I asked for this audiobook on a whim, as the story looked fun - and I'm so glad I did! It's fun and clever, with a fantastic protagonist who walks the line between villain and hero perfectly, surrounded as she is by what seem to be parodies of cartoon characters. What happens when a (coded autistic) genius brings the sharpness of reality to a world of superbeings and monsters...

The narration is some of the best I've heard, and I found myself laughing out loud as I listened - awkward when walking my dogs, but the book is worth it!

A lighter, more entertaining and smarter version of 'The Boys.' A more caring 'Watchmen.' This is its own tale and I'm very glad to have spent time with the Meister and her found family.

I'm giving this 5 stars for originality and because I want to read a lot more like this! I love stories like this that combine genres, introduce amazing characters, and create hilarious situations that are solved creatively. And, of course, dinosaurs! Please write more of this! Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook, which has the perfect narrator to tell this story where you need to suspend disbelief.

This book is a mash of many quirky, colorful, and unique characters. Superheroes, villains, dinosaurs, super genius scientist, family trauma, and LGBT characters; there’s a lot to take in with this story with so many different side themes going on. The whole story revolves around Rex who is trying to do what she wants, figuring out what is good vs evil, while also trying to understand her sexuality. This is a lot to take in while also following the superhero plot. I feel like it could have been broken into a couple different books and elaborated on instead of cramming it all into one. The book is entertaining while addressing many different problems.

This was good. A definitely different take on heroes and villains and all the shades of grey in between.

Oh, and dinosaurs. Cuz who doesn't love dinos?

Good book, interesting, kept me entertained. A few too many characters to keep straight tho. .
Otherwise great!

4.5 stars, rounding to 5. With bit of quark and humor, we follow a mad scientist who’s not so mad but definitely despises cheese and struggles a bit with anxiety. Rex, a.k.a. the Meister, lives Decimen City where super-beings, both hero and villain, reside. She herself is not a super-being, just really, really smart (but she is sometimes accused of being a villain). This truly won me in a chapter when the dinosaurs our Meister created did something naughty and she threatened to put them all in sports because they needed structure. That chapter was gold.

I was absolutely surprised by the excellent character development, even of some side characters, and plot execution. The superheroes and villains do however generally fall into their archetypes and see the world as black and white. But there is a lot of exploration of the nuance of choice and power through the voice of the MC and some of the side characters, so this absolutely forgives the lack of dimensionality to the super-beings in my mind. I can’t say if this is a revolutionary book, but for me it was something new, it got deep, and I had a TON of fun listening to the story - Audiobook A+.

Who could this work for? I don’t know if urban sci-fi humor is a thing, but if that sounds like something you’d like, I highly recommend this. If you’re into mainstream superheroes and villains you might like this. Also, I’m not sure if this was great ACE representation, but it sure felt like it. You are very much in the head of the Meister, it’s a train-of-thought narration, so I can see that not working for some folks. Sometimes that really puts me off to a book, especially on audio, but it didn’t at all with the Meister. Content/trigger warnings: Manipulation.

This is not my typical read but this was so much fun! I loved the accidental villain that Rex seems to be, not meaning to wreak havoc and then feeling guilty about it after. I am not great with superhero books (or movies) as I have a difficult time picturing everything (my mind doesn’t work that way) so this was a little confusing at times but I enjoyed the time I spent with Rex and the dinosaurs. A quick-ish, fun read.

What would you do to protect your sibling?

Rex is a super genius, meaning some days she has to go chase dinosaurs 🦕 🦖 When her supervillain brothers schemes riptide her into trouble, she has to decide which side she belongs on.

This is such an amazing book! The first half is a little slow in pacing, but when they reached the cat dimension, I was in tears. Rex's journey is relatable and yet totally sci-fi fantastical. I absolutely loved this book! (I also love cheese, don't tell Rex) 😊

I do wish the cheese distaste had played a larger role in the story considering how often it was mentioned, like maybe there's a poison in cheese or something and Rex is the only one okay. Just something more plot driven with it.

