Great fast paced comedy full of Scalzi's usual humour. Well written and fast paced with interesting characters and endearing animal companions. The main word to describe this is just 'fun'! a great book to get you out of a reading slump and put a smile on your face Highly recommended.

This is a wonderfully entertaining story about a down on his luck nice guy trying to become a 'villain'. With mega-smart cats, grumpy dolphins and a hi-tech lair on a volcanic island in the Caribbean, this is hands down the most fun I have had with a book for a very, very long time. Highly recommended.

This was an easy but largely forgettable read. The start seemed needlessly wordy, but the pace picked up once the story got into the threats and machinations.

There were a lot of threats and machinations. The protaganist mostly bumbles around while more competent people keep him from getting killed or framed for various crimes. I kept waiting for him to develop some agency, but he mostly just exists in order for things to happen to him rather than be done by him.

There are some nice worldbuilding elements, like fake murder as a service, unionising dolphins, and hyperintelligent cats, but I felt that most of them would have wider-reaching consequences that the book ignored.

I neither loved nor hated this book. It was enjoyable enough, but the verbose start means I wouldn't recommend it as an easy read, and there's not enough to it for me to recommend to someone looking for something more substantial.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi was very enjoyable, silly in all the right ways and a brilliant concept. Scalzi manages to straddle the line between over the top espionage and mundane reality with ease.
A good balance of action and comedy, a fish-out-of-water tale and talking cats, what’s not to love!
Thank you to PanMacmillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this entertaining story

WE HAVE TOO MANY CATS IN TOO MANY HIGH PLACES.
"So you're not just spying on villains," I said.
IT DEPENDS ON WHETHER YOU CONSIDER THE RESIDENTS OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND 10 DOWNING STREET VILLAINS. [loc. 2976]

Charlie Finzer is down on his luck. His job as a newspaper reporter has evaporated; he's been working as a substitute teacher, which doesn't really bring enough money in to do more than survive; his father died recently, and he's living in the family home which his siblings would very much like to sell. Recently divorced, Charlie has little in the way of a social life: his most important relationship is with his cat Hera. But there's more to Hera than meets the eye, as quickly becomes apparent when Charlie's estranged Uncle Jake dies.

Apparently Uncle Jake was not only the reclusive billionaire owner of a large chain of parking structures, but also a successful supervillain with a plethora of ill-wishers. Cue the arrival of Mathilda Morrison, who asks Charlie to represent the family at Jake's memorial service, and who subsequently acts as his sidekick and bodyguard while Charlie, very much a fish out of water, travels to a supervillain HQ in a Caribbean volcano, and tries to hold his own amid the 'professional disruptors' who are expecting him to take over his uncle's business.

Starter Villain is a fast-moving and tightly-plotted tale of interspecies cooperation, international villainy, and the importance of unionisation. There's little in the way of description: instead, the story is driven by dialogue, punctuated by the occasional infodump. Many tropes are interrogated, many cliches mocked, and Charlie's business-reporting background enables him to make some incisive criticisms of the whole supervillain industry. It's an engaging and cheering novel, with some stealth thought-provocation amid the humour and the backstabbing. Worth noting, too, that the female characters (including Hera) are supremely competent, courageous and likeable. And best of all: talking cats! John Scalzi's afterword acknowledges the influence of Mary Robinette Kowal's Elsie), inspiring me to catch up with her recent activities.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this honest review. UK publication date is 21 SEP 2023.

Starter Villian is about Charlie Fitzer who inherits his billionaire uncle' "supervillain" business. I've seen the cat in the tuxedo cover and immediately fell in love with this book. And I can say that this is the most funniest thing I've read recently. I really enjoyed John Scalzi's humorous writing style. He writes very unique stories. I mean talking cats and dolphins. Say no more! I can't wait to add this book to my shelf and highly recommend it to others.

I had the pleasure of receiving a free copy of Starter Villain in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing the copy. Even though I always enjoy Scalzi's writing, this time around the snippy dialogue and quirky characters weren’t enough for me. That’s why my final Starter Villain review verdict is only 3 stars. I can’t say the world is immersive. It's very two-dimensional – it and its characters. The only ones having some sort of personality were a sentient cat and a dolphin on strike. Even Charlie lacked the main-character charisma.

It also unfolded very slowly. If you like clever writing and you don't mind watching a plot unfold, with the main character having little to no impact on the story, you'll enjoy Starter Villain more than me.

John Scalzi is fast becoming one of my favourite authors, as his books occupy a niche of the genre that I always have time for – the Sci-Fi beach read (maybe not literally, though I imagine volcano villain-lair islands probably have some nice quiet beaches away from the tourists).

