this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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[–] Dojan@pawb.social 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Past few years I've been reading a shitty sci-fi series. In this series there's a race of creatures whose entire society is founded on gambling. They bet on everything, and people frequently bankrupt themselves. The moment you look at that world-building with even a little bit of scrutiny it falls apart in its stupidity.

This is even dumber.

[–] klugerama@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lol pretty sure I know exactly what series you're talking about (beer can?). You're right - it's dumb, and the writing isn't exactly Dickens, but it's funny. Almost finished with the series myself. Something to read until something better comes along, at least.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 2 points 20 hours ago

Go get yourself a juice box!

When I first started the series I almost quit at the first book, it felt very American Military masturbatory, and I wasn't a fan. Eventually though, the worldbuilding and the cast captured me. At this point however it feels like the author signed a contract to squeeze out a quota of books and quality has suffered. It's gotten so intensely formulaic to the point of not being interesting. I've fallen victim to the gamblers fallacy though so I'm still reading it; I just want it to end.

At this point you can tell that he struggles to make compelling storylines because he's started writing self-contained short stories he's throwing in at random parts of the book just to pad it out. It's a good move though, I think they're my favourite parts of the recent books.

Overall I like the series, I just wish it hadn't been dragged out so much.