Existentially Challenged

DEDA Files #2

by Yahtzee Croshaw

In Existentially Challenged, the sequel to Differently Morphous, the men and women of the Department of Extradimensional Affairs continue their struggle to uncover the motives of the Ancients under the ever-present threat of death, insanity, and sensitivity training.

With magic declassified in the UK, the fake psychics and fraudulent healers are running amok, and it's up to the Department of Extradimensional Affairs' newly appointed Skepticism Officers to crack down. But when they set their sights on Modern Miracle, a highly suspicious and fast-growing faith healing cult with remarkably good social media presence, even their skepticism is put to the test.
 
Is Modern Miracle on the level? Is Miracle Meg’s healing magic real? Why do dead bodies keep showing up on their doorstep? And just what is Miracle Dad's preferred flavor of crisp?
 

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Humor, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery

395 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2021

About the author

Benjamin Richard "Yahtzee" Croshaw is an English comedic writer, video game journalist and author of adventure games created using Adventure Game Studio software. He writes articles for Australia's Hyper magazine, a major games publication. He uses his website "Fully Ramblomatic" as an outlet for his own work, including weekly dark humour articles, essays, fiction, and webcomics. He is currently making a series of video-reviews named Zero Punctuation for The Escapist, as well as the weekly column Extra Punctuation. In the February 2008 issue of PC Gamer (US), Croshaw took over Gary Whitta's "Backspace" column as a contributing editor. He is also one of the four founders of The Mana Bar; an Australian cocktail bar and video gaming lounge in Brisbane, Australia.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to Differently Morphous three times in the months before I started this book, so had no trouble remembering any of the details (and there were many). Definitely read it before Existentially Challenged as this book is a continuation of that story and offers multiple revals you won't want to miss. Unlike the first book, this one feels more like part of a series and probably doesn't stand as well on its own.

Trigger warning: the culture war takes aim at Christianity in this one. I thought I knew where that was headed, but it went somewhere fairly different and suitably horrifying to everyone involved. Croshaw loves to laugh at all sides of current culture wars. I probably don't always find it as funny as he does, but it's good to see things from a different perspective.

I admit I wished for a little more Diablerie in this book. I'm almost embarrassed to admit how much I enjoy the antics of that egotistical, narcissistic, silent movie villain. He reminds me just a bit of Professor Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I want to learn to talk like him, but my friends would find me insufferable if I did. I'll have to put that off while any friends remain. There are exciting reveals about him in this book, but he is mostly absent. I'm guessing there will be much more of him in the next one.

Croshaw's voice is really fantastic for every character except the American minister's southern drawl. Southerners usually do not emphasise the Grrr in the R sound the way most of the other American accents do.

This series is so much better than Croshaw's earlier works (I couldn't even finish the first Mogworld). The focus on Allison probably makes a big difference, but Croshaw continues to mature as a writer.

[Josh Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bureacratic incompetence meets cosmic horror, Existentially Challenged is the second Department of Extradimensional Affairs (DEDA) novel by Yahtzee Croshaw set in a world where magic's existence is now public knowledge and following the agents trying to keep it all going. While ostensibly a mystery, the book leans more heavily on satire on lazy government policy, slacktivism, and magic procedurals. With a new act passed in parliament it is now illegal to claim something mundane is magical, at the same time, a vampiric murder committed 2 streets away from a legitimate faith healing service raises questions of what to do with humans possessed by (sorry sharing dual consciousness with) ancient beings, what role religion plays in the new world, and how the British government can be sensitive to entities who are trying to destroy the world.

The satire in this book is fairly light and thankfully no comparisons are drawn between magic users and any other groups. The question of how religion continues in a world where miracles can and do happen is unique. One complaint is that the mystery the story revolves around is usually less interesting than the other questions it asks and as the driving force of several characters' motivations it can affect the pace. Not bad per se but I can't help but feel these books would have a lot more pace to them if there was a clear antagonist rather than them being a whodunnit.

The protagonist, Alison, still works as an audience proxy, possibly through the very convenient caveat that magic is inherently unknowable as well as the fact she's barely a few steps ahead of the reader at any given time. Most of the DEDA staff remain static in terms of character as they probably should. The awkwardness of Adam and Victor’s forced breakup is a nice contrast to their ability to atomise anything the size of an Olympic swimming pool. The revelation that the moustache twirling and cape swishing of Doctor Diablerie is entirely a front isn’t surprising but adds a good amount of depth and menace to the most outright comedic character of the series.

