Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

By: David Wong, Jason Pargin

Narrated by: Christy Romano

In a prosperous yet gruesomely violent near future, superhero vigilantes battle thugs whose heads are full of supervillain fantasies. The peace is kept by a team of smooth, well-dressed negotiators called The Men in Fancy Suits. Meanwhile a young girl is caught in the middle and thinks the whole thing is ridiculous.

Zoey, a recent college graduate with a worthless degree, makes a reluctant trip into the city after hearing that her estranged con artist father died in a mysterious yet spectacular way. There she finds that her scumbag dad had actually, in the final years of his life, put his amazing talent for hustling to good use: He was one of the founding members of the Fancy Suits and died in the course of his duties. Zoey is quickly entangled in the city's surreal mob war when she is taken hostage by a particularly crazy villain who imagines himself to be a Dr. Doom-level mastermind. The villain is demanding information about Zoe's father when she is rescued by The Fancy Suits. She reluctantly joins their cause and helps finish what her old man started, tapping in to her innate talent for bullshit that she inherited from her hated father. And along the way, she might just have to learn how to trust people again.

©2015 David Wong, Jason Pargin (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Insufferable characters and disjointed themes

I am typically a fan of Wong's not-so-subtle humor, but this one missed the mark. While fart jokes and silliness juxtaposed with life or death situations are typical of Wong's, many of the gags in this book felt forced or out of place. I just didn't laugh as much as I did with "John Dies" or "Spiders." Also, the theme seemed to revolve around the resilience of feminism in the face of unrepentant misogyny. Although the effort was earnest, I don't think it landed as intended. The main character was a bit flat and came off as indifference peppered with poor foresight. While she overcame some significant challenges, it was mostly due to dumb luck or the actions of others. The rest of the cast seemed tightly focused, but trudging through the story from Zoe's perspective felt like a chore. Even the detestable villian was slightly more layered than the protagonist, even though he was a shallow husk of misogyny personified. Overall, the setting, supporting cast, and interesting themes of the story were notable, but they were all held back by an uninteresting, sometimes insufferable hero.

violent, madcap, edge-of-bad-taste romp

True to David Wong's quirky, fast-paced, oddball, edge-of-bad-taste, addictive writing style, this book was a fun romp of a tale. It wasn't quite as good as John Dies at the End, but it was well worth a listen. Chubby 22 year old barista Zoey is snatched out of her plebian trailer-park existence and away from her 38 year old stripper mother, and thrust into a high-stakes adventure to determine the estate of her suddenly-departed very rich celebrity father. Everybody wants her as she is apparently the key to her father's wealth and to the secret behind robotic body modifications that give normal people super-abilities. Zoey had nothing but disdain for her father and his ill-gotten millions, and wants nothing more than to escape the madness - but no one is allowing her to walk away. Who does she trust and how will she worm her way out of this mess?

The plot is convoluted, twisty, violent, flashy, absurd, and moves along at breakneck speed. You barely have time to question the craziness of the plot and you just try to hang on and appreciate the humorous moments. Zoey, of course, has deeper reserves of survival instinct and intelligence than she knew she had, and in the end, manages to wrestle control of the situation.

The book is really violent and often the characters act in bad taste, but Zoey is a decently feminist lead character and manages to call out the (good and) bad guys on their failings and small-mindedness, and you find yourself liking her more and more as the book continues.

Christy Romano's audio narration is snappy and well-suited to this book. It helped me enjoy the story and kept me listening when I would have put a print copy of this book down.

Annoying main character.. And villain.

This book is actually well written conceptually and most of the characters are thoughtfully rendered... With the exception of the main character, who consistently makes the most boneheaded decisions for two thirds of the book.. I realize that the author designed the main character to be naive and clueless entering a brand new environment, but damn there's a difference between naive and frustratingly stupid.

I also wish that more of the side characters had detailed back-stories. Because they were all way more likeable than the main character and only a few had any history revealed about them and why they were so loyal to the Livingston empire.

Super satisfying story.

Excellent imagery and an exciting pace. I always have fun reading or listening to David Wong's books, and this has been no different. Brilliantly put together. The reader was perfect, she made the whole story come to life. I recommend it to all of your friends.

Yaaaaas beotch yaaaaas

Would you consider the audio edition of Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits to be better than the print version?
Despite my deep love for David Wong(and oh is it deep) I havent read the print version. I assume it is better because the print version didnt have Chrisy Romano being awesome in my earballs all day for like a week.

Who was your favorite character and why?
Stinkmachine? Lol. But no seriousl, I liked Zoey best because she was just so relatable to me. One stubborn angry panicky overweight chick to another I felt her pain. I also felt her glee and fury and sadness and frustration at all the girl stuff that light throws at girls. And her humor and her desire to help and her thirsting and her daddy issues and her undervalued insights and just all of herI had to stop and remind myself a few times that this book was, in fact, written by a man because David Wong did such a great job writing Zoey because I so rarely encounter women written by men who are as well excecuted. She was The Special Girl without having it get too her head or becoming annoying. Also, she wasn't afraid or ashamed of her sexuality which is something I love in my female characters, especially the big girls.

Despite being dead for the entire book, I loved Arthur Livingston as well. He could've been a caricature but instead he was a fully realized person. He did some terrible stuff but you could still see how he was a person even with those mistakes.

And everyone on Will's team. Echo in particular struck a cord with me. She presented such a beautiful, powerful, brilliant and deadly face yet when she offers Zoey anti-anxiety medication it turns out that they're hers, prescribed by her doctor. She has problems of her own. She's not neurotypical. Looks can be deceiving and though that was just one small point it was one that was very important to me.

Have you listened to any of Christy Romano’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have not.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
The future's so bright you gotta to wear welding goggles, a protective helmet, earplugs, and a bulletproof vest.

Any additional comments?
If you like David Wong(and you aren’t afraid to face reality), you are going to like this. Period. It's nothing like John Dies At The End while still managing to have that brilliant self-possessed style that that the JDATE saga has. However, this book strikes a very different note about the importance and relative impossibility of privacy in the modern and future ages, about the power of money, the application of humanitarian, about excess, and about the extreme dangers ouf toxic masculinity and misogyny. It's great book, a smart book with a villain who legitimately made my skin crawl. I don't know if I can listen to it again soon(unlike with JDATE which I listened to on a loop for about 3 months) because the dangers Zoey faced were so much more real to me than what John and Dave had to deal with. The future David Wong presents you with feels like it could happen very very soon if we're not careful and it's not pretty. However, it's pretty freaking compelling and makes for a heck of a ride.