Starter Villain was a silly, entertaining read that I absolutely tore through. Protagonist Charlie Fitzer is strapped for cash, stuck in low-paid work and only has a cat for company and friendship. Everything changes however when he discovers his distant and rich uncle Jake has bequeathed to him his entire supervillain business, complete with volcano lair on a private island. It’s the kind of story where you can already imagine the screenplay and casting actors in the role as you’re reading!

I’ve dropped a star from my ratings for two reasons: having read and loved Kaiju Preservation Society earlier this year, I did find the opening of Starter Villain a little run-of-the-mill, as I found there to be big similarities between the two books and the introductions to the main characters. What I really wanted was for Starter Villain to be even more ridiculous than it was. I can’t believe I’m saying that about a book with talking cats in upper management and a horde of sentient dolphins in a union dispute! To elaborate much more would stray into spoilers territory, so I’ll choose my words carefully. Scalzi took the book in a clever direction looking at what a 21st century villain might look like. This idea was executed very well, but it sadly left me on my beach sun-lounger and cocktail feeling a little flat with the outcome.

That being said, I still had a blast reading Starter Villain, and will be recommending this book to any fans of engaging, fast-paced sci-fi, and especially those who don’t want their books to take themselves too seriously.

Fine, fast, fun. Similar fish out of water high concept as Kaiju Preservation Society. Enjoyable, sometimes funny. Popcorn fun.

I love John Scalzis writing style. It’s light but thrilling, there’s danger but it’s not anxious to read. This book is no exception.

The premise is perfect. Being a millennial sucks, but cats are nice. Being asked to become a super villain after your uncles funeral is not a normal way to get a job. Being a teacher and a journalist is probably not the best qualifications for the job but hey everyone lies on their resume. The job market is tough.

Catapulted into a completely new world, one with a steep learning curve, Charlie becomes one of the leading powers in the world.

This book is hilarious, there’s so many lines that’s are just perfect, so many situations that are too. Unionising Dolphins for one.

”So we're like Spotify, but for evil."
"We're much less evil than Spotify. We actually pay a living wage to the people whose work we're selling."

I’m totally new to the work of John Scalzi but, I couldn’t resist the moon précis for Starter Villain. Any book that offers a satirical view of James Bond, has sentient cats and dolphins, and offers the tagline “Warning: supervillain in training. Risk of world domination.” Must be read!

The protagonist of the story is Charlie, a down at heel, lost the path, ex financial reporter. He’s stuck in the family home with little to no career or life options, after nursing his terminally ill father, and being harangued by his estranged half siblings to move on and let them sell the house and split the money. The only good things in Charlie’s life are his cats Hera, and recently acquired stray Persephone.,

Unexpectedly Charlie received a request to stand up for his uncle Jack at his funeral- he has recently died too! In exchange, he will receive a small bequest, which Charlie hopes will help him get his life back on course. Of course, this small request turns out to be far more complicated than Charlie could ever have imagined and ge finds himself plunged into a world of villainy, complication and sentient cats and dolphins!

What follows on from this is a very funny satire of old school villain stories, with a meld of slightly deranged science fiction, lessons in deputising, management and worker relations, wrapped up in smart, dry, witty, snappy and seriously funny dialogue.

The world building and characters are played perfectly, proving the point that rich doesn’t mean clever, and definitely putting the spotlight on those people with too much money, not an ounce of common sense and the stupid ideas and actions that this mix can produce. Definitely keep an eye out for “Pitch and Pitch” - it sums this up brilliantly!

I have to admit the cats and the dolphins were just such an amazing supporting cast and I was totally sucked in from start to end. And when you consider I’m also reading Light Bringer right now, that this book could tear me away and not be distracted says it all.

A great page turner that will lead you down the path from the sublime to the ridiculous, smiling, laughing and totally empathising, weirdly, all the way!

Huge thanks to Pan MacMillan, Tor, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Okay, let's get this out of the way…. I absolutely freaking loved this book. I literally blasted my way through it coz I just couldn't get enough.

Starter Villain tells the story of Charlie. A down on his luck business journalist who is currently working as a substitute teacher. Not only that, his siblings hate him due to the fact that their father ran off with another women, had another child (Charlie) and after the death of their father they find out that they cannot collect on their inheritance due to the fact that dear old dad stipulated that Charlie can live in the house rent free. Oh, and Charlie's marriage has completely imploded.

In a bid to pull himself out of the mire, he takes himself off to the bank in an attempt to secure a loan so he can buy himself the local pub.

Soon afterwards, he learns that his estranged billionaire uncle Jake has died. Charlie has not had contact with his uncle since the death of his mother when he was little. In a funny turn of events, he soon finds out that he has been identified by his uncle that he is to be the next CEO of his business. The international villainy business.