Fans of Croshaw's other media will have plenty to look out for reference wise. I've found that his willingness to change and update previous works and what they mean to characters quite refreshing. There's a sense that the author dislikes wasting any writing he's ever done and while it could be seen as limiting, his reshaping of things like The Consuming Shadow does a lot to reward fans of his and sits nicely along throwaway references like Broken Boughs. The big question hanging over the series is the seemingly inevitable inclusion of Trilby which I personally hope is brief or anticlimactic. The impression that 'Mr Teapot' as he's known in EC is wily and experienced enough to solve any problem and the mystery of his absence is interesting, but I struggle to see how this could be paid off in a satisfying way without a pivot into horror - the genre that Trilby is most associated with. While Croshaw is undoubtedly fond of Trilby I also believe the track he's taken with referencing his previous works means that he won't sacrifice accessibility for the sake of a 20 year old adventure game character.

Ultimately, Croshaw continues the trend of improving with every book he writes. Existentially Challenged is a light, easy, funny, and at times thought provoking read. A great break from the heavy, self-serious fantasy we’re drowning in.

[Daniel Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this book, since I enjoyed Differently Morphous so much. Unfortunately, all the things I loved about the first book were conspicuously absent in this one, including Dr. Diablerie's antics as he remains absent for most of the book. I loved how fast paced and ever changing the first book was, but this one is glacially paced and flat out boring at times. Where as the first book created a unique new world with new events and plot twists, there was nothing new or fun here. It felt like Yahtzee just threw this sequel together out of obligation, without any real passion for the project. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great either, and definitely not the sequel I was hoping for.

[Pete Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy Yahtzee's writing. His style of comedy seems to me a blend of Terry Pratchett and Charlie Brooker (pre-Black Mirror), and he also claims inspiration from Douglas Adams (though I have yet to read any of his work, so cannot confirm). Regardless, comparisons to the former two are great praise in my opinion, and his books never fail to get at least a few legitimate physical laughs out of me.

This is the second book in a series, and since the first was one of my favourites of his I was looking forward to the sequel for some time. Having finished it, it's not my favourite of his books; some bits, such as the methodical piece-by-piece reveal of a character's backstory split between several clearly defined meetings, felt a bit ham-fisted and video-gamey (which makes sense given the author's career as a video games journalist and developer himself). However, I don't feel that this particular part was egregious enough to warrant a low overall score. I am also very invested in uncovering the mysteries he has laid out. I enjoy each of the characters in their own way and, although I felt the narrative framing of it was a bit clunky, the aforementioned piece-by-piece meetings did result in a reveal I genuinely didn't see coming.

As a side note, Yahtzee's work can also occasionally suffer from the centrist ideal that "both sides are as bad as each other". Yes, one side may be heralding horror with bureaucratic conspiracy, literal energy vampires and eldritch end-times. But aren't the socially conscious and politically correct really just as annoying? This doesn't necessarily come into play much in his forays into science fiction and fantasy, but can be a tad noticable in his more satirical takes on real, modern-day settings.

Either way, I'm still invested and just wish we had more of Doctor Diablerie.

[Lance kozel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great continuation of the first book following the tradition. In this book it explores how regular religions would be dealt with once we find elder gods and for being a self-described atheist and cynic he handled it well enough. There are only two Christians in the entire book and both of them are types you see on TV ie not the best. But let's push it aside the characters are more interesting then last there is one character dynamic like a bullet barrel split ways the barrel ineffectual and the bullet feeling aimless the main problem is a notable absence of Dr Diablerie but they meet up with it by giving Anders some more light. the mystery as well is improvement but I can't go into that without spoiling it

[Winter Arcane · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent follow up to Differently Morphous. If you liked that, you'll probably like this. If you haven't read that, and you enjoy the idea of Lovecraftian horror filtered through a cheeky sense of humor reminiscent of Douglas Adams (yes, I'm going to keep going on about how Yahtzee Croshaw is the best substitute in the absence of new Douglas Adams works that I'm aware of until I'm aware of someone who fits the bill better) then you should definitely read it before this because there's a significant element of mystery to these books and a lot of enjoyment of the first book would be lost, in my opinion, by knowing what is revealed in the second book.

