Hench

Rating Description:

1.0 - DNF/Despise

1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had

2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring

2.5 - Alright with lots of notes

3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it

3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it

4.0 - Technically good, and/or I enjoyed it a lot

4.5 - Loved it, I wanted to highlight lines in the book but still with notes

5.0 - Loved it, I wanted to highlight lines in the book, and notes are very positive

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First and foremost, this was an easy and enjoyable read. A welcome change of pace given the last 2 books I read before this.

A lot of the reviews will probably say that this is quite similar to The Boys, and I don’t disagree. I actually picked this up for that very reason. But despite the similarities, it does hit differently. While there is violence here, it is not as gory. There was a lot more focus on getting information and translating that data to something that inconvenience the so-called hero. So, they basically started with petty stuff and then they escalated.

This book was probably the best example of a tell don’t show style of writing. While I didn’t mind it much, there was a part near the end wherein I thought the scene would have been better served if the author showed the characters actually doing the action rather than telling the readers about it.

I rate this as 4 stars because I enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered the next book when I was half way done with this.

Pet peeve:

The copy I got had print issues. Some pages were off-center so they looked like they had weird margins. It was so distracting.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this, and I'm annoyed that it took me years before I picked this up.
Honestly, this is one of my favourite reads of the year so far.
Definitely recommend this if you're looking for a good villain origin story.

What an amazing story. It was dark and funny and heartwrenching at the same time. It felt so amazingly real. Like you felt all the emotions while it was happening. I wasn't expecting a perfect ending either but I am satisfied with how it ended up. 

One of the best books I have read in a while and definitely one of y new favourites. But not for the feint of heart. 

Few months late on the review —

Great beginning and really enjoyed the premise. Sloggy middle. Picks up about halfway through and then impossible to put down. Took some unexpected turns. Ends a bit abruptly. Setting up for a sequel..?

This was the first time I had read an “action” book, usually a genre I've experienced with film or TV. Lots of weird body horror towards the end.

Many bits are funny and I liked her writing and world building. Lots of themes explored (oppressive and corrupt power systems, law enforcement, collateral damage and how one measures that, wide representation of different identities/relationships/abilities, how misinformation spreads) but some parts fall flat.

Initially I found it easy to sympathise with Anna, our main character (last name Tromedlov — bit on the nose if you read that backwards), but she eventually spirals into depravity and self-obsession and makes terrible excuses for her bad behaviour.

Overall I thought it was a fun and different read but with all the above caveats.

Ok so first. Do NOT ignore that body horror tag because it gets VERY important in the last chapter. The descriptions had me gagging at some points so be prepared for that.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm not normally one for superhero-focused stories but the plot just sounded way too interesting to not pick this up. A scorned henchman railing against the heroes because of her egregious injury? Sounded amazing and it honestly lived up to the hype that I felt before I read the book.

The exploration of the consequences that come from over-the-top showy heroes and their destruction is, as always, fascinating. I was waiting the entire time for the hero to get his comeuppance and uh, to not spoil anything, he definitely did! Wow. That is all I will say because it's one of those things you have to experience for yourself.

I thought I was stuck in my delusions with the interactions between Anna and Leviathan but I felt SO vindicated when Anna admitted she was in love with him. And I know this is ugh to say but I do wish we had gotten a definite conclusion to that storyline. And we did, in a way, but I'm also a romantic at heart so that's probably just me being grumpy I didn't get a romance. I will say this quote absolutely destroyed me:

“He pulled me off an operating table and rebuilt my brain. He killed people to get to me. What more could I possibly need to know?” Your fav romance books could never honestly.

And Anna. ANNA. God, I'm obsessed with her. She was such an impressive badass character and she had the STYLE with the cane oh my goodness. I can just imagine her absolute power walk at the end of the book. Truly a villain and I mean that in every complimentary way possible. 

Easily one of the best books I've read in a while.

I really like this one. The first 20-30% were a bit rough for me since it was set up for the world and characters' motivations. Since this book is a standalone that is very understandable. But once the real plot kicked in, I could not put it down. If you are a plot-driven reader this one is for you.
I also didn't particularly like the way it ended, but considering that there is now a sequel I understand that the author was trying to keep that door open for something down the line. 

I can't wait to read more books in this world.

I read this because I saw a tweet that mentioned Hench when talking about “unsettling easy distinctions between heroes/villains through narrative moments of unbearable intimacy” and this is precisely what Hench was. This is a 4.5 for me.

In the age of superheroes, few works invite us to talk and think about what the world would really be if they existed. What would be the consequences to normal people, to the everyday human, and how that impact would mold our society? Hench does all of this and more.

There's a great depth of analysis in this book, a great representation of a disabled protagonist and other characters, a great bisexual representation that is never shamed, and the whole LGBTq+ gets their moments too. We have POC characters that aren't stereotypical or forgetful.

