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Ought to be Dead
Some monsters are hunted by the living, but you really ought to be dead for this sort of work.
An overworked necromancer, woken in the deep hours of the night, attempts to help a group of desperate dock workers with their recently deceased cargo inspector. Instead, she accidentally awakens the terrifying spirit of a vengeful, undying warrior with a single drive: to kill monsters. But he’s really not so bad, once you learn to live with the smell.
Loosed upon the world, Specter travels the land hunting all manner of beasts and monsters both magical and mundane. Joined by an incorrigible human apprentice with a nose for books, the two set out for a year of travel together. But while calling upon the necromancer who raised him, an encounter with an unusual and deadly creature forces him to examine a pattern of attacks that leads him up and down the coast, finding danger wherever he ventures.
Across seven deadly hunts, Specter must journey to find the truth of the dark designs behind these attacks. And somehow, along the way, maintain his fading grip on humanity by coming to terms with his past life (and death)—lest he become one of the very monsters he’s sworn to destroy.
An overworked necromancer, woken in the deep hours of the night, attempts to help a group of desperate dock workers with their recently deceased cargo inspector. Instead, she accidentally awakens the terrifying spirit of a vengeful, undying warrior with a single drive: to kill monsters. But he’s really not so bad, once you learn to live with the smell.
Loosed upon the world, Specter travels the land hunting all manner of beasts and monsters both magical and mundane. Joined by an incorrigible human apprentice with a nose for books, the two set out for a year of travel together. But while calling upon the necromancer who raised him, an encounter with an unusual and deadly creature forces him to examine a pattern of attacks that leads him up and down the coast, finding danger wherever he ventures.
Across seven deadly hunts, Specter must journey to find the truth of the dark designs behind these attacks. And somehow, along the way, maintain his fading grip on humanity by coming to terms with his past life (and death)—lest he become one of the very monsters he’s sworn to destroy.
- GenresFantasy
250 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 18, 2022
12 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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June 8, 2022
OUGHT TO BE DEAD
by Scott Warren is a standalone fantasy that contains seven adventures of Specter and his human apprentice, Cotton.
In the spirit of full disclosures, I was provided with a free copy of the eBook to read and review for SPFBO 8.
Our adventure begins late one night when some dock workers, bearing the corpse of their inspector, rouse a necromancer in order to reanimate the inspector. Apparently in this world there isn't any rest for the dead. In fact, you can sell your body to someone for money, a death contract, so that when you die, a necromancer can reanimate you, making you one of the Risen, so you can serve out your contract. I thought this was really interesting. (And terrifying...can you imagine?!)
The necromancer, still in a stupor from being abruptly awakened accidentally awakens a vengeful spirit of Spector - a warrior who has but one purpose - to kill monsters. So we begin our adventures with Spector as he travels about killing monsters for money. While the characters are fun, snarky and deliver some fabulous one-liners, the monsters are the element where Scott Warrens shows off his creativity. Each one is unlike any I've ever read about, they're unique, interesting and sometimes they're more like legend than monster.
A pattern does emerge from these adventures that presents a mystery Specter finds himself intent on solving while also somehow holding on to his death magic, the essence that keeps him attached to the mortal coil of the body he now inhabits.
This was a fun and thoroughly enjoyable read for me! Each adventure did have time pass and started in a new location that goes quickly into the monster target, there wasn't much in the way of atmosphere or world building - just in case that's something you're into. There is magic, light magic - but again, I found what we got to be interesting and unique.
In the spirit of full disclosures, I was provided with a free copy of the eBook to read and review for SPFBO 8.
Our adventure begins late one night when some dock workers, bearing the corpse of their inspector, rouse a necromancer in order to reanimate the inspector. Apparently in this world there isn't any rest for the dead. In fact, you can sell your body to someone for money, a death contract, so that when you die, a necromancer can reanimate you, making you one of the Risen, so you can serve out your contract. I thought this was really interesting. (And terrifying...can you imagine?!)
The necromancer, still in a stupor from being abruptly awakened accidentally awakens a vengeful spirit of Spector - a warrior who has but one purpose - to kill monsters. So we begin our adventures with Spector as he travels about killing monsters for money. While the characters are fun, snarky and deliver some fabulous one-liners, the monsters are the element where Scott Warrens shows off his creativity. Each one is unlike any I've ever read about, they're unique, interesting and sometimes they're more like legend than monster.
A pattern does emerge from these adventures that presents a mystery Specter finds himself intent on solving while also somehow holding on to his death magic, the essence that keeps him attached to the mortal coil of the body he now inhabits.
