The Right to Arm Bears

Threadbare #3

by Andrew Seiple

Threadbare has reunited with his little girl, even if it didn't go exactly like he'd hoped it would. But war still rages through the kingdom, and the fluffy heroes must stop the tyrant king and restore peace to their home. Celia, Threadbare, and the rest of their allies must join the final resistance, to fight for the fate of everyone within Cylvania. It's a daunting task. Fortunately, they're not alone. Doom comes for the tyrant king, on soft, fuzzy little feet... The epic conclusion to the new litrpg saga! Contains profanity and violence.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Magic, Fiction, Humor, Adventure, Young Adult

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2018

Reviews

[Dangiras · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the initial charm and novelty of this series wear off a bit by the third book, since I've became a bit more picky and critical regarding some of the decisions made in this book and in previous by retrospect. It was still great and cute and funny and full of action, just that I've started questioning some of the actions characters took a bit more here than previously.

Regardless - I still rate the whole trilogy very highly and would strongly recommend it for anyone that wants to read a hilariously charming adventure with a teddy bear in leading role (unless you find RPG elements in your story very distracting).

As a side note - Tim Gerard Reynolds was such a fantastic narrator! His Threadbare character voice was spot on. Then again this is a third series that I've rated very highly in part due to his amazing narration, so I guess that shouldn't be surprising by now.

4.3/5 - the book
4.6/5 - the trilogy

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

12/12/21 Notes:

I'm not sure why, but I'm not as fond of the whole series during the re-read as the first time I read the stories. The first book is still my fav by far.

01/28/19 Mini-Review:

5 Stars for Narration by Tim Gerald Reynolds
4.5 Stars for Threadbare & Crew
3.5 Stars for Plot

I wasn't sure if the author would be able to pull of a good ending. It wasn't bad! The ending fit the story.

Kudos to AS for tying up most of the relevant plot lines.

The story flow could have been better. The humor has evolved from the first story and kept the story from being too dark. I loved the different magical abilities and the various classes. The way they're used in the story were a nice mix of traditional and fun innovations.

I don't want to say much about the story because it would spoil it. =)

At the end, I was left thinking:

Does this mean that there will be other stories written in this world???

If that happens, I am totally in to read them.

[Narilka · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exciting end to the original trilogy. There is definitely more of this world and its mechanics to explore. Tim Gerard Reynolds knocked it out of the park with his narration.

I absolutely fell in love with Threadbare and the Doll Haunters. Easily my favorite new-to-me series for 2021. I'm going to wait until the second trilogy has been published on audio before continuing the series. Calling this complete... for now.

[Lazybee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rushed conclusion.

[Chip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine but the first book in the series remains the best, and in a way wish it has stopped with the one. Remainder both lacked originality in comparison to the first and suffered from power-up syndrome - plus the various pop culture puns continually cut against immersion in the story. Ended up a semi-cliffhanger positioning for another book (or related series/second trilogy).

[Jennifer Linsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent wrap to the initial story arc from this delightful world.

My only complaint is that Mr. Seiple clearly needs a better proofreader / beta readers. The village that changed name from "Pads" to "Paws" and back virtually every time it was referenced is only the most egregious example of this need, but it is telling.

Anyway, I look forward to more from this world!

[Jesse Deleon · Rating 5 out of 5]

More in this series?

Please, tell me that there will be more of the adventures of Threadbare?. Andrew Seiple has written a reading experience for all ages! A fan.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous end to a fabulous series. I highly recommend this series to anyone interested in humorous fantasy series'. I would tack on lighthearted but honestly only the first novel meets that requirement. Throughout the entire series you watch Threadbare grow from an invalid sentient stuffed teddy bear to a creature to be reckoned with. The characters and world building are all top notch. One of my biggest qualms with LitRPGs especially on Audiobook are the stat dumps. Thankfully in this other than a dogpile of stats at the beginning and ending of each book which are very skippable the stats roll by quickly and seamlessly without interrupting the flow of the story. I'm sure this is much less of a problem in physical editions.

Honestly if you're a fan of fantasy or video games or of nerd humor that isn't based solely on 1980's nostalgia I think you will have a lot of fun with the series.

Highly Recommended. I really hope to see more from Mr. Seiple in this universe in the future.

[Chip · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fine. It didn't have the humour, nor the tightly written plot, of the first two in the series. Very meandering and the final conflict wasn't especially exciting. There were an awful lot of characters that the author had to come up with endings for. Bit of a let down but it could have been worse.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The audio book is amazing!! I think they did more editing for it, and the voice actor is perfect!! Love this series, it's so cute and fun!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. The story is overly complex and twisted for what the book is. I won't continue. The idea was cute and fun for a bit.

