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December book club canceled. Short stories instead!
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Spoiler review: This series is "science" fiction with no emphasis on actual science. It's about as genuine science fiction as Anne Rice's vampire and Atlantis books. The books should be labeled YA. It's Twilight for video game fans, more in the recent trend of books for people who don't read books.
If you want well written science fiction pick up something from Neal Stephenson. If you want fantasy go with Brandon Sanderson.
I'm about a third of the way into the first book. A friend of mine has been reading the series, and he said it'd be right up my alley. Between that and everyone on the internet talking about these books, I figured I'd give it a shot.
Immediate regret. From the moment I started reading, I was getting flashbacks to reading Stephanie Meyers twenty years ago: the repetitive language; mundane grammar; weird, heavy-handed characterizations. The presentation was similar to the bad fanfics and YA novels that were coming out when I was in my 20s.
I keep trying to give it the benefit of the doubt. I get the impression that the main character is supposed to be a little dim, so maybe the first-person narration is supposed to be reflecting that? But even that only explains some of it. It's otherwise so trope-y and winking. Reading it honestly feels like watching Spielberg's Ready Player One again, where the point is not a good story, interesting characters, or even good craft, just nodding at the in-jokes.
I'm going to finish this first book this weekend, because I made the mistake of buying it. But unless something substantially changes in the next couple hundred pages, I will not be continuing the series.
So, yeah, I'm glad people are reading it and enjoying it. Just wanted to provide a different opinion from all the comments glazing it, because it doesn't have universal appeal.
I agree and I’m not the biggest fan, but it does get much better if you can get through the first half of book 1.
I appreciate that hot take. First books, IMO, tend to be more formulaic. I'm currently reading and on book 5, and there's been a number of times the author's used strong vocaublary or literary devices that I've appreciated. The feel of the series has certainly made some adjustments, and it makes sense considering he's at six and change years writing it at this point.
Ready Player One is kind of a good comparison; both in that case and in this one, my expectations were pretty low, but I enjoyed reading them. My reading list is mostly populated with nominees and winners of the major SF&F awards, but I decided to read this one based on recommendations from folks here in Lemmy, and because of folks I talk with a lot online (I play wow classic). I wasn't really expecting it to be amazingly well crafted, but I still maintain is silly fun.
Doughnut Holes represent! All hail Princess Doughnut. I just finished book 4.
Not at all similar to “D&D,” the genre is LitRPG
edit: glurp glurp, motherfuckers
Hmm, okay. I never played D&D, but has friends who did.
Okay but what happens to his girlfriend's poor cat???
I'm interested in checking these books out, but I'm a big weenie who can't handle anything bad happening to innocent animals. And I'm not exactly mentally stable lately -- lol -- so I'm currently trying to avoid anything like that that could send me spiraling. (I know it sounds ridiculous and I'm working on getting help, I promise lol)
So, uh... Can anyone tell me if there's any bad stuff happening to any animals (like the aforementioned kitty???) in these books? 😅
I really enjoyed DCC and it's a pretty fun ride but honestly from what your saying I'd suggest you avoid it for a while. It's fun but it's also bloody and full of violence. It starts out with killing 99% of humanity and everybody in it is dealing with some heavy PTSD and it's hopeful and people pull together but it's still a tragedy.
The cat becomes his constant companion, as far as I know through the whole series.
It’s extremely dark. If you’re not in a good place mentally, avoid.
Family and party members kill each other, frequently. So read between the lines about the “pets” and animals, and that provides the dark context.
It's a fairly early spoiler, but still a spoiler
The cat goes into the dungeon with him, and is initially treated as a pet. Pretty quickly, though, the cat gets an upgrade that turns her into her own character, and they become something of an iconic duo.
Also, I don't know that I'd necessarily call it sci-fi, maybe more fantasy with... well. it's complicated. In any case, I enjoyed it, and the rest of the series and highly recommend it.
She becomes the actual protagonist of the book leaving Carl in his rightful spot. Cleaning litterboxes.
(jk. kinda.)
For something with a similar premise, see: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/72050/discount-dan Focused on a backrooms dungeon instead of a space dungeon, but seems like similar vibes.