ARC Review – Starter Villain

From Goodreads: Inheriting your mysterious uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.

Sure, there are the things you’d expect. The undersea volcano lairs. The minions. The plots to take over the world. The international networks of rivals who want you dead.

Much harder to get used to…are the the sentient, language-using, computer-savvy cats.

And the fact that in the overall organization, they’re management…

It is no secret on this blog that I am a huge John Scalzi fan. Combine John Sclazi with tech genius cats and you know I am not just going to love it but adore this book. And adore it I did.

This book had me laughing out loud constantly. Lests start with the general premise. Scalzi perfectly captures what it must feel like to suddenly find yourself incharge or a secrect supervillian lair. I loved how much detail we got with this worldbuilding and how we got brough along with Charlie on his journey to discover just how much work it takes to be a modern day billionare supervillain. The cabal of other evil billionaires was also fantastic. The fact that Scalzi managed to perfectly walk the line of the uncanny vally where the bickering billionares on the page might just tumble out into the real world without much notice makes this book even more humourous.

From the absoulte absurd twists and turns, the inginous inventions, a cleverly hidden heist plot, Double corssing, bates and switches, exlosions, pop culture refences both old and new, name dropping of certain well know felines. There is just so much to enjoy. I found myself seeking out my husband to read sections aloud or to explain why i was giggling.

So many people feel sci-fi should be hard, serious, and prophetic, but to me you cannot beat a book that is just utterly fun from start to finish. I especially loved the ending, which was sweet. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves cats, is on the left of the political spectrum and just wants to be entertained by a good book.