I had a similar experience, though in my case a significant part of it was due to forgetting things. IMO books, and especially fantasy series, need to start including their own glossaries that...
I had a similar experience, though in my case a significant part of it was due to forgetting things. IMO books, and especially fantasy series, need to start including their own glossaries that hook into the normal ereader dictionary system; if I can tap a word to define it, I should be able to tap a character name to get a blurb or get a definition for any series-specific jargon.
There's no way Amazon would ever put resources towards this, considering they've run Kindle software development on an absolutely skeleton crew with little to no feature development over the past...
There's no way Amazon would ever put resources towards this, considering they've run Kindle software development on an absolutely skeleton crew with little to no feature development over the past 5-10 years. And if they did, it would be azw3 exclusive, anyway.
I could see Rakuten adding this to Kobos.
KOReader is open source, I wonder if I could PR this to them as some sort of "extended dictionary" automatic glossary reading feature? Honestly all we need is for authors to add that glossary and the ereader itself can do the extra work.
Amazon did actually already build this all the way back in 2011 and it’s stil supported, it’s just unfortunately a feature that barely any book uses: X-Ray. There’s a calibre plugin to generate...
Amazon did actually already build this all the way back in 2011 and it’s stil supported, it’s just unfortunately a feature that barely any book uses: X-Ray.
There’s a calibre plugin to generate these definitions automatically called WordDumb, but I’ve never had that much success with it.
Maintaining what is sort of functionally nearly a wiki like that is actually a lot of work. If the authors prepared a detailed linked glossary as part of the book I'm sure it would be included on...
Maintaining what is sort of functionally nearly a wiki like that is actually a lot of work. If the authors prepared a detailed linked glossary as part of the book I'm sure it would be included on Amazon or elsewhere (I've seen similar things).
The "Search in Book" feature does handle a lot of this.
But I also think not every word should be defined like that, it's sort of the point of reading
Oh it's definitely a ton of work! But editors and writers already have most of the info, and honestly any editor (and writer) worth their salt already has an informal glossary to maintain...
Oh it's definitely a ton of work! But editors and writers already have most of the info, and honestly any editor (and writer) worth their salt already has an informal glossary to maintain continuity. I wouldn't want to force authors to do it, but it would be awfully nice if KOReader could provide helpful definitions for names and locations when I'm reading the Silmarillion, or LotR, or Malazan, all of which already have a glossary (and in Malazan's case, a dramatis personae for each book).
It is my impression that authors have to take on much more of that work than one would think, barring being a large enough name (and Matt Dinniman would not, until very recently maybe, have...
It is my impression that authors have to take on much more of that work than one would think, barring being a large enough name (and Matt Dinniman would not, until very recently maybe, have qualified) to have that good of a contract. I read a number of even bigger names in genre fic having to "correct" their editors frequently.
I suspect the fact that this doesn't exist is because unlike Prime's X-ray it's so dependent on the specific work. But as an author I may not want you to be able to look things up the first, second or third time they occur. If I'm reading Jemisin's Fifth Season for example, as a reader I don't want to stop and look up every fantasy word as I go, and I think the author doesn't want that either.
Maybe there's a way to link to a (non-Fandom) wiki or something but most of those are in poor shape anyway.
Oh I hadn't even considered spoilers. I suppose you could implement spoiler tags of some sort, but it's definitely complicated. You're likely right that creating a glossary is just adding to the...
Oh I hadn't even considered spoilers. I suppose you could implement spoiler tags of some sort, but it's definitely complicated.
You're likely right that creating a glossary is just adding to the absolute heap of work most authors have to do. I hope someday authors with spare resources can invest in decent glossaries... but in the meantime, I definitely wasn't thinking about all of the pitfalls!
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-and-authors/kindle-recaps-feature-ebook-series-refreshers Its only iOS for now, so I don't how it works. I've honestly been looking forward to getting it on...
Its only iOS for now, so I don't how it works. I've honestly been looking forward to getting it on android when it rolls out.
I totally understand and share skepticism at a corpo rolling out some AI feature. and I'm sure its exploitive. But this actually seems like a pretty good use for an LLM if they did it right. You could highlight a character and it could catch you up on them without giving you spoilers since it knows exactly where you are.
Its not clear if it would have access to previous books, but the kindle library groups books by series now, so it shouldn't be a hard feature to add.
Authors are terribly keen about having their works uploaded into LLMs of any sort. Hence the ongoing lawsuits and all. Mandatory LLM use would possibly be enough to break Amazon's grip on ebook...
Authors are terribly keen about having their works uploaded into LLMs of any sort. Hence the ongoing lawsuits and all.
Mandatory LLM use would possibly be enough to break Amazon's grip on ebook publishing. Possibly.
I thought the first half or so was a little slow, but I feel like that was even lampshaded a bit by the book itself, and once it took off it was a wild ride to the end. I'd probably still rate it...
