Scamps & Scoundrels: A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure (The Bad Guys Book 1)


Just yesterday, Ben was a neckbeard weeb with a weakness for Red Bull and tendies. Today, he's got a new name, a new face, and a new body, and he's watching the Glaton City Guard fight a twenty-foot-tall ooze that crawled forth from the sewers. Tomorrow, he'll need to find a guild to join, save a girl, steal a crown, and most importantly, convince an innkeep about the gloriousness of chicken fingers.

My Opinion: 446 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited

I really didn't connect with the story. Perhaps it was a case of too high expectations after enjoying the Good Guy series so much. But I was a little disappointed with this. From the series name, I expected the story to be about well, bad guys. Instead it's about a kindhearted thief that doesn't do a whole lot of stealing for most of the book. Additionally, one of the things I liked about the 1st book in the good guy series was that sense of discovery as the main character (MC) learned about the new RPG world. That also isn't here, instead there's a huge info dump in the 1st half of the story where the MC gets told everything and doesn't earn any of the knowledge or advantages being introduced to the world of rogues, thieves, and assassins. A few minutes in the world and he kills a significantly higher level character, gets loads of loot, connections to just the thief world, gets a place to stay, free food, and a ton of knowledge about how things work in the RPG world and the crime world. The MC never even dies or on any of his adventures even though there's a respawn system for him.

There are still good aspects to the story. It has a good snarky sense of humor. The fights that are there, are well written and very actiony. The author does a good job of fleshing out the city and building a foundation for the series. I also liked the nods to several characters and storylines from the Good Guy series.

However, though the writing was good I didn’t connect with the main character. He gets a chance to go to a new world and change his life and be anyone and he chooses to be the same person. He was a kindhearted thief in our world and in the new RPG world he chooses the rogue class. Additionally, he doesn’t do a whole lot of stealing and thievery in the book. The MC isn’t a villain or remotely a bad guy, so you don’t get that aspect either. 

Overall, while the 2nd half of the story was a bit more entertaining, I was still a little disappointed in the story. Just enough to push it below good for me. I have hopes for book 2 in the series though.

Score: 6 out of 10
