Starter Villain
-
-
4.4 • 38 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
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 mysterious uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.
Sure, there are the things you'd expect. The undersea volcano lairs. The minions. The plots to take over the world. The international networks of rivals who want you dead.
Much harder to get used to . . . are the the sentient, language-using, computer-savvy cats.
And the fact that in the overall organization, they're management . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this clever, fast-paced thriller, Hugo Award winner Scalzi (The Kaiju Preservation Society) subverts classic supervillain tropes with equal measures of tongue-in-cheek humor and common sense. For years, business reporter–turned–substitute teacher Charlie Fitzer has struggled to find purpose; his current goal is to buy a pub just for a change of pace. Then his uncle Jake, a reclusive billionaire owner of parking structures, dies. Charlie, as Jake's closest living relative, stands to inherit everything—but what he doesn't realize is that his uncle was really an evil genius straight out of a James Bond movie. After the funeral, to which goons show up just to make sure Jake is really dead, a bomb destroys Charlie's house, leading him to move into his uncle's secret island volcano lair, complete with a satellite-destroying death ray and genetically modified superintelligent cats. Danger comes in the form of the Lombardy Convocation, a coalition of fellow evil billionaires who secretly rule the world and want Charlie to join them or die. Scalzi balances all the double-crosses and assassination attempts with ethical quandaries, explorations of economic inequality, and humor, including some foul-mouthed unionizing dolphins. The result is a breezy and highly entertaining genre send-up.
Customer Reviews
Tries too hard
Thirty-something protagonist Charlie’s marriage breaks down, he loses his job as a journalist, and is barely getting by on what he earns as a substitute teacher despite living rent free in the family home since the death of his father. The estate was to be divided equally between Charlie and his three siblings. The estate is basically the house. The siblings are from his old man’s first marriage, >10 years older than him, and well established. They want to sell and trouser the dough. Our boy wants to buy the local suburban waterhole, an Irish pub, as you would, but the bank won’t lend him the money. Quelle surprise. Then his uncle, whom he hasn’t seen in years, dies and leaves him his business: parking garages. Except that’s just a front. He’s really a Bond-style villain. You know the type: lairs concealed inside volcanoes, talking cats, dolphins trained as spies, that sort of thing. (More Austin Powers style than Bond, perhaps).
Time for our boy to step up. He has an affinity for cats already. He also has Matilda, his uncle’s multitalented right hand woman, looking out for him. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, as it turns out.
I liked the premise. The execution not so much. It’s not a particularly long book, but I still think the author used more words than he needed to. There’s some interesting, if unconventionally framed, commentary on the evils of contemporary capitalism. The humour felt forced, like the author was trying too hard to be something he’s not. Douglas Adams, for instance.