The Wayward Bard

World of Chains, Book 1

By: Lars Machmüller

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

Daniel's Guide to Early Retirement:

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.
4. Profit.

With all the pesky planning out of the way, Daniel set out to realize his ultimate dream: gaining enough money to buy a tropical island and spend his days playing the violin and RPGs. What could possibly go wrong?

Disclaimer: There shall be no harems in this series. Overpowered, perfect protagonists will not be tolerated and excessive cursing will result in donations to the swear jar.

©2018 Lars Machmuller (P)2022 Soundbooth Theater (Production) and Lars Machmuller (Audio)

The narrator was amazing

The narrator did a great job and brought the story alive. The story was interesting and kept me engaged.

Slow start.. but Oh, it's a mystery.

The publisher's summary offers this:
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.

Highly recommended.

EDIT: Still a good audiobook, but don't buy this one. Buy the World of Chains Compendium instead, available 07-14-22. Why get just one book when you can get all three?