Scamps & Scoundrels

Bad Guys, Book 1

By: Eric Ugland

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

From the number-one best-selling author of One More Last Time!

Just yesterday, Ben was a petty criminal getting by on fleecing New York’s one-percenters. Today, he's got a new face, a new name, and a new world to navigate. And Ben’s thinking maybe this time around, he’ll use his skills at disarming and deceiving to help out people other than himself. Maybe.

Watching a medieval City Guard fight off a 20-foot-tall ooze that crawled up from the sewers will make you think twice about life decisions. Tomorrow, he'll need to save a girl, steal a crown, join a guild, and most importantly, convince an innkeep to make a decent bacon egg and cheese.

Scamps and Scoundrels is the witty, action-packed entree into The Bad Guys, a new series from epic LitRPG writer Eric Ugland. If you like immersive world-building full of magic, monsters, and mischief, this is the book for you.

©2019 Eric Ugland (P)2020 Tantor

DONT READ THE SUMMARY!!

whoever wrote the summary to this book did not read it. I avoided this book just because of the summary. at no point are chicken fingers, anime, or anything remotely neckbeardish mentioned. this is a great series.

Delightfully Great - Loved It. Super Funny

Man I'm glad I decided to try this one out. It's just SO good. I've come to love the LitRPG genre, but it has a lot of common tropes that I find very frustrating when it comes to a story. This book pretty much avoids all of those, and even lampshades them a bit from time to time. First, he doesn't spend tons of time repeatedly going over the character sheet for every...single...tiny...change. He'll make a single notification about what has been updated, and that's it. No need to read "Name:, Race:, Class," etc over and over. Even when the protagonist accesses his sheet for some maintenance, he just tells us what they changed, nothing more. "I had some free attribute points to spend, so I put them into Luck" boom, done. No need to retell the entire sheet from top to bottom, and waste mine and the narrator's time. Luck got boosted by 3 points, bringing it to 12. Got it, moving on, thank you very much. It also, so far, has avoided the Harem trope, that is common in LitRPG novels. There are a few people that are clearly being hinted at as romantic interests, but so far his reactions to them are not cliche, or skeevy. He's not entirely oblivious to their advances, it's just more that he's not entirely focused on trying to get a girl at this point in time. He's got a LOT of other things on his plate, and while he will acknowledge the attraction to himself, he has yet to take any action on it. And the girls aren't throwing themselves at him like in a Harem novel. There are clear advances sure, but nothing that doesn't seem unnatural. As a guy who has had a few ladies who were interested in him, while I was equally not interested in them, it felt pretty true to life, the way he reacted. Sometimes he was an oblivious goof, mostly for comedy in a scene, but overall, he's a reasonable dude, who isn't excluding the idea of a girl in his life, just doesn't have time for them now. And I find that very refreshing for this genre. They also handle power creep very well. It's not over the top, but feels earned. And this is the most important part of the "avoids the common tropes/cliches of the genre" There is actually a STORY going on. A lot of LitRPG books, and Cultivation novels, have the problem of just showing us the leveling up stuff. It's powering up scene, after get new item scene, after learn new spell scene, then back to powering up scene. A lot of authors seem to think this equals an enjoyable story. It does not. It's just power increase, not a story. This series though (both books so far, writing this after listening to book 2), do not suffer from that at all. There is a very well told story taking place, that is the driving force of the protagonist's life. The leveling up stuff sort of happens as a secondary effect of doing that. And I LOVE it. Seriously, so refreshing to see that in this genre, because it's sadly not as common as you might think.

Second, the tone of the protagonist is awesome. He feels very real. He has his flaws, is aware of those flaws and tries to overcome them, but acknowledges that they are still a problem for him. He tries to be a good person for the most part, and his motivations for why he does what he does, are entirely believable. You get where he is coming from when he comes up against an obstacle, and can totally understand why he chose what he did. He's one of the best protagonists I've ever related to.

Third, the book is super funny. Like, just really dang funny, especially in the banter between characters. The fact that he is absolutely clueless about this new world, gets pointed out all the time, in very amusing, and realistic ways. The sassy quips he tosses back at people are awesome. Just, very well written cast of characters all around. The whole ensemble is enjoyable. It kind of reminds me a little of how Joss Wedon does dialogue, the quick back and forth style of talking, that is simultaneously very realistic, and entertaining to listen to.

I really don't have anything negative to say about the book. Seriously. I'm sitting here, thinking of even the tiniest thing that annoyed or irked me, and I can't really think of anything. Oh, it's shorter than I would like, but that's hardly a flaw in the story itself, and is more of a positive trait really. If your book is so well written and enjoyable, that I didn't want it to stop, then you've written an excellent book.

Seriously, get this one. You will be very pleased by it. Also the second book is even better. Too short, but that's because it's just awesome. Definitely going to be following this series going forward.

Excellent Book as Good as the Good Guys Series

I thought this book was great. I had just finished all the good guys books and I am really thrilled to see the new series. I like the new character a lot, although with the same narrator as the good guys it's hard to feel like it's new. my only other complaint is the same as with the good guy series they're a little bit short, but that's not really a problem as the story is awesome.

loved it

Eric Ugland and Neil Hellegers. What more is there to say?

ok since I have to write 15 words- it's on/in the same world/game as the Good Guys series.

Enjoyable Story in World of Good Guys Series

I am really enjoying the Good Guys series and was initially worried by the name and description I might not actually like this story. That worry us unwarranted. This book really shares much in common with that series. The MC here, even more surprisingly, shares much in common with the one from that series as well. The world building here seems essentially limited to the city. We also find some familiar characters and get confirmation of some things we suspect from the other series. That said, I am not sure if what you miss by not having read the other books might take away some from your experience here. You can probably start with this series and be fine, but it is likely a fuller experience to start with at least a couple Good Guys books first.

Narration is very nicely done, as is the norm for NH.

great story looking forward to reading the rest

I enjoyed the overall world thata being created. writers seem to do a good job explaining things simply but not to Simply and overall funny. narration was okay personally I enjoy a mix of voices at least when it comes to male or female. 7 out of 10

doesn't end so much as stop

excellent reading of pretty good storytelling at least until.the abrupt and artlessly cliffhanging ending. Much credit to the narrator and producer. The author should be ashamed, even if some editor made him do this.

Fantastic start to a series

I really can’t remember the last time I smiled so hard with a story as I did in the second half of this book. Initially, I think I was irritated that there wasn’t as much shift-shock and adjustment period, which is kind of the standard trope for these stories, but it’s kind of good that it didn’t. More of the book is spent on scenes.

Good Read.

Good story, the MC may be a little too lucky but sometimes a game/story should be the opposite of a darksouls game. lol. I'm looking forward to the next book.

Really good

These books are really good. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Between the good guys series in now the bad guys series I absolutely love this world.