If all of that isn't enough, Hench has great humor moments, but it's not a book for you if you're squeamish because the gore is present a lot, and there are also lots of triggers. There are also lovely and warming moments that give us comfort and make us fall in love with the characters and their relationships.

Last but not least Anna. She is a great protagonist for me, she captivated me and made me root for her for the entirety of this book. I am already a villain girl, but Anna makes it easy, not only because there's so much good in her that she's better than most heroes, but because she's loveable and funny and so so lonely and precious it hurts. I'll be waiting for the second book to pass more time in her presence.

A wonderfully unique take on the superhero (or should I say villain) genre.

I went into this book wanting to root for the bad guy, but ended up cheering for no one. The good, the bad, and everyone in between seemed like shadow characters, doing what they were expected to do, with no true motivation.

The gang of henches believes that being on the anti-hero's team is a more honest living, and fighting in the name of good and morality is just delusional. Even if Anna supposedly has math and spreadsheets to back up her argument, it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. She, herself, is the cause of pain, destruction, and damage, but she isn't accountable for it in her mind. 

There is a lot of telling, and not a lot of showing. Case in point, there are multiple ways in which the author creates once-removed ways of telling the story, instead of bringing us into the action (e.g. the reporter angle, the surveillance “eggs”). The author really leans into the cartoon-y evil caricatures: I mean, most of Anna's relationships are built on evil giggles.

The best way I can describe the reading experience is that the author was trying to be theatrical and over-the-top funny / scathing / witty - but I either had to (metaphorically) force my laughter, or I didn't laugh at all .

An interesting take from the other side of the superhero/villain divide.

There is a comic book in the Marvel universe about the company that comes in and cleans up or repairs the damage caused by superbeing fights. This continues that idea ( the book is not set in the Marvel or DC universes) added in the stories of the people that do the office work and other non-super work for the super villains.
A number of interesting ideas are presented in the book like superhero retirement homes ( imagine the Human Torch getting old and suffering from dementia) and what happens to the bystanders who get hurt when The Hulk smashes buildings.
If you are a comic or superhero movie fan, you will probably find this interesting.
While there are some funny bits, this gets pretty dark at times.

This book flips the superhero story and tells it from the villain's side, but even that is too simple an explanation. Because what it is actually ABOUT is not villains and superheroes, but really how one can find themselves on the slippery slope toward becoming a villain in ways that are actually very real and chillingly relatable. There are times when you completely understand where the protagonist is coming from, even if there is that niggling in the back of your mind that what she's doing is wrong. At times you feel uncomfortable with the fact that she's actually doing to others what she had done to her and yet justifying it because it's carefully crafted and only hurting those SHE deems worthy of hurt because they first hurt her without a second thought - so you know, a villain.
The beginning is filled with smart, funny dialogue and the entertaining premise of Anna, our main character, working as a “Hench” to villains, not because she wants to be a villain, but because she needs work and money to live. Something we all understand. Ever worked a ‘shitty' job because you ‘just needed the money'? Anna is likable and you will definitely follow her emotionally down this rabbit hole from start to finish. What starts as a down on her luck, job-searching young adult story turns into something much different when Anna is injured both physically and mentally due to the negligence of a superhero. While she doesn't initially seek revenge, it morphs into it in subtle and clever ways as the story progresses.
Although I found there were some lulls along the way, for the most part it clips along at a good pace considering there isn't a ton of action, particularly for a superhero/villain story. If you're here for big epic fights and city destroying antics, that's a very small fraction of the story. Walschots' story is much more shrewd and crafty, much more pointed toward character-driven substance.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It has easy language, sharp dialogue and a modern touch, but delves into something deeper, something morally ambiguous as it progresses, making it more than just a quick enjoyable read, and one that sticks with you after, pondering the implications it presents even after the last page is turned over.

Teetered between 4 and 5 stars for a long time. In the beginning, I struggled to see where this might be heading, and for a long time I was unsure if I could summon enough empathy for the villains to truly buy into the message but I think eventually I got there.

I enjoyed the variety of characters, their diverse backgrounds and various realistic and unrealistic bodily features.

The protagonist's pansexual (?) love interests were a little confusing, all unrequited, and left a lot to be desired from a story point of view, all the way to the end when instead of a resolution we got a cliffhanger, which was honestly a little dissatisfying.

Regardless, a wonderful book and I'm glad I read it.

If this doesn't get a sequel I'm gonna be bummed. This was a great little read. Not as sapphic as I thought it was going to be. But I really enjoyed this. A fun ride. 

Really excellent; I was surprised and delighted throughout by the plot twists and the chance to root unabashedly for villains.

