When Marius don Hellespont finds himself dead for a second time and his girlfriend missing, he goes out into the world seeking answers. It seems Scorbus, the king of the dead he helped crown, is bent on waging war against the living. Can Marius find Keth and stop the king he put into power?

At the end of the Corpse Rat King, I was hoping I'd read about Marius again. Lee Battersby must have heard my prayers, as he has served up another adventure of that loveable miscreant.

The Marching Dead picks u More...

The King is dead. Long live the motherfucking King.

Oh, Lee Battersby. You sure showed me, huh? When I said I enjoyed but didn't love The Corpse-Rat King last August, it's like you took it as a PERSONAL CHALLENGE and decided to write a book you knew I would LOOOOOVE.

What? That's not what happened? Oh. Hm.

Well, anyway.

For the rest of you - if you're too lazy to click that link up there, The Corpse-Rat King was the first of Battersby's Marius don Hellespont novels, in which a downright scoundrel i More...

It was almost a year ago that Lee Battersby completely blew me away with The Corpse-Rat King, an extremely funny, extraordinarily imaginative tale that I thoroughly enjoyed, and have gleefully recommended over and over again. I've been waiting for the follow-up almost from the moment I turned the last page, and I'm pleased to say The Marching Dead was definitely worth the wait.

In a slightly more mature sequel, Battersby eases up a bit on the slapstick and reigns in the bizarre sense of adventure More...

had a lot of love last fall for the first novel in this series, The Corpse-Rat King. So much love I almost gave it five stars. Really, the only reason I didn't was because I was pretty sure the best was yet to come.

And I was right. With this sequel, The Marching Dead, Battersby kicked up everything I loved about the first novel by a notch or two -- world-building, storytelling, hilarity, and most of all, characters who just made me punch the air over and over again, usually while laughing. Gerd More...

Last year Lee Battersby's The Corpse-Rat King was one of the first books to come out of Angry Robot's first Open Door month and I was excited to see what could come out of such a process. While I did have some problems with the book – difficulties connecting to the main character and some pacing issues – I quite enjoyed the story and I was left wanting to discover how Battersby would finish Marius' story. In The Marching Dead I found a great return to this story. I liked that we return to a Mar More...

Imagine a zombie Jack Sparrow trapped in Wonderland, with the wits of Locke Lamora and the vulgar mouth of a dirty sailor. You might get an idea of Marius Don Hellespont. The Marching Dead is the sequel to 2012’s excellent The Corpse Rat King by Aussie-Author Lee Battersby. While I didn’t post my thoughts on The Corpse Rat King here on the blog I will quickly note that I was thoroughly impressed and became an instant fan of Mr. Battersby.

The sequel picks up after the events of The Corpse Rat Ki More...

bought 4/22/13, not realizing it is the 2nd in a series - will need to get the first before any updates!