Meister is a very human-centric take on a wacky superhero world. It's a great premise of a character -- a person with powers who doesn't have evil intentions but is categorized as a villain because her creations go awry through carelessness, lack of foresight, etc. Like, she's so into the challenge of cloning dinosaurs and making them superintelligent, how could she expect them to get loose and go on a rampage! In this way, Rex the Meister is much like many corporate leaders in our world, especially in the technology space -- so into the breakthroughs that they can't contain all the potential consequences and side effects.
This books as some very rich characters and relationships, mixed with very creative superheroes and villains who talk about each other's backstory and powers in a refreshing way.
This is a fun read, with great situations.

This was a great story, it was like the lovechild of Megamind and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. It is a little more serious than both of those though, and reminded me of something else at the time that I'm not remembering as I review it.

The story is well written, the characters are engaging, and this book flew by because I was so interested in everyone and everything that was happening. The ending is beyond amazing, but no spoilers. For a book that starts with Decimen City overrun with dinosaurs, which feels like the climax or midpoint of most any other superhero story, the drama and intrigue only amps up from there. You are thrown into a world of heroes and villains, all of whom intermingle and have connections to one another.

A great story about the stories behind the story, I loved this little thrill ride.

This was a thrilling adventure into superhero’s, villains, and some morally grey ‘mad scientists’. Rex, an asexual dino hoarder, has her life turned upside down once her ties to her villainous brother start impacting her day to day life of creating chaos for the city of Decimen. Now that is under official watch and being monitored for villainy 24/7, she has to find new ways to assist her brother without drawing the attention of the superhero brigade.

I really enjoyed all of the characters and the storyline. Rex was such an interesting character and I loved all of her creations, especially the sassy and self sufficient dinosaur colony she clones and raises. This was action packed and filled with a tremendous amount of superhero/villain lore.

This did however feel way too long. I felt as if I were reading multiple books at once because of how much there was. This could have been broken up into smaller novellas, or into a series, especially with how many characters/fight scenes there were.

Thank you NetGalley and CamCat books for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

As far as a super hero book goes it was good. Rex trying to be good but always doing the villain thing. She created an all carnivore dinosaur that has a higher IQ than her and builds thing that only makes her look more like a villain. Her back story is snuffed out by her super hero sister vivid blue and her villain brother Sam. Sam doesn’t want to be a villain he just wants the voices in his head to stop. So Rex tries to help him but Blue thinks she is just trying to aid her brother to mind control city’s. In the end Blue let her brother go because she knew he wasn’t trying to be the villain. Rex was able to ditch the protectors babysitters and live on the floating island with her dinosaurs.

We know asexuals have dragons. Now what if we could also have dinosaurs? Enter Rex, an unintentional supervillain who claims she's neither villainous nor superpowered - just a genius. (Although she doesn't know she's ace yet since sex does feel good (although she doesn't quite understand the point of the other person) and besides, she hasn't even heard of the term! (A far too common experience)). Our story begins after she accidentally releases a rampage of clomed dinosaurs (whose very existence is a clear breach of the cloning clause) on Decimen City. Or at least that's what the authorities say - she says her incompetent lab techs let them escape #MoreToTheStory. When a real villain turns up and wants to take control, Rex is forced to work for those who have been fighting her and her work or she'll lose even more of the freedoms that the authorities haven't yet taken and maybe her supervillain twin brother and his team will rule them all.