I thought the first half or so was a little slow, but I feel like that was even lampshaded a bit by the book itself, and once it took off it was a wild ride to the end. I'd probably still rate it below book 7 but it was good. I had just come off a reread of the whole series, though, so I dunno how that affected things.
I don't know if I enjoy them enough to do a full series reread. They're good, just not my faves. I'm glad they vibe so well with folks. They really seem to hit a "I don't read much but this got me...
I don't know if I enjoy them enough to do a full series reread. They're good, just not my faves.
I'm glad they vibe so well with folks. They really seem to hit a "I don't read much but this got me back into reading" group of people that I'm always excited to see.
I always find it hard to criticise the books—a bit like you said, I think they're enjoyable but far from perfect—because it's so nice to see something that started as self-published online fiction...
I always find it hard to criticise the books—a bit like you said, I think they're enjoyable but far from perfect—because it's so nice to see something that started as self-published online fiction break out into such widespread popularity. I've had a few coworkers who've never mentioned any books before ask if I've read them!
Agreed. I definitely feel conflicted sometimes. I am not the biggest reader, but I do read a decent amount (I will usually read between 6-12 books a year [not counting comics or manga], much...
Agreed. I definitely feel conflicted sometimes. I am not the biggest reader, but I do read a decent amount (I will usually read between 6-12 books a year [not counting comics or manga], much dwarfed by spouse and my best friend who will read 3-4 books a month). The books are good but it seems like all the fans I run into are people who don’t really read any other books, while heralding DCC as a flawless masterpiece, this generations
LOTR (edit: to be clear, I know this isn’t all fans of the series, nor a fair representation of all fans, just who I have happened to meet who have read it). It just makes conversations about the book hard. I really don’t want to discourage people from reading, but they aren’t interested in hearing about books that do the same things they like about DCC.
I'd love to hear about books that do similar things to DCC. I read a good bit, although lately a lot of what I've been reading is serialized trash webfiction, and I'm getting a little tired of...
I'd love to hear about books that do similar things to DCC.
I read a good bit, although lately a lot of what I've been reading is serialized trash webfiction, and I'm getting a little tired of struggling to find the decent stuff in the sea of garbage and slop.
Yeah I'm aware of the genre. There's a lot of trash and not a lot of treasure, although I've found a few...well, I wouldn't say gems but like, cubic zirconia at least.
Yeah I'm aware of the genre. There's a lot of trash and not a lot of treasure, although I've found a few...well, I wouldn't say gems but like, cubic zirconia at least.
I've always thought of LitRPG/webfiction as chocolate - enjoyable, varies in quality, available in large quantities, and probably best as part of a balanced diet/reading list.
I wouldn't say gems but like, cubic zirconia at least.
I've always thought of LitRPG/webfiction as chocolate - enjoyable, varies in quality, available in large quantities, and probably best as part of a balanced diet/reading list.
Hah, got it. I wish I had a recommendation for you, but honestly I haven't found anything like DCC personally. People like e.g. Cradle, and it's good but it's really, really different.
Hah, got it. I wish I had a recommendation for you, but honestly I haven't found anything like DCC personally. People like e.g. Cradle, and it's good but it's really, really different.
Admittedly these aren’t all the most original of recommendations (edit: by most original, I mean to say that some of the authors are very famous and are often recommended independently of DCC,...
Admittedly these aren’t all the most original of recommendations (edit: by most original, I mean to say that some of the authors are very famous and are often recommended independently of DCC, like Steven King), and which I would recommend heavily depends on what the individual likes about DCC and their general interests.
The initial thing that got me to read DCC was some of the dark humor, absurdism, and writing style made me very nostalgic for the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series. It’s not 100% the same, but if the RPG-ness of the books isn’t the main appeal of DCC, I think there’s a lot of overlap for enjoyment. Similarly, i feel a lot of Terry Pratchett influence in Matt Dinniman’s writing in general, so the Discworld series would be worth looking into to see if it hooks. If the appeal is more the dark/horror moments and the weirdness/absurdity, I would recommend the Southern Reach Trilogy (now with 4 books. Hey, that’s the second series I’ve recommended here that is a trilogy if more than 3 books) or Borne, both by Jeff VanDerMeer. Admittedly, Southern Reach is my favorite series of all time so I am always looking for an excuse to suggest it. Keeping on the horror/weird train, i recommend Steven King’s Dark Tower series (though with some massive trigger warnings throughout). It has been a long while since I read it, and I haven’t kept up, but I also found some of the same appeal in DCC as I felt when I was reading the Tower of God webcomic. Though I fell off of that somewhere in Season 3, and it’s a lot of work to jump back into when I have forgotten so much of the lore and power systems. This was my first LitRPG so I sadly don’t have any recommendations within that genre if that is the main appeal. Though if you like anime and are okay with a lighter tone, Shangri-La Frontier is one of the most fun I have had watching an RPG anime possibly ever.
