STARTER VILLAIN by John Scalzi – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

STARTER VILLAIN by John Scalzi – ReviewStarter Villain by John Scalzi
Published by Tor Books on September 19 2023
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 272
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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four-stars

The nitty-gritty: Supervillains are super fun in this laugh-out-loud tale with sentient cats and dolphins, a secret lair and plenty of the author’s trademark social commentary.

Scalzi takes on supervillains—sort of—in his latest comedic offering, and boy was this a bunch of fun. I think if I’d read this blind without knowing who the author is, I would have guessed it’s a John Scalzi book, it’s got his signature style all over it. And that’s a good thing! If you were curious about the cat on the cover, then keep reading. I will explain all…

In Starter Villain, we meet Charlie Fitzer, a journalist living in Chicago who has his sights set on buying the neighborhood bar, McDougal’s Pub. But when his estranged Uncle Jake dies, Charlie’s life is upended by a woman named Mathilda Morrison who has two surprising bits of information: Jake left something for Charlie in his will, and he’s requested that Charlie attend his funeral. Charlie is puzzled by the request, since he barely knew Jake at all, but he agrees to go. As for the inheritance, he’s shocked when Mathilda says he’s inherited his late uncle’s business. Jake owned parking garages, but it turns out it’s only a front for his real business. Jake was actually a supervillain and he was worth billions, and now Charlie has been handed the reins of his (evil) empire.

After being whisked away to a secret “lair” on the volcanic island of Saint Genevieve in the Caribbean, Charlie realizes he’s got a lot to learn about the supervillain business. For one, “villains” aren’t like the ones in the movies. They are really just business savvy people who look for opportunities to disrupt other business and gain an advantage over them. Charlie is surprised to find out that Jake also “employs” sentient cats and dolphins, who are actually clones and used in surveillance. Even Charlie’s pet cats Hera and Persephone turn out to be clones who can communicate with humans using special computers! 

But Jake’s competitors didn’t like him at all, and they don’t like the idea of Charlie taking over, and so Charlie finds himself trying to avoid being killed. It’s just one more surprise to deal with, but Charlie’s trying to take everything in stride.

Starter Villain is a bunch of silly, over-the-top fun, and despite some of the silly moments, Scalzi does what he does best, which is inserting wry commentary into his story and poking fun of all kinds of things (he takes a good stab at Spotify, and there’s a very funny—and spot on—scene involving a Zoom meeting). I’ve always loved his dialog, which is pitch perfect and laugh out loud funny, and it almost seems as if the character of Charlie was molded after Scalzi himself, because Charlie’s dialog reminded me a lot of Scalzi’s manner of speaking/writing (I’ve been reading his blog for years, so I have a pretty good idea of his sense of humor). That’s not to say it’s all fun and games, though. Charlie learns and grows quite a lot in the story, and Scalzi’s points often have a serious side to them.

By far my favorite part of the story was the dolphins, although the cats are pretty cool as well. But the dolphins are awesome! They are supposed to be guarding the bay from attack and gathering intel from their enemies, the whales. But instead they are mostly concerned about unionizing and securing the right to breed if they want to. As clones, they aren’t allowed to reproduce, but a certain outspoken dolphin named Who Gives A Shit is going to change all that. Charlie is already a cat lover, so it’s not a stretch that he is able to bond with the dolphins as well.

At least half the story takes place at a supervillain convention where Charlie makes his first public appearance as the successor to his uncle. Here’s where the action really takes off, as Charlie literally has to dodge bullets and explosions to stay alive. I loved the way Scalzi throws in some nice twists as to who is “good” and who is “bad.” In this story, those lines are not clearly drawn, so you never know who to trust.

Luckily, the end resolves in a nice, heartfelt way. Charlie gets a surprise that he wasn’t expecting, and I thought it was a perfect way to wrap things up. Any John Scalzi fan is going to love this, and if you’re a Scalzi newbie, Starter Villain is the perfect Starter Scalzi (sorry, I had to!)

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Posted September 14, 2023 by Tammy in 4 stars, Reviews / 40 Comments

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40 responses to “STARTER VILLAIN by John Scalzi – Review”

  5. Zezee

    Ok, I’m convinced to try this. I was already curious because of the cover, but your review made it sound such fun. I haven’t read anything by Scalzi yet.

    Reply
  6. sjhigbee

    I was already looking forward to this one – but you’ve thoroughly whetted my appetite for this offering with your excellent review, Tammy:)). Thank you! I laughed aloud at the Starter Scalzi crack…

    Reply
  13. todd

    It’s been a while since I read anything by Scalzi. I certainly like the idea of a lighter, more humorous, read. And I have to say, if this weren’t by Scalzi the idea of the cats and dolphins (and the cover) might leave me a bit more shy about giving it a try. 🙂

    Reply
  16. Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight

    Ohhh I am a newbie so this can be my starter! I won’t lie though, the cover had turned me off from this one for awhile- actually, until I saw it in your “upcoming ” post, where I decided I needed it and found the far more appealing UK cover heh. I like weird that works, and it sounds like this is that, so I will definitely be giving it a try! (Also I feel like a cover dolphin might have worked better? )
    Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight recently posted…Reviews in a Minute: Six SeptembersMy Profile

    Reply
    • Tammy

      I think because Scalzi is a cat person, they focused on the cats. But seriously, the dolphins were much more fun:-)

      Reply

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