[Daniyal Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 3 days I read the whole 3 books.

It so good that I read 3 books (as of the time of this review) within in 3 days. I highly recommend this book series

[Kirstie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good ending to a great trilogy.

The revelations of the kingdom slowly doled out to the reader from Melos' POV were very cool ideas and, I thought, well presented. It also went (again!) against the biases I'd formed from earlier events. I love when all those expectations are flipped in such a good way.

The mini steamknight suit sounded so great, I want to see a graphic novel version of this, it would be so awesome XD

I enjoyed how there were good plans laid out, but repeatedly they went awry because of unexpected actions by other people, eg/ how the blanket inside Reason was going to be used to remove the demon-possessed Celia without damaging the body so it would be repossessed, but then a certain half orc not in on the plan pulped it instead.

Sadly, like with the previous volume, the stakes aren't feeling as high since death is off the table for so many of the characters. I really feel like a good death (and no available, or an unexpectedly faulty, soul stone) and/or some serious heightening of the danger of the demons could have enhanced the story and had it up at a five star like the first volume. It's still wonderfully imaginative, fun and hilarious, but the sheer tenseness of the fight scenes is reduced by death being off the table.

I love stuff like Zuula always explaining saucy stuff when everyone else is *look away* "we'll explain later", and she just goes "It be about sexy times". I loled every time.(she did this in the previous volume too) Also, Mrs. Fluffbear has some of the best lines.

The wrapping up chapters are satisfying and bring it all to a nice conclusion with a promise that the world might be visited again by the author.

All up a satisfying end to a wonderful series, definitely good for a first forray into the genre of litRPG if you're thinking of jumping in.

[Ronnie Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine Quentin Tarantino making Toy Story after he played MMORPGs for half his life - THAT'S THE KIND OF AWESOME THIS SERIES IS!

THE BATTLES!
THE TEA PARTIES!
THE CUDDLE PUDDLES!
THE CRUSHING AND DRIVING OF ENEMIES AND HEARING THE LAMENTATIONS OF THEIR WOMEN!

[PROS]
+ With this series, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an awesome support character. You wouldn't even be able to find a dead cat, because this series has necromancers. You wouldn't be able to swing a live cat, because it's invisible. If, by chance, you find a toy cat, then you'll probably die, BECAUSE, IN THIS SERIES, TOY CAT SWINGS DEAD YOU!
+ IT'S SO UNBELIEVABLY ADORABLE! SEIPLE, QUITE LITERALLY, WEAPONIZED ADORABLE'NESS!
+ Expert use of humor, cuteness, cursing, and combat brutality, all at the same time.
+ GameLit elements are everywhere and nowhere, at the same time. Number crunches, skill/talent acquisition, and grinding are ingeniously interlaced into the world. Skills and spells have awesome dynamics that are a joy to watch in action. Humor is used in a variety of ways to keep you interested in the system.
+ World building and plotting keeps you invested at all times.
+ SO FUNNY!

****
TIM GERARD REYNOLDS IS AN AUDIOBOOK GOD. ZULA! ZULA! ZULA!
****

[CONS]
- I wasn't too big on book one and book two endings, but book three's ending certainly makes up for it.
- There is a necessary timeline element that I found hard to get used to, but Seiple did great at re-engaging quickly. It was, nevertheless, a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for a few dozen pages.
- The second book has two passages that appeared to forshadow future developments that never came to pass. Specifically, there's a missing character and, soon after, a nod to future settlement building/defense.
- A lot of antagonist origins, motivations, and actions are mysterious and not in a good way. To be clear, plenty of details were revealed, implemented as plot-propellant, and resolved, but the underlying causes for these details aren't entirely clear.

[Gareth Otton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truth be told, I skimmed through a lot of this because I was ready for it to end. That's a shame because the first book was an easy 5 star read and I was hoping for more of the same. Sadly, a lot of the charm and originality of this story was diluted down with the second book, and by the time we got to this one I just wasn't invested any more.

A big chunk of this might be personal taste as this story didn't go where I was hoping after reading the first novel. I thought it was going to be a series that explored concepts like magical AI creations and their impact on the world told through the eyes of a sentient teddy bear with a child's understanding of what he saw. But it became a more standard fantasy story that just happened to have sentient toys as the protagonists.

Being as other characters didn't seem to care that they were toys and treated them like they were living breathing characters, I started viewing them that way in my mind. Therefore the main hook of the story vanished as did a lot of my interest.