Unfortunately, two others I would love to feel okay about recommending are American Gods and the Sandman series (again, massive trigger warnings, specifically SA). Unfortunately, Neil Gaiman is a monster (and honestly with hindsight it feels like you can see his… let’s say issues with and crimes against women slipping through in sandman). So those would come with a massive caveat on how individuals feel about separating art from artist.
Big Hitchhikers Guide and Discworld fan here. The HHGttG influence on DCC should have been obvious to me but I honestly never thought about it. I've heard of VanDerMeer but never read any of his...
Big Hitchhikers Guide and Discworld fan here. The HHGttG influence on DCC should have been obvious to me but I honestly never thought about it.
I've heard of VanDerMeer but never read any of his stuff. How dark would you say he gets?
The whole time I’ve been reading DCC my brain has pictured the AI as Jermey Pac-Man (the green guy from the cover of the Hitchhikers). I wouldn’t say Southern Reach gets very dark. There is death...
The whole time I’ve been reading DCC my brain has pictured the AI as Jermey Pac-Man (the green guy from the cover of the Hitchhikers).
I wouldn’t say Southern Reach gets very dark. There is death and murder but I don’t remember much of it being very graphic. It’s mostly cosmic horror with some body horror as well. Nothing really gets as visceral or dark as the war crime scene in This Inevitable Ruin or some of the fucked up moments with Katya being a bulldozer on the front of the train in book 2 (3? I can’t remember which). My gut says if you were okay with DCC, you’d be okay with Southern reach but I don’t want to say for sure.
I would say that DCC threads a fine needle of big scale wackiness while still staying human. One newer story that comes to mind as similar is Flesh of Gods, which is even weirder while being more...
I would say that DCC threads a fine needle of big scale wackiness while still staying human. One newer story that comes to mind as similar is Flesh of Gods, which is even weirder while being more personal. It's my current favorite story on Royal Road.
Oh I like garbage. Just straight-up LitRPG/progression fiction trash, lol. My follow list right now is: The Legend of William Oh (recommend - it's solidly written, reasonably paced, and has a...
Oh I like garbage. Just straight-up LitRPG/progression fiction trash, lol.
My follow list right now is: The Legend of William Oh (recommend - it's solidly written, reasonably paced, and has a regular update schedule. Chapters are really short, though) The Cloudfarers (It's fine.) The Center for Dungeon Management (Decentish writing, fun plot and setting, crazy frequent update schedule) Aura Overload (Noir Cyberpunk LitRPG nonsense, but it nails the vibe) The Hedge Wizard (Honestly not very good, I think I'm reading it because of Stockholm Syndrome at this point) The Daily Grind (Some of the better prose on Royal Road, very queer, pretty anarchist, but the pacing and plotting is batshit. I don't think the author had any idea where this story was going at any point in the process and it shows. Would recommend, kind of)
Honorable Mentions: 12 Miles Below (solid writing, good plotting but I got enough behind on it that the part I was on got stubbed and I'm not subscribing to KU) Dancer (Pretty solid and actually complete cosmic horror/sci fi. Would recommend) Shades of Forever (Pretty unique blend of cosmic horror and progression, but it's stubbed on RR) Chasing Sunlight (This is just Sunless Skies but in RR serial form. It actually has a beginning/middle/end though, and the writing is competent) Kitty Cat Kill Sat (Strongly recommend, complete story)
ETA: This is all just RR stuff, I've read other serial fiction elsewhere but it's been a while and RR is the easiest place to follow non-fanfic stuff. I'd also recommend checking out Wildbow, IMO his prose and worldbuilding is a cut above most RR writers, but his wordcounts are...daunting to say the least, and his stuff tends to get really dark, to the point where I had to stop reading most of the way through Pale.
If you're willing to step into Xingxua and cultivation progression, I've been enjoying Beware of Chicken (https://share.libbyapp.com/title/11608019) a bit. Our hero gets reincarnated into a...
If you're willing to step into Xingxua and cultivation progression, I've been enjoying Beware of Chicken (https://share.libbyapp.com/title/11608019) a bit. Our hero gets reincarnated into a disciple of a Cultivator sect that's the biggest and baddest around, and decides he wants nothing to do with that life and goes off to a podunk village to start a Farm. However his livestock start to awaken as Cultivators in their own right and he has to train them in how to care for the land and use their power responsibly in a backdrop of heavenly wars and whatnot.
My other web serial recommendations are from what used to be Podiobooks.com before it was absorbed into Scribl, but a lot of the podcasts are still out there. You'd probably like Shadowmagic (https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/shadowmagic) if you like your portal fantasy, and young heroes being young heroes in fantastic settings, it's pretty good. Quarter Share (https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/quartershare) is a little different, something of a travel log from a kid who joined a space merchant guild to get off world and moves across his life and times, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.
I've dipped a toe into cultivation stuff a few times - enough to be at least aware of some of the tropes. I've heard of Beware of Chicken but never checked it out. I'll put it on my tbr! Am I...
