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Jeff the Game Master #3
Mastering Magic: An Epic LitRPG Series
What happens when the world’s most realistic game becomes more real than reality?
Logout button disabled, Jeff and crew find themselves stuck until they can defeat King Tom and the rogue patcher. The mystery still looms: who is behind Infinite Worlds’ attack?
Dan Shaklee, CEO of Hard Rock Data, makes discoveries with implications beyond anything he could’ve ever imagined.
King Tom, having assimilated nearly all of IW’s Principalities, has continued his onslaught. This time, creating an army of adorable but vicious Vorpal Rabbits, he has issued a command to the Dragon’s Banes: find and destroy all before they end the world.
Jeff, along with Dak, Jeweliette, Oliver, Torvi, Snapdragon—oh, and despite everyone’s desires, Crush and Vilecutter—must traverse the underground bunny burrows to put and end to it all.
It’s a race against time. Tensions are high. Patience is thin. Will they do it before their TerraMount systems give out and their mortal bodies follow?
Logout button disabled, Jeff and crew find themselves stuck until they can defeat King Tom and the rogue patcher. The mystery still looms: who is behind Infinite Worlds’ attack?
Dan Shaklee, CEO of Hard Rock Data, makes discoveries with implications beyond anything he could’ve ever imagined.
King Tom, having assimilated nearly all of IW’s Principalities, has continued his onslaught. This time, creating an army of adorable but vicious Vorpal Rabbits, he has issued a command to the Dragon’s Banes: find and destroy all before they end the world.
Jeff, along with Dak, Jeweliette, Oliver, Torvi, Snapdragon—oh, and despite everyone’s desires, Crush and Vilecutter—must traverse the underground bunny burrows to put and end to it all.
It’s a race against time. Tensions are high. Patience is thin. Will they do it before their TerraMount systems give out and their mortal bodies follow?
440 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 2022
43 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Jaime Castle
49 books192 followersJaime Castle hails from the great nation of Texas where he lives with his wife and two children and enjoys anything creative. A self-proclaimed comic book nerd and artist, he spends what little free time he can muster with his art tablet.
Jaime is a #1 Audible Bestseller, Audible Originals author (The Luna Missile Crisis) and co-created and co-authored The Buried Goddess Saga, which includes the IPPY award-winning Web of Eyes.
Fantasy:
The Buried Goddess Saga:
Web of Eyes
Winds of War
Will of Fire
Way of Gods
War of Men
Word of Truth
Dragonblood Assassin:
Black Talon
Red Claw
Silver Spines
Golden Flames (2023/2024)
RAPTORS:
Sidekick
Superteam
Scions
Baron Steele
HARRIER (Raptors)
Justice
The Trench
Invasion
The Black Badge:
Dead Acre
Cold as Hell
Vein Pursuits
Ace in the Hole (2024)
Jeff the Game Master:
Manufacturing Magic
Manipulating Magic
Mastering Magic
Science Fiction:
This Long Vigil
The Luna Missile Crisis
ROGUE STARS:
Purgatory (2024)
Divine Intervention (2024)
Reclamation (2024)
Find out more at www.jaimecastle.com
Jaime is a #1 Audible Bestseller, Audible Originals author (The Luna Missile Crisis) and co-created and co-authored The Buried Goddess Saga, which includes the IPPY award-winning Web of Eyes.
Fantasy:
The Buried Goddess Saga:
Web of Eyes
Winds of War
Will of Fire
Way of Gods
War of Men
Word of Truth
Dragonblood Assassin:
Black Talon
Red Claw
Silver Spines
Golden Flames (2023/2024)
RAPTORS:
Sidekick
Superteam
Scions
Baron Steele
HARRIER (Raptors)
Justice
The Trench
Invasion
The Black Badge:
Dead Acre
Cold as Hell
Vein Pursuits
Ace in the Hole (2024)
Jeff the Game Master:
Manufacturing Magic
Manipulating Magic
Mastering Magic
Science Fiction:
This Long Vigil
The Luna Missile Crisis
ROGUE STARS:
Purgatory (2024)
Divine Intervention (2024)
Reclamation (2024)
Find out more at www.jaimecastle.com
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 30, 2022
First of all have you gotten over the cover? It's just eye-candy and a true sight to behold!!! Who says covers don't sell books? In actuality the cover depicts a scene straight outta the book... and yes there is references to Monty Python.