The other issue I have with this series is Threadbare himself. In the first book the author did a masterful job of selling the idea that this was a newborn being that somehow became everyone's hero. All his decisions and actions felt true to his character. However, by this point the story needed him to be a leader who came up with plans and had to know a lot of information. Therefore, Threadbare stopped acting like the newly made teddy that he was and instead started acting like an intelligent adult with far more knowledge than he should have. Other than odd references to sexual innuendos that he didn't understand, this was not a five year old character with a five year olds knowledge, but a different character completely. This is probably the main reason for the loss of the charming tone of the first novel.

Overall this was a series that didn't quite work for me. I loved the first book and the potential it set up there, but unfortunately I don't think the series realised that potential.

[Chris Velazquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, we continue the adventures of Threadbare and his friends, now joined by his beloved Cecilia, as they seek to defeat and depose King Melos and the evil daemons. The group must work hard, level up, gather allies both new and old if they are to win the day and save the kingdom. So how does it turn out overall in the end?

Like the rest of the series thus far, this was quite an enjoyable book. The characters we know are still all so varied in personalities and abilities, their interactions always a treat, especially as new and old friends are added to the mix. We see the group grow closer and stronger together we see their confidence grow, their abilities get more varied. Their downtime slice-of-life moments work well because their personalities are quite varied and engaging, which means the book never really gets boring even in the slower moments. There's a decent amount of action, and it too never gets boring, as it's more often than not fairly fast paced and engaging, made better due o the various skills and strengths of the cast.

The creativity and humor is still there as well, and in good numbers, from the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (the "Where Wolf" bit had me snickering) to the references to things such as Castlevania and Amityville. I've always admired how well this author manages comedic aspects and references and shout-outs, he's quite creative with them. The story overall is satisfying, and it ends in a few intriguing developments that have me looking forward for more. If any negatives, once more I'd say that the book has sometimes too many things going on and the chapters are too long, but those are pretty minor gripes.

Overall, three books in and this remains a solid series full of fun situations and great characters. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book.

[Ozsaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, now that's the way to end a trilogy! The final battle for the fate of the isolated kingdom of Cylvania was exciting, with a lot of little revelations, and one BIG one, along the way.

The battle scenes were well done, full of action, and plenty of clever ideas. The writer had a much stronger grip on the characters in this book, so in spite of dealing with a huge cast, characterization didn't fall by the wayside.

And I liked how the characters, especially Cecelia and Threadbare, stayed true to themselves. They didn't always choose the easiest route, and they didn't toss their morals aside for the sake of expediency - which is exactly the mistakes the bad guys made again, and again.

The big revelation, about Cylvania itself, came as a big surprise to me, though I'm sure a lot of other readers probably figured it out for themselves. Still, it was a real surprise, as were a couple of other smaller ideas.

The ending was satisfying, and the characters decided on a political direction that was both unexpected, and refreshing.

Honestly, the whole series was refreshing! So many boring old tropes were turned upside down. I can't think of another series that's more creative, or makes more interesting choices, or has more endearing characters.

There's a small bit at the end that is a possible set-up for more adventures in Cylvania. I will definitely be reading it.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Seiple's The Right to Arm Bears warmed my heart.
Listened to the audiobook.
Writing, plot characters: 15 out of 10. :)
Narration: 100 out of 10. (Tim Gerard Reynolds is simply wonderful.)

Stumbling upon this series was like putting on an old jacket and finding a 100 dollar bill in the pocket. It was very quickly apparent from very early on in the first volume, that this was something special. I'm giving this 5 stars based on the overall series, even though I think that this third book was slightly off-paced compared with the first 2, as I will explain. Please don't read that as this being a weak entry, or rushed, or whatever...it's still a very good read and I honestly didn't want it to end.

Threadbare, as a protagonist, literally grows as the pages turn; yet somehow retains his sense of innocence despite his shifting sense of purpose. My favourite book of the series is actually the middle volume, with its roller coaster plot and such loving attention paid to characters we loved, hated, and loved again. And the humour...oh my heavens; I laughed out loud, time and time again. To take such innocent creatures, and to put some of these lines in their mouths...!

I really thought the third book would have a tough time wrapping things up...I will say that the abrupt switch to the flashback was really not my favourite; basically because it took me away from characters that I loved, and gave me hours of characters I simply didn't find interesting. However, I think that the climax did tie things up very nicely.

It appears that Andrew Seiple is setting up another tale in this universe...I hope that we get much more of Threadbare, Pulsivar, and especially Mrs. Fluffbear.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems this story is going to continue. I though it would have been a trilogy and ended there, but I was wrong. Not too sure how I feel about that.

The author keeps the stats to a minimum, so that's a plus (until you see all the stats compiled at the beginning and the end).

I may read the next book, depends on my mood when the time arrives. It was fun at the start. Reading about a bear overcoming odds and succeeding, but this book didn't really do it for me. I was not super excited to see things happen. Maybe because it's more battles than puzzle pieces, and trying to survive?

