Rating: 4 Stars
The cover is what piqued my interest in Starter Villain, the latest book from John Scalzi. At first pass, the story appears to be a lighthearted, frivolous tale that is served with a side of buffoonery. Upon closer inspection, Scalzi is actually taking a sartorial view into all things capitalism.
The protagonist, Charlie, is a down on his luck teacher struggling to make ends meet. He has been living in his father’s house, with his cat, since before his father’s death. He does not seem to have many prospects at the moment.
This all changes with the death of his billionaire uncle. He soon finds out he has inherited his uncle’s entire estate, including the title of Villain. Along with this title, he also inherits, a secluded island, high tech security in the form of talking dolphins and let’s not forget the talking cats who have had him under surveillance for several years.
While his money problems have been solved, he now has a whole host of others. Like being the target of other Villains who want to wheedle, bribe and/or cajole billions from him. Did I mention they also might want him dead? He finds he has to negotiate the land mines that are now his life with the help of his uncle’s assistant and his cat.
There are several laugh out loud moments in this book. Couple the humor with great dialogue and the insightfulness into corporate/billionaire idiotic, and dare I say, asinine behavior, it made for a highly entertaining read.
I highly recommend this to readers who appreciate a creative and humorous story about modern day capitalism. An entertaining read, for sure and I enjoyed the laugh I got at modern-day foolishness.
I received a free copy from the publisher, via Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.