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Starter Villain by John Scalzi – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Inheriting your mysterious uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.
Sure, there are things you’d expect. The undersea volcano lairs. The minions. The plots to take over the world. The international networks of rivals who want you dead.
Much harder to get used to… are the sentient, language-using, computer savvy cats. And the fact that in the overall organization, they’re management.
About the Author
John Scalzi is one of the most popular and acclaimed SF authors. His debut, Old Man’s War, won him science fiction’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, The End of All Things and Redshirts, which won 2013’s Hugo Award for Best Novel. Material from his widely read blog Whatever has also earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter, and many cats. @scalzi
What I Thought
I have read and really enjoyed a couple of John Scalzi’s books before. Redshirts and The Kaiju Preservation Society. Starter Villain falls into the same category of creating a loving pastiche of the relevant genre, with a richly imagined world and entertaining plot to hang the humour on.
In Starter Villain we follow Charlie, a divorced substitute teacher who finds out about the demise of his estranged uncle, and along with his cat Hera gets thrown into a villainous world of volcanic lairs, assassination attempts and more. But it’s okay because Hera knows all about it and can …talk!
Dr Evil, Goldfinger and Thanos all get a nod but I got Gru from Despicable Me vibes too. Can mild mannered Charlie draw on his villainous side and keep his uncle’s businesses afloat when really all he wanted to do was run a pub?
Not only do we get sentient cats but we get unionised dolphins too. And supposedly dogs make the worst villains because they will betray you for a head rub and a treat. Not sure Daire is expressing Villain in the picture above tbh!
Although I was gifted a copy, in the end I did end up downloading the audiobook too because it is narrated by Wil Wheaton who does a great job at capturing Charlie’s incredulousness at what is happening to him.
There is a lot of action, explosions and peril. There’s even a villainous conference alongside an entrepreneurial one. Is there overlap between members?
Charlie faces off against henchmen, CIA agents and whales and at the end does he decide to stay and take over the family business? Does he even survive? There’s no saving of cats in this rather the cats do the saving.
In the afterword, John Scalzi mentions his experience of cognitive challenges post Covid and how he found writing this book took more effort than previous books would have taken. As someone living with Long Covid myself it is so important for people to be aware of some of the challenges that can face people who don’t bounce back from COVID-19 infection and I thank John for speaking out and hope he is feeling much better now. As ever he’s written a brilliant book and if you are a fan of Bond Villains or Austin Powers do be sure to pick this up.
Thanks to Black Crow PR and U.K. Tor for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Check out the rest of the tour using #StarterVillain
To everyone who could make someone else’s day worse, but tries to make it better instead.
John Scalzi – dedication of Starter Villain
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Channel Fear by Lisa Richardson – Book Review
About the Book
A Heart-in-mouth YA Horror-Thriller, perfect for teen fans of The Haunting of Hill House.
Iris is obsessed with star YouTube ghost hunting duo, Zach and Lucas, who disappeared at an undisclosed location several months ago. Iris- who heads up her own unsuccessful channel with co-hosts Byron and his girlfriend Molly – has been searching for the location ever since.
When they stumble across Long-abandoned Thornhanger House, the trio set aside their toxic love triangle to explore, and find Zach and Lucas’s abandoned equipment inside… complete with their last day of filming.
As they watch the footage? A horrifying truth emerges: whatever came for Zach and Lucas is coming for them too…
Lisa Richardson bursts onto the YA scene with a spine-chilling horror-thriller, bringing a terrifying fresh new angle, haunted with breathtaking twists.
About the Author
Lisa Richardson has a first-class honours degree in Creative and Professional Writing and works as a production editor. When not writing, Lisa can be found reading, binge-watching Netflix with her sons, or running and taking photographs along the Kent coast.
Follow her on Instagram: @lisarichardson_21
What I Thought
This book was a wild and thrilling ride. So much so that I needed a break half way through, even though I desperately wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.
This leans heavily into lots of horror tropes and does it so well. Creepy dolls – check. Rocking chair – check. It’s The Blair Witch Project meets The Ring meets The Haunting of Hill House all wrapped up in one.
As a YA Horror there is nothing too gruesome featured but the suspense barely lets up. My poor racing heart.
We have 3 sets of characters. The original missing ghost hunting duo of Zach and Lucas who we meet through their found footage. Iris, Molly and Byron who we follow on their hunt for the duo, and finally the house, it’s grounds and its inhabitants. It’s up to you to determine whether those inhabitants are former or current!
Despite making some very questionable choices I did like all the characters and didn’t want to see any of them harmed. And as if all the ghost hunting wasn’t angsty enough we also have a love quadrangle but which pairing survives the night? (It’s described as a love triangle in the synopsis but in a haunted house tale who is to say the missing supposed deceased Zach is out of the picture!). Finally whichof our trio lives to reap the fame that having a viral ghost hunting video brings you. And is that worth the horror to get there?
For the reader I say yes it is well worth picking this one up. Not everything is 100% explained at the end but that leads to the unease, a call for a re-read, and maybe even opens up the chance for a sequel?
For the characters – hmmmmmm. I think I’ll leave the seances and EMF machines to them.
I’m off to read a rom com stat.
Mini-Review in page numbers:
Page 339 – Final page. I’d like to say this was when I sighed in relief – but I’d be lying!
Page 219 When our intrepid trio actually decide to leave the house!!!
Page 170 Where I literally noped out of reading because my adrenaline was spiking and it was dark.
Page 57 When any sensible person – who would be willing to visit a haunted building in the first place – would have left.
Page 8 Where I would have noped out of this adventure. That is – I would never have entertained the thought of going.
Thanks to Chicken House who reached out and provided a gifted copy. The level of fear expressed in this review is all mine!
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Scareground by Angela Kecojevic – TWR Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town!
Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?
Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?
About the Author
Angela Kecojevic is a senior librarian, author and creative writing tutor. She has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown where her characters can be seen walking around, something she still finds incredibly charming! She is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Angela lives in the city of Oxford with her family.
What I Thought
Nancy Crumpet is a girl at home on the rooftops of Greenwich and with her family of baker parents. She knows she is adopted but when black balloons, raven feathers and music only she can hear arrive in town, she begins to realise that maybe they didn’t tell her the truth about her origins.
Along with her friend, Arthur, Nancy gets a ticket to the mysterious Scareground and although she’s made a promise to stay away it’s one she simply can’t keep when the truth is out there on the wind.
Author Angela Kecojevic has created a perfect spooky middle grade read with sumptuous writing. The descriptions leap off the page and the scares leap out at the scareground’s participants. It’s not too frightening for the reader but, as the book describes the Scareground, it is macabre. I think this would make a marvellous Tim Burton cartoon.
But are the scares as innocent as they seem and are the enigmatic Skeltor and his fairground crew to be trusted? After all the fair takes in boys that are otherwise unwanted. Waltzer, Shy, Racer and Dodge remind me of Fagin’s boys but they deal with illusion rather than thievery.
Without giving things away, and probably because people reading this will be too young to remember, but this gives me the same vibes as one of the 80s Care Bears Movies. But there are no Care Bears here to save the day it’s up to Nancy and Arthur and the Sky!
Love that this is all wrapped up but with the promise of a new adventure. I think our protagonists are ready to tackle the next one.
Huge thanks to The Write Reads tours and Neem Press for the gifted copy. Opinions are, as ever, my own.
kirstyes 