Melanie
Written on Jan 15, 2019
Review originally posted at BooksOfMyHeart.net.
So, it’s been a while since I’ve listened to a book in the Supervillainy Saga series, but I’m excited to be back in the world of Gary Karkofsky, aka Merciless. The Tournament of Supervillany is a bit different as Gary and the gang are put into a tournament, which is an interesting new challenge for Gary.
The author continues to follow several superhero tropes, while thumbing his nose at the tropes too. He also combines his universes with guest to Gary’s world. I loved seeing Agent G from Agent G series and Jane Doe from Bright Falls Mysteries series (the weredeer, whose family has a thing for puns). There is also Cassius Mass from Lucifer’s Star, which is one of two series I haven’t read by Phipps. If you haven’t read these other series, that’s okay, but you will want to read the earlier books in this series.
So Death puts Gary into this tournament with Jane, Agent G and Cassius (new to this series) along with his normal sidekicks. The person who wins the tournament gets an orb that will give you one wish, with no rules. Needless to say, everyone wants this orb. Death doesn’t want the other side to have it, because the other side wants to end the world with it. Hence, Gary saving the world once again.
Phipps also includes his trademark snark and cultural references. There is a comment in the book about having a PhD in Nerd, well, you don’t actually need a PhD, but a Master’s wouldn’t be bad. There are references to all the different superhero comics, not to mention a lot of Star Wars (and boy, did Phipps not like The Last Jedi), Buffy, and even Harry Dresden is referenced. I’m sure there are some jokes I didn’t get, because I just wasn’t familiar, but that’s okay. There are so many jokes, you’ll get enough of them.
This is a fun series. If you’re looking for a fun series with a supervillain who can’t help but save the world, this is a series you should really try.
Narration
Jeffrey Kafer does an amazing job narrating this series. He’s great with male and female voices (and there’s a lot of different voices in this series), not to mention Gary’s daughter Leia. Kafer is also great at bringing out the snark in a series. He even does writes a second forward to this book. Kafer is a great narrator. If you haven’t tried him yet, you really must.
**I like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.