Scamps & Scoundrels

Bad Guys, Book 1

By: Eric Ugland

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

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

The synopsis SUCKS, you will love this

What the heck with up with the synopsis/summary of this book?? I put off buying this because the synopsis made this book sounds terrible but after reading through all of Ugland’s Good Guy series and having my craving for more reach a crescendo, I finally gave in.

This book is GREAT. If you like The Good Guys series, you will like this. The main character was never described as a former neckbeard — he was a burglar with a gymnastics background and compelling motivations. I dunno where the whole thing about chicken fingers comes from either. They are never mentioned.


The author needs to fix the damned synopsis. Maybe it was from a earlier draft?

Humorous and entertaining romp!

This book is much like Eric Ugland's other series. It is set in the same world, and has much of the same humor. I like that the mc of this one isn't a cheat character, though in character he is much the same: a lot of letting the dice roll in impossible situations in order to help people out. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am greatly looking forward to the next coming out in a month.

Honestly, I liked this series start much better than his last one, and there is no need to have read through the "good guys" series before starting this one.

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.

I don't know why this book is highly rated

I bought this book due to it's super high ratings and good reviews that said this was better than your standard lit rpg -- that it was less about the game mechanics and more about the story. However, I found that not to be the case. The book has very little plot overall, with nothing much happening story-wise until the last hour and a half. It does focus less on game mechanics but it replaced that with a meandering stroll with no direction and some grinding, none of which is particularly entertaining. If there's another one, I won't be buying it.

A great start to a great series

I have listened to this book more than 10X at this point. Own the paperbacks, and honestly I love it. Greet Litrpg story.

The best book written by him yet

I’ve read every single one of his books and this one is probably my favorite. Sure the main characters an idiot at first and still has a little bit at the end but he is clever smart and doesn’t make the same mistake. It also adds a bit of romance that the other books that he written hasn’t really touched on and I love it. If you like his other books you will love this book I cannot wait for the next one. Honestly I’m going to kill myself waiting the 20 or so days that it’ll take for the next one to come out.

What a great story...

As LitRPG books have seemed to be a bit formulaic this one was a nice change. Yes it follows some of the trope norms...pulled into a RPG game like world and guy gets XP and Levels ...but I enjoyed the fact there wasn't a player stat sheet overview every 5 mins nor did the MC spend time over thinking every point allocation. Great listen/read and was as funny as Ugland's other series.

only upset I have to wait 4 days for next book to drop on Audible.

amazing alt story to the universe

gives the world a broader view for readers to experience life in other places. I'm hoping Montana and hatchet team up a time or two haha

Wow.

After listening to the good guys series and now Book one of the Bad guys, I’ve come to realize I am now in love with the author. Action, bromance, magic, and daggers. What else could I wish for in a litrpg.

very good story

Good story and good narration. 100% enjoyed and onto book 2. The plot keeps you interested and makes you want to carry on.

Great World Build

Having loved all of Good Guys so far. I was worried about shifting to a new MC within the universe. But Hatchet is interesting and can see myself enjoying the series just as much. Clyde being Montana’s Master of Shadows needs to happen.

11 Chapters In and I'm Getting Info Dumped

A novice writing mistake is when they sit you down and spout a load of information at you that doesn't move the story forward or have any contextual relevance to the moment. I don't need to have a city tour 5 minutes in. I need to hear about the characters intentions and motives and a hook to get him going. It's a rookie mistake.

A spin off

Set in the same world as the authors other LITRPG this is a spin off with a new character. The main character is spookily similar to Montana, the protagonist in his other series. We will have to see if this is just lazy writing or is there a reason for this, my guess is the former.

The story is slightly pedestrian and not many surprises so far (I'm about three quarters through). Sometimes you get a strong ending to encourage you to get the next book so it may pick up. It's not a bad book should unremarkable and a bit samey. Neil Hellegers does a good job narrating as usual, so no complaints there.

It is one I will stick with as I am guessing he will meet up, cross paths with or something along those lines with Montana from the main story. If you have nothing lined up it's an OK filler.

loved it!

if you enjoyed the good guys series you'll love this! set in and around the same time! a great listen....

Did it again!

New series, new MC, new skills. This book follows the same world and mechanics as the good guy series however the book is completely different. For a start the MC is now a rogue he appears to be smarter and seems more capable with pretty much everything. He goes down a darker path of thievery but is still a "good" guy. Nonetheless he is a loveable character and the author makes us readers want everything to go well. This book has fighting and humor that will rock your socks off. Defo a hidden gem, on to the next one!

Fantastic

I have loved each one if the author books so far, the world is really interesting and each and every character could be the MC they are that interesting.