Starter Villain
Ratings360
Average rating4.1
Writing a book & thinking that the novelty of a “starter villain” or talking animals would be enough to sustain it was naive. Not much here; rather pedestrian really.
This book was much fun to listen to. I look forward to listening to it again.
I really did debate if this book warranted a 5 star rating. And I think it does. I am already going back on what I had previous said - that I would be stricter with my 5 star ratings. (If I really truly wanted to be strict, I would still give it a 4.5/5. But I had to add extra for the cats. Always for the cats.)
John Scalzi is one of the funniest and most innovative SF authors out there. Each one of his books is so unique. I have previously loved a lot of his works - Redshirts and the Old Man's War series especially.
This book, I think, maybe be right up there with Red shirts as one of the funniest he has written. Starter Villain is about Charlie, who, after the untimely passing of his uncle, unexpectedly inherits his supervillain business along with his not to secret volcano lair.
The book does not stop being funny, I caught my self laughing out loudly on several occasions. This book is a fast and easy read, with engaging characters and a really funny and quirky plot - as a lot of Scalzi novels are. I loved it.
But, it being light and easy does not stop it from making commentary about the corporate world.
I wish I could give this book six stars purely for the cats and the dolphins. They deserves their own stars.
Barely squeaks by with 4 stars thanks to the cats. Otherwise, I think Scalzi is just not my cup of tea. He's very funny, but I need more depth from my characters than he is interested in providing.
This book started great. I read the first 40% in one sitting. The sense of mystery was really intriguing as set up.
But once we get to the main plot...I just found the joke to be played out. This book ends up being a big nothing burger. There are some bits I liked the whole way through - like the dolphins, which are a delight. But I absolutely, completely, hated the last 15-20% and it retroactively made me dislike a lot of the rest of it too. Not a great first try for Scalzi.