I've dipped a toe into cultivation stuff a few times - enough to be at least aware of some of the tropes. I've heard of Beware of Chicken but never checked it out. I'll put it on my tbr!
Am I right in thinking that your other two recommendations are audio stories? I haven't listened to a good audio series since the Nightvale days but I might check them out. Thanks!
Shadowmagic and Quarter Share have both been published in print and ebook, but if you want the real deal experience endorsed by some rando on the internet, I'd recommend the audio. Podcast version...
Shadowmagic and Quarter Share have both been published in print and ebook, but if you want the real deal experience endorsed by some rando on the internet, I'd recommend the audio. Podcast version is also free.
Kitty Cat Kill Sat is a real favourite of mine - one of a few that I'd recommend to someone who doesn't normally read webfiction. Chasing Sunlight sounds right up my alley as a Fallen London...
Kitty Cat Kill Sat is a real favourite of mine - one of a few that I'd recommend to someone who doesn't normally read webfiction.
Chasing Sunlight sounds right up my alley as a Fallen London adict player. That and a couple other of your recommendations have gone straight on my reading list, so thanks!
Have you read the Cradle series by Will Wight? Book series, I think available on Kindle Unlimited though (if that’s a pro or a con). I may have binge read all 12 books on a Kindle Unlimited trial...
Have you read the Cradle series by Will Wight? Book series, I think available on Kindle Unlimited though (if that’s a pro or a con).
I may have binge read all 12 books on a Kindle Unlimited trial (and basically became a hermit for 7 days and my wife was not happy with me).
I've had William Oh rec'd a bunch so guess it's going on my KU list. I will check in on some of the others too! I've been reading Newt and Demon (isekai'd post apocalyptic human into "cozy"...
I've had William Oh rec'd a bunch so guess it's going on my KU list. I will check in on some of the others too!
I've been reading Newt and Demon (isekai'd post apocalyptic human into "cozy" alchemy world). It's cute, but there are quite a few typos. I've still read four books (and my larp character was an alchemist with horns, albeit more akin to a satyr than a demon, so I felt a kinship!)
Roverpowered - a supercharged corgi and his unsuspecting owner against the world! Or, well, the baddies.
Still reading Super Supportive and He Who Fights With Monsters, as well as The Bee Dungeon, My New Life as a Max Level Archmage, Wraithwood Botanist, The Archmage is Baking Now, Aquila, and Mother of Learning (slowly)
(RC Joshua's Demon World Boba Shop is an incredibly sweet world where people care for each other out of duty, not just to get something in return and the MC has to learn that he can stop trying to prove himself worthy. He already was.)
I aim for some quality, but I like a good time too
I've never checked out Super Supportive even though it's really highly rated. Not sure why, I probably should give it a try. By the time I dropped HWFWM I actively disliked it but I get why people...
I've never checked out Super Supportive even though it's really highly rated. Not sure why, I probably should give it a try. By the time I dropped HWFWM I actively disliked it but I get why people read it.
I would say that most of the stuff you recommend isn't garbage, but I'll agree that it's not high literature. In particular I do love William Oh, CDM, and The Daily Grind, though Argus, the author...
I would say that most of the stuff you recommend isn't garbage, but I'll agree that it's not high literature. In particular I do love William Oh, CDM, and The Daily Grind, though Argus, the author of TDG is definitely at the far pantser end of the planner-pantser continuum.
Around Book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, I realized it reminded me a lot of The Dresden Files, just at a much more accelerated pace. Dresden is a much slower burn, and it takes longer before the...
Around Book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, I realized it reminded me a lot of The Dresden Files, just at a much more accelerated pace. Dresden is a much slower burn, and it takes longer before the larger set pieces of the world start becoming visible, but it's kind of the same arc of a guy just trying to survive slowly becoming embroiled in (and the center of) a much larger conflict.
Book 7 of DCC is probably akin to Book 17 of The Dresden Files, in terms of scale. I think the author has 3 more Dresden books planned before the BAT—Big Apocalyptic Trilogy—to cap off the series.
Somehow less objectification of the women in DCC than in Dresden though, despite gestures everything. (I used to like Dresden and Butcher and I just categorically do not anymore)
Somehow less objectification of the women in DCC than in Dresden though, despite gestures everything.
(I used to like Dresden and Butcher and I just categorically do not anymore)
Yeah, somewhere around the point where there was a pack of werewolves and each guy got distinct characterization and the single woman got nothing it became clear that Butcher wasn't really...
Yeah, somewhere around the point where there was a pack of werewolves and each guy got distinct characterization and the single woman got nothing it became clear that Butcher wasn't really treating his female characters as complete people the way his male characters were. It ruined it for me.
I think I struggled getting back into it because the pace and the stakes were so high in the last book, it was hard to really care about the races, at first. I think it was kind of inevitable,...
I think I struggled getting back into it because the pace and the stakes were so high in the last book, it was hard to really care about the races, at first. I think it was kind of inevitable, though, having to go from Faction Wars to just a normal floor, but it doesn't look like that will be a problem he'll have to deal with anymore.