This was a fun and thoroughly enjoyable read for me! Each adventure did have time pass and started in a new location that goes quickly into the monster target, there wasn't much in the way of atmosphere or world building - just in case that's something you're into. There is magic, light magic - but again, I found what we got to be interesting and unique.
January 13, 2022
Because of a glitch on Goodreads that didn't associate this one with his other books, it wasn't until I reached the end that I realized I'd read one of Scott Warren's books before (
The Dragon's Banker
). The same strengths and, sadly, the same weaknesses are on display here.
Strengths: this is an engaging, well-told story with a competent protagonist whose heart is in the right place (even if it doesn't beat much anymore). Garth Nix has taught me that I don't mind reading about necromancers if they're working on behalf of the living, and so I took the risk of picking this up, knowing that it could be darker than I prefer. It wasn't, and it had a gentle humour that added to the enjoyment. It's a premise I haven't seen a thousand times before, and it hits the emotional beats well in a soundly-structured plot.
Weaknesses: I got a pre-publication version from Netgalley, and I don't know how much copy editing it is going to get between now and publication, or how good the copy editor will be. But even a very good copy editor who is excellent at punctuation and has a better-than-average vocabulary will only be able to do so much to compensate for the fact that the author is truly terrible at punctuation, commits most of the other common language mistakes, and makes a lot of vocabulary errors (not only using the wrong spelling for numerous homonyms, but using the wrong word altogether in many cases). Having written multiple books, and obviously being committed to writing as a significant part of his life, this author ought to invest some time in improving his grasp of basic mechanics, because the many, many issues seriously detract from what is otherwise a good book. (To be fair, the frequently mispunctuated dialog may partly have been caused by Apple's auto-incorrect, which wrongly starts a dialog tag with a capital when it occurs after dialog containing a question mark or exclamation mark. But the author gets it right sometimes - more often than not, by the end of the book; maybe he turned off that particular autocorrect "rule". This suggests that he does know how it's supposed to be and ought, therefore, to have fixed the many errors of this kind in the earlier part of the book before sending it out for review.)
It makes it to my Best of the Year list, but in the lowest tier. Without the dozens of copy editing issues, I would have rated it a good deal higher. Again, many, even most, of these may well be fixed by publication, but when there are so many, some will always slip through even the best of copy editors. Far better not to make the mistakes in the first place.
Strengths: this is an engaging, well-told story with a competent protagonist whose heart is in the right place (even if it doesn't beat much anymore). Garth Nix has taught me that I don't mind reading about necromancers if they're working on behalf of the living, and so I took the risk of picking this up, knowing that it could be darker than I prefer. It wasn't, and it had a gentle humour that added to the enjoyment. It's a premise I haven't seen a thousand times before, and it hits the emotional beats well in a soundly-structured plot.
Weaknesses: I got a pre-publication version from Netgalley, and I don't know how much copy editing it is going to get between now and publication, or how good the copy editor will be. But even a very good copy editor who is excellent at punctuation and has a better-than-average vocabulary will only be able to do so much to compensate for the fact that the author is truly terrible at punctuation, commits most of the other common language mistakes, and makes a lot of vocabulary errors (not only using the wrong spelling for numerous homonyms, but using the wrong word altogether in many cases). Having written multiple books, and obviously being committed to writing as a significant part of his life, this author ought to invest some time in improving his grasp of basic mechanics, because the many, many issues seriously detract from what is otherwise a good book. (To be fair, the frequently mispunctuated dialog may partly have been caused by Apple's auto-incorrect, which wrongly starts a dialog tag with a capital when it occurs after dialog containing a question mark or exclamation mark. But the author gets it right sometimes - more often than not, by the end of the book; maybe he turned off that particular autocorrect "rule". This suggests that he does know how it's supposed to be and ought, therefore, to have fixed the many errors of this kind in the earlier part of the book before sending it out for review.)
It makes it to my Best of the Year list, but in the lowest tier. Without the dozens of copy editing issues, I would have rated it a good deal higher. Again, many, even most, of these may well be fixed by publication, but when there are so many, some will always slip through even the best of copy editors. Far better not to make the mistakes in the first place.
February 19, 2022
Ok so Ought to be Dead was mostly just fun, and not much deeper than that. 2.75 ⭐️ rounded up, I read this book as an eARC courtesy of NetGalley to review.
