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PaperclipPerfector  8d ago (text post)   2325 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 29, 2026

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I finished the recently released DCC book and it was by far the weakest yet.

The narration was top notch as always but the actual book was boring. I found myself zoning out frequently but there were like two moments in the book that were interesting (the start of one races and what happened at the very end).

It felt like the book lacked stakes and the plot and the solutions to the issues presented in the plot were not legible to the reader and things came off as mostly random shit happening and Deus ex machina rather than the characters making clever decisions with the resources they have available. The author relies a lot on not telling the audience what the characters are planning which is both profoundly unsatisfying and no longer justified by the narrative.

This book should probably have been condensed down to a few chapters of breakneck introduction to the next part of the story rather than be dragged out to an entire book. There wasn't really anything happening, no plot, no character development and no character power progression.

At this point I'm barely even interested in the next book but given the stakes set up at the end it could be interesting, but that depends on things actually progressing and the plot not feeling like Deus ex machina.

So prior to 8 coming out I reread 1-5 and 7. I think the loss of Katia really shows. He's done all the main character development and exploration for Carl and Donut, and the only other deep character is resolved. He can claim "Imani is the heart of the group" "Louis is the heart of the group" but at the end of the day those aren't statements he's emotionally invested me in. I also think we've lost a lot to our Heros Journey, in that at this point in the journey we can't be relying on the old wise man (Mordecai) anymore, and he was a good character! I didn't hate the race premise like the cards, but there just wasn't real emotional core this time. It takes a lot to top books 5 and 7 and this just wasn't it. I think this should be wrapped up with book 9 rather than dragging it out two more novels.

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