I finished it within a week of release. The ending was crazy. Most of the book was ok, compared with some others that I had loved. Book 5 and Book 7 were the best for me. At this point I expect to...
I finished it within a week of release. The ending was crazy. Most of the book was ok, compared with some others that I had loved. Book 5 and Book 7 were the best for me.
I’m extremely close to finishing (1.5 hrs left in the audiobook), but there is one thing that’s really been bothering me with this book and the last. The pop culture references feel so gratuitous....
I’m extremely close to finishing (1.5 hrs left in the audiobook), but there is one thing that’s really been bothering me with this book and the last. The pop culture references feel so gratuitous. I know they existed in the earlier books so I don’t fully know why it bothers me so much now. I think in the first few books both the readers and the characters were trying to get their footing in the setting, so using cultural references helped with the mental load of understanding what was going on. But by books 7 and 8, it feels way more out of place. It feels much more like Ready Player One “HEY, REMEMBER THING! WE’RE REFERENCING THAT THING YOU KNOW”. It still kinda irks me when it is Donut doing it, but I also understand that is part of her character so whatever. Sometime I’ll have to go back and reread the earlier books now that I have a better understanding of the world the series is in and see if they bother me in those books now too.
That said, I’m still overall enjoying the book and series. It’s hard for me to rank the books because I feel like each books has its high and low points, and they all are like 7.5-8/10, so the difference between my favorite and least favorite is pretty small.
Yeah me too! I am not sure why either. I had several moments similar to yourself where I was mildly irked. Maybe because after the sincere climaxes in the previous books, it felt like the series...
Yeah me too! I am not sure why either. I had several moments similar to yourself where I was mildly irked. Maybe because after the sincere climaxes in the previous books, it felt like the series should be maturing a bit beyond that? Especially as the books have progressively dialed down other aspects of the story like levelling and battle strategy. These things matter less as you approach the end and the philosophical underpinning of the universe? But then I still like the idea that they have moments of joy and chill. Not sure. Still enjoyed myself but yeah found myself agreeing with you.
This is a related and fun video - the author and the audiobook voice actor ranking various characters! It’s really just a fun showcase of the talent of the voice actor. I’m really impressed with...
This is a related and fun video - the author and the audiobook voice actor ranking various characters!
It’s really just a fun showcase of the talent of the voice actor. I’m really impressed with his range!
After having to wait for this release, I think I'm ready for the series to finish. I liked it, but it dragged on for me, and I felt like a lot of it could have been yada yada yada'd away.
After having to wait for this release, I think I'm ready for the series to finish. I liked it, but it dragged on for me, and I felt like a lot of it could have been yada yada yada'd away.
Finished this earlier this week. It was an enjoyable ride, if hard to get back into for me.
I had a similar experience, though in my case a significant part of it was due to forgetting things. IMO books, and especially fantasy series, need to start including their own glossaries that hook into the normal ereader dictionary system; if I can tap a word to define it, I should be able to tap a character name to get a blurb or get a definition for any series-specific jargon.
I have thought about this on a million different occasions. This would be an absolutely killer feature for me.
There's no way Amazon would ever put resources towards this, considering they've run Kindle software development on an absolutely skeleton crew with little to no feature development over the past 5-10 years. And if they did, it would be
azw3exclusive, anyway.I could see Rakuten adding this to Kobos.
KOReader is open source, I wonder if I could PR this to them as some sort of "extended dictionary" automatic glossary reading feature? Honestly all we need is for authors to add that glossary and the ereader itself can do the extra work.
Amazon did actually already build this all the way back in 2011 and it’s stil supported, it’s just unfortunately a feature that barely any book uses: X-Ray.
There’s a calibre plugin to generate these definitions automatically called WordDumb, but I’ve never had that much success with it.
Maintaining what is sort of functionally nearly a wiki like that is actually a lot of work. If the authors prepared a detailed linked glossary as part of the book I'm sure it would be included on Amazon or elsewhere (I've seen similar things).
The "Search in Book" feature does handle a lot of this.
But I also think not every word should be defined like that, it's sort of the point of reading
Oh it's definitely a ton of work! But editors and writers already have most of the info, and honestly any editor (and writer) worth their salt already has an informal glossary to maintain continuity. I wouldn't want to force authors to do it, but it would be awfully nice if KOReader could provide helpful definitions for names and locations when I'm reading the Silmarillion, or LotR, or Malazan, all of which already have a glossary (and in Malazan's case, a dramatis personae for each book).
It is my impression that authors have to take on much more of that work than one would think, barring being a large enough name (and Matt Dinniman would not, until very recently maybe, have qualified) to have that good of a contract. I read a number of even bigger names in genre fic having to "correct" their editors frequently.
I suspect the fact that this doesn't exist is because unlike Prime's X-ray it's so dependent on the specific work. But as an author I may not want you to be able to look things up the first, second or third time they occur. If I'm reading Jemisin's Fifth Season for example, as a reader I don't want to stop and look up every fantasy word as I go, and I think the author doesn't want that either.