The book has so much action that it'll make your heart sing! And the action is on so many levels! Of course there's Jeff and his team who are dealing with the fact that they're very lives are at stake dependent upon figuring out the quest and beating it. But also there's the actual game company trying to figure out what happened to their glitch free game and struggling to fix it before they're ruined. And there's two AI's deep in the system fighting for control of the games play.
Nick Podehl narration was as usual perfect. So grab the book and sit back because Nick Podehl has a story to tell!
The book has so much action that it'll make your heart sing! And the action is on so many levels! Of course there's Jeff and his team who are dealing with the fact that they're very lives are at stake dependent upon figuring out the quest and beating it. But also there's the actual game company trying to figure out what happened to their glitch free game and struggling to fix it before they're ruined. And there's two AI's deep in the system fighting for control of the games play.
Nick Podehl narration was as usual perfect. So grab the book and sit back because Nick Podehl has a story to tell!
June 12, 2022
Mastering Magic picks up straight after the events of book 2, and sees Jeff and the crew, Snapdragon, Dak, Torvi, Oliver, Jeweliette, with the addition of Crush and his sidekick Vilecutter all still in the game as a result of Crush’s failed hack to kill the boss Dragon Shelarag, and fulfil Tom Servo’s goal of making Jeff the Game Master happy. As events unfold from this though, the players suddenly come to realise that things have become a whole lot worse, as they can now not log out of the game, and they are now trapped within the VR world. This means that their physical bodies are not capable of being looked after, as their minds are trapped within the gaming construct, something that should not be possible, but because the AI Tom Servo has become enraged by the actions of Crush, and set on making the game ‘Harder’, as well as fulfilling both Jeff’s and Crush’s requests, he has locked them in.
In book 1, the game was struggling with a kind of catastrophic failure as bugs couldn’t get fixed, and the game was staring to fall to bits, and only the GM Jeff Driscoll had any hope of fixing things. In book 2, things elevated, as the game become even more overwhelmed with these issues, and Jeff, now a player character, was forced to play the game to try and end the lock that this rogue AI had placed on things, so that Hard Rock Data (HRD), could get their game back, and potentially save their game Infinite Worlds.
But in book 3, things have taken a turn for the worse, as it is now not just the company and the game that the players are trying to play for, but their very lives. Mastering Magic is a very clever story, in that books 1 and 2 had really taken the story as far as it could go, a third book would have just been more rehashing of the same, but locking the characters into the game, so that they are now fighting for their very existence is such a clever twist. Further to this, the rogue AI, Tom’s Servo, has also taken things to the next level, believing that the ‘concept’ of hard means ‘more’ and at a ‘higher’ level. This translates to some rather interesting scenes as a new world event unleashes on the game in the form of a plague of murder bunnies – yes, that’s right, the vorpal bunnies have bred like rabbits and been unleashed on the world like a plague of terrifying flesh eating horrors – reminiscent of the Warner Bros cartoons of the Tasmanian Devil ripping through everything in sight, these cute little fluffy bunnies can shred a human quicker than a pack of hungry piranhas.
What is even funnier is that now they have special abilities to (My favourite is still the hypnotic Vorpal Bunny!!)
Jeff and his band of very ‘Unmerry’ People, must not only try and stay alive, defeat a crazed AI intent on killing them, defeat hoards of killer fluffy bunnies, but worst of all, they have to put up with the absolute intolerable idiot that is Crush.
On the other side of the coin, we also get to see those outside of the game, as they struggle to cope with the ramifications of what is happening, how do they deal with this situation of having actual people locked in the game. Dan Shaklee, the company CEO is trying to not only save their lives, but determine what has happened, and this takes a turn for the worst, when a new competitor is announced, but worse, there is the possibility that this might have been caused by an inside threat. Meanwhile, those that work for him Cross, Gallup, etc, are all struggling to work out what is going on. It is fascinating watching how this unfolds and the reactions of people
There is a subtle element of LitRPG in this book, whilst there are aspects of it within Jeff’s character and some of the other characters, it is not an overwhelming part of the story. It is really blended into the storyline well, making it a fun part of the book rather than something that is constantly stopping and taking up a lot of the storyline with facts.
