Master of Puppets

Master of Puppets, Book 1

By: Eric Ugland

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

He thought he was ready for the apocalypse. Then it happened...

A Secret Service operative and dedicated survivalist, Special Agent Del Roosevelt had a plan for every world-ending scenario and regularly trained for them all.

He was even ready for a date with the hottest woman in his office next Friday. At least he hoped so.

But all that training, all those rations, all that prepping? Useless for the apocalypse that actually played out. Del wakes up half-buried in a giant trash pile, missing his thumbs. And, um, covered in red fur.

He's stuck in a world of fuzzy monsters, senseless violence, and cult-like crusaders. Instead of falling back on known strategy, or making smart decisions based on, I don't know, logic, Del kind of just freaks out. Big time.

He knows he's got to get to the top of the tower he's in to find the wizard who presumably turned him into a living toy. Will the help of an academic rat and an exiled little dinosaur get him there? Doubtful.

But in all his failing, in all his traipsing around as a silly little red doll, Del starts to realize how ridiculous his life as a prepper actually was. After all, what's the point in surviving if you have no one to live for?

Master of Puppets is the first book in an all-new LitRPG adventure by Eric Ugland, bestselling author of The Good Guys series. Strap in for an immersive adventure full of quests, powerful magic, tower climbing, leveling up, wise-cracking landlords, and murderous cookies.

©2024 Eric Ugland (P)2024 Podium Audio

Lack of Plot

Ugland tends toward the sanebox-meets-D&D style of authorship. Here there's just... a bit too little plot, a bit too little descriptive imagery (I have no idea what the ground looks like, what the ceiling looks like, etc), a bit too much action (never thought you *could* have too much action... but without those other elements you start to feel empty).

Decent character development, tone, dialogue, etc... though not his best.

Fantastic narration.

If you've never read/listened to the author before I highly recommend you try literally any one of his other works, and you'll get a better overall experience. Though this one is still pretty decent, on the whole.

Totally Disappointed

I am a huge Eric Ugland fan, having listened to the entire Good Guys, Bad Guys and Grimm Guys series (even though there has only been one Grimm Guys). This book however was tedious to listen to, Think Sesame Street almost meets LitPG.. I ultimately had to keep advancing one minute at a time to just finish the book.

Meh

Its just okay, nothing like his other stuff. Like a stuffed animal version of a LitRPG.

Eric hits it out of the park again.

super fun and exciting new series, very original. Not sure if it would still be litrpg or just fantasy? I enjoyed it.

A New Universe and Great Characters

As with the Good Guys and the Bad Guys by Mr Ugland, I enjoyed the story, the characters and the narration immensely! Highly recommended.