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

Born in 1987, Luke Chmilenko grew up in the city of Mississauga, Ontario spending the majority of his life within the city. Always a fan of writing and storytelling, Luke continuously wrote small short stories over the years, but never embarked on writing a full novel until much later in life, thinking it was something beyond his ability.

With his interesting in writing waxing and waning as the years passed, Luke focused on his studies, eventually finding a job in the field of IT Security and working between various jobs for several years. It wasn't until after he was married and with his wife's encouragement that he finally decided to try writing a novel, this time deciding to focus on a new genre that he had just discovered called LitRPG.

Diving into his work, Luke wrote his first book over the course of several months, releasing the book as a web serial chapter by chapter for free online, garnering valuable feedback and confidence from his readers. By the time Luke finished his first book and published it on amazon, he already had a hungry audience waiting for next installation, to which he immediately threw himself into working tirelessly at his newfound passion.

Today, Luke now writes full time with his wife and two cats in their Burlington home, working away on his next issue of his Ascend Online series and a brand new science fiction series named Starfall.

Books of Ascend Online:
Ascend Online (Book 1) (2016)
Ascend Online: Hell to Pay (Book 1.5) (2017)
Ascend Online: Legacy of the Fallen (Book 2) (2018)
Ascend Online: Glory to the Brave (Book 3) (Forthcoming 2019)

Books of Starfall:
Starfall (Book 1) (Forthcoming 2019)

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.

[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.