I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and Tor; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book, but was charmed by what I got. I have previously read some of Scalzi's Old Man's War series and really enjoyed the humor and perspective of those stories, which carry over (in a very different way) to Starter Villain. It's a fairly lighthearted read with a snap of satire and sarcasm, and by the end, if you're a cat owner you'll be torn between giving your cat a side-eye and a hug.

Charlie’s had a rough couple of years. He’s gone from being a happily married business reporter at the Chicago Tribune to an unemployed divorcee. (Journalism jobs aren’t exactly growing on trees these days.) When his long-lost uncle dies, Charlie doesn’t think much of it. But then his uncle’s assistant shows up and tells Charlie that he can inherit a lot of money that he could really use. Suddenly, Charlie finds himself in a world of James Bond type villains. He has a volcanic island lair, sentient dolphins with attitude and a group of villains trying to figure out if he’s a new member or a sucker to eliminate. Fortunately, he has some allies to help him navigate this strange new world. Filled with Scalzi’s signature fast paced humor, this is a quick, delightful read.

John Scalzi seems to write two types of books. One is epic war space battles. The other is humorous sci-fi/fantasy. Starter Villain is the humorous type.

Our main character is a bit down on his luck. He lost his job as a journalist. He is divorced. He moved back home to take care of his father, who passed away. All he has left are some half siblings that resent him because he was the “other” family and because he is making it so they can’t sell the house.

But then his uncle dies, a billionaire that stayed away after a fight with his father at his mothers funeral. But the billionaire uncle didn’t make his fortune from parking lots, he was a villain. And our MC just inherited the family business.

Starter Villain is the perfect combination of humor and hard hitting reality to keep you reading. I flew through the book enjoying it all. I especially appreciated the found family aspect. And the ending was perfection.

Starter Villain is a perfect sci-fi read even for those who do not typically read science fiction.

Honestly, all I needed to see was that John Scalzi wrote a book called "Starter Villain" with a cat on the cover and I knew I was in for a good time! This was a blast from start to end; I cackled at parts and thoroughly enjoyed Charlie's attempts at understanding exactly what he had inherited. I would read a whole series about Hera and Persephone!

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC!

The Kaiju Preservation Society was one of my top three reads from 2022 so my expectations for Starter Villain were high. Scalzi knocked them out of the park! He’s going on my auto buy authors list and I look forward to reading his back catalog while I wait for his next release!

Starter Villain by John Scalzi will be published on September 19, 2023. Tor Books provided an early galley for review.

This one had me at the word "supervillain". That alone told me I would likely enjoy this book. And it was right. I did!

Scalzi writes in a way that is approachable, relatable and humourous. What starts out as a fairly normal contemporary tale spirals directly into the world of the fantastic. Even so, he uses this world full of secret cabals and questionable corporate leaders to shine a satiric yet honest look at our own world. There is often truth in fiction.

I very much enjoyed the worldbuilding here. I like the cast, both major and minor characters. Although the story wrapped up quite neatly as a one-and done, I would be down for another visit to Charlie and company if Scalzi decided to go that route.

I knew I would like this book based on the cover alone - but it was even better than I had imagined. The story is fun, the characters are engaging, and the cats are fabulous!

"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, hyper-intelligent 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."

The best cover art EVER has arrived, all others are just pretenders.

I almost DNF'd this book.

I'm giving it 3.5 rounded down to 3, because my annoyances were not outweighed by the delights of the book.

It feels very similar in tone to Project Hail Mary, with a nothing narrator too smart-ass for his own good, a general everyman (but with skills!) pulled into a strange situation he has to figure out for himself. Morrison—the only human woman in the book—felt very much like the hyper-competent what's-her-face from that blighted book. In charge and ready for action, even as Number Two in the villain org.

Anywho, the good: LOVED the cats (even though they are all management), loved the working-class dolphins hell-bent on a labor strike (for good reason), loved the volcano lair and the anti-capitalist nature of this book, and the idea that there are no good billionaires. There is a zoom conference call between a boomer and a millennial that is delightful in how it juxtaposes the mundanity of technology with evil schemes. There's Nazi treasure, because all supervillains are hot to trot about Nazi treasure, it's a canon event. And that cover is just...weird as hell (it needs a motivational quote to tip it over the edge) and I love it.

The eh: the writing was 90% dialogue, with much of the action happening off page. This is a short book, tightly plotted, but I found that I was wanting more. It was taking the stark writing of The Kaiju Preservation Society and making it more snarky, more dialogue, stripping down the characterizations until people had little depth beyond their stereotypical traits. Charlie himself was snarky, but again, not a whole lot of introspection going on outside of the dialogue, so it felt like something was missing (also, he felt less like a young millennial and more young Gen X, and I kept going "This man is supposed to be 32? He acts mid-40s").

The ehhhhhhh: there is an unintentionally transphobic scene in this book. I say unintentional because Scalzi has been an LGBTQ ally, and I can *see* where he was trying to go with this, but he failed real bad (although it's a bloop and you'll miss it seen). There's a moment when Charlie the lead is looking over the conclave of baddies, and realizes that there is not a single woman there. Except, he says there is not a single *cis* woman there, and I full stopped in my reading going "so is there a trans woman? So there *is* a woman present. Why not just mention her and leave it at that? Or if there is no trans women present, then why not just say there are no women present, why differentiate?" Then Charlie goes on to mention that as far as he can see based on gender presentation, it's all men, and I was like, "le sigh, you're making this worse, kid." Anywho, because I read the ARC, I sincerely hope that this is gone by the final product.

