Mastering Magic

Jeff the Game Master, Book 3

By: Jaime Castle, Troy Osgood

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

What happens when the world’s most realistic game becomes more real than reality?

Logout button disabled, Jeff and crew find themselves stuck until they can defeat King Tom and the rogue patcher. The mystery still looms: who is behind Infinite Worlds’ attack?

Dan Shaklee, CEO of Hard Rock Data, makes discoveries with implications beyond anything he could’ve ever imagined.

King Tom, having assimilated nearly all of IW’s Principalities, has continued his onslaught. This time, creating an army of adorable but vicious Vorpal Rabbits, he has issued a command to the Dragon’s Banes: find and destroy all before they end the world.

Jeff, along with Dak, Jeweliette, Oliver, Torvi, Snapdragon—oh, and despite everyone’s desires, Crush and Vilecutter—must traverse the underground bunny burrows to put and end to it all.

It’s a race against time. Tensions are high. Patience is thin. Will they do it before their TerraMount systems give out and their mortal bodies follow?

Find out in the final installment of Jeff the Game Master by Washington Post and Audible #1 bestselling Jaime Castle and Dragon Award nominated Troy Osgood.

©2022 Aethon Books (P)2022 Podium Audio

I liked it

I liked the story but maaaannnn did he draw it out at the end.

Ahhh the sweet sounds of Nick

This series is excellent writing and performance could not ask for more. It took me a little bit to absorb the role of the MC but that was the first book now I am just loving the interactions forced upon him.

Great series!

Loved all three books. My only real complaint is Jeff’s continuing lack of imagination in this book. I wish he’d tried more things.

generally pretty good!

liked these books, and Love Nick Podehls performance. I will say there are a few editing and continuity issues that did set my teeth on edge a bit, but it was still enjoyable

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What a fitting end...

I won't spoil it, but unlike a lot of books in this genre, it ends! And it ends beautifully. I'm so glad I took a chance on this series. Castle and Osgood definitely wrote a fine tale. I'll be watching them for sure. Just picked up Castle's Cold as Hell and Osgood's Sky realms online books to see how they are in other books not written together.

Better than I expected

I really liked this trilogy, surprisingly. Usually litrpg stories read like overhyped fanfiction, but this one was pretty good. Narrator also did a good job.

Cool idea

Different take on Litrpg, A peak behind the curtain of gaming companies.
Give it a try

Fun ending

It has been my experience with LITRPGs that stories rarely come to an end, of course that could be me bailing on series before they get to the end, but trilogies seem to be in short supply. The one other I read recently that ended did so badly. It was obvious the author quit on that story so the ending was not satisfying. This story though, I really enjoyed the ending. I thought the series started a little slow but ultimately I got hooked by the story and really, really enjoyed it.

Characters: I liked them and would happily hang out with them in game. Crush was a little disappointing as he had no real character growth that I hoped for and, well, poor Ricardi. Though in a way it is nice their stories did not become cliche.

Narrator: One of the best on audible and always a joy to listen to.

Summary:

Series starts a little unconventional with the Main Character being a non playable Game Master. The main character is then set up to be an over powered "chosen one". In the end (This book) the main character played more like a utility support character to the assemble cast of the party (while still being chosen one). I do recommend this series as long as you are not some fan of grimdark realistic litrpgs, or don't like LitRpgs at all. Though in the final book the stats and typical gamer stuff was mostly dropped in favor of other aspects of the story. I guess once you are fighting for your life leveling up is not a high concern.

PS: This is the scond series where bunnies are little demons. What do LitRPG writers have against bunnies?

Good book, but the ending is a bit weird

So I really fell in love with the first book, the second one was not as good, but still very enjoyable, then there is this third one. I....I don't really know how to quantify it. I enjoyed it, but, I found myself not really invested. I think it's because so many of the main cast were irredeemably annoying, that I just couldn't empathize with them, or care. And thus it kind of soured me on the plight of the entire group. Crush and Torvie are just horrible, toxic people, with zero redeeming qualities. Their negative traits were so overwhelming, and constant, that I kept hoping the other characters would do a little PvP and PK them just to remove them from the story. Seriously they were a weight around the story. I can appreciate them STARTING as jerks, and having at least some amount of character growth, but...no, that never happens. They basically stay exactly the same as they were when they started. One character TRIES to show some amount of growth, and own up to their flaws, but then the other toxic character, basically just does their usual toxic thing, and negate the attempt at becoming a better person that the other tries.

I also felt the motivation for the Big Bad Guy, that is ultimately behind all this, was out of left field. Book 3, and we're suddenly learning he has some deep seated hatred for the head of the company that owns Infinite Worlds? And that this is some kind of personal vendetta?! WHY?! HOW?! Seriously there is nothing in the trilogy to explain where this opinion comes from. In fact, the author goes out of his way to paint this billionaire as a pretty decent human being, who genuinely looks out for people. He's described repeatedly as being "not the typical billionaire jerk, like Bezos or Musk", but this guy who started everything, acts like he's been barbecuing puppies and orphans and serving them up at the company cookout.

It felt rushed I think. Like the author realized he needed to wrap this up in a trilogy, but that meant truncating several arcs and plot threads to do so. It feels abridged.

I would still recommend people who liked the first 2 books to pick it up, but I can't say it's without flaws. The loss of stars in my review are a result of those flaws. The narration is top notch as always. Nick Podehl is a fantastic narrator, so no issues there. But be aware, the ending might not be as enjoyable and satisfying for you, as the ending of book 1 was for me. You can find my review of that book, and it's VERY gushing about how much I enjoyed it. Sadly, the end of the trilogy doesn't stick the landing perfectly. It doesn't fall on it's face, but it does stumble a bit before striking it's finishing pose.