The character work is perhaps the best part of this book, Jeff continues to amuse as the poor Game Master, who is trying desperately to work out what is going on, with everyone looking to him for answers, and his favourite answer of ‘I don’t know’ becoming annoying even to him. The only thing keeping him going is his growing relationship with Snapdragon, but she carries a secret that could destroy their relationship before it starts. Dak and Jeweliette are cute as anything, if they live to see the future. Torvi is hilarious shooting one liners faster than she shoots arrows. But the truly wonderful character is Crush, who is so absolutely horrific in his obnoxiousness, that you almost have to admire him for being just such a total, well you know….
The world-building continues to amaze in this book – from the cute little bunnies (you are never going to look at a rabbit the same way again, trust me), to the absolutely stunning and epic landscapes of Infinite Worlds that make you wish for a leap in technology so you could immerse yourself in this game.
This series has been something unique and special from the start, and this book only adds to this.
If you want a fantastic read, with exceptional character work, and a brilliant story (and some utterly terrifying bunnies), then this is for you – it s a must read for any Fantasy/LitRPG fan – you won’t be disappointed.
In book 1, the game was struggling with a kind of catastrophic failure as bugs couldn’t get fixed, and the game was staring to fall to bits, and only the GM Jeff Driscoll had any hope of fixing things. In book 2, things elevated, as the game become even more overwhelmed with these issues, and Jeff, now a player character, was forced to play the game to try and end the lock that this rogue AI had placed on things, so that Hard Rock Data (HRD), could get their game back, and potentially save their game Infinite Worlds.
But in book 3, things have taken a turn for the worse, as it is now not just the company and the game that the players are trying to play for, but their very lives. Mastering Magic is a very clever story, in that books 1 and 2 had really taken the story as far as it could go, a third book would have just been more rehashing of the same, but locking the characters into the game, so that they are now fighting for their very existence is such a clever twist. Further to this, the rogue AI, Tom’s Servo, has also taken things to the next level, believing that the ‘concept’ of hard means ‘more’ and at a ‘higher’ level. This translates to some rather interesting scenes as a new world event unleashes on the game in the form of a plague of murder bunnies – yes, that’s right, the vorpal bunnies have bred like rabbits and been unleashed on the world like a plague of terrifying flesh eating horrors – reminiscent of the Warner Bros cartoons of the Tasmanian Devil ripping through everything in sight, these cute little fluffy bunnies can shred a human quicker than a pack of hungry piranhas.
What is even funnier is that now they have special abilities to (My favourite is still the hypnotic Vorpal Bunny!!)
Jeff and his band of very ‘Unmerry’ People, must not only try and stay alive, defeat a crazed AI intent on killing them, defeat hoards of killer fluffy bunnies, but worst of all, they have to put up with the absolute intolerable idiot that is Crush.
On the other side of the coin, we also get to see those outside of the game, as they struggle to cope with the ramifications of what is happening, how do they deal with this situation of having actual people locked in the game. Dan Shaklee, the company CEO is trying to not only save their lives, but determine what has happened, and this takes a turn for the worst, when a new competitor is announced, but worse, there is the possibility that this might have been caused by an inside threat. Meanwhile, those that work for him Cross, Gallup, etc, are all struggling to work out what is going on. It is fascinating watching how this unfolds and the reactions of people
There is a subtle element of LitRPG in this book, whilst there are aspects of it within Jeff’s character and some of the other characters, it is not an overwhelming part of the story. It is really blended into the storyline well, making it a fun part of the book rather than something that is constantly stopping and taking up a lot of the storyline with facts.
The character work is perhaps the best part of this book, Jeff continues to amuse as the poor Game Master, who is trying desperately to work out what is going on, with everyone looking to him for answers, and his favourite answer of ‘I don’t know’ becoming annoying even to him. The only thing keeping him going is his growing relationship with Snapdragon, but she carries a secret that could destroy their relationship before it starts. Dak and Jeweliette are cute as anything, if they live to see the future. Torvi is hilarious shooting one liners faster than she shoots arrows. But the truly wonderful character is Crush, who is so absolutely horrific in his obnoxiousness, that you almost have to admire him for being just such a total, well you know….
The world-building continues to amaze in this book – from the cute little bunnies (you are never going to look at a rabbit the same way again, trust me), to the absolutely stunning and epic landscapes of Infinite Worlds that make you wish for a leap in technology so you could immerse yourself in this game.
