Starter Villain

This was a selection chosen by one of my friends in our book club, "Tea & Tomes" which has been going on every month for four years....a record for all of us! (Guess what book we read for the 42nd month?!)I was hooked from the first page! No, actually, I was hooked by the cover. I'm not one for spoilers so I'm not doing a plot sketch. This was a delight. Ill read this again so I can savor it. Such well drawn characters and a truly brilliant plot. I chortled and chuckled; this book lifted my spirits and truly entertained. I highly recommend it!

I was only going to read a chapter or two. I ended up reading the whole thing in less than a day! As can be expected from a book about villains, there are murders, mayhem, missile explosions, and even a deadly laser. But the violence almost seems like an afterthought. The focus is on the rather inept hero, Charlie, and his efforts to fill his recently departed uncle’s shoes. As part of the uncle’s villainous machinations, a line of intelligent cats was developed. Along the way, they (with some human assistants) guide Charlie on his path to villainy. I grinned, chuckled, and even laughed out loud at some of the happenings in the book. The rather banal ending has a couple of twists that I didn’t see coming. Should yoiu read it? Yes!!!

Hello, ladies and gentlemen of Amazon! This is your friendly neighborhood book reader, coming out with my first book review of 2024! Yahoo! 🥳Sorry for the loooong delay, it has been a HARD few months and I got buried in work and responsibilities. 😵‍💫It wasn’t until during the holidays, that I got some times to find a book and read it! And BOY, DID I PICK A DOOZY! 😃I actually discovered this book on an ad in the news, it showed about the spy cats, and the cursing dolphins. When I realized that it was narrated by the famous Will Wheaton, I KNEW I had to try this book….and it was so worth it! 😄I can’t get into many spoilers, cause I’ll try to leave my reviews as spoiler free as possible. But I can tell you this ( ⚠️SPOILER WARNING⚠️) : We have our main protagonist, Charlie, that finds out that his Uncle Jake, who was a billionaire that owned parking lots as his business, tragically passed away. He then finds out that it that he wasn’t JUST a very rich park lotting entrepreneur, but was also a “VILLAIN”. His life turns upside down after he discovers that. That’s all I’m gonna give you in spoilers.If my small, brief explanation of this book interest you in any way then I truly recommend that you take some time of your schedules and sit down and give this book a try.John Scalzi,Thank you for such an enjoyable read! It really made my Christmas! I also wanted to thank you the great Will Wheaton for narrating it, and bringing the characters to life.FINAL RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a treat! After reading several long, serious biographies, I sought a light thriller with cats as part of the main storyline. A Google search suggested Starter Villain (who knew), and I loved it! I love thrillers, and I love cats (cats and books are my thing) – this story was made for me! And the dolphins are a hoot.Hera, Persephone (both cats), and their human, Charlie, embark on a grand adventure, and it’s a blast!Can’t wait for Starter Villain II!

A comedy spy thriller! Austin Powers meets James Bond. This is my first Scalzi book but it won’t be my last. I enjoyed the very convoluted plot with tons of plot twists and turns. The witty dialogue kept a smile on my face for the first 20% of the book. The humble, self deprecating hero was perfect in his role as the hapless stooge, thrown into a network of huge corporate, high tech criminal enterprises upon the death of his uncle. Lots of sophisticated machinations and plots within plots. No spoilers here, but I ended the book with another smile on my face. Enjoy!

Love how you write what you write! I've been a big fan since old mans war. You keep writing novels and I'll keep reading.

FIVE STAR STORY. This book made me laugh with its subtle and then not so subtle humor. The story was outlandish yet believable even down to the typing intelligent manager cats and the talking dolphins. The mob-like antagonists are hilariously idiotic only because they think they’re smart and somehow get outwitted time and again by someone who died at the beginning of the book. It’s a light read that took me a couple of days and such an excellent book. This is my second Scalizi book, and I plan to read everything he has written. Will Wheaton narrates the audio book, as he did the first Scalzi book I read, and the audio book was perfection. Wheaton is one of my all-time favorite narrators for science fiction and fiction books.

It’s fine. That’s all, just fine.It’s not Redshirts, it’s not Old Man’s War. There are no poignant lessons to be learned from the story. In fact, I might say it’s Scalzi’s dumbest story yet, in the sense that I was entertained, but didn’t learn anything. Not about identity or socio-politico-economies or what makes a person a person. Seems like Scalzi’s not exploring serious themes in his books anymore. The SRE (Satisfying Reader Experience) was minimal.Half the novel is infodumping and learning the premise. The Kaiju Preservation Society was much the same way, where the plot took a backseat to world-building. And in this novel, there’s nothing fantastic that needs explaining, which makes the exposition more superfluous. The central conceit is that there’s a secret society of supervillains that keep the world economy running and they’re all trying to take each other. And it’s just not very funny. This book doesn’t feel like it’s about anything. I’m disappointed.And don’t let the cover lie to you. There are cats in here and they do talk, but there are no cat people or business cats or people with cat heads. It’s a funny cover but it’s misleading about the content therein.

This was a fun read, not a long or overly convoluted book...I don't want to spoil it, but the premise is generally, what would happen is an everyman was put in charge of an organization like those ran by James Bond-style villains.It's fun and clever, with all the hallmarks of Scalzi's writing.I though that the plot started to feel predictable around the end...there's a point about halfway through the novel where it feels like this novel is the start of a series...and it veers completely away from this point. The book is surprisingly tight and it cleans up almost every possible plot point...it's almost like Scalzi was trying to make it clear that this was a one-and-done story. Don't look for a sequel, don't ask for one...It does lead to the ending feeling a little rushed, but with everything neatly closed off, there really doesn't need to be.If you like his previous novels, this is a great one...a perfect weekend read due to its length and pacing.

You can expect an insane joyride of a book. A story with more twists than Jack Rabbit Slim's.And you better like cats.

I had so much fun with this book (I'm a huge cat lover). Everything about it was funny, warm, and cozy. Very entertaining.

Five stars on account of the cats, which I am sure was Scalzis plan all along.A thoroughly entertaining, if short, read with quite a satisfying ending.Like many of his other books there's a lot of humour in this one. All of the characters, even those, like the hero, who don't habitually shoot people, throw them to the sharks or attempt to drown them in molten lava approach such activities with the kind of dry, wise cracking humour that probably wouldn't be exhibited in real life.An out of work journalist come supply teacher finds his life turned upside down following the death of his estranged uncle. He swaps a mediocre solitary existence with just his cat for company for a life populated by men called "Tobias the Stabber", not so secret high tech lairs on volcanic islands, secret cabals of global super villains and surprising revelations about his cat.Why would want to read this book ? Why wouldn't you. It's short so it won't take long and it's exciting, warm and amusing with an ending that will leave you feeling happier than you felt when you started the book.

If you're hesitating to purchase the book, please don’t. It's absolutely and thoroughly enjoyable, and cleverly written. There were moments when I had to put it down because I couldn't stop laughing. It seems like I've just entered the J. Scalzi phase—I've already bought more books.