This book feels surprisingly low stakes for a story involving multiple ancient god-like entities, ultimately being a supernatural murder mystery, but a fun and well done one. There's also a lot of emphasis on how the characters and their relationships with each other are changed in the wake of the events of the first book, which is another reason to be sure to read that one first. How invested you are in these characters will significantly affect how interested you'll be in half the book. Personally, my only disappointment with the book is that a little more time wasn't spent on aspects of that...I liked what was there, I just wish some of it had gone deeper.

So, my main criticism of the book is that I wanted more of it because I liked what was there so much. Is there such a thing as the opposite of damning with faint praise? Is blessing with faint criticism a thing?

Anyway, if you like Douglas Adams work, give this series a try while I try not to dwell too much on how long it will probably be before we see a third installment, because that thought makes me sad.

[Matthew Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book but can’t say it shined as brightly as Yahtzee’s others. A fine little mystery in this weird little universe of real magic being policed by a fumbling British bureaucracy. A solid little story, the expected clever/cutting/slightly grotesque metaphors punching up the prose, and decent characters (even if once again there’s not quite enough Diablerie on the page). But nothing especially clever, funny, or weird … and I usually expect at least one of those in a Yahtzee novel.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, like the first in the series, was ridiculous most of the way through, but with a big finish that elevates the plot.

[Mohammad Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. I loved how it feels like how the government and people would react in real life to magic and possession, excuse me "dual conscience".
I love the characters and Yahtzee's amazing voice acting that brings them to life.
Diffenetly recommend if you like books such as the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very subjective rating.
This is the second book in a series. I couldn't remember enough from the first book and so I often felt lost and was missing the context.
Unfortunately the series is not popular enough to have a wiki with a summery.
It's very honourable of Yahtzee that he takes on organised religion but he is preaching to the choir here and I personally stopped caring about organised religion a while ago.

[Daniel Bensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed Differently Morphous, the first book in the series. Listening to this sequel, though, I was reminded of a Soviet-era publishing joke from Arkady Strugatsky: "what do you call a telephone pole? A well-edited pine tree." Existentially Challenged is well-edited indeed, stripped of any joke or plot element that might offend its publishers' political sensitivities. Either that or the author did a rushed and sloppy job.

[Amber Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will update this rating when I’ve had a chance to physically read this book. The only option as of 4/2022 was an audible book and the spoken version was good. But I know it will be GREAT as a written book.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

22 Very trying in all the senses of the word. And another narrated by the author which, whilst it must be cheaper, is an irrational dislike of mine . Perhaps I deal with too much bureaucratic clap trap on a daily basis too enjoy a book about it during my leisure time.

[Bryan Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crowshaw's second outing with the Department of Extra-Dimensional Affairs (DEDA) is a nice sequel to Differently Morphous, in which an arcane organization's entanglement with modern bureaucracy and political correctness goes even deeper. Last time, it was the existence of slime hive minds (fluidics who collectively call themselves Shgshthx) and humans bonded to or possessed by an ancient (dual-consciousness persons), which put the department at odds with the government itself. This time, with legislation passing to ensure extra-dimensional rights and the criminalization of fake magic, its a homeopathic healing cult led by a man in Worcester who's daughter, the sole healer, is a dual-conscious person that can somehow make miracles happen. These miracles result in, say, having a cut on your leg sew itself back up or reversing a debilitating disease, but how does the daughter manage to carry them out?

This is where DEDA's newly formed Office of Skepticism comes into play with Alison Arkin and Doctor Diablerie leading the investigation into the family and the cult who worship an ancient called El-Yetch. Existentially Challenged does a good job at keeping the focus on the main investigation while bringing some side-characters into the spotlight. If you read the first book and remember some of their backstories, you might be interested to see what Crowshaw did for the sequel. His audiobook narration is still pretty solid—all the voices you know and love plus some excellent impersonations—but gone are the extra sound effects and musical intro. They're not necessary, but they helped set up the atmosphere for Differently Morphous.

I also feel like this may be a sequel where it may be imperative to read the preceding book in order for some of the developments to make sense. Crowshaw does get the reader up to speed on most of the important bits—DEDA's formation and Alison Arkin come to mind—but some scenes might have you wondering as to why a character's acting the way they are or who that slime monster is.

On its own, Existentially Challenged, is a simple "whodunnit" story in which a government department stands in as the paranormal police with comedic undertones.

As the second adventure in the DEDA series, Existentially Challenged follows a great opening act with a good second outing. The layers of philosophical intrigue might have been cut down at the edges, but as a comedic take on God versus Ancient (or established religion versus holistic spirituality), it doesn't do a bad job at exploring the idea.