It turns out, evil schemes require spreadsheets. Hench's protagonist, Anna, is a temp who does data entry for actual villains. She's roped into attending a press conference for her latest boss, who is concerned about proving his staff are appropriately diverse while broadcasting a ransom video. He may have kidnapped the mayor's son, but he's no sexist.

When the press conference takes an abrupt and chaotic turn, Anna suffers considerable injury. This is more or less her origin story, and if you ask me, an unexpectedly poignant look into how disability can awaken new political consciousness. Often the people our society hurts the worst are the same people we are most eager to leave behind, treat as burdens, or blame for what happened to them.

Hench is an intriguing look into what differentiates heroes from villains. What separates two groups with immense power and reach, whose actions cause upheaval and harm? What core values might these groups share? Could it be that the villains are more honest than the heroes, with both themselves and the world about the impact of who they are and what they do?

Hench is also stupid and funny and snarky. Its characters are realistic mixes of competent and terrified, loyal and severe, intimidating and pathetic. It is about friendships beginning and ending, how emotions get wrapped up in work we are passionate about, and how being surrounded and supported by those who believe in us can make all the difference.

My main gripe with this was the audiobook narrator. I found the voices used for most of the characters unpleasant and grating. I think this would work wonderfully with a full cast, a la [b:Sleeping Giants|25733990|Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1)|Sylvain Neuvel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459785141l/25733990.SX50.jpg|42721200]. As it stands now, I recommend the print format.

I don't read much about superheroes or supervillains, as I'm not a big Marvel or DC person. So this basically reminded me of any other book I've read with heroes: [b:Dreadnought|30279514|Dreadnought (Nemesis #1)|April Daniels|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466970667l/30279514.SY75.jpg|50755147], [b:Refrigerator Monologues|32714267|The Refrigerator Monologues|Catherynne M. Valente|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477836652l/32714267.SY75.jpg|53293963], and [b:Vicious|40874032|Vicious (Villains, #1)|V.E. Schwab|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532011194l/40874032.SY75.jpg|19250870]. At times it reminded me of Netflix's Jessica Jones series, and the movie Megamind (which is excellent, and you can fight me on that). It also feels similar in tone to [b:All Systems Red|32758901|All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)|Martha Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631585309l/32758901.SY75.jpg|53349516] and [b:Finna|44081573|Finna (LitenVerse #1)|Nino Cipri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563304090l/44081573.SY75.jpg|68548236].

I'm hoping for a sequel here!

Fun read. Interesting concept. Very good construction and pace. Dark but fun. A bit in the spirit of “The Boys”

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots and read by Alex McKenna is a great book about super villainy, what it means to be a hero, and the mix of darkness and light within us all. Anna is a hench, temping for villain after villain, but after a run in with a hero changes the course of her life, will she rise to something more? This book takes the traditional super hero narrative and subverts it, looking at the dark side of super heroics from the prospective of someone actively opposing them. It's an interesting concept, and a well written book. I really liked Anna and enjoyed watching her journey through the novel. At times it was a bit difficult for me to completely follow her logic and understanding, but her development from beginning to end was so great that I was able to get past her worldview and simply root for her as a person. Additionally I longed for more closure in Anna's relationship with a couple other characters who exited the narrative before the end. Maybe we don't always get that closure, but I still found myself longing for it. My only other complaint is that I didn't love the ending. Somehow I wanted more. I also had the sense that Walschots may have been leaving the door open for a sequel. I'd certainly be interested in reading it if a follow-up is released. More than anything this book left me thinking about the complex web in which we're all entangled and connected to one another. Overall it's a great book and the audiobook features wonderful narration. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Little guy gets squished
works hard to become big guy
has squishing to do.

This was a pleasant surprise.

I picked up Hench based on CBC Canada Reads defense by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee.

Truly, if we are talking chicken and egg here, the egg was CBC Canada Reads and the chicken was Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. I love Kim's Convenience and think he's hysterical so why wouldn't I like a book he likes?

Evildoers at a temp agency is where we find our protagonist, Anna. Even villains need someone to help with filing and coffee. So Anna goes from villain to villain until she finds herself at a press conference that goes horribly wrong. A superhero shows up to save the day. The hero injures Anna, who is rushed to hospital and learns she is now a former temp because of her injuries, and she's pissed. Anna's spite is her superpower, and she uses it to find a different villain to work with and the excitement begins again.

I cheered for the bad guys more than once. Or were they the bad guys after all?...

If you love The Boys on Amazon Prime, you will love this book. The description of one of the battles (and that is not even remotely the point of the book), is hysterical and disgusting, but more hysterical. Full disclosure... I am entirely sick of superhero movies. I don't want to see any more re-takes or prequels or anyone in a cape that isn't Gaga. I made the exception for The Boys and love it, but that was going to be the end of my commitment to superheroes. No more. Hands down. Don't even ask. Then came Hench.

