Stuff and Nonsense

by Andrew Seiple

Threadbare · Book 1 · 2017

A discarded teddy-bear golem is rescued by a little girl and begins learning how to survive. Threadbare is only a foot tall and understands almost nothing, but each new skill makes him more capable of helping her in a dangerous world.

FantasyLitRPG Progression fantasy Situational comedy Wordplay

From the author’s blurb

“He is twelve inches tall, full of fluff, and really, really bad at being a hero.”

Read the full description at Andrew Seiple, author description

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What makes it funny?

His first intelligence upgrade leaves him staring at a system prompt he cannot read. The floating message is simply in the way. Game mechanics give this toy the machinery of a fantasy hero, complete with an Adorable skill, while he is still working out what ordinary objects mean.

The comedy at work

The scale mismatch makes a housecat a serious early threat. Threadbare's limited understanding gives familiar game conventions a fresh source of misunderstanding, and readers in the supplied book-group discussions particularly recommend the series for its puns.

Try this if…

For LitRPG readers who enjoy watching a nonhuman character discover the world a little at a time. Chamomile's review praises the bear's charm and persistence, while finding that the middle loses momentum when attention shifts away from him.

Good to know

Profanity, violence and darker turns accompany the teddy-bear premise. Readers caution that the series becomes increasingly adult. Chamomile also criticizes what it sees as racial stereotypes in the portrayal of orcs. This is Threadbare book one.

From book groups

Questions readers ask

Is the Threadbare series kid friendly?: Readers warn against choosing it for children solely because its hero is a teddy bear. They describe later volumes as increasingly adult, and the author flags profanity.