This book releases today, 2/18/2022, and it was basically just… fine. It basically feels like a string of side-quests in a DLC of a video game. Our main character is named “Specter” and he is a mysterious type of undead who took over a body during a necromantic ritual to resurrect a dead dock inspector. He then proceeds to travel around, get an apprentice, and hunt monsters. Due to the nature of the main character being undead he is nigh indestructible so any real stakes are kind of removed from the story immediately, making it just a fun monster hunting romp. For these reasons it won’t really stick with me in the long haul. If you love Monster Hunter meets Witcher meets Dark Souls ish you may have a good time with this. It is only 250 pages and reads pretty fast, but it is purely fluff without much substance, unfortunately. I am unclear if this is the start to a series or a stand alone, but if some of these things sound good to you then definitely check it out!
This book releases today, 2/18/2022, and it was basically just… fine. It basically feels like a string of side-quests in a DLC of a video game. Our main character is named “Specter” and he is a mysterious type of undead who took over a body during a necromantic ritual to resurrect a dead dock inspector. He then proceeds to travel around, get an apprentice, and hunt monsters. Due to the nature of the main character being undead he is nigh indestructible so any real stakes are kind of removed from the story immediately, making it just a fun monster hunting romp. For these reasons it won’t really stick with me in the long haul. If you love Monster Hunter meets Witcher meets Dark Souls ish you may have a good time with this. It is only 250 pages and reads pretty fast, but it is purely fluff without much substance, unfortunately. I am unclear if this is the start to a series or a stand alone, but if some of these things sound good to you then definitely check it out!
January 18, 2022
I got a copy of this self-published book from NetGalley. This is also my first review on NetGalley.
There are good things in this story and not-so-good things, too. The good things are: firstly, the story has a way of making quite straightforward, even a little milquetoast, characters seem inviting and humorous. The worldbuilding is, sadly, derivative, but still manages to be interesting with a cup of coffee and a free half-hour in hand. The action is actually good. The plot manages to be there. I had to make a dash to finish reading because I had other reading to do; but this book is, in it's own way, a charming little diversion. I probably would've enjoyed this a lot in other conditions, but let's say it works. In a way. Let's say this is good enough. That's all.
There are good things in this story and not-so-good things, too. The good things are: firstly, the story has a way of making quite straightforward, even a little milquetoast, characters seem inviting and humorous. The worldbuilding is, sadly, derivative, but still manages to be interesting with a cup of coffee and a free half-hour in hand. The action is actually good. The plot manages to be there. I had to make a dash to finish reading because I had other reading to do; but this book is, in it's own way, a charming little diversion. I probably would've enjoyed this a lot in other conditions, but let's say it works. In a way. Let's say this is good enough. That's all.
February 18, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed Ought to be Dead by Scott Warren; it was an entertaining and unique book. The characters were all delightful and distinct, and the world-building was a unique take on certain familiar tropes (dwarves, elves) while also containing much originality. It was so fascinating to read a story where necromancy is a legalized trade, at least in parts of the world, and from the point of view of an undead character.
Most importantly, my favourite parts of the book were the philosophical threads — what makes a monster, perhaps humans are the real monsters, as well as the status of the undead within this world — and the message of hope and kindness.
I really appreciated that, while there is plenty of action and fights, the pace of the book was measured — more of a slow-burn instead of a fast race to the finish. It allowed me to learn more about the world, to enjoy Specter and Cotton’s adventures, and to take the time to breathe as the over-arching plot took shape. Moreover, the book’s structure of multiple parts allowed for mini-arcs of monster-hunting adventures and character development while nevertheless building up a mystery up to the final climax. I admit that it did take a little bit for me to actually get into the book, but by the third chapter I was completely enraptured.
All in all, I found this book to be very unique, entertaining, and definitely worth the read.
October 11, 2022
A good, quick read that has fun with elements that are typically reserved for darker genres, and delivered with a straightforward prose.
The plot in a nutshell: the Witcher, but with a zombie protagonist. The story is broken down into an episodic "monster of the week" type structure. There is an overarching story, but it felt like certain episodes were side-quests.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book.
The plot in a nutshell: the Witcher, but with a zombie protagonist. The story is broken down into an episodic "monster of the week" type structure. There is an overarching story, but it felt like certain episodes were side-quests.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book.
April 2, 2022
Really entertaining, fun book about a monster-hunting ghoul/revenant, who was accidentally resurrected by a necromancer. Interesting world with lots of different monsters and species. Had sort of a Witcher vibe to it as it seemed like a series of interconnected journeys with random travelling partners.
February 23, 2022
"You really ought to be dead for this sort of work."
Complete review here Inky Lighthouse - Another blog about books. .
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