wulvaen's Reviews (313)

These are still so goddamn fun and hilarious!

I'm loving how the little family keeps growing each book, growing in character, power, connections and closeness.

I'm loving Lillian taking more of a second-in-command role in Fred's company and even a leadership role in the clan itself, she hosts a wealth of knowledge of the in's and out's of the vampire world and I love how she's often got Fred's back when he has holes in those experiences.

A lovely bit of bonding between Fred and Neil happened thanks to them being pulled into a magical maze escape room case, and we now understand that Neil being annoyed by Fred was actually because he hated himself for how he was in the past and Fred reminds him of the horrible person he used to be, so he doesn't hate Fred, Fred is just a mirror reflecting his worst moments, but now that he knows this, he's working on it 🥳

We've a new member of Fletcher Accounting Services! Al, the Pixie! I wish she was more present in this book, that was a shame, but I hope to see more of her from now on.

Just seeing the gang come together each time when someone is threatened is just so heartwarming and satisfying!

Onto book 7! 🥰

By FAR the best book in the series...so far!

This was absolutely brilliant! It was as funny and charming as ever, but this time the usual "case-by-case" narrative formula took a bit of a back seat and a larger narrative became the focus with it weaved in with each case.

The previous book focused more on the development of some of the side characters often overlooked, such as Amy and Albert.

This book was almost entirely focused on Fred's development, which also gave some awesome worldbuilding.

Fred has grown as a leader, vampire and a person. He's learned some great lessons and was educated more on his vampire kind. He was constantly challenged, from physical threats to his intelligence, and he faced them with courage and grace. 

Another fun book, it's really great seeing Fred coming out of his shell more and becoming more of a leader.

There's still some funky things happening with his Vampireness as a result of Gideon's blood. I figured it was just the silver resistance, but now it looks like it's gave him other resistances too, perhaps mental resistance? 🤔

I'm loving how everyone in the Clan is evolving alongside Fred; Amy is standing up for herself and rebelling a little, Albert is taking charge of his own destiny, and Fred is being a leader and looking after his people.

I said it before and I said it again, this series has the potential to be so fun and memorable and brilliant, if the characters went from being one-dimensional and grew as the books went along and were fleshed out; well it's certainly happening!

Can't wait to see what happens next after what happened at the end of this book! 

This is the best book so far!

They've blended the case-by case style it typically does but with an larger arc in the background, with each case giving something needed to reach the end conclusion.

I have no idea where the story can go from here after that ending, so many possibilities, and potential new conflicts! I can't wait 😊

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, it was episodic, 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 sentient speaking 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 vampire powers 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 adaptations.

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 don't 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.
If Matt had a bunch of characters die in this book, it would have done 3 things:

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 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, and this hope of hope 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.