Following the bestselling The Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi returns with another unique sci-fi caper set in the strangest of all worlds, present-day Earth.
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, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.
A comic story about a man who inherits his uncle's supervillain business. It will have you chuckling with it nods to some of the bigger comic book villain tropes.
Book Summary:
Charlie's life has hit a bit of a dead-end. His career as a reporter is (probably) over. He's recently divorced, and now he's living in the house he grew up in. Which his siblings aren't too thrilled about, mind you.
Then Charlie's uncle, whom he never met, passes away. In doing so, he left his supervillain business (yes, really) to Charlie. Naturally, this comes with all sorts of complications. Though there is a nice lava pit, so there's that.
My Review:
Oh, my goodness. I knew Starter Villain would be a delightful (not to mention hilarious) read, but it still managed to surprise me! This book is brilliant. It's clever, witty, and has a sense of humor that I love.
Think about it. Supervillain business. Cats. Dolphins. Oh, and a substitute teacher taking charge of all of it. It's so much fun. Throw in the desire to overthrow a few multinational corporations (IE, other supervillains), and you have something going for you. That something happens to be chaos, but it works.
Ironically, I think it's all the side details and elements that I loved the most about this book. The core plot is fun, don't get me wrong. But it's the details that sell this book. Okay, all the twists help, too. What I'm trying to say is that Starter Villain is a blast and a half to read. It's not like your typical superhero/villain book – it's better.
Highlights:
Supervillainy as a Business
Cat Spies
Pro-Union Dolphins
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