The previous books was him figuring out the world, this book he makes 3.5D Chess moves to get his opponents. Still, a sect of the church filled with soul possessed dolls would be fun.

2.5/5 Stars

[Chris Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion to the trilogy. The story is as cute as ever, though Threadbare is less of a main character in this one with Celia taking more of the lead roll here. Seiple does a good job of wrapping all the plot threads up, but everything felt a little rushed. With everything that happens in this story it could have really help if it had been split into 2 or even 3 books and allowed for the events to slow down and breath (and it would have been more books to read :) ). At least I hope there are more books in the series, given how the trilogy ended.

[James Madere · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tidy and fitting conclusion to Threadbare's epic quest! Pretty much all of the plot threads are neatly tied up and we are treated to dozens of hilarious scenes throughout. Andrew's tongue-in-cheek humor is in full force in this installment with Piers Anthony style name puns (giants and giuncles!) as well as nods to the 'olden days' (pen-and-paper) RPGs.

If you have followed the story for the previous two books then you will be well-rewarded. I don't recommend reading without going through the first two though, as the story picks up right were it left off in volume 2.

[astaliegurec · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the previous two books in Andrew Seiple's "Threadbare" series, "Threadbare, Book 3: The Right to Arm Bears" is a really well done book that suffers from just one issue: the swearing. In general, it's wonderful to read. But, he's written a couple of characters in such a way that they just drop horrible vulgarity into their speech for no reason. Without that, I'd probably have rated each book (and the series, as well) at 5 stars. But, instead, I'm dropping it down one to a mere Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic Conclusion story line one... or is it?

An action packed and highly entertaining end for this section of the series. It has so much going on with so many twists and turns that at times it was hard to keep up but definitely felt amazing to read! I highly enjoyed it especially the changes of pace and Zula to me still is the best character other than Threadbare. The characters themselves really grew out of their shells and also grew on me. A highly enjoyable series that was far more story that LITRPG at times which made it more accessible.

[Aya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Threadbare: 3
Threadbare, reunited with his little girl, works with her to retake Cylvania from her despotic father, who has turned his sights on the dwarves. Another solid adventure, with Threadbare making unlikely allies along the way. This book felt a bit more jumbled than the previous two, possibly due to character bloat. Bits of humor scattered throughout to lighten the more serious feel. Altogether, a good ending for the series, though the last scene leaves an opening for future developments. Not as good as the other two books, I feel, but a good closure for the series.

[Quichelorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, I have to say, this is a gentle, thoughtful litRPG but funny and adult themes sprinkled throughout to keep it interesting.
I wasn't sure it was something I could buy into, but just loved everyone at the end...I would say I never expected my favorite character from a series would be called Mrs. Fluffbear.
It is not something you can read to kids, but not sure who the target audience would be for this. Still, I loved it.
Thank you for writing such a sweet book with such awesome badass toys.

[Crew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The exciting conclusion to a quite original LitRPG trilogy. I think the first book is the best of the three with a slight decline in each successive one, but my overall ranking for the trilogy would be a 3.5, which rounds up to 4 stars.

Again, I warn that this is not a children's trilogy despite the main character being a teddy bear. It seemed there was more innuendo in this book than in previous books, which I find unnecessary and distracting.

[Vincent Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good conclusion to a trilogy.

All the plot points raised in the first two volumes converge to finish a well prepared narrative as our necromantic-skilled bear raises toys, cultists (which is a class in this world), allies, and remakes the kingdom. There's a lot of mechanics to be visited by the litrpg fan, and the whole finale leaves open for many adventures.

One of the best exemplar of the genre, and all the better for knowing how to end a specific story.

[James Tomasino · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the charm may have worn off on this gimmick. I find myself tuning out for passages and not caring enough to go back and re-listen. The direction of the story is interesting in theory, and the characters are all charming in their own way, but it just feels haphazard. I'm not really invested in what happens next and despite a lot of action there isn't much drama.

I'm not sure if there are more books in the series or not, but I think I'm done.

[Sundeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I binge read the first three books in 3 days.

It was a kinda weird mix of slice-of-life, humor, puns, cool power-ups, profanity, sudden escalation of violence and death, etc. Overall, the plot and characters kept me engaged.

I found the stat steets overwhelming, so I skipped them all. And some chapters were world building info dumps that I found difficult to read/comprehend, so I skimmed/skipped them too.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tremendously adorable and hilarious conclusion to the initial quest. My first (and likely only) foray into LitRPG but a delightful one. Seiple seems to use the requirements of the genre as integral plot elements rather than simply tacking them on or diving far into the weeds of online game play. The series continues - with the incredible talent of Tim Gerard Reynolds - but I am happy to end my journey here for now.