Top Hat: A Humorous High Fantasy

Hat Trick #3

by Luke Chmilenko, G.D. Penman

Chaos ensues as the greatest wizard in all the land faces his toughest challenge yet—himself—in this gripping conclusion to the hilarious Hat Trick trilogy.

Absalom Scryne isn’t himself. On the one hand, he’s a well-rounded gentleman of a sentient hat with two beloved apprentices and a tagalong swordsman. On the other, he’s a rather furious wizard sitting on the opposite side of a desk, demanding they give back his hat. Needless to say, it’s not an ideal situation.

And it’s about to get worse. Because the battle between civilization and all the monsters of the Badlands and the underworld is about to begin. With one Absalom Scryne or another in the human corner, wearing the blue hat, and the dark god Nun Mhor Goth in the monster corner, wearing concentrated darkness, it’s going to be a clash for the history books.

Facing off against every demonic creature from the previous volumes in the series—plus some extra ones thrown in for fun—our heroes are all too aware the battle could go either way, at the drop of a hat . . .

Genres: Fantasy

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2024

About the author

Writing far faster than his hands can withstand, Luke Chmilenko hails from the Great White North where he lives with his wife and two daughters. Toiling endlessly Luke juggles his time between a rapidly growing catalogue of series while playing far more video games than he would ever openly admit.

If you're interested in getting all the news about Luke's upcoming work, check out his website at: http://lukechmilenko.com/

Reviews

[Terry Rudge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a good time with this series. Unfortunately, this wasn't my favourite of the three.

I enjoyed the humour and really loved Igs character.

This one did run out of steam by the end though

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNR
The mystery of who killed self proclaimed greatest living mage - Absalom Scryne - is resolved. Ancient evil awakened and set out on path of world domination needs to be stopped. Who better than the crew of misfits sharing a hat backed by the civilized world, spearheaded by Arphanpholigan, to do it. Breaking curses, resolving issues posed by self-doubt and reuniting people 'Top Hat' does it all.

The Absalom Scryne's murderer reveal was foreshadowed. The battle for the invisible academy and the two sides coming together really did put an end to the journey of the fellowship of the hat. Nu Rgath with his big black balls doesn't know when to stop and brings the two worlds, the 'civilized' and the 'uncivilized', to battle. Sryne's battle plans are genius. Step 4 - (paraphrasing) destroy the world, so the world destroyer's ego gets bruised. Nearly laughed my-self senseless.

Starting 2nd half of book 2 'Hat's Entertainment!', c. ch.14 the adventure of Ig felt rushed. 'Hat Trick' had potential to go on for longer. Where do the elves live? What is the old grudge between elves and dwarves? The inclusion of 'uncivilized' peoples into the 'civilized' society etc. Feels like the author got bored of gag economy work and finished the story far too soon.

Conclusion: 3/5. Listened on Audible for 1 credit. Narrated by: John Lee. 'Hat Trick' isn't serious, it's humorous. While the first book did question readers position and ask the ambiguous, ethical questions about innate presumptions, after escaping Kanute's Crack questioning has been back burnered and the lessons have been learned all for the sake of culminating battle of 'good' vs 'evil'. I would recommend listening to the narrator, John Lee, and concluding the series upon the hat's fellowship's arrival to the Arphanpholigan. Terrible value for the length of the book - 3.39 $/hour ( 33.90 $ / 10 hrs 00 mins ).

Values:
Terrible: >1.66 $/hour
Bad: 1 - 1.66 $/hour
Good: <1 $/hour
Dream: 0.4 - 0.27 $/hour

[April Hyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endings

I really liked this series! What an unexpected group of heroes. I appreciated the character's growth over time and how they changed from the first book to the final page. The aspects of magic were interesting and entertaining. There are some great pop culture references that a geek like me can appreciate.

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the perfect culmination of the first two books in the trilogy. Plus I think the setting worked better for the main character's humorous traits. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think the ending was masterfully woven from all the little bits of plot scattered through the first two books.

[Mike Rempel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ending

[Chappy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hope it's not the last book but if it is.... it's a very satisfying ending 🥰

[Paul Sating · Rating 5 out of 5]

I miss this series already.