wolvenbolt's reviews
269 reviews

If this keeps on the same track this will be one of my new favourites!

As I guessed it, the characters are gaining depth as they go, especially Neil, Albert and Fred!
As these are written from the perspective of Fred telling some of his advantures, there's certain scenes Fred wasn't present for and so he got the others to tell scenes from their perspective, such as Neil. This is a brilliant way of allowing us inside that character's mind!

Neil, from Fred's perspective, is an asshole. Turns out Neil is an asshole, but because of all he and Albert has been though together and he views himself as Albert's protector. He actively avoided making certain friends in high-school because he thought they'd make fun of Albert. The man loves Albert like he's family so deeply that it's almost his entire purpose for living. When Albert died and Neil raised him from the dead, it wasn't for some power trip reasons and he wanted a slave, it was because he was completely alone for the first time in his life and needed his family back, Albert.

Again, this was almost like a collection of short stories, as it goes case to case, and I'm enjoying this very much. 

There was some fucking cool lore shit happening in this book (

Buildings can be sentient, Albert getting the destiny sword and it also being tied to Neil as they're bonded through friendship and magic, but it also means destiny itself helped Albert be resurrected by Neil because it needed Albert to wield the destiny sword thing. Also Fred now being immune to silver, which should be impossible 💀

), and how it ended has me pumped for book 3! 

It was a funny and charming experience.

Honestly this met my expectations, and also didn't, all in good ways.

I had a suspicion it'd be similar to the Dresdan Files, and it definitely was, but I also assumed the humor would be similar to that series too, however it was a bit closer to the likes of Dungeon Crawler Carl. For example, at one point in the book, someone was being chased by these mushroom creatures that kept spurting acidic goo at them, and it was literally described as looking like a dick 😂

Also, while the Dresdan Files tackles one case (story arc) per book, Fred The Accountant (at least this first book) is more like a collection of short stories combined, and it was a pleasant surprise.

It was a very enjoyable experience, there wasn't much in the likes of high stakes, it was mostly a story of acceptance, growth, friendship, love and overcoming fears.

I liked how Drew Hayes played with some of the supernatural lore, such as briefly mentioning Zombies aren't actually brain-craving monsters, but simply undead servants, and ghouls are actually what humans are portraying, and somewhere along the way the humans got zombies and ghouls mixed up.
I'm also excited to see how Fred utilises his vampire abilities, as we learned why vampires are so feared in the supernatural community and it also explains why there's so many varying depictions of vampires in human culture.

I also listened to the Graphic Audio audiobook whilst reading this and it was so fun. Reminded me of their Alcatraz Vs The Evil Librarians series.

How I typically review books is if I really enjoyed it I'll give it a 5 stars, and then deduct from there based on faults I deem significant. However, I really enjoyed this book, and it's not meant to be taken seriously, therefore there's not much I can really nitpick.

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 😂

HUGE upgrade in the production quality, definitely my favourite audiobook narrator right now, Jeff Hayes manages to make the possibly hundreds of different characters sound not just unique but like it's not even one man voicing them.
The sound effects, although minor, are a nice touch.

This was one of the most intellectually stimulating, thought provoking, heart wrenching and immersively fucked up books I've read so far.

I've read so many books with that have that little bit of hope residing somewhere at the end, hidden, waiting to make it's appearance.
I kept waiting for it, I'm soaring towards the end of this book and I'm searching everywhere for it, that clinging for the good, the hope at the end of the tunnel, encouraged my mind to grasp at any possible explanation for why things were the way they were in this fictional world and how it could be torn down, the theories that came to me, and any one of them could be true, for the book ends in a way that leaves your interpretation of the reality of this in-book world, entirely up to you, which fits in perfectly with the book itself.

What an end, such a beautiful and poetic end.
The new Adam and Eve, Sun and Moon.

It was sad, and emotional, but it felt right.

Tatsuki Fujimoto you bastard, you absolute bastard, I knew what you where doing and why, and I knew what you were going to do to me and it still got me deep in the feels you absolute bastard 😭

They say "Don't judge a book by it's cover", 

I say "Don't be hasty with your judgement".

I took notes, so here's how I felt starting the book, so you can compare to how I felt as the book went on:

"A literal quote:

...what the fuck is this shit? This book constantly comes out with nonsense like this, this book feels like it was written by a mad man in dreamy prose."

Yeah, I wasn't exactly kind at the beginning of this book and it felt like I was swept up in a mad man's diatribe 😂
But I realised it's simply prose I'm not familiar with, Tolkein's prose is often referred to as" flowery", I'd say Bradbury's prose in this book is "dreamy".
It grew on me as the the book went along, drawing me in, making it intimate.

If truly felt like I was inside Montag's mind, his complex and ponderous mind as it was in the initial stages of a mind freed from the shackles of oppression, and the fear, uncertainty and rage that came along with it.

We didn't know a huge amount about the outside world, who was raging war and why, and normally I'd be bothered by that, but in this case I was far more engaged by Montag and his journey. I loved Faber, such an interesting character.

This book felt like a warning to the intellectuals and the learned folk, to not let their knowledge and pursuit of knowledge fool themselves into a belief of superiority.
That making everyone equally ignorant doesn't make everyone happy and safe.

