Marius don Hellespont may not be the most morally upright person, but his survival instinct is strong. He and his apprentice, Gerd, are walking through a field of corpses, looting the fallen bodies, when Gerd accidentally informs the nearby soldiers as to he and his master's activities.

Marius is mistaken for the King of Scorby (the body that he just looted) and the a soldier (who also happens to be dead), takes Marius to the Kingdom of the Dead.

The dead, it seems, need a ruler and since Marius came in place of the anticipated dead king, Marius is given one chance - to return to the land of the living and send a dead king back down to the Kingdom of the Dead, or return to the land of the dead and suffer for all eternity.

It wouldn't seem like much of a choice, but Marius tries to invoke another option ... run away! But we know you can't run away from death no matter how hard you try, and this sends Marius into a series of (sometimes amusing) incidents.


I liked the general concept of this book - it's definitely something right up my interest - but I found the book to be slow and I struggled to stay interested. Some of this could definitely come from what I see as a despicable, low-life central character.

When a main character is insincere and really has no redeeming qualities to him, what drives the story? Is it only plot driven and the character is nothing more than a means to get to the end of the plot? Even if that were so (and I don't think it is) there's no reason that the central figure shouldn't be appealing to the reader in some way.

What I expect with a character like Marius don Hellespont is that there will be a change in his character (think Scrooge) as a result of what he goes through in the course of the book. But we need to see the potential for change - some sign that there's promise - and we don't get that here.

Looking for a good book? The Corpse-Rat King by Lee Battersby starts off well with a great premise and a fun opening sequence, but it quickly devolves and we're left with only some nice language and a character we don't care about.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Corpse-Rat King opens with a bang: Marius, a professional thief, and his assistant Gerd, are combing through a battlefield, looting whatever valuables they could find. Unfortunately, Marius comes upon the corpse of the King and quickly finds his life changed forever. Within minutes Gerd is brutally slain and Marius finds himself in the Kingdom of the Dead – mistaken for the dead king.

Needless to say, the dead are not pleased to discover Marius is, in fact, not their king. Also, he’s not exactly as dead as they originally thought. They send him back to the surface with a task: find a new ruler.

Marius was not a fighting man. A thief does not enter the profession because he wants to fight. He was a slinker, a tip-toer. He lived for the time after the fight, when the victor had departed and all that remained were the easy rewards and sightless eyes.

With a fascinating plot, The Corpse-Rat King is unlike any story I’ve read. The lines between the living and the dead are blurred in Marius’s world and I loved that. Once he returns to the surface he notices changes to his body. For starters, he doesn’t have a heartbeat. His vision in the dark has also changed – for the better. At times his skin will be grey and withered, yet other times his flesh will be rosy and pink. This aspect was really neat and I enjoyed all the possibilities.

Also, the author has a way with words. The writing was absolutely beautiful. Sadly, this also led to me skimming page-length paragraphs of descriptions. Vivid, lovely descriptions, but descriptions nonetheless.

Early explorers found nothing there to recommend the place to anybody, and indeed, early maps show a simple ovoid outline with the words “Don’t Bother” written inside.

Marius meets an entire cast of characters throughout his journey: dead kings, an untrustworthy captain, an island of natives. Each one was wonderfully fleshed out and their own person. Again, I cannot say enough about Battersby’s penchant for writing: he is a magnificent writer (with over 70 stories to his name!).

However – and I wish there wasn’t a however – once the book hit the halfway mark it felt like the story came grinding to a halt. It felt like I was reading the camping part of Deathly Hallows all over again! Marius is on this exciting, event-riddled journey. I shouldn’t be skimming entire pages!

Then he remembered the autumn of his tenth year, when Nandus had ordered that the forests along the Borghan peninsula be set on fire so the squirrels wouldn’t get cold, and seven thousands peasants had died in the winter snows.

Some of my favorite characters showed up only to never be heard from or thought about again. The dead King Nandus was fantastic and I could easily have read an entire book solely featuring him.

Keth, the love-interest-that-wasn’t is another example of a character that seemed to play a huge role, but then simply vanished. At one point Marius has a Big Revelation and realizes that she’s loved him this entire time. He turns her into a mission (find the dead a king, then get back to his home, profess his love, buy Keth a house, have a bunch of kids, and live Happily Ever After), yet not long after that moment, Keth is never thought of again. She doesn’t appear again – either in person or in conversation – for the duration of the book.

Gerd, the bumbling sidekick, had the personality of the real hero while Marius could have easily been the sidekick instead. Marius put Gerd through so much – and told so many lies – that it was hard NOT to feel for Gerd.

With no external stimulation, he turned inwards. He tried singing, but there are only so many bottles of beer that can fall before the entire liquor industry goes on strike…

There were multiple lines that made me giggle, but even the humor doesn’t hide the fact that there are many things missing from this book. Gaping plot holes, unsympathetic characters with no redeeming qualities, and too-long paragraphs combined to make what initially started out as a fantastic book, an ultimately disappointing and lackluster one. I finished The Corpse-Rat King with a resounding meh.

From the author notes it seems a sequel is in the works. Hopefully the issues I had will be addressed and corrected.