This series has been something unique and special from the start, and this book only adds to this.
If you want a fantastic read, with exceptional character work, and a brilliant story (and some utterly terrifying bunnies), then this is for you – it s a must read for any Fantasy/LitRPG fan – you won’t be disappointed.
August 19, 2022
ENTERTAINING READ
Jeff, former Game Master now player, is stuck in the game and can't log out. Well, he did want to play. What can he do, along with those similarly effected, to prevent their death from being out of their bodies too long. AI, Tom Servo, is fighting his own battles with his original programming and a fellow AI that refuses to submit to assimilation. I like the action, humor, mystery, and a bit of romance. A great wrap up to a great series.
Jeff, former Game Master now player, is stuck in the game and can't log out. Well, he did want to play. What can he do, along with those similarly effected, to prevent their death from being out of their bodies too long. AI, Tom Servo, is fighting his own battles with his original programming and a fellow AI that refuses to submit to assimilation. I like the action, humor, mystery, and a bit of romance. A great wrap up to a great series.
May 5, 2024
What an outstanding, epic, intriguing, wonderful ending to an equally amazing series! This was my first venture into LitRPG in quite a while, and has thoroughly kicked my lost love for the genre back into gear. I absolutely loved this story from start to finish, and it kept me so intrigued all throughout. I loved all of the characters (well, most of them.. haha the others were well done too, though!). I just absolutely LOVED this series!
September 8, 2023
Could not finish it. The whole "can't log out" trope can be interesting, but not when it's so ham fisted with such ridiculous excuses. And the characters go on and on about how the AI has made everything boring, but the author is dragging the reader through the same thing.
Note to self: do not continue
Note to self: do not continue
May 2, 2022
This book completes the series, and ties up all the loose ends.
Was it good, it did not drag on as much as the second book, though was at parts as tedious as the dungeons created by the AI in the book doing the copy/paste of other elements of the game to make something "different"
Was it good, it did not drag on as much as the second book, though was at parts as tedious as the dungeons created by the AI in the book doing the copy/paste of other elements of the game to make something "different"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2022
This one wraps the series up to my satisfaction, so if that was the intent, mission accomplished. It's a solid 4 for me but I can't riund it to a five as as it misses the je-ne-sais-quoi that would push it there.
June 4, 2022
Great twist on the genre
This trilogy is among my favorite reads, full of satire and fun perspective, never taking itself too seriously.
Overall well paced and enjoyable, well done!
This trilogy is among my favorite reads, full of satire and fun perspective, never taking itself too seriously.
Overall well paced and enjoyable, well done!
July 5, 2022
Satisfying ending to a great series
I loved this series.
This has good, wholesome entertainment with a nice plot and fun characters.
I recommend this to any who want a good story without a lot of profanity, regardless of genre.
This was a well written series.
I loved this series.
This has good, wholesome entertainment with a nice plot and fun characters.
I recommend this to any who want a good story without a lot of profanity, regardless of genre.
This was a well written series.
November 5, 2022
Listened to this with John during trips, in the car, and even at home. It was an enjoyable conclusion to a trilogy about a group of gamers stuck in a VR game when one of the bots goes rogue, and when someone sabotages the code. The book was long, but so enjoyable the time passed quickly.
January 9, 2023
Good plot, good characters, bit slow
I enjoyed the story, but frequently found my attention waning as the action was interrupted by long descriptions of seconds of play, which became tedious. Perhaps real gamers would enjoy that part more than I did.
I enjoyed the story, but frequently found my attention waning as the action was interrupted by long descriptions of seconds of play, which became tedious. Perhaps real gamers would enjoy that part more than I did.
May 10, 2022
Not bad...
Not what I'm looking for in a LitRPG book but its a great story all the same. Though I do wish the MC was a little more dominant.
Not what I'm looking for in a LitRPG book but its a great story all the same. Though I do wish the MC was a little more dominant.
May 16, 2022
A sad end
Really pushed this series wouldn't end but hopefully there will be spin offs down the line of not it has been a hell of a ride
Really pushed this series wouldn't end but hopefully there will be spin offs down the line of not it has been a hell of a ride
July 26, 2024
Blasted through this trilogy! I typically get bored once I hit the middle of book 2 or beginning of book 3, but not this one. And the ending was awesome too!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews