Joerg reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Expository dialogue - the novel
3 stars
Expository dialogue for most of the book. Some truly funny bits though.
Audiobook
English language
Published Sept. 18, 2023 by John Scalzi, Audible, Inc..
John Scalzi, Wil Wheaton: Starter Villain (AudiobookFormat, 2023, John Scalzi, Audible, Inc.)
- ASIN:
- B0C6FL35YR
4 stars
(4 reviews)
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.
Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.
But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.
It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, …
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.
Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.
But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.
It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.
In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.
matthewmincher@bookwyrm.social reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Enjoyable Scalzi short
4 stars
I enjoyed this more than Redshirts. A fun read that doesn't take itself too seriously. I really felt like I was reading a movie.
A nice self contained plot with plenty of foreshadowing, but I did want a little bit more in the payoff at the end. Plenty of contemporary references and stabs at corporate America. The cat thing was juuuust about on the line and didn't go overboard.
I liked the premise of random guy inserted into villainous empire but i did feel like Charlie's handling of it felt a bit "chosen one". I'd have liked to see a few more disasters along the way.
Narrated by Wil Wheaton, who was perfect and complemented the book's humour perfectly. If you've listened to Ready Player One, he brought a similar nerdy enthusiasm to it.
Dah DJM reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
If you love cats...
4 stars
I discoved Scalzi with this book. Liked the humor and many fun ideas...