So why would I love a book that is so obviously not my kind of book? Because it is hysterical. Not laugh a minute jokes, two superheroes walk into a bar, kind of hysterical. Clever funny–which is my favourite kind of funny after potty humour.

Besides, Natalie Zina Walschots is from Toronto. All the best writers are from Toronto... right? (This is your cue to say, ‘damn straight they are Kristine!”) Shucks, thanks.

I waited for a library copy and got a 7-day read notice about five weeks later. I read this book in two days. But if you can't wait the twelve weeks for a library copy, this is definitely one I would have bought and probably read again on a beach. You know, like when travelling. You remember travel, don't you?

Conceptually, this is genius. But, as the author acknowledges in the acknowledgements, she's not so good with feelings and this is reflected in the book. It doesn't distract plot-wise since there's so much to be entertained by, but I felt the characters lacked emotional depth.

Highly recommended and I eagerly await Walschots next literary foray.

I feel bad for saying this, but I genuinely hated this book. The opening portion with the temp agency was interesting and I feel like there was probably a sharp satirical short story hidden in there, but that premise is soon abandoned in favour of mean-spirited pranks, bad math, boring rich-girl power fantasy writing and ridiculous romance.

Anna has a vendetta against heroes because of the damage they rack up, but villains seem to somehow be mysteriously exempt from her equations (at one point she blames heroes for creating villains at all, which handily puts any damage they do back on to the heroes anyway). By the end of the book she has her own terrible death toll, which she associates with the stupid romance so I guess it's fine now. The idea that things are this bad and it has gone on for years with no one until Anna mentioning it is kind of unbelievable, and the worldbuilding behind the structural issues surrounding superheroes is introduced so late that basically nothing happens with it.

Most of the characters including the protagonist are cardboard cutouts with identities glued to them - we are introduced to an autistic physics prodigy at one point and she is never mentioned again, I couldn't tell you a single fact about any of the minor character work friends. I've already forgotten most of their names. They obviously all love our main character. The one who showed even the slightest bit of resistance came around almost immediately. Most of the characters with even a tiny spark of life wind up written out of the narrative by the end. The twist involving her evil boss comes up so late that it's almost nonsensical.

I couldn't recommend this book to anyone.

I have a certain weakness for books about taking down superheroes. Admittedly a rather small genre so I get excited when I find one. I liked the way the characters played off each other and the battles of conscience we see them go through. The main reason this doesn't get 5 stars is there was one twist that I felt like didn't land. Also, I felt the ending could have been a little bit tighter but leaving room for sequel was prioritized.
Interesting things this book has:
-text message conversations
-Queer people who exist beyond their labels/without labels
-Lady friendships
-The awareness that sometimes the main character is wrong
-Interesting use of powers
-mental health/healing
Less interesting:
-Sexual tension that goes nowhere
-Side plots that got lost/ were saved for a sequel.

Anna Tromedlov is a tiny cog in the villain gig economy. Henching means filling out the ancillary roles that make up a traditional bad guy roster. The camera crew that films the dramatic hostage situation, the IT resources hacking into the network feed, the getaway driver at the ready should things go south and Anna, behind the scenes crunching the numbers. But her latest gig drags her into the spotlight and she joins the line of Meat at the latest villain presser, a token diversity prop to better show off evolving bad guy allyship.

In typical hero fashion the uber-hero of the book, Supercollider arrives to save the day but leaves Anna with a shattered femur, incapacitated, jobless and probably never able to walk again without the aid of a cane. While recuperating she starts calculating the cost of heroes in the world and shares the numbers in her tiny blog The Injury Report. The thousands of hours of lost productivity, not just from the Meat horribly injured as the hero sweeps in to save the day but the innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, the firefighters dying under the rubble of a collapsing building and the millions in property damage. The arrival of Supercollider is akin to a catastrophic earthquake and no less expensive. Heroes are just villains with better PR.

I could go on. What starts out as a clever examination of the hench ecosystem, the oft overlooked infrastructure of villain endeavours which could easily fill an entire novel swiftly morphs into superhero economics drawing on the real-world research of Ilan Noy and his examination of the “Disability Adjusted Lifeyears Measure of the Direct Impact of Natural Disasters”. All carried out by the wickedly snarky Anna and the sharp banter between her and June. But it's also such a perfect office novel once Anna finds herself at Leviathan HQ. Walschots nails the adrenaline and camaraderie of a functioning office in contrast to the psychotic disfunction built mostly on hype and ego of Anna's earlier experiences. Social media and its impact in this new reality is smartly deployed and we still get a classic good guy/bad guy showdown to boot.

This would make a perfect punk rock, alt superhero movie in contrast to the grim bluster of DC and the candy coloured optimism of Marvel. As it stands, it's a near perfect read that is a blistering fastball right down the centre of my own personal strike zone. Worth check out true believers.