This was such a fun book! So much chaos and I loved it. Maybe some parts felt a bit out of place (this will differ between people due to the wide range of plot points and general happenings). For me this was around the romance (which I know others will enjoy) but it was nice to see Rex struggling with her sexualiy and how this influences her relationships in this. As much as I enjoyed the chaos, I did find myself getting annoyed by some of the characters. I enjoyed the main ones - Rex, Flora and Aya (the AI whose name is the source of some confusion) but some of the others just frustrated me a bit. But the interactions between these three were incredible. And we get what is probably some of my favourite dialogue I've read:

"Am I having a gay crisis?"
"Why does it have to be a crisis? Maybe you're just having a gay"

Oh and the dinosaurs were fun although the way the narrator said "mom" was a little annoying, at least to me. But that's infrequent enough to not have a major impact on the experience. They weren't what I expected but they added a lot of comedic relief. I enjoyed Rex's frustrations around everyone else not concerning themselves with accessibility - all enrichment activities from sign language to baseball seemed to cater best towards those with arms (much to her annoyance).

I absolutely loved Rex as a character. I feel like she is the definition of chaotic neutral. With an emphasis on the chaotic. I'd definitely love to read about more of her misadventures. Think Gru from Despicable Me but the opposite. Although she often causes disasters (ranging from running zombies to a malfunctioning death ray to rampaging dinos) she doesn't mean to. And she sometimes also does unintentional good like curing cancer (Big Pharma is still out to get her). As an older sibling I also related a lot to some of her thoughts and experiences surrounding family and expectations, even though my family life may not have been quite as toxic. I could definitely see some of the things she said about expectations and the way her experiences were treated mirroring some of the things I have been told. Although the story was mostly chaos and mayhem, it does delve into darker moments at times and these felt incredibly real. I really felt for her in these kinds of moments. The author did an incredible job of capturing the pain of trauma between all the fun and action.

If you are the kind of person who enjoys chaos and intelligent dinosaurs and especially chaotic dinosaurs I can definitely recommend this book to you! I was excited to dive back in every time I picked it up. Does it always make sense? Probably not. But sometimes you need a book like this! It definitely made a great addition to a current much heavier book I'm reading (although this one does have its heavy moments too). Think Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy type absurdity, but with dinosaurs and some very real pain and struggles woven in.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really interested in the premise of the the book, since I love humour in sci-fi and fantasy.
Unfortunately, I feel like this was more a romance story than anything.
The fun elements were more props than anything and the general story felt a little weak and dragging.
It's still a nice story and I liked the narrator, but it was not a book for me.

To be honest, I have to admit that I only wanted to read the (audio) book because there are dinosaurs. I know, it’s a really tough selection criterion, but I’m just really simple-minded in some things :‘D
And the dinosaurs didn’t disappoint! I LOVE them!

The characters in the book were great. I loved all the different characterisations and quirks of the superheroes and villains. I also found the relationships (and the development of relationships) between the characters totally appealing - especially as the people all stayed in-character and didn’t suddenly turn 180° just so you could make something extra plausible/romantic/utopian. Everyone here had their weaknesses and strengths - they were all somehow very unique and therefore extremely likeable. (Even if the fast pacing sometimes meant that I couldn’t keep up with the emotional developments - it just didn’t feel that way to me).

I also thought Rex and her intellect were particularly cool and what she made of it → e.g. the dinosaurs.

I enjoyed the (audio) book on the whole, but somehow I had the feeling right from the start that I was reading a book series and was in the second (or third) volume without having read the first.
Things were just said or popped up and it felt unfinished. Like I was missing information. Information that could have added depth to the plot and the world. This made me sad every now and then and is probably also the reason why I think the (audio) book is only okay and not fantastic.
The pacing was fast, but I was fine with that - but the level of „I just throw someone into the story and mention things and events“ felt more like that of a short story. There you can and should expect something like that - but here I found it difficult.

If you want a sci-fi/fantasy story with fast pacing and talking dino sidekicks, you should pick up this book!
(If you’re looking for more sophisticated fantasy/sci-fi, not so much)


To the English audiobook:
I really enjoyed Suzanne Elise Freeman’s voice. She had a pleasant reading speed and you didn’t hear any distracting background noises (loud breathing, slurring etc).
She voiced the characters well and I liked the variety in her voice when it came to emotional situations within the story.