentially useless. I enjoyed the leveling up aspect of the story and the development of Randy and Julian, but really not much else.
As always Jonathon Sleep nailed the performances and is half the reason I'll come back for Book 5. I just hope Bevan hits his stride again in the next book.
This book, however, felt long, tedious and littered with uninteresting characters. This is to say nothing of the racially charged language in the book which I found to be grossly misplaced and really detracted from the previous quality of the stories. I'm not sure what Bevan was going for with his language, but I hope this is the last we see of racially charged language in this series.
Moving on, with the addition of so many characters and the bouncing around that took place in the story, it was really hard to find an enjoyable stride to the book. Every time things were about to get interesting, Bevan switched gears completely and we had to re-remember where the characters were in the story. Tim was simply insufferable throughout the book and Dave was delegated to essentially useless. I enjoyed the leveling up aspect of the story and the development of Randy and Julian, but really not much else.
As always Jonathon Sleep nailed the performances and is half the reason I'll come back for Book 5. I just hope Bevan hits his stride again in the next book.
June 23, 2017
Four-star continuation, minus a star for proofreading that should've caught the conjoinedwords, inconsistent capitalization (for one place name, but it happens about half a dozen times), and other basic issues.
This series keeps transcending its juvenile humor roots by getting downright inventive about how the characters take advantage of the fact that they're in a literal game world that's governed by game system rules. Sending messages via character sheet, for instance - a basic trick, but done well.
A lot of lingering plot threads got tied up at the end of this volume, and that really sets up the first four novels as Act One of a larger story. Thankfully, either the body-fluid humor is slacking off or I'm getting used to it; either way, that's really the one aspect of the series that prevents me from recommending it to more people. The main characters do seem to be maturing, though, so while I don't expect the toilet humor to ever go away, maybe we'll see less of it in future novels.
This series keeps transcending its juvenile humor roots by getting downright inventive about how the characters take advantage of the fact that they're in a literal game world that's governed by game system rules. Sending messages via character sheet, for instance - a basic trick, but done well.
A lot of lingering plot threads got tied up at the end of this volume, and that really sets up the first four novels as Act One of a larger story. Thankfully, either the body-fluid humor is slacking off or I'm getting used to it; either way, that's really the one aspect of the series that prevents me from recommending it to more people. The main characters do seem to be maturing, though, so while I don't expect the toilet humor to ever go away, maybe we'll see less of it in future novels.
July 17, 2020
In my opinion, this was the best entry in the series so far. This book was longer and more complicated than the previous parts.
At the beginning of the book, the characters from the main group split off into three parties and head off to accomplish their tasks to achieve the goal of capturing Mordred alive. These three parties get further split up into smaller groups because of bad luck and impending doom in the shape of the phantom pinas, a flying ship commanded by the undead Lich king which Mordred has loosened upon the royal city of Cardinia. The Lich king is allied with the brutish Orcs and together they arrive to turn Cardinia into a city of the dead, literally, filled with zombies of the previously living residents.
The book ends with a twist. The next book will take some time to release so I'll have to wait to find out what happens next.
Overall, it was a good and fun series.
At the beginning of the book, the characters from the main group split off into three parties and head off to accomplish their tasks to achieve the goal of capturing Mordred alive. These three parties get further split up into smaller groups because of bad luck and impending doom in the shape of the phantom pinas, a flying ship commanded by the undead Lich king which Mordred has loosened upon the royal city of Cardinia. The Lich king is allied with the brutish Orcs and together they arrive to turn Cardinia into a city of the dead, literally, filled with zombies of the previously living residents.
The book ends with a twist. The next book will take some time to release so I'll have to wait to find out what happens next.
Overall, it was a good and fun series.
July 29, 2021
In my opinion, this was the best entry in the series so far. This book was longer and more complicated than the previous parts.
At the beginning of the book, the characters from the main group split off into three parties and head off to accomplish their tasks to achieve the goal of capturing Mordred alive. These three parties get further split up into smaller groups because of bad luck and impending doom in the shape of the phantom pinas, a flying ship commanded by the undead Lich king which Mordred has loosened upon the royal city of Cardinia. The Lich king is allied with the brutish Orcs and together they arrive to turn Cardinia into a city of the dead, literally, filled with zombies of the previously living residents.
The book ends with a twist. The next book will take some time to release so I'll have to wait to find out what happens next.
Overall, it was a good and fun series.
At the beginning of the book, the characters from the main group split off into three parties and head off to accomplish their tasks to achieve the goal of capturing Mordred alive. These three parties get further split up into smaller groups because of bad luck and impending doom in the shape of the phantom pinas, a flying ship commanded by the undead Lich king which Mordred has loosened upon the royal city of Cardinia. The Lich king is allied with the brutish Orcs and together they arrive to turn Cardinia into a city of the dead, literally, filled with zombies of the previously living residents.
The book ends with a twist. The next book will take some time to release so I'll have to wait to find out what happens next.
Overall, it was a good and fun series.
January 7, 2019
I REALLY was hoping that a) this book would bounce back from the disappointment of 3 and b) end the storyline. Sadly neither of those things occurred. I am not sure if Bevan was in a darker place in his life when he wrote this or just had a jones to try something different, but this book did not work as part of the series for me. It did not have the same comical vibe as the rest of the series, which in and of itself isn't a deal breaker but when it's replaced by bizarre "redemption" tale of characters that are painful to read about I feel a bit lost. I also understand the urge to take established characters down a different path, but I feel like he swung WAY too far the other way in this book. I did not get the joy out of this book that the first part of this series gave me and I think that the main reason I finished it was in hopes that there would be a resolution.
To be honest, I'm not sure if I will even bother with book 5
To be honest, I'm not sure if I will even bother with book 5
February 12, 2018
Funny but not as good as the first three.
Robert is still just a funny guy. He continues to come up with clever ways to use d&d rules for hilarious plot devices. Ive consumed the first four novels in as many days so I am definitely enjoying them. However something changed in this book. Its still funny, still worth the read, but Robert completely changes several main characters personalities out of nowhere. Other reviews are calling it character arc but I went straight from the end of book three to this one and believe me it was a very sudden shift. Still its a good read, still very always sunny in Philadelphia meets D&D. Im moving straight into book 5 now so Im still a fan.
Robert is still just a funny guy. He continues to come up with clever ways to use d&d rules for hilarious plot devices. Ive consumed the first four novels in as many days so I am definitely enjoying them. However something changed in this book. Its still funny, still worth the read, but Robert completely changes several main characters personalities out of nowhere. Other reviews are calling it character arc but I went straight from the end of book three to this one and believe me it was a very sudden shift. Still its a good read, still very always sunny in Philadelphia meets D&D. Im moving straight into book 5 now so Im still a fan.
September 22, 2018
Probably 2.5. I didn’t loathe it. I didn’t even not like it. It’s just more of the same. It took a long time for the actual story to get going and that’s where Bevan’s writing suffers. When he has the action going and the plot is being revealed, it’s fun. When it’s backstory and the characters are wandering around without a real purpose, it’s one dimensional and extremely juvenile. No one enjoys wandering in the woods lost in RPG games, why would a reader want to do that?! I mean, the expectations here are already basement level, but I think it’s going to be a while before I finish this series. I actually didn’t even care that the book ended without a resolution. I would have been perfectly okay if the series ended like this and you were left to wonder if they’d ever
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