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sequel to Differently Morphous, picking up with the same main characters. Both books are humorous speculative fiction and as such I'm not the intended reader: I am frequently perplexed by jokes and have to ask family members for explanations. Nonetheless I enjoyed this. I found Alison and Victor, two of the principal characters, quite sympathetic. I even laughed out loud once (the start of chapter 28, for those keeping track) and was amused plenty of other times.

The situation is reminiscent of Ben Aaronovitch's wonderful "Rivers of London" and Daniel O'Malley's Rook Files. As with those series, the British government is battling the supernatural, though in "Existentially Challenged" the magical elements are known to the public and the book has a much lighter tone. There's considerable parodying of diversity initiatives, which sometimes entertained me and sometimes made me uncomfortable. I note that while the book brings its central plot elements to a conclusion, it leaves others unresolved and clearly points toward future books.

Three and a half out of five laughing stars.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

[Natalia Wojcik-Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wish I could say I liked it more than I did. Don't get me wrong, both DEDA Files books are fun, exciting page-turners. But for someone who touts the virtues of a great mystery so often in his reviews, I was *really* hoping for more. Often, you'll think you have enough pieces to put it all together-

But nope. 'Alison went to see the kooky scientist and he introduces new rules and concepts you weren't aware of so that they can be important in about three pages' has now happened twice. Three, if you don't count Adam doing it as much of a twist in the formula.

Having said that, the characters have really come into their own in this sequel. Alison feels leagues more defined than the usual chirpy woman in office clothes that appears in every Yahtzee Croshaw book, and her conscious effort to be sharper and push herself, even if sometimes ill-fated, is great to read. I wasn't expecting to like Adam Hesketh as much as I do, but I think he's a dark-horse favourite. Victor Caine, though, is an absolute standout. His interactions with Leslie-Ifrig give us a great insight into what his life was like before, and is a great way to encapsulate the real, personal impact of the magic reforms with a character we already know. I was really impressed with his storyline, so it's a tad disappointing that it fizzled out toward the end.

But hey, there's no way this series is wrapped just yet, and I know I'll be looking forward to the next one!

[Shan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. As always listening to the audio makes it harder for me to follow the plot and remember who's who, but it was still fun to listen to the author's narration.

Things have changed since the first book - now everyone knows about the ancients who inhabit some people and give them magical powers. Allison of the eidetic memory and her wacky mentor Diabolo are the only members of the government office charged with investigating people who claim to use magic or supernatural powers. This gets them embroiled into an investigation of something called Modern Miracle, sort of a faith-healing tent show for the internet age. Diabolo's actually not very involved in this one; it's mostly Allison and a couple of people from other related government programs. One of these is Victor, another former magic-school student whose ability involves using fire, who gets an arch-nemesis, and there's a bit of comedy between Victor and his former partner/best friend who's jealous.

There's some interesting stuff about religion, and how the new laws set up to manage the magical stuff might or might not apply to the Church of England. There's a funny bit in which Alison gets to experience what memory is like for normal people, when you know you've seen someone before but can't quite place them.

[JoKo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read the first book of this series when it came out in 2019 and enjoyed it a lot. This sequel improves on the first book in pretty much every level, it's just a bit of a shame that Dr. Diablerie is barely in this one. But that's made up for with a bunch fun and interesting characters and Yahtzee's hilarious sense of humor. His ability to poke fun at the current popular culture by turning everything up to at least eleven regularly produces laugh out loud moments of situational comedy or little tongue in cheek moments while still being able to tell a suspenseful supernatural murder mystery story. And reducing Dr. Diablerie's appearences helps to highlight just how ridiculous and over the top funny he really is when he does show up in the most unexpected moments 😀 Let's hope he gets right on with writing the third book in this series. 

Also, having him read and narrate his own story also really adds a lot to the characters in comparison to the first one, which I have "only" read and not listened to. Yahtzees book should definitely be enjoyed as an Audiobook. I might go back to the first book of this series and listen to it as an audiobook while I wait for part three of the Deda Files 😀

[Lenka Příplatová · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Existentially Challenged," the sequel to "Differently Morphous," keeps up the weird but interesting vibe. The story is pretty good, with a few surprising twists that really mix things up—especially the backstory of Elisabeth and Dr. Diablerie. This time, the backstory is handled much better than Alison’s in the first book, though it’s still mostly "tell, not show."

