I Ran Away to Evil 3: A Cozy LitRPG Rom-Com

I Ran Away to Evil, Book 3

De: Mystic Neptune

Narrado por: Johnathan McClain, Laura Horowitz

A mysterious soothsayer and a reluctant royal fend off spies, assassins, and unexpected attraction in the action-packed third book of this romantasy series.

Gerda Jones is no average bridge troll. Sure, she can create riddles like the best of them, but she has skills up her sleeve that no one would expect . . . and a backstory that no one would believe. She uses her fortune-telling talents to change the fate of everyone around her, but avoids getting too close to anyone herself. All of that changes when Gerda catches the eye of Duke Julian von Slyke at his sister's wedding. The tall, dark, and handsome half-elf is making her let down her guard—and inviting a royal heap of trouble into her life.

Julian would do anything to escape courtly intrigue and endless parties, but he can't miss his own sister's nuptials. Good thing, too, because from day one of the celebration he's called on to help deal with everything from poisoned arrows and amphibian curses, to a missing bride. And at the center of every mishap there's an infuriatingly beguiling troll . . .

As Gerda's hidden identity begins to unravel, her attraction to Duke Julian continues to grow. Together, saving Valaria seems easy . . . but after it's all done, will the unlikely pair be able to leave behind their pasts and find a future together?

A whimsical and twisty take on isekai, romance, and LitRPG, I Ran Away to Evil 3 is the charming conclusion of the series that asks, "What if Bridgerton was filled with magical creatures?" and "Who is the elusive Madame Potts?"

The third volume of the hit LitRPG romantasy series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!

©2025 Jessica Marie McIntosh (P)2025 Podium Audio

Enjoyed this so much

Who knew that a computer game could be written into a book! I loved all of it and I’m so sad for it to be done! The narrator’s were great and did a fantastic job! Mystic Neptune did a wonderful job writing this book and I hope there is more!

Consistently Lovely Storytelling

I loved this as I loved the last two books. the author and the narrators are lovely as always. I'm having a hard time coming up with anything critical about any of it.

Good wrap-up for the series.

I enjoyed Gerda and Julian’s story. I liked how everything wrapped up well, but I LOVE that we might get a continuation or spin-off based on the epilogue! Can’t wait!

As always, Laura and Johnathan did a wonderful job with their audiobook performances!

I’m mad it’s over, but happy I stayed until the end

I don’t want to write a review past what I said in the title word

Fun and Exciting

I love these books! They are so fun, funny, light-hearted, and exciting! I will definitely listen to these books again!

The world building is so good

I absolutely love this series and highly recommend if you love dnd or rom-coms

First Two Books Are Better!

I tried to like this book, I really did. I enjoyed the first two so much, but this one was very different. It leans much more heavily on game mechanics and less on general fantasy. It felt less cozy and more…logistical. We spend waaay more time with the system interface in this installment. I really didn’t care about the overarching plot at all, and it was oddly paced and disjointed. Gerda’s powers allow her to jump from location to location in such a way that any journeying is confusing and/or not interesting. Gerda is also so overpowered that the plot felt like it had no stakes since she always knew just what to do or had the right rare item. It makes sense within the story why she has these powers and has amassed so much wealth, but it doesn’t make for a very interesting story.

Without giving spoilers, there was a huge reveal way too early that I think we could have been told as readers, but that the rest of the characters should not have found out until much later to create more tension in the story before it was revealed. At the beginning we got to spend some time with the old crew - the first two couples from the first books - but then as the story progressed to the final quest there were a lot of new side characters (Julian’s crew) and a lot of quick info dumping about their backstories but no moments with them where we actually take the time to get to know and love them. Lots of telling and not showing going on in this book.

The romance was blah - the MCs didn’t have much interaction until 2/3 through and it didn’t really feel like they had any chemistry other than just finding each other attractive. Once they do get together we don’t spend much time with them in moments of their relationship - it’s very much fast-forwarded and focused on the quest, which would be fine if the plot had been interesting, but it wasn’t.

A note about the audiobook, which is how I read - I love Laura Horowitz but she is using her most aloof/jaded voice to do Gerda which contributes to her feeling too sure of herself & takes away any tension or concern/sympathy we might have for the character. I also forgot how much I hate the voice Jonathan McClain does for these books - he reads with such an odd, slow, goofy cadence and gives side characters unnecessarily nasally and whiny voices. I had to put all of his chapters on 1.2x speed. In the last couple of hours I put the whole book on 2x speed which I have NEVER done before, but I just wanted it to be over and to stop hearing about attributes and skills and find out how the romantic plot wrapped up.