Asking For Trouble: Murf's Second Law

Murf's Laws: A Card-based LitRPG #2

by Kyle Johnson

Some people hope for the best. Murf expects the worst... And damn, does he get it.Murf's finally leaving Canis and heading to the goblin lands. Millie has a job there to complete, and he's tagging along, mostly for moral support. After all, she's already got an oath-bound halfling warrior and one of the most talented cartomancers around helping her. Murf's just hoping to play some cards, drink some orc wine, and maybe dally with a few goblin lasses--assuming Millie doesn't knife him for trying.

Too bad the Unity's got other plans. Millie's job turns out to be way more complicated than it should be. An entire orc clan has drawn them into its schemes. Azara's determined to turn Murf into a damn cartomancer. The Hag in Murf's soul keeps drawing more cards his way, most of them with their Holders still attached. And an orc warlord's still pissed off about what Murf did with his daughter and wants to explain that to him in long, painful, excruciating detail.

Murf's cards might be the only thing between everyone and a seriously painful death, but they've got minds of their own, and those minds don't always agree with Murf's. He'll have to actually try to be a Holder to have a chance to survive, even if it's the last thing he wants to do.

Anything less is just asking for trouble!

Genres: Fantasy

843 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2025

About the author

Kyle Johnson is a kids gymnastics and martial arts instructor who teaches outside of Chicago. He's worked on cruise ships, traveled the world, climbed glaciers, ziplined between mountains, and even danced in the end of a rainbow.

Currently, his main hobbies include helping his wife raise their two kids, because after that, who's got time for hobbies?

Reviews

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh! Squee! Soooooooo friggintastic! And my new favorite read! I love Murf!!! Murf's soul goal in life is Gambling, Womanizing, and Drinking! And wow do the sexual innuendo fly, plus they're... well, hella funny! But the Cards in him say otherwise! The Cards he never wanted in the first place, demand him to fight and increase his power... and to do that, yeah you guessed it, training, training, training. Which brings up Murf's 8th Law: “Hard work just leads to more hard work." 😆 In this action-packed litRPG Murf just wants to relax with his friends and have some fun Gambling while helping Millie with a task she has'ta do for her Grandfather. And yeah, fate is fickle where Murf seemingly finds himself at the raw end, all the time. Murf isn't one to mope, he just has this attitude that not only buoys up himself but his friends too! And then there's Charlie, Murf's soul companion and wow he takes the prize and maybe a card or two. But first there's pirates to deal with and a labyrinth to clear! So yeah go grab the book it'll be fun, guaranteed.
Ohhhh man, the artwork within these pages is stellar!

Here's some quotes for ya: And yeah one of 'ems only funny if you've read Shadslinger by Kyle Kirrin!

"...while being chased by a demonic axe that called itself Frank..."

"...Everyone knew what everyone else was doing, and everyone knew that the others knew. I was pretty sure, though, that none of them knew that the others knew that they knew, or that they’d all planned on the others knowing."

[NOMAD · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continuation in the same vein as the first book. Not as much over the top sexual stuff as the first one, so that’s a bonus.

It does need another round of editing as there are quite a few spelling and grammatical errors and mistakes. For instance a key with 7 on it being specifically mention and then a page later they use the key to go into room 6

It’s a decent solid series, or something to tide you through while you wait for the next book in one of your favorites.

[J.D. Glasscock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stuff

A good second toss on the wheel.. Heavy dialogue driven but if you don't mind that.. It's a good spin on the card litrpg genre.. Emotional depth...
Highly recommend
JD Glasscock
Author of the Series Blood Brothers, Nocturne and Warborn

[H Rez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Still good, could have had better proofing; Lots of small mistakes that are annoying mostly typos and such but a couple of references to dialogue that probably been edited out.
Looking forward to the next one.

[Vader]

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish