Once upon a time there was a halven named Chase Berrymore. Chase has dreamed of adventure her whole life with the hope of leaving her tiny village, Bothernot. And then one day adventure finds her. Not being one for violence, Chase is going to have to use her wits and the power of words if she hopes to save her friends and family from a new form of beings called "players."

Big Trouble is the first in the Small Medium series by Andrew Seiple. Set in an entirely different corner of the land of Generica, it sure felt good to be back in the Threadbare-verse. While this story does not rely on any prior knowledge of the world, you may want to read the original Threadbare trilogy first as this contains some minor references and links back to that trilogy.

Chase Berrymore and her sister Gretta are halvens which are this world's version of halflings. They live in a pastoral village where everyone knows everyone, eat multiple meals a day to keep their stamina up and Chase makes it her business to know everyone else's business. This uniquely prepares Chase to become an Oracle once the excitement starts. I love just how well she uses her talking skills and her innate sense to know people to navigate her village through the trouble they've found themselves in instead of the traditional method of fighting everything. It makes for a very different style of adventure story. Chase makes some friends along the way, my favorite of which is Remy a toy golem. There are plenty of nods to RPG-style games as well as some pop culture references and silly puns to go around. I found the humor to my taste.

I am intrigued at how Seiple decided to expand upon the world. The addition of "players" adds a whole other spin on the world I thought I knew. I hope this mystery is explored further as they seem be stuck in the game somehow.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds. He's an amazing narrator and voices the characters brilliantly. I'm glad he stayed on for this sequel series. ( )