Starter Villain

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

©2023 John Scalzi (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

A Toxoplasmosis-Induced Fairy Tale

I, too, am impacted. All kittening aside, I enjoyed this story. Being transported to the lair by Scalzi and Wheaton was a fantastic ride. I particularly liked the original use of tropes. Imaginatively repackaging them is my favorite thing about reading or listening to Mr. Scalzi's books. Though not as deep as The Collapsing Empire series, this story is as relevant to current issues. Go dolphins! Seriously, use your credit; you won't regret it.

Great story. Meh narration.

As stated above. The story is great. Funny, witty, and I love the cats. And the dolphins.

Wil Wheaton’s narration lacks a bit. He gets very squeaky when excited, and it can be hard to tell who’s talking (his character voices aren’t terribly distinct, which is ok, but he changes it up just enough and then switches around so it’s not always clear).

Satisfying , with cats

Swearing dolphins & mercenary cats are delivered in a way that I think dolphins & cats would approve of, from what I know about dolphins & cats. Billionaires would not approve of how they’re presented; I approve of how they’re presented. For featuring villainous billionaires, the overall tone was lighthearted snark, which I enjoy generally and in this story in particular.

Sort of a content warning: It’s an odd book because the villains, who one might expect to perpetrate death & destruction, don’t really do so when one would expect. There is still death & destruction (& much dolphin swearing) but I didn’t find most of it particularly problematic or upsetting. I was more concerned that the main character didn’t seem to know how to make friends & resented his job. But given the poor pay of US teachers, and worse conditions for subs, I am sympathetic. But a guy who is kind to stray cats should have more friends & that’s my biggest quibble with the story, not the occasional violence.

Worldbuilding: fantastical secret lair & talking animals worked for me. It’s Glass Onion meets the Incredibles. Subscriptions are one of the purest evils, at least the way they are now.

Narration: Lively and entertaining. I didn’t agree with all choices for tone, but overall a pleasant listen. if you like Wheaton generally you’ll like it.

Story is engaging. Narrator get too over-the-top

I'm enjoying the story. I have listened to and enjoyed all of John Scalzi's books. I find the storyline of this book to be engaging and fun. However, the narrator during certain moments (expressing frustration, surprise or disagreement by one or more of the characters) starts screaming/screeching as a way of characterizing these emotions. I wish he would take it down a couple of notches :-(

Lives up to the hilarious premise

Starting listening as soon as it dropped this morning, and it kept me laughing all day. Aside from the usual “he said” nonsense, the story moved along very well. Wil Wheaton proves again to be the perfect Scalzi narrator.

The cats!

I liked the understated power of the cats; and the humans who serve them. I have 6 cats and know how it goes.

More

Wheaton voices Scalzi universe with energy and emotion. Fun listening a cool story. Do more!!

Funny, fun and worth a listen

Scalzi can write serious sci-fi. This is not that. This is quick romp of murder, intrigue, and misdirection. Finished in one go on a car trip. Keeps you entertained and wanting to know what's going to happen next.

Typical...

It's Scalzi so if course it's awesome. Wil's narration was also great, as usual!

So good

I loved this book. Such a nice break from the zombie post apocalypse books I usually listen to. This book was funny and kept me entertained the entire book though. If there was a sequel I would buy it.