Accidental Mage

LitRPG Accidental Traveler Adventure, Book 3

By: Jamie Davis, C. J. Davis

Narrated by: Roberto Scarlato

Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Dragged back to the game of Fantasma, for Hal Dix, this time it's personal. 

Hal returns home from Fantasma to find his greatest nightmare has come true. A personal tragedy in the real world drags him back into the game world of Fantasma one last time. 

Seeking help from his comrades in Fantasma, Hal must master the art of magic, gaining abilities, and training under four cantankerous archmages to complete his quest. Does Hal have the discipline to stick with the training and reach the end of his chosen path? 

Return to the game with the third book of the Accidental Traveler LitRPG fantasy trilogy. Journey along with Hal and his friends in the world of Fantasma, as he becomes the Accidental Mage and fulfills his role as a hero of prophecy. 

Click to get Accidental Mage and start listening now.

©2018 MedicCast Productions (P)2018 MedicCast Productions

There are no accidents

I really enjoyed the Accidental Thief when it first came out. I even enjoyed it when book two hit, and mirrored it. Now, we have book three, and I have to say that while the book is well written and well plotted it begins to become all too familiar. Essentially, Hal Dix, the MC, gets pulled back into his gameland, and has to stop some force of nastiness before he can return home. The one thing that sort of bothered me before, and really bothered me now was how the writers basically wiped away all of the skills and abilities that Hal had achieved in the books preceding this. His other classes get locked out while he trains to become a mage. That is lazy writing in my eyes, there is no reason for that other than to say because of plot points. The other bit of bother came that not only did he have to level up one mage skill, but each elemental school before he access the fifth. This led to a series of quests for him to unlock each school, and master in days what took other wizards years to accomplish. It really stretched my credulity. I would have made it a little simpler, with him realizing that each school was similar to another, and it was only the unlocking that was hard to do, but that’s me.

Here, Hal’s family is kidnapped, and he must go after the Emperor himself in order to save them. In one sense he lacks a sense of urgency, taking over two finds to find them as he progressed, and on the other hand, I would have complained if he had kept moaning and pining for them every other paragraph. I don’t want you to feel like this isn’t a worthwhile read or story, it really is, and I enjoyed it a great deal. My biggest issue came from the familiarity and the ending when Hal decides he’s going to leave and never come back. That is so the series can continue with his daughter, Carrie, instead. The action, characterizations, and pacing are all solid. As things go the book is fun, and you do root for Hal and his comrades. The series does wrap up all existing plotlines and makes a clean slate for Carrie’s return to Fantasma next series. I can completely respect that and appreciate writers who can stick to a trilogy, when they could have played this out forever with titles like the Accidental Alchemist, The Accidental Tourist, and the Accidental Peasant.

Roberto Scarlato is the cohesive factor for this series. His voice is like a finely aged whiskey for your ears, and he was the deciding factor for appreciating book one in this series. He has a strong and powerful voice that just carries the story forward. His characterization of Hal Dix is fantastic, and he corrals a whole mess of other characters as the story moves along. I honestly think that he keeps this audio going, because each book is pretty much like the one preceding it at this point.

My only real problem was the slightly repetitive nature of the books, and the weak explanation of why Hal would never return. Thankfully, the authors have told me Hal does make a comeback in the next series!

Great story.

loved the book, loved the trilogy. cool theories and very imaginative stories. looking forward to future spin off's

Brilliant Final Book in the Series!!