The satire, especially around queer themes, is still a bit confusing. It doesn’t seem like the author is trying to mock the community outright, but the approach isn’t very clear. I don’t expect satire to be respectful, even when it comes to queer topics, but if you’re going to critique certain aspects of the community, it would be better to just be upfront about it.

There’s also satire aimed at organized religion and cults. It’s done better than the queer commentary, but it’s not amazing either. There are some funny parts, but the humor doesn’t always land.

Overall, "Existentially Challenged" has a solid story with some cool developments, and I liked the improvement in how the character backstories were handled. I’m giving it three out of five stars, and even though it didn’t blow me away, I’ll probably pick up the next one if there’s a continuation.

[Panda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

The follow up to Differently Morphous . Magic is no longer a tightly guarded governmental secret and possessed individuals are to be referred to as "dual consciousness" with the proper pronoun for that specific individual.

Book 2 deals with the somewhat cynical yet very plausible result of such a "what if". If magic is real then is that magician you hired for $50 for your kids birthday preforming magic blackface? Is it a cult if the god actually exists as a dual consciousness and walks among us?

From the general to the specific this wild yarn zeros in on a faith healing cult for a proper mystery.

I do admit, I listened again to book one before buying this one so it would be fresh in my mind. I did enjoy book one just a little more as the silliness was more fresh. This one builds on the previous silliness but in a more logical and rather muted way compared to how outlandish book one was. This one though has a better structure and the mystery is far better. Over all a fun read.

[Chip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly brilliant. This is one of the only books in recent memory which has actually made me laugh out loud. It was well written, well narrated and just well done in every aspect.

The plot is great, I didn't work out the mysteries early and it surprised me pleasantly throughout. There was nothing convoluted and no obvious plot holes. I think, considering the author wrote this around doing a full time job, other authors should learn from him.

Many of the characters carry over from Differently Morphous which in hindsight I should have perhaps re-listened to as a refresher before starting this. I still felt like they were well written and most of them became more fleshed out throughout although some were definitely side-lined a bit.

The prose was great. Funny lines scattered amongst a tense and thrilling narrative. The authors signature similes were superlative and enjoyable.

Similarly, the narration was really good. You can tell the characters apart easily and I found this a pleasure to listen to. I was through the whole thing in a few days.

Overall, buy this book! If you liked the first then you won't regret it.

[Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sequel to “Differently Morphous,” which I found to be Yahtzee Croshaw’s most forgettable novel, “Existentially Challenged” builds up to a very intriguing final act but takes a very long time to get there.

As I understand it, “The DEDA Files” is intended as a trilogy, and “Existentially Challenged” seems to be suffering from a heavy case of middle book syndrome. There are a lot of characters and a lot of dialogue in this story, with multiple scenes of government meetings, bureaucracy, and even two separate chapters that take place on different talk shows. The character Victor Casin has a subplot that takes up a good portion of the page count, but in the end adds up to very little of substance and feels like it could have been heavily trimmed. In short, it feels like a lot of set-up for a forthcoming third entry in the series, including several twists and sequel hooks late in the book.

These hooks are admittedly interesting, and the central mystery and investigation story are competently constructed. I only hope that unlike “Differently Morphous” I remember the important details by the time the next DEDA File is declassified for us readers.

[William Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

For full disclosure, I couldn’t finish the previous entry Differently Morphous. I found the plotting a little too convoluted for experiencing as an audiobook, so put it to one side to come back to with a hard copy another day, as a fan of Yahtzee’s writing.

I thought I’d give the sequel a try in the hopes that this might be a new foot in the door to this particular world.
I was half right.

I’ve undeniably missed out a little on some of the character and world building that I would have appreciated more had I finished the previous entry. But when this story worked, it was genuinely entertaining and reliably witty.

I never loved this story, but I was often entertained by it as it never quite feels like Yahtzee at his best, but still enjoyable and with an intriguing case. It’s possible I’ll enjoy this more should I come back to it after revisiting Morphous, but for now this was a good but not brilliant book that’s worthwhile for fans, but wouldn’t be the one I’d recommend as an entry point to his talent or style.

[Earl Grey Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

More British style sarcasm and humor from Yahtzee Croshaw. If you liked the first book in this series, Differently Morphous, then you will probably like Existentially Challenged also.

Now that magic no longer has to stay hidden, what is the relationship between magic and established religions, such as the Church of England? What involvement should the British government have?