Filled with sentient cats and foul mouthed dolphins, Starter Villain is like Despicable me for grown ups (well not too grown up).

If you have read John Scalzi' s Kaiju Preservation Society, this book is in a similar vein, except it's way funnier and a lot faster. This book has everything, organised crime syndicates, dastardly plots, lasers powerful enough to write your name on the moon. And did I mention sentient cats and foul mouthed dolphins.

I absolutely pissed myself laughing at this fun book. In fact there are certain parts where I think the wife was seriouslythinking of having me detained under section as I was in floods of tears at various points in the books.

This was such a good romp of a book and so bloody easy to read my eyes felt like they were slipping on butter.

If you want a book that is easy to read and bloody good fun then I urge you to get this gem of a book. You won't regret it

I absolutely loved this!
It was clever, funny and completely unique. I had so much fun reading about things that I can’t mention because “spoilers”, but what I can say is if you’ve ever wondered about being a supervillain, dreamt about world domination or even just toyed with the idea of being an evil genius… This is the book for you.
Fantastic characters, brilliant plotting and just so satisfying.

But why, oh why, does the US cover have to be a 1000 times better than the UK cover? So unfair!

The book tells the story of a man in his 30s, down on his luck, who suddenly gets pulled into a world of intrigue, spying, and corporate greed as a result of his uncle's death. While the plot sounds, at first glance, as boilerplate second rate spy thriller, or the script of a Jason Statham film, the addition of hyper smart talking animals, and a cabal of mostly incompetent super villains, adds quite a bit of spice to the book, which, essentially, becomes a tongue-in-cheek satire of the genre.

This latter point is what I liked most about the book, other than the ever-energising writing style of the author. Through various scenes the author lampoons corporate greed, "shark-tank"-style start-up culture, unions and union-busting, militarism, the concept of MAD (mutually assured destruction), and global corporate elites. Most of all, however, the book, for me, came across as a satire of spy novels and super-villains per se (James Bond naturally comes to mind), in some ways reminding me most of Netflix's "Inside Job", as well as the Jonhy English franchise, Austin Powers, "Team America", "Megamind", and "The Interview".

It also reads well, and is well paced. The main protagonist comes across as a broadly sympathetic character, with depth and multi-dimensionality. The other characters are less well developed, and it's a shame. Many of them feel like sketches of very interesting portraits. The plot is overall sound, though a few inconsistencies mar its overall neat structure.

I'd highly recommend as an easy and pleasant read for a lazy holiday. Nothing memorable or ground-breaking, but better, most likely, than watching a forgettable series on TV.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I really didn't know what to expect with this book. I hadn't read anything by the author before even though I guessed it would be quirky... sentient cats anyone? I could never have guessed just how quirky and humorous and still full of heart it would be. Charlie's down on his luck, he lost his job as a journalist and now his older siblings are doing their best to boot him out of his late fathers house. All he wants is to buy the local pub and live a semi-quiet life, but his estranged uncle had other plans in mind for him. Turns out Charlie's Uncle was a villain with a spy network of sentient cats & he's left the running of it to Charlie. Obviously, Charlie has no idea how to be a Villain, but when he gets invited to a world leading super-villain conference, he has to think on his feet, think like a villain, if he's going to make it out in one piece.

Charlie's written in a way that makes him instantly likeable. Your typical fish out of the water, we realise pretty early on that he's not made to be a villain, but that doesn't stop him from tying his best. His life was pretty quiet and boring, until it was quite literally blown up in his face and he was transported to an Island filled with sentient cats that are management, dolphins who are threatening to go on strike and a conglomerate of super villains that want him to join them... or else. There were times when Charlie really shone and you could see the start of something, maybe not a villain, but certainly something more than a substitute teacher, but there were also times when his humanity simply won out, and he showed that he probably lacked the stomach for villainy.

The story is a short one, under 300 pages, but Scalzi certainly manages to pack a lot into those pages. Charlie seems to get bounced from place to place, and his introduction to villainy starts off weird and then just gets weirder as time goes on. Not only does he realise that his feline friend is, in fact, a spy for his Uncle and is sentient, but also his uncle has bread sentient dolphins too, dolphins who can talk, they life to say fuck a lot, and are threatening to strike unless Charlie hears out their demands. It sounds quirky, and it is, but through it all there is the subtle little nods that Scalzi gives to a lot of problems the world is facing today: Big business, animal rights and cruelty, workers rights, and he manages to show us this, as well as the true villains of the world, in a humorous and not at all preachy way.