Accidental Mage continues straight on from Accidental Warrior, and sees Hal returning from his retreat to Denver, having had a really great trip. However, on returning, Hal finds that Mona and Cari have been abducted, taken back to Fantasma by the Emperor, as he is tired on the ‘The Hood’ messing with him, and wants Hal to come and see him, or else his girls get it.
Hal uses the game to transport himself to Fantasma, and there, he learns that the only way that he is going to be able to breach the Emperors Palace, and have any hope of getting his girls back, is to become a Mage. (Did you get that from the title? Or was this a huge surprise to you to??)
However, Hal learns that he can do something different, due to how he is wound into the ‘Game’ and Fantasma, and he can learn not only all 4 of the Elemental Magics, which is a feat in itself (No one else can do this in Fantasma, at most they can learn maybe 2), but he might be able to unlock a special type of magic that has been locked away for centuries.
And thus, begins a large portion of this story, as Hal needs to travel around Fantasma, locating a Mage of each of the different types so he can train with them, learn that type of Elemental magic, and start to unlock things, ‘Leveling Up’ as a Mage.
This is a bit different to the other books though, as Hal learns how to be a Mage in a different way to the other skills he has learnt, the other classes he has learnt, so this book became very different early on, and it was very interesting learning with Hal as he leveled up.
The Authors continued to do a wonderful job of really making this a full on LitRPG experience, and totally enjoyable from every aspect of this style of writing, with both the elements of the in-game fighting, but also, the RPG elements of Hal getting experience and levelling up, learning about spells and magic. It was really fascinating this time, learning about the Magic aspects of the realm.
One fun thing that the Authors have done through all these books is the trail of Easter Eggs of Sci-Fi references for those with a keen eye for stuff (or just too much time on their hands), there are just so many references to great movies and books in this series it is great fun to look out for them, it adds a but of fun to an already brilliant book.
As with each of the other books, the Character work is just outstanding, Hal’s character is wonderful as the terrified husband/father trying to get to the girls in his life, knowing that time works differently, but also knowing he is trapped with having to learn stuff. His frustrations and anger were very realistic and well written. Kay as usual was brilliant as his sidekick, although she is hardly a sidekick, more the Main NPC, but this time around she had a greater role as it becomes clearer that she may well rule the Realm with the removal of the Emperor, if they were to win.
Kay’s betrothed, Anders, is always great as the Full-on ‘Knight in Shining Armour’, just the pure epitome of the role.
Tildi as the mysterious old Mage is joined by several other Mages this time around, and each seems just as funny and grumpy as the last. The Fire Mage was one of the best.
We finally get to see the Emperor in this book which was interesting, and we get to read a lot more about Hal’s wife as well. There are a lot of great characters in this book, that really bring it to life.
Overall this was probably one of my favourites of the series, I loved all 3 books, but I think that the introduction of the Magic, and how the Magic system was done, as well as the frantic energy of the characters and the writing in this book make it the best of the series, certainly the most exciting. It was a brilliant end to the series.
This is a must read for any fans of LitRPG, or anyone who loves a good adventure or fantasy story.
As with the previous 2 books, the Narration was exceptional, Roberto Scarlato is just an amazing Narrator, and was outstanding for the Narration of this book, and this series. He does such a wonderful job of the main characters, as well as all the minor characters, giving them so much power and passion in their roles, so that you really enjoy this story. He is also very clear, with great pronunciation, so he is easy to understand.
The Narration provides such a wonderful telling of the story, really engaging the listener, providing wonderful character voices for each of the characters, so that they are easy to understand, both male and female.
This was so good, that I think it is probably better to listen to this book than reading it, as Scarlato does such a wonderful job of Narrating both this book and the series.

Great conclusion to this trilogy.

I felt like this series was closed out very nicely. I like that Jamie and C.J Davis do a little interview with the narrator Roberto Scarlato, I haven't found any other books that do that and felt it was a great inclusion. The next trilogy started out pretty awesome. It follows his (the main character not the author) teenage daughter into Fantasma.

Not Accidentally Fantastic

I was hooked on Accidental Theif and when I learned Accidental Mage was on Audible, I put on hold my other listens to download and devour the third in the Accidental series. Jamie Davies is an excellent author who carries the story line and development of his characters strongly through the story. Roberto is an excellent voice acgtor bring to life the people who populate Fantasma. I appreciate that Hal's time ended in Fantasma and the family went home. I also look forward to hearing the adventures of his daughter Carrie when it comes out on audible as well. The after chat between author and narrator was a nice touch and let me see a bit behind the story of the story. I strongly reccomend this book of any fantasy fan who also enjoys the LitRPG genre of science fiction. Please keep writing!

Also, I did exchange a couple emails with Jamie Davies who is friendly and looking for ways to make his books accessible for all readers. Thank you Mr. Davies.

A great ending book to this trilogy.

I had a lot of fun with this trilogy that had progressing difficulty with each book. The whole magic system, while relatively simple, added new layers to the known level up system with the warrior and thief classes, with the addition of this mage class, of various schools of magic. As it stands, this trilogy could a nice simple package, though it opens up for a second trilogy/series with a new perspective if you are up for more. The characters are likable. The voice acting is great. The action pushes forward constantly without too many side quests, other than learning various magics. The main character is very likable, persistent, causal, confident, and not angsty or greatly lacking in common sense, and not looking for a new relationship. It's just a really well balanced series that hits a lot of great notes. It isn't ridiculously innovative, or ultra bleak/dire. This series was a great pallet cleanser and pleasant read.

Epic

Read all 3 books I would call an epic story, now I'm gunna read about Hal and mona's daughter carry dix's adventures in fantasia well worth reading, 😈👍🥰