The story is fun and quite a few jokes remind me of the Ben Elton and Douglas Adams books I used to read when I was young. I had to suspend my disbelief when certain characters didn't get fired or arrested for some of their actions.

Listening to Yahtzee read his book was fun and the experience is now over. I don't plan to revisit this book in the future, and I would only really recommend it to people who are big Yahtzee Croshaw fans or are looking some more British humor to read.

[Tom H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to on Audible.

Loved it, however, I can't quite put in to words why, it might be because I've been a fan of the author for years since he was doing "Let's Drown Out" on YouTube but even without this bias I think I would still have thoroughly enjoyed the book. Definitely benefits from me having read the earlier one in the series, I enjoyed the character development from one book to the next. The mystery element to this story was great without there having to be too many characters to muddy the story. I was pleasantly surprised by the unwinding of the puzzle that the story brought to life and even though this deals with obviously fantastical ideas with magic and the like it still felt grounded enough in reality that I didn't get lost or lose interest without having to know/understand and new lore relevant only to this world (I'm looking at you Dune series).

Can't wait for the next one!

[Charles Oberonn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great detective story in the wonderful world of the Department of Extradimensional Affairs. Though not as good as the first book.

The characters from the original novel are back, though the focus is on different characters this time. They're still well-written and fun to read about, but I wasn't a fan of the character development. It was competently written, but it didn't engage me as much as the character writing in the previous book. Can't really elucidate why without spoilers.

The same can be said for the mystery. It's more competently written, with thankfully no major red herring like in the last book. But the pacing made it a bit less impactful. Just when I was feeling like things were really getting interesting, the book was almost over.

Still, these issues aren't enough to give the book less than a 5-star rating. The world, characters, and story are still excellent.

I'm looking forward to the next novel in the series, which I believe may be the last one.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Audiobook narrated by the author.

Following on from the events of Differently Morphous, DEDA faces new challenges of magic in the modern world including fakes, faith healers and possible vampirism.

- The characters already established in Differently Morphous underwent various character development, some good, some bad. Thankfully Doctor Diablerie was ever present and ever hilarious.

- The narration by the author was excellent and definitely added to the sarcastic tone of the book.

- I felt the plot was less engaging than the first book, though still enjoyable. Existentially Challenged suffers a little from sequel syndrome where it is having to follow on from a great first novel and also set up for the next book and so the content does suffer a little.

A worthy and fun sequel and fans of the first book will enjoy seeing the politically correct and ironic exploits of the DEDA team as they continue to navigate modern magic and politics.

[Dubi · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Differently Morphous, the magical world that secretly exists around us was suppressed by the muggle world in Yahtzee Croshaw's satire of gender politics. In Existentially Challenged, with the practice of magic now protected by law, the same set of characters are charged with unmasking those who fraudulently pretend to performing magic.

To wit: a young girl who is a healer extraordinaire but is suspected of being a fraud. Yes, there are some subplots that add to this paper-thin premise, and yes, there are some good jokes and some good voices, as we expect at this point from Croshaw. And the satire, this time about organized religion, particularly fundamentalist Christianity, is satisfying.

But overall, not much going on for Croshaw to hang his hat on, which means a lot of repetition. I'm reminded of that old novelty song It Was Funny the First Time. As the follow-up line warns, It will never be funny again. Time for some new jokes, Yatz!

[Laci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am pleasantly surprised how Yahtzee can repeatedly pull this off. His prose is always full of full of weird analogies and descriptions, yet I'm never annoyed by them. The characters are flat, but they're fun and I like them.

In Differently Morphous, I was fascinated how Yahtzee can use characters that basically are silly caricatures dialed up to 11, yet still use them for a complex, reasonably nuanced exploration of a topic through their interactions. There was less of it in this book, and it was a lot less interesting. This, combined with the fact that Dr Diablerie wasn't on the scene as much, is why it's not getting five stars.

Both books in the series are complete on their own, with small tidbits of a larger, overarching narrative. I do hope the next one comes along rather sooner than later.

And of course, hearing Yahtzee narrate his books is always a joy. 😁

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yahtzee Croshaw continues to explore the colorful universe established in Differently Morphous of supernatural investigations in a world where political correctness is applied to demon possession, magic, and extradimensional creatures. This outing provides another engaging mystery while laying down more progress in the overarching plot established in the postscript of the previous book. Looking forward to exploring more in this world.