The Drop of a Hat

Hat Trick, Book 1

By: Luke Chmilenko, G. D. Penman

Narrated by: John Lee

A powerful wizard and a lowly kobold experience a magical meeting of the minds in the first book of this comedic fantasy-adventure series.

Absalom Scryne, the greatest wizard of his generation, has been murdered. There's no other explanation for why his consciousness now resides in his well-worn but perfectly pointed hat.

Well, he isn't going to take that lying down . . . or hanging from a branch, as the case may be. Instead, he'll hop on the head of the first foul-smelling kobold that comes along and convince it that it's in everyone's best interests for them to undertake the epic journey through the Badlands—past horny necromancers, rustic werewolves, and rampaging ogres—back to the shining city of magic at the heart of civilization, where he will promptly kick the backside of whoever it was that finally managed to stab him in the back.

Assuming, that is, he can teach a kobold how to use magic, survive all the roaming adventurers who consider a kobold to be a very minor payday, and prevent anyone else from claiming the wealth of arcane knowledge that is now bound within the rather handsome piece of haberdashery that he has become.

©2023 Luke Chmilenko and G. D. Penman (P)2023 Podium Audio

The Performance is excellent the book is fun.

It’s pretty much in the title. Overall I wish it would have gotten somewhat more resolved at the end, but eh I get it, that’s what a sequel is for. It was still fun. I hope Ig gets a sequel to himself tbh.

Cute

It was quite a cute little story but a never quite found myself laughing. I got it on a daily deal and it's worth the 2.99 I paid but not worth using a credit. The narration was excellent and saved the book from being returned.

Breath of cobold scented fresh air

Once in a while a title like this comes along and revives my joy of stories. This is that one.

With its silly premise, satirical play on fantasy tropes and nods to other stories it still manages to navigate interesting issues.

Thank you for making a thoroughly enjoyable, fun, well written & performed tale.

Cheeky and niche but fun overall

Humorous for the gutter minded without being too ridiculous. funny characters. some twist and turns.

amusing - I get some of the other reviews . but it was not as bad as expected due to those . great narrator . worth a credit.

but I will agree with them , that one character goes about 30% too far with triple entendres. that being said ... I absolutely disagree with the too woke reviews ... this did not at all feel pandering and low effort the characters were good characters despite their quirks and likely better for them. there is that one guy , he is over the top ... but I've met people like that so he is still a true character not just an insert to check boxes.

the characters are multifaceted even when they may appear initially 1 dimensional. I appreciate bbg that just like being bad. please don't make every single villain have some self justifying back story this was refreshing.

Heartbreak and laughs

Both some of the hardest I’ve laughed in awhile with some heartbreak and poignant moments.

Entertaining

I liked the narrator and the overall story. Humor was good. Looking forward to the sequel!

it was alright

This story didn't really pull me in like Savage Dominion had. It was fun and I had a few good laughs but the endless dry wizard monologs got a bit annoying.

It’s like the LitRPG version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

If you enjoy the humor of authors like Douglas Adam’s or Robert Aspirin, you’ll really enjoy this book. It takes the dangers of the adventuring life and solves them with the “obvious” solution!

I didn’t much care for the narrator at first, until you learned that he was the wizard narrating a story as he had experienced it. Also he mispronounced a few words which is just a personal thing, but pronouncing the G in gnolls?

It alright.

Not really all that deep or heavy really. Just an old school quest, the hat has the mind of a wizard and the kobalt gains sentience above that of its kin. In some parts party members die but i never really knew them all that much or feel connected to them. Its kinda hard to distinguish in the narration of this book if different characters are talking. They a kinda have the same tone.