World of Chains Compendium: Books 1-3

By: Lars Machmüller

Narrated by: Justin Thomas James, Jeff Hays, Laurie Catherine Winkel

Run. Hide. Live the good life online.

Early retirement looked so easy on paper. Steal eight million euros from a gangster. Hide inside an online game and enjoy the finer things in life as a bard until the danger had passed. Except Daniel messed up.

Now, the gangsters are in the game looking for him and he's stuck with an imbalanced character build in a dead-end starter village.

Can Daniel find his own place and a life worth living inside the World of Chains?

Pick up books one to three in this fantasy LitRPG series with a focus on mystery, social mechanics, and music.

©2022 Lars Machmuller (P)2022 Soundbooth Theater (Production) and Lars Machmuller (Audio)

Excellent Series!

I immensely enjoyed listening to this compendium. I was so entertained throughout. The story is well-written, very detailed, funny, very witty, and exciting. The world-building was cleverly crafted. Also, the pacing of the story was steady and just right. Lars Machmüller has created this cast of characters that's totally interesting and charming. You can't help but adore and cheer for them.

The narration and production of this series were simply excellent! Well done!

I highly recommend it!

I adored this book and Soundbooth Theater!

Who'd a thunk that with the terrible blurb found on the book World of Chains Compendium that the Wayward Bard bk1 would actually be really good. It was great it exceeded my expectations and it became one of my favorite books I've read this year! This is the story about David a numbers specialist aka Arcangelo (gamer name) who after getting caught with his hand the cookie jar by discovering a mobsters money laundering scheme went into the game World of Chains to hide. Only to discover that he was stuck in a dead end town with no way to access his money and dead broke. It's up to David to make the best of his situation. How? Well, he starts by powering up his bardic skills... and magic... David/Arcangelo takes on every quest that comes along including Chronicler quest to create goodwill in Grant's Crossing and actually solves an age old mystery!

Wayward Bard was soooooooo good there was no way that I could stop reading and I immediately jumped right back into the Compendium after telling to my daughter to get the set. And The Fallen Bard does what so many authors fail to do which is to keep the reader entertained! Other writers only write a book that is more filler than story a bridge, just to get to the other side and the next book.
But Lars Machműller is too good a writer for that! He wrote a book that was engaging and again wonderful... and yes it's chock-full of new challenges, new quests, new characters were introduced, of course existing relationships changed making even stronger bonds with the friends he's earned, and he even gets a pet companion a chameleon named Atlas! And throughout the book our Bard improves his skills and his magic as his bardic skills are woven around his magic!

Although I generally hate boxed sets (too many words, and what if I don't like the first book), I grabbed World of Chains Compendium because of 3 reviews I found written back to back by a friend I trusted on FB and yes I seriously couldn't wait to binge the Emissary Bard.
With the mobsters trying to close in on David's location he's feeling a little claustrophobic in Grant's Crossing a place he now considers home, plus there's still plenty of quests to finish before he's ready to take his leave. However there's one quest that he can finish that'll get him outta the town for a while helping out Grant's Crossing. David is to be the Emissary to broker a mutual and beneficial agreement with High Hold a Harpy town and the closest Chronicler repository. David grabs his team of adventurers including Atlas his pet companion and set off... with a shaky introduction to High Hold all of them set off to learn all they can. But hopefully he can seal the deal soon.

Yeah and I can't say enough about Soundbooth Theater is awesome. Justin Thomas James is great narrating David story. Jeff Hays has an incredible range as he narrates all other male characters in the book. Jeff is just crazy good! I really don't quite have a handle on Laurie Catherine Winkle as she mostly did the AI but she did the other female voices too and I have a good impression about her. But here's where Soundbooth Theater really shone weaving a story of a Bard with music. It's a perfect combination of words and music, making their own magic, it was AwesomeSauce! My hat's 👒 off to the violinist! Or the foley guy!

really enjoyable

i actually really liked this series, I thought it was really enjoyable. I certainly recommend this book. I'm satisfied with the pace of this story. each ending had me wanting more.



the Narration is really good, Jeff hays does such a good job with all the voices. Annie Ellicott also does an amazing job with her voices. the narration for this book was top tier.



overall I liked this series, each book got better and better. the plot followed a nice pace. I like the characters and how there written. Lars Machmuller really did good with this series.


I really enjoyed this book, I have minor complaints, but overall this series was really good. like I said before, I recommend.

A bards tale

A fun take on a bards story that isn't harem. loved the instrumentals. 10/10! can't wait to see how the story continues

Great get of books

This series has been great to listen to a different type of fighter/player in a game. It a bard instead of a heave hitter that levels up quickly.

OMG what a great listen

Did you ever want an amazing bard story in a vrmmorpg with actual music. this is the story you want

I will not elaborate

I enjoyed the book. Especially the sound booth theater performance. I still need five words.

wow, just wow.

this series is amazing. not only is it fairly fast paced and narrated by the amazing SBT team, it also rekindled my love for classical music. the violin music throughout is simply amazing. on book 4 now, and its shaping up to be just as good.

Well worth the credit!

I bought this for the 45+ hours story and I am glad I did. Always taking a gamble when purchasing an ominbus. This one paid off. Story and narration are top notch. Keep them coming Lars.

A mix of Cozy Mystery and LitRPG

The publisher's summary offers this for book 1:
1. Intercept illegal money transfer from mafia boss.
2. Hide out in super-exclusive Full Immersion Virtual Reality game until the heat is off.
3. Roll a bard. Max out charisma. Live it up.

The novel starts off with 1, with a great scene in a banker's office in Copenhagen. Eventually, we get to 2 and 3. A fairly standard "Welcome to the game world" story ensues. Eventually, the main character fights a rat.
A few chapters later, I start thinking "This is really slow."
However, this is Soundbooth Theater, and they make even slow material entertaining, and I'm enjoying it all.
About halfway through, I *finally* realize that this is a mystery. An actual good mystery, and the roguish bard has to connive his way to a solution. The fascinating speech Jeff Hays gave earlier about the usefulness of blackmail, that now starts fitting into the plot. Now I have to give the book another listen.

The goodness continues through books 2 and 3. Fairly decent music in the background on occasion -- he's a violin bard. Highly recommended.