A book is not the only receptacle of knowledge and storytelling; long before books, there were people. People are the oldest receptacles of knowledge and stories. You may burn our books, reduce our libraries and computers to ash, but it's people who carry knowledge, people spread their wisdom, people tell their tales, and while it can be a long game of Chinese whispers with the knowledge and stories being passed along taking on new iterations and forms, it's the heart of it that stays the same. It's the heart of it, not the words, but the understanding, that is what is passed along and imprints itself on the mind and soul. We take in the knowledge, and it's not ours, but in time it becomes part of us, part of who we are, it's meaning joins with our own web of meanings, the knowledge let's us express who we are. Just how our atoms scatter over billions of years and form new things, the knowledge is reduced to atoms, which join with our own, forming new versions of us, in time, often inperceptably.

And so, this book, this crazy and mind-bending book, is not only a ward against intellectual ego and snobbery, but also a love letter, a love letter to the romantic heart of humanity, to the romance of putting pen to paper, the pacing of knowledge, and the patience of wisdom.

I loved this book very much.

I'd like to end this review with another quote, which made me emotional:

Edit:
Just found this amazing quote from the author himself at the end of the book which perfectly summarises the meaning I took from this book:

Tim Robbins' narration was at first irritating, he had a tendency to whisper, I've misophonia and so it triggered me...but then, remarkably, it stopped bothering me.

Reason being, his narration was intimate, personal, and drew me right in. He was like a conductor of emotion, I've never listened to such a passionate and engaging voice actor.
Yes, he's a Hollywood actor, but he treated this book like it was a film he was working his ass off acting in. It was breathtaking, and he often gave me goosebumps. He knew when the story needed him to speak slowly, softly, intimately, and when it needed him to shout and explode with a crescendo of emotion. Like I said, he was a conductor of emotion.

I rarely review an audiobook but I needed to in this case. 

This trilogy mirrors how I felt about Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy.

So....yeah...
This was another mess, but not as bad as the previous mess. This really did feel like it was trying to fix the confusion of the previous book while also trying to finish the series off, and, unfortunately, it just felt out of balance.

So what do I mean by that? Well if you've read my other reviews for books 1 and 2, you'll know that this series has lacked direction and did not focus on making the player understand the politics and dynamics of the different forces and factions of this world. For two whole books, I did not know who the bad guys were, and even in this final book, I still do not know who the real enemies were.
Now, not every book has to make these things clear, as there are stories with a more nuanced approach to politics and factions in wars, but for this trilogy, there was no nuance, there was a clear lack of effort put into establishing these elements.

Take the Red Rising series for example, you have the original trilogy, where the good guys and the bad guys were clearly established and it was not nuanced. Then take the following books of the series where it grows that universe by establishing multiple factions and making them more nuanced, requiring the reader to better understand them and follow along to understand the dynamics of interactions. That one series shows great examples of both ways of making the reader understand factions and politics.

Whereas this trilogy was deeply flawed. I had no idea who to root for, the main character Simon didn't know what was going on most of the time, he rarely asked questions, he didn't progress power-wise despite this being "Progression Fantasy" and he only grew more powerful when he wore a mask that just let him use the powers of his territory to the fullest and when he takes it off and goes limp and unconscious and needs to be healed in the healing pools of Valinhall. Take Wight's Cradle series, all the characters grow as people and their magic grows too, through hard work and determination and some awesome circumstances, Simon in the Traveler's Gate trilogy, however, was barely trained, knows fuck-all about the capabilities of his territory and is only a threat when he wears the mask. The mask was the real hero. 

And somehow he is now the leader of Valinhall and commanding the other Travelers, despite anyone in Valinhall could use the mask and have access to the full powers of their territory. Simon beat the previous leader and won his sword, therefore he's in charge, and yet the sword can choose who to accept, and yet they accept this kid who knows fuck all and is only powerful because of a mask he can use for a few mins before becoming a useless vegetable and fully at the mercy of whatever enemy he was fighting. Ridiculous.

Alin, turns out, really is like Homelander as I said before in my book 1 review, except his Elysian territory powers essentially give him magic schizophrenia and he's got all these different voices representing different aspects of himself, whispering in his mind all the time. He's literally Simon, dumb as a bag of rocks, needs other people to tell him what to do, rarely thinks for himself and when he does it's stupid. Simon relies on the talking dolls and the other travellers to do almost anything, Alin has a combo of his magic whispers and some other travellers telling him what to do. The difference is, the person.
Simon wants to do the right thing, he relies on his gut and what other people say, Alin wants to do what he thinks other people will believe is the right thing but ONLY if he's seen doing it and looks like the hero. Simon wants to help, seen or not, Alin needs to be seen to help because he wants others to like him.

There was a part in this book where Alin suddenly realised he was being the bad guy. Now, how did he come to this extremely difficult conclusion for someone like Alin whose ego was inflated by his limitless power and his self-righteous stubbornness? Did he go through some terrible journey where he was forced to confront the horrors he caused and he goes through an emotional crucible which forces him to ignore the whispers and face the truth of himself? Nope.

Someone made a joke to someone he was fighting that they "always had to play the hero", then his brain went "Oh, if they think they're the hero, then that must mean they think I'm the villain, oh fuck yeah I did do all this bad shit and I was fighting my friends, well, shit". I paraphrase, it was the magic whispers that convinced him. but it was still one of the laziest shit I've read.

Leah was a cool character that was forgotten when it came to character development, she was Finn from the Star Wars sequels in this analogy. Kai was just as useless from the very beginning of the series til the end, zero pay off or progression. Indurial was a cool character that was just discarded.
I'm depressing myself just writing out all that was wrong with this book.

So what did I like? Well, the action was still pretty good and well-written.
There were some emotional scenes, that was nice, love me some emotional scenes.
Ummmmmm......yeah no sorry I'm tapped out.

The story legit was a mess, but the characters were engaging enough to keep me going, same with the magic and action scenes. But I truly felt like these books wasted my time because the story was shite.