Starter Villain

Meet the new boss.

by John Scalzi, Wil Wheaton

No cover — John Scalzi, Wil Wheaton: Starter Villain (AudiobookFormat, 2023, John Scalzi, Audible, Inc.)

Audiobook

English language

Published Sept. 18, 2023 by John Scalzi, Audible, Inc..

ASIN:: B0C6FL35YR

(5 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.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

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.

4 editions

Mark Crocker reviewed Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Fun wild ride

5 stars

Starter villain is one of those books where I had to tell every body around me the latest funny or outrageous quote as I encountered it. I read it in record time, have over 27 passages quoted in my reader, and saved it to my favorites list.

The story premise seems preposterous, but John Scalzi managed to produce a story that makes sense... an outrageous, funny, twisted sort of sense. It's also surprisingly insightful and pragmatic, and turns the tropes on end, points out the ridiculousness of comic book villains, but also comes up with a reasonable business plan for a Billionaire Super Villain. I'm not going to say it's entirely plausible, but it is a fun, wild ride that's worth the effort. It definitely put a smile on my face!