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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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The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi – Blog Tour Book Review
Jurassic Park was one of the first films I really properly remember seeing in the cinema. Probably because we sat on the front row. I also really enjoyed reading Redshirts, John Scalzi’s homage to Star Trek so when Black Crow PR reached out about receiving an ARC of his new release The Kaiju Preservation Society I bit their arm off! Thanks Jamie and Stephen and Tor for the gifted copy.
About the Book
The Kaiju Preservation Society is a thrilling standalone adventure from bestselling author John Scalzi. With bucket loads of Scalzi traits – pacing, humour and tension – this is a light, uplifting escapist story in a Jurassic Park-like alternate world, perfect for fans of Adrian Tchaikovsky, Charles Stross, and epic monster movies.
In New York City, Jamie Gray is a driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls ‘an animal rights organization’. Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.
What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur- like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They’re the universe’s largest and most dangerous animal and they’re in trouble. It’s not just the Kaiju Preservation Society whose found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.
“Scalzi’s latest is a wildly inventive take on the kaiju theme”
―Booklist, starred review
“Equally lighthearted and grounded―and sure to delight.”
―Publishers Weekly, starred review
About the Author
John Scalzi is one of the most popular and acclaimed SF authors to emerge in the last decade. 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. Follow him on Twitter @scalzi
What I Thought
In the author note at the end of the book I admired how open John was with us about the challenges he faced in writing in a pandemic – particularly as it sounds like he may have also being experiencing Long Covid at points.
He scrapped the idea he was working on and was supported in a deliverator delay (read the book – you’ll get the reference). And, KPS was the outcome of being allowed to put aside one project and being allowed to follow it with this soul cleanser. Something written for pure joy. A “pop song” amidst the “brooding symphonies” as he calls it.
I really enjoyed it. Fun, pacy, easy to read. Full of characters you want to root for and not see ripped limb to limb. COVID-19 does get a mention early on but then we get to go to a whole new world full of Godzilla type nuclear reactor ecosystems who are called things like Edward and Bella and who need help from the humans to ‘get it on’.
Despite the fun there is serious discussions to be had – if you want them. But you can also just simply read this for pure enjoyment – and isn’t that what we need right now. COVID-19 has been a terrible thing but the rays of light that have shone from the darkness are worth holding onto and this will be one of mine.
Main character Jamie has a serendipitous encounter that leads him on another adventure. Not one he thought he’d be on but one he is eminently suited to. Isn’t life funny that way?
Full of lots of pop, poop and Hamilton references it is very much a book for the now – although soon, the now will be history, and I think this will stand up for future sci-fi readers. It does also include a fair bit of science – so one for the biology, physics and chemistry nerds too – and there is power in being the one who lifts things – look at Luisa in Encanto and everyone who has kept society going through the pandemic.
And if that wasn’t all excellent enough then Wil Wheaton narrates the audiobook – so I’m going to get that for when I’m ready for a re-read.
Ps. He needs a part in the movie adaptation please.
Do check out the rest of the tour which you can follow along with on Twitter and Instagram and using #KaijuPreservationSociety. Opinions and geeking out are all mine.
@scalzi @UKTor @BlackCrow_PR #KaijuPreservationSociety
@Panmacmillan @jscalzi @BlackCrow_PR
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