Maybe there's a way to link to a (non-Fandom) wiki or something but most of those are in poor shape anyway.
Oh I hadn't even considered spoilers. I suppose you could implement spoiler tags of some sort, but it's definitely complicated.
You're likely right that creating a glossary is just adding to the absolute heap of work most authors have to do. I hope someday authors with spare resources can invest in decent glossaries... but in the meantime, I definitely wasn't thinking about all of the pitfalls!
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-and-authors/kindle-recaps-feature-ebook-series-refreshers
Its only iOS for now, so I don't how it works. I've honestly been looking forward to getting it on android when it rolls out.
I totally understand and share skepticism at a corpo rolling out some AI feature. and I'm sure its exploitive. But this actually seems like a pretty good use for an LLM if they did it right. You could highlight a character and it could catch you up on them without giving you spoilers since it knows exactly where you are.
Its not clear if it would have access to previous books, but the kindle library groups books by series now, so it shouldn't be a hard feature to add.
Authors are terribly keen about having their works uploaded into LLMs of any sort. Hence the ongoing lawsuits and all.
Mandatory LLM use would possibly be enough to break Amazon's grip on ebook publishing. Possibly.
I thought the first half or so was a little slow, but I feel like that was even lampshaded a bit by the book itself, and once it took off it was a wild ride to the end. I'd probably still rate it below book 7 but it was good. I had just come off a reread of the whole series, though, so I dunno how that affected things.
I don't know if I enjoy them enough to do a full series reread. They're good, just not my faves.
I'm glad they vibe so well with folks. They really seem to hit a "I don't read much but this got me back into reading" group of people that I'm always excited to see.
I always find it hard to criticise the books—a bit like you said, I think they're enjoyable but far from perfect—because it's so nice to see something that started as self-published online fiction break out into such widespread popularity. I've had a few coworkers who've never mentioned any books before ask if I've read them!
Agreed. I definitely feel conflicted sometimes. I am not the biggest reader, but I do read a decent amount (I will usually read between 6-12 books a year [not counting comics or manga], much dwarfed by spouse and my best friend who will read 3-4 books a month). The books are good but it seems like all the fans I run into are people who don’t really read any other books, while heralding DCC as a flawless masterpiece, this generations
LOTR (edit: to be clear, I know this isn’t all fans of the series, nor a fair representation of all fans, just who I have happened to meet who have read it). It just makes conversations about the book hard. I really don’t want to discourage people from reading, but they aren’t interested in hearing about books that do the same things they like about DCC.
I'd love to hear about books that do similar things to DCC.
I read a good bit, although lately a lot of what I've been reading is serialized trash webfiction, and I'm getting a little tired of struggling to find the decent stuff in the sea of garbage and slop.
LitRPG is the genre, but much of it is pretty terrible and there's not a whole lot that is even tonally much like Carl. For better or for worse.
Yeah I'm aware of the genre. There's a lot of trash and not a lot of treasure, although I've found a few...well, I wouldn't say gems but like, cubic zirconia at least.
I've always thought of LitRPG/webfiction as chocolate - enjoyable, varies in quality, available in large quantities, and probably best as part of a balanced diet/reading list.
Hah, got it. I wish I had a recommendation for you, but honestly I haven't found anything like DCC personally. People like e.g. Cradle, and it's good but it's really, really different.
Admittedly these aren’t all the most original of recommendations (edit: by most original, I mean to say that some of the authors are very famous and are often recommended independently of DCC, like Steven King), and which I would recommend heavily depends on what the individual likes about DCC and their general interests.
The initial thing that got me to read DCC was some of the dark humor, absurdism, and writing style made me very nostalgic for the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series. It’s not 100% the same, but if the RPG-ness of the books isn’t the main appeal of DCC, I think there’s a lot of overlap for enjoyment. Similarly, i feel a lot of Terry Pratchett influence in Matt Dinniman’s writing in general, so the Discworld series would be worth looking into to see if it hooks. If the appeal is more the dark/horror moments and the weirdness/absurdity, I would recommend the Southern Reach Trilogy (now with 4 books. Hey, that’s the second series I’ve recommended here that is a trilogy if more than 3 books) or Borne, both by Jeff VanDerMeer. Admittedly, Southern Reach is my favorite series of all time so I am always looking for an excuse to suggest it. Keeping on the horror/weird train, i recommend Steven King’s Dark Tower series (though with some massive trigger warnings throughout). It has been a long while since I read it, and I haven’t kept up, but I also found some of the same appeal in DCC as I felt when I was reading the Tower of God webcomic. Though I fell off of that somewhere in Season 3, and it’s a lot of work to jump back into when I have forgotten so much of the lore and power systems. This was my first LitRPG so I sadly don’t have any recommendations within that genre if that is the main appeal. Though if you like anime and are okay with a lighter tone, Shangri-La Frontier is one of the most fun I have had watching an RPG anime possibly ever.