Overall, not a bad read.

It's quick. It's fun. It's a delightful take on supervillains, showcasing that the real monsters are the billionaires and millionaires and industry disruptors around us, aka any dude in a slick suit who wants to make oodles of money and fuck everyone else in the process.

I just wish there had been more, even if there was a reason for the lack of more.

Great read, wonderful writing, and memorable characters. I couldn’t put it down. I’ll be recommending this to my students once it’s released. This is the kind of humor that I hope will grab the attention of high schoolers and help them see how much fun reading can be.

Loved this book by John Scalzi! His take on the super villain was funny, thrilling, and thought provoking. Will definitely recommend to my customers who enjoy such off beat humor such as Good Omens!

A light hearted take on supervillainy. I’m not sure if this is a spoof or a satire, but it mixes elements of both with lots of humour making this a fun read.

Charlie’s dead end life is thrown out of sorts when he inherits his dead Uncle Jakes villainous empire along with his enemies. From a ex-journalist to a super villain boss, the book is all about Charlie trying to bring his head around the change and grasp being the head honcho of a evil enterprise…especially when he realizes that being a supervillain isn’t all that he imagined it to be.

The book really feels like a satire replete with villainous cats, volcano lairs, stereotype villains and ‘tech bros’. The prose is seamless and book is filled with one liners and quips making fun of modern society. It’s literally a laugh a minute riot. The cats and the dolphins which were looking to unionize were absolutely hilarious and a riot to read.

On the flip side, the laugh a minute riot felt like reading a sitcom script for majority of the book. It was a bit frustrating that the there was no plot movement till about 70% of the book. I did feel it might have been better watching this as a TV show/movie, than reading as a book. The earlier jokes were a bit too much on the nose as it stretches imagination for every character to have funny bone and almost all the jokes were a PC (politically correct) satire rather than outright humour.

But after 70%, the plot twists made up for the lackluster earlier segments ending with a satisfying if albeit underwhelming climax. I was hoping for a supervillain overload and a appropriate super-dramatic finish, but author seems to have settled for a sensible finale.

Overall, it was a enjoyable and fun read. One, that I’d recommend to anyone looking for a lighter read or as a palate cleanser between heavier reads.

This was probably one of the funniest books I've read this year. Between the sentient cats that make perfect little cuddly spies and the foul-mouthed dolphins that have some of the most creative insults I have ever come across, I had a good time reading this one, and sometimes, you just need a book that is going to give you a good solid laugh. I also enjoyed the main character and the fact that he is a fundamentally good person, but that he was also creatively sneaky and no pushover. Being a good guy doesn't mean you have to be a dope, and he isn't.

Scalzi doesn't need praise from the likes of me, he is one of the absolute top-tier authors currently in existence and I am proud to say that I've been a fan of his for a long time. I try to get to Mr. Scalzi's blog everyday simply because the words that he officially publishes can't satiate my eagerness to peer inside the mind of a tremendously intelligent, thoughtful, and most importantly, decent human being. Of which we seem to be in short supply these days.

Starter Villian showcases all of these lovely attributes as well as his trademarked wit, humor, and sarcasm (without being grating and irritating, for which there is fine line.)

Plus, Cats!

Starter Villain, like most Scalzi books, is short, punchy, and doesn't overstay its welcome. It delivers very funny jokes in the narration and satisfying, if formulaic, plotting and characters.

Charlie Fitzer is a substitute teacher with the unattainable dream of owning the pub he used to visit with his dad. When his billionaire parking-garage-mogul uncle dies, Charlie finds himself suddenly in a world of weather-altering lasers, Evil Villain leagues, and the question of what happens when henchmen want to unionize.

This book is another "very mundane person is at the deadest of ends and then gets a ridiculous job offer that shouldn't exist but they actually are pretty good at it and find their purpose along the way" story, like many of Scalzi's latest books. Also like those books, it takes on pretty heavy topics with a very light wit.

Are billionaires the real-world super villains? Are billionaires actually even rich? What's the difference between a million and a billion and a trillion dollars? Is there one at that scale? Does inherited wealth come with inherited genius? Why do we worship the very lucky and very rich?

I read this book in one sitting and enjoyed it, but it's an appetizer of a book. It's fun and tasty and quick, but now I'm ready for a book with a little more to sink my teeth into.

A delightfully ridiculous premise strongly anchors this madcap caper from veteran author Scalzi. I appreciated how the acknowledgements explained the reasons behind the delayed publication—I'd been wondering!

What's not to like? Clever dialog, abundant snarkiness, cats, cursing, and a volcanic island lair! Scalzi has continued his series of stand-alone novels with the same lighter tone as in "The Kaiju Preservation Society", with excellent results. This is a great entertainment quick read, with numerous easter eggs and call backs to the movie villain genre. Highly recommended!

The premise is hilarious, and Scalzi pulls it off with aplomb. A very enjoyable romp, but it got me thinking too. I loved the hyperintelligent animals!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Advanced Readers Copy of Starter Villain by John Scalzi! Definitely a creative piece of fiction to close out the year with!

My snarky soul needed this book as I was traveling this summer! This quirky little novel filled with CSI cats, bumbling humans, and cursing dolphins is exactly what the world needs to remember not to take itself too seriously. The guy next to me on the plane thought I was laughing out loud at his movie rather than the book... which made for some awkward eye contact!

This was my first read by John Scalzi and look forward to checking more from his back catalogue!