Scalzi's writing style makes it easy to fly through the pages, and his choice to make it largely dialogue meant that a lot of the action and events happened in between the lines, something that would usually annoy me, but it worked for this book. You don't need, or want to be bogged down in the details, and we still get plenty of action, but this choice just made the story, and my reading of it, move that much faster and I polished this off within a couple of hours. There's no romance, there's no big heroic journey, it's just a satirical, scathing view of today's world where dolphins are the working class, cats are in management & billionaires are the villains.

This may have been my first book by Scalzi, but it won't be my last. I love this kind of satirical fantasy that doesn't ask too much of the reader, just that you go in with an open mind and enjoy yourself. It's a quick read with plenty of laugh out loud moments, characters you will adore... Hera the cat was a favourite of mine, and some action thrown in to keep you entertained.

Honestly the idea is good but unfortunately I got a bit sick of all the quips about a quarter of the way through and I was sick of them by halfway. I know this will be some people's taste unfortunately it's not to mine.

"Starter Villain" by John Scalzi was an absolute delight to read. The novel presents an incredibly fun and unique concept that keeps you engaged from start to finish. Scalzi's writing style is masterful, capturing the essence of the story with a mix of wit and skill that makes every page enjoyable. The engaging plot pulls you in, and the pacing of the narrative ensures you're always eager to turn the next page. Overall, "Starter Villain" is a well-crafted, fun-filled adventure that proves to be both an entertaining and engaging read.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy. I really like John Scalzi’s writing and high-concept stories. From hard to light science fiction, he’s an accomplished writer that knows how to world build and spin a yarn. His latest, Starter Villain, falls squarely in the “light” category, perhaps a bit too light. Like his previous work, Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain is a fun story, well conceived, but felling underdeveloped, almost like a first draft. Enjoyable enough, but “less is more” does not apply here, and could’ve benefited from an enhanced plot, character building, etc. in the end, an ok novel, but just that.

Starter Villain is one of my favourite books of the year!

Ever dreamt of carving your initials on the moon? Hatching plans of espionage in your secret, volcanic lair? Commanding a network of sentient, cat super-spies? Then ‘Starter Villain’ will allow you to live out those nefarious (depending on how you look at it, of course) dreams vicariously; through the adventures of Charlie, our unassuming, but hilarious protagonist.

I loved everything about this book. The ‘big reveal’ felt a little cold to me but yet it made sense. However, one of the book’s many highlights, the love of a person and their pet, made up for it. I could read book upon book set in this world, but alas, this felt very much like a standalone.

Disclaimer: I received a free arc of this book in return for an honest review. Thank you to John Scalzi, Netgalley and Pan Macmillan, Tor!

Readers ought to know what to expect from John Scalzi by now, but that doesn’t seem to stop some of them complaining about the ever-so-slightly liberal world view in his novels. But you should know what you’re getting, which is: slightly off-beat science fiction plots, an out-of-their-depth central character, and pages of snappy dialogue. most of all, most important of all, Mr Scalzi can do funny in a way that makes it seem easy, which it is not. So here’s a warning that this book contains… unions.

It also contains billionaires, and while it maintains a light tone throughout, the novel doesn’t forget that these entitled trust fund babies too often think that being born super rich makes them super smart. Underneath all the fun it does ask the serious question of what is to be done with all the billionaires and their outsized egos and dumb ideas. Kim Stanley Robinson offered one solution in The Ministry for the Future. It’s no surprise that Mr Scalzi ends up offering something similar.

The startup dude approached the microphone on the stage. He paused dramatically.
And then he said, "I want you to consider your testicles … as a service.”

Scalzi is brilliant at placing characters in situations that become progressively and increasingly absurd until, like the proverbial boiled frog, you find yourself having “just gone with it” to the point of hilarious no return. My favourite example of this in the book is the Zoom meeting with the wannabe supervillain who doesn’t know how to encrypt the call. And forgets to unmute his mic.

Our hapless hero Charlie is bumping along near rock bottom – a former financial journalist who can’t pay the property taxes on his late father’s house – when his estranged rich uncle dies. Asked to represent his uncle Jack at the funeral in return for a small bequest, and thinking that might involve accepting condolences, Charlie is confronted with a cast of characters who seem more concerned with checking that his uncle is actually dead and are prepared to fight him to do so.

Turns out that uncle Jack’s car park business was the legitimate front of a much larger and less legal operation. And as to what makes this book science fiction, well. You’ll meet a cat who can type, a dolphin called Don’t Give a Shit, and a hidden volcano lair.

I really enjoyed this page-turning nonsense. There are not many books that make me laugh out loud, but this is one of them. Mr Scalzi’s hero gets distracted by exactly the same things we all would, which is why this is both absurd and relatable.

And for the first time ever, I get to say: Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.