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ichbintimo 's review for:
Starter Villain
by John Scalzi
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Starter Villain is like being promised a giant lair with sharks and lasers... and getting a moderately sized office with mood lighting and a cat that tolerates you.
It’s fine. Genuinely. The bones of a great, sharp, chaotic villain story are here... