Okay, so I pretty much give all the DCC books 5 stars, but this time I have to lower it because of some problems.

1.) Too many characters
Wayyyy too many. It's very hard to keep track of them and remember things. Too much. So much so that some favourite characters like Mordecai are barely featured.

2.) Too much Telling and not Showing
It's got pretty ridiculous tbh. The things going on are pretty clever and fun, I'm enjoying it, but I'm literally getting told what is happening, not shown, it's not being described or anything, it's just Carl explaining plans or concepts directly to us with narration. I loved when these books had crazy things going on and I could guess and figure out what could happen next based on little hints here and there. Not with this book, unfortunately.

3.) Difficult to track all the pieces
A lot of books in a series will weave in subtle reminders of things from the previous books, as this ain't Netflix and all the books come out at once. Now, sure, people can reread the series before reading the latest entry, but a lot of people don't do rereads, like myself. There was insufficient reminders here, I forgot characters, magic items and even small things like what the spell Laundry Day does. There's barely any refreshers, it's like it's expected for you to have perfect recall of the previous books.

4.) Rarely describes new items
One of the aspects of what makes this series a LitRPG is that it's like a video game, and you level up and receive new items and spells and even loot boxes. The previous books were filled to the brim with these, Carl would get a new item, the AI would narrate all the details about it, and we'd understand what it is and guess how it could be used later on. It helped immerse us in the world. There was a SIGNIFICANT lack of that this book. The amount of loot boxes Carl got and never opened or did so off camera, the amount of new items and spells he received and we never found out what it did, was ridiculous, and incredibly annoying. That was a big part of what made me love this series. It was barely here, and Donut even commented on it and said Carl doesn't check his items anymore.

5.) Disappointing setting
Faction Wars. The huge war event we've been hearing about through multiple books, the thing everything has been leading up to, and it was barely a war. Fuck, The Gate of the Feral Gods felt more like a war than this did. Actually, almost all the other books felt more like a war/battle. This? Nope. This was supposed to be a huge war, super dangerous, people barely survive this floor, and yet, fuck all anybody died. I really thought we'd see a bunch of deaths in this one, there was barely any. It just did not feel like a big battle at all.

6.) Somewhat convoluted plot
Setting aside, the plot itself was super confusing and was almost book 2 level. I can't even fully describe things in detail here as it makes my head hurt to try 🤣.


So. Despite all that. It's STILL fucking fun as ever! God I swear these are the funniest books I've read, they never fail to make me laugh a bunch. I love the characters, I love the emotions, I love the AI, I love the wackiness and the crazy spells and items and characters that come about. I love the bizarre ways things get solved or get worse.

I might let the book marinate in my mind for a few days and change my rating, but for now tho, I can't ignore these issues, and it makes me worried for book 8.

Also, another thing, why the hell is this book called "This" Inevitable Ruin and not "The" Inevitable Ruin? The book called it The Inevitable Ruin MANY times and it would have sounded like a much better title tbh, but that's just a pet peeve I guess 😂