Unfortunately, two others I would love to feel okay about recommending are American Gods and the Sandman series (again, massive trigger warnings, specifically SA). Unfortunately, Neil Gaiman is a monster (and honestly with hindsight it feels like you can see his… let’s say issues with and crimes against women slipping through in sandman). So those would come with a massive caveat on how individuals feel about separating art from artist.
Big Hitchhikers Guide and Discworld fan here. The HHGttG influence on DCC should have been obvious to me but I honestly never thought about it.
I've heard of VanDerMeer but never read any of his stuff. How dark would you say he gets?
The whole time I’ve been reading DCC my brain has pictured the AI as Jermey Pac-Man (the green guy from the cover of the Hitchhikers).
I wouldn’t say Southern Reach gets very dark. There is death and murder but I don’t remember much of it being very graphic. It’s mostly cosmic horror with some body horror as well. Nothing really gets as visceral or dark as the war crime scene in This Inevitable Ruin or some of the fucked up moments with Katya being a bulldozer on the front of the train in book 2 (3? I can’t remember which). My gut says if you were okay with DCC, you’d be okay with Southern reach but I don’t want to say for sure.
I would say that DCC threads a fine needle of big scale wackiness while still staying human. One newer story that comes to mind as similar is Flesh of Gods, which is even weirder while being more personal. It's my current favorite story on Royal Road.
What do you like in your serialized webfiction? I've been reading a lot lately too
Oh I like garbage. Just straight-up LitRPG/progression fiction trash, lol.
My follow list right now is:
The Legend of William Oh (recommend - it's solidly written, reasonably paced, and has a regular update schedule. Chapters are really short, though)
The Cloudfarers (It's fine.)
The Center for Dungeon Management (Decentish writing, fun plot and setting, crazy frequent update schedule)
Aura Overload (Noir Cyberpunk LitRPG nonsense, but it nails the vibe)
The Hedge Wizard (Honestly not very good, I think I'm reading it because of Stockholm Syndrome at this point)
The Daily Grind (Some of the better prose on Royal Road, very queer, pretty anarchist, but the pacing and plotting is batshit. I don't think the author had any idea where this story was going at any point in the process and it shows. Would recommend, kind of)
Honorable Mentions:
12 Miles Below (solid writing, good plotting but I got enough behind on it that the part I was on got stubbed and I'm not subscribing to KU)
Dancer (Pretty solid and actually complete cosmic horror/sci fi. Would recommend)
Shades of Forever (Pretty unique blend of cosmic horror and progression, but it's stubbed on RR)
Chasing Sunlight (This is just Sunless Skies but in RR serial form. It actually has a beginning/middle/end though, and the writing is competent)
Kitty Cat Kill Sat (Strongly recommend, complete story)
ETA: This is all just RR stuff, I've read other serial fiction elsewhere but it's been a while and RR is the easiest place to follow non-fanfic stuff. I'd also recommend checking out Wildbow, IMO his prose and worldbuilding is a cut above most RR writers, but his wordcounts are...daunting to say the least, and his stuff tends to get really dark, to the point where I had to stop reading most of the way through Pale.
If you're willing to step into Xingxua and cultivation progression, I've been enjoying Beware of Chicken (https://share.libbyapp.com/title/11608019) a bit. Our hero gets reincarnated into a disciple of a Cultivator sect that's the biggest and baddest around, and decides he wants nothing to do with that life and goes off to a podunk village to start a Farm. However his livestock start to awaken as Cultivators in their own right and he has to train them in how to care for the land and use their power responsibly in a backdrop of heavenly wars and whatnot.
My other web serial recommendations are from what used to be Podiobooks.com before it was absorbed into Scribl, but a lot of the podcasts are still out there. You'd probably like Shadowmagic (https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/shadowmagic) if you like your portal fantasy, and young heroes being young heroes in fantastic settings, it's pretty good. Quarter Share (https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/quartershare) is a little different, something of a travel log from a kid who joined a space merchant guild to get off world and moves across his life and times, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.
I've dipped a toe into cultivation stuff a few times - enough to be at least aware of some of the tropes. I've heard of Beware of Chicken but never checked it out. I'll put it on my tbr!
Am I right in thinking that your other two recommendations are audio stories? I haven't listened to a good audio series since the Nightvale days but I might check them out. Thanks!
Shadowmagic and Quarter Share have both been published in print and ebook, but if you want the real deal experience endorsed by some rando on the internet, I'd recommend the audio. Podcast version is also free.
Kitty Cat Kill Sat is a real favourite of mine - one of a few that I'd recommend to someone who doesn't normally read webfiction.
Chasing Sunlight sounds right up my alley as a Fallen London
adictplayer. That and a couple other of your recommendations have gone straight on my reading list, so thanks!Yeah Chasing Sunlight is an easy recommend for me. It's maybe not quite as oblique as the writing in FL got at times, but it's got a similar vibe.
Have you read the Cradle series by Will Wight? Book series, I think available on Kindle Unlimited though (if that’s a pro or a con).
I may have binge read all 12 books on a Kindle Unlimited trial (and basically became a hermit for 7 days and my wife was not happy with me).
I have! They're a lot of fun
I've had William Oh rec'd a bunch so guess it's going on my KU list. I will check in on some of the others too!
I've been reading Newt and Demon (isekai'd post apocalyptic human into "cozy" alchemy world). It's cute, but there are quite a few typos. I've still read four books (and my larp character was an alchemist with horns, albeit more akin to a satyr than a demon, so I felt a kinship!)
Roverpowered - a supercharged corgi and his unsuspecting owner against the world! Or, well, the baddies.
Still reading Super Supportive and He Who Fights With Monsters, as well as The Bee Dungeon, My New Life as a Max Level Archmage, Wraithwood Botanist, The Archmage is Baking Now, Aquila, and Mother of Learning (slowly)
(RC Joshua's Demon World Boba Shop is an incredibly sweet world where people care for each other out of duty, not just to get something in return and the MC has to learn that he can stop trying to prove himself worthy. He already was.)
I aim for some quality, but I like a good time too
I've never checked out Super Supportive even though it's really highly rated. Not sure why, I probably should give it a try. By the time I dropped HWFWM I actively disliked it but I get why people read it.
Yeah I get why HWFWM wouldn't keep vibing for folks but I do just enjoy him still.
Super Supportive is slow and thoughtful but I love it for that.
I would say that most of the stuff you recommend isn't garbage, but I'll agree that it's not high literature. In particular I do love William Oh, CDM, and The Daily Grind, though Argus, the author of TDG is definitely at the far pantser end of the planner-pantser continuum.
Oh I definitely mean it fondly when I say garbage.
Around Book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, I realized it reminded me a lot of The Dresden Files, just at a much more accelerated pace. Dresden is a much slower burn, and it takes longer before the larger set pieces of the world start becoming visible, but it's kind of the same arc of a guy just trying to survive slowly becoming embroiled in (and the center of) a much larger conflict.
Book 7 of DCC is probably akin to Book 17 of The Dresden Files, in terms of scale. I think the author has 3 more Dresden books planned before the BAT—Big Apocalyptic Trilogy—to cap off the series.
Somehow less objectification of the women in DCC than in Dresden though, despite gestures everything.
(I used to like Dresden and Butcher and I just categorically do not anymore)
Yeah, somewhere around the point where there was a pack of werewolves and each guy got distinct characterization and the single woman got nothing it became clear that Butcher wasn't really treating his female characters as complete people the way his male characters were. It ruined it for me.
I think I struggled getting back into it because the pace and the stakes were so high in the last book, it was hard to really care about the races, at first. I think it was kind of inevitable, though, having to go from Faction Wars to just a normal floor, but it doesn't look like that will be a problem he'll have to deal with anymore.
I finished it within a week of release. The ending was crazy. Most of the book was ok, compared with some others that I had loved. Book 5 and Book 7 were the best for me.
At this point I expect to finish the series.
I’m extremely close to finishing (1.5 hrs left in the audiobook), but there is one thing that’s really been bothering me with this book and the last. The pop culture references feel so gratuitous. I know they existed in the earlier books so I don’t fully know why it bothers me so much now. I think in the first few books both the readers and the characters were trying to get their footing in the setting, so using cultural references helped with the mental load of understanding what was going on. But by books 7 and 8, it feels way more out of place. It feels much more like Ready Player One “HEY, REMEMBER THING! WE’RE REFERENCING THAT THING YOU KNOW”. It still kinda irks me when it is Donut doing it, but I also understand that is part of her character so whatever. Sometime I’ll have to go back and reread the earlier books now that I have a better understanding of the world the series is in and see if they bother me in those books now too.
That said, I’m still overall enjoying the book and series. It’s hard for me to rank the books because I feel like each books has its high and low points, and they all are like 7.5-8/10, so the difference between my favorite and least favorite is pretty small.
Yeah me too! I am not sure why either. I had several moments similar to yourself where I was mildly irked. Maybe because after the sincere climaxes in the previous books, it felt like the series should be maturing a bit beyond that? Especially as the books have progressively dialed down other aspects of the story like levelling and battle strategy. These things matter less as you approach the end and the philosophical underpinning of the universe? But then I still like the idea that they have moments of joy and chill. Not sure. Still enjoyed myself but yeah found myself agreeing with you.
This is a related and fun video - the author and the audiobook voice actor ranking various characters!
It’s really just a fun showcase of the talent of the voice actor. I’m really impressed with his range!
https://youtu.be/GiGJ-ySE1DY?si=YS3bjzjyWaAS_ERv
After having to wait for this release, I think I'm ready for the series to finish. I liked it, but it dragged on for me, and I felt like a lot of it could have been yada yada yada'd away.