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..
- ASIN:
- B0C6FL35YR
4 stars
(55 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 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.
Katherine Villyard reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Review of 'Starter Villain' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
It’s funny. It has typing cats and swearing dolphins. What’s not to like?
Flippin' 'Eck, Reader reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
A fun, fast-paced modern satire
5 stars
This was a quick and easy read, with the plot zipping along at a rapid pace and not too many characters or complicated ideas to get straight in your head.
It's a fun parody of James Bond style villains but also quite a good satire of California techbros, VC funding, and mega-billionaires. If any of that group are on your "I don't like these people" list, you'll probably enjoy this book!
enne📚 reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Starter Villain
4 stars
A classic Scalzi one-shot novel--a fluffy snack with some good twists.
The basic setup is that down-on-his-luck Charlie Fitzer unexpectedly inherits his estranged billionaire uncle's villainous empire and now has to fend with other villains who were pissed at his uncle.
Key features:
- volcano lair
- jerk dolphins who want to unionize
- zoom call power plays
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...
Mollarom reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Needs more dogs
3 stars
Not bad. Definitely has some Hitchhiker's-esque scenes. But the end was a letdown.
Ian Brown reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Cat GIF goes here.
5 stars
Another genre-bending romp from @scalzi@mastodon.social. Fast and fun, this book was a great bit of mental floss to kick off another year of reading. As always Scalzi delivers laugh-out-loud lines with clever dialog and banter. Pick up a copy at your local bookstore or at the nearest public library ASAP.
Michael Vilain reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
A rollicking fun read
5 stars
I had lots of fun reading this. And the audiobook is read by Will Wheaton who brings his wry humor into it.
While I'd read FUZZY NATION (also masterfully read by Will), there was a lot more humor in VILLAIN and KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY. It seems I need to start going through John's other novels like the OLD MAN'S WAR stuff.
DigitalRob@ramblingreaders.org reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
If you read one book this year, make it this one... great fun!
5 stars
As I listened to this on my morning walks, I was caught cackling with laughter several times by my fellow neighborhood walkers. I’m pretty sure they wonder about me now. My sister and I also exchanged texts with some of the funniest lines.
Chapter four is the funniest funeral ever. Anyone receiving flowers and a vase with “Suck MFer,” can’t be all bad… right?!?!
Then there are the dolphins. Totally hard core, and death by “mass dolphin gender identification,” sounds pretty horrible.
The Pitch and Pitch, was also super fun. “Tetsticles as a service.” Bwahahaha!
The book didn’t end the way I expected. I kind of wanted an ending with a “to be continued…” motif, but one-shot books are great too. No worries about setting up another plot, so the ending is clean.
Charlie and Matti are great. I was pleased with how that relationship went. I was worried for …
As I listened to this on my morning walks, I was caught cackling with laughter several times by my fellow neighborhood walkers. I’m pretty sure they wonder about me now. My sister and I also exchanged texts with some of the funniest lines.
Chapter four is the funniest funeral ever. Anyone receiving flowers and a vase with “Suck MFer,” can’t be all bad… right?!?!
Then there are the dolphins. Totally hard core, and death by “mass dolphin gender identification,” sounds pretty horrible.
The Pitch and Pitch, was also super fun. “Tetsticles as a service.” Bwahahaha!
The book didn’t end the way I expected. I kind of wanted an ending with a “to be continued…” motif, but one-shot books are great too. No worries about setting up another plot, so the ending is clean.
Charlie and Matti are great. I was pleased with how that relationship went. I was worried for a while that it would become a cliche. I also like that as a former business reporter, Charlie has some chops in dealing with the other villains. Then there is Hera. She might be my favorite: “Dogs are the worst. They’ll sell you out for a treat and a head pat.” She is not wrong.
Kelson Reads reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
A fun, fast read, parodying the James Bond Villain archetype. With talking dolphins and typing cats.
4 stars
A fun, fast read, parodying the James Bond Villain archetype. The main character is dropped into the deep end of supervillain society, complete with double-crosses, triple-crosses, assassination attempts, blackmail, framing...and of course the secret volcanic lair, superlasers, talking dolphins (who are really unpleasant and cranky) and a management layer of typing cats (who are much less so, depending on how well you feed and pet them).
Everyone knows he's way out of his depth and wants to take advantage of him. But he knows it too -- and between a background in business journalism and a willingness to listen to people with expertise (always considering that they have an agenda that might not be his own), he's able to manage better than anyone expects.
Of course, the skills that get you to the top of the backstabbing, chaotic world of villainy...aren't necessarily the best for financial stability. Or stability of …
A fun, fast read, parodying the James Bond Villain archetype. The main character is dropped into the deep end of supervillain society, complete with double-crosses, triple-crosses, assassination attempts, blackmail, framing...and of course the secret volcanic lair, superlasers, talking dolphins (who are really unpleasant and cranky) and a management layer of typing cats (who are much less so, depending on how well you feed and pet them).
Everyone knows he's way out of his depth and wants to take advantage of him. But he knows it too -- and between a background in business journalism and a willingness to listen to people with expertise (always considering that they have an agenda that might not be his own), he's able to manage better than anyone expects.
Of course, the skills that get you to the top of the backstabbing, chaotic world of villainy...aren't necessarily the best for financial stability. Or stability of any kind.
Peter Kraus reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Fast-paced and entertaining
4 stars
It's a really fun book, well-paced, with a lot of entertaining characters, a story full of social commentary, and some dead-pan humour. I'd probably compare it to Prattchet, with jokes that are much less tired, anchored in a soft sci-fi setting instead of fantasy. My minor gripe with how contrived some of the story felt was ultimately addressed by the story itself, which felt nice.
Why not 5 stars? Well, I do wonder how some of the references are going to age - it is likely neither Spotify nor Zoom will be around in 20 years. Also, just like with Prattchet, it's really just a social commentary and not really a critique: the set-up is there just to poke fun at and expose how ridiculous our society is, but unlike in Scalzi's Interdependency books, there's little in-depth discussion of the issues, as almost everyone is on the same page.
Jameson reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Review of 'Starter Villain' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Unfolds a novel and intriguing premise with Scalzi’s dependable wit (and identical character voices). There’s a somewhat unsatisfying lack of villainy despite all that goes on, even though the rogues’ network that’s explored instead is filled with delightfully absurd details. For once, I wish this story had finished with a few more loose ends than it did.
Will reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Go into it with no expectation except fun
4 stars
Like most Scalzi books this is a great story and a lot of fun. If you want some escapism then you've come to the right place. If you're looking for something deeper, this will not be satisfying at all.
Soh Kam Yung reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi
How to be a villian, but not be too evil.
4 stars
A humorous and interesting story involving the usual clueless main character who discovers that he has been given a massive inheritance from a deceased relative. Only here, the relative is an uncle who turns out to have been a villain (complete with evil volcanic lair) who now wants him to run his evil empire.
As the story develops, it turns out the empire he inherits is not quite so evil after all. It does work for various governments and agencies. But it then quietly reuses the technology developed for other purposes. For example, a laser technology used to make rain gets repurposed (and boosted) to take down satellites (yes, it does get used in the story).
The main story involves the character interacting with other villains in the world who, while not plotting to take over the world, do want to accumulate vast wealth. And the death of his uncle …
A humorous and interesting story involving the usual clueless main character who discovers that he has been given a massive inheritance from a deceased relative. Only here, the relative is an uncle who turns out to have been a villain (complete with evil volcanic lair) who now wants him to run his evil empire.
As the story develops, it turns out the empire he inherits is not quite so evil after all. It does work for various governments and agencies. But it then quietly reuses the technology developed for other purposes. For example, a laser technology used to make rain gets repurposed (and boosted) to take down satellites (yes, it does get used in the story).
The main story involves the character interacting with other villains in the world who, while not plotting to take over the world, do want to accumulate vast wealth. And the death of his uncle opens up an opportunity for them to take over his business; and possibly get rid of him too.
The writing is fun and fast moving, with witty dialogue and explanations for why his uncle's evil empire does what it does. Perhaps, in the end, he doesn't turn out to be the villain he is expected to be, and the world might end up becoming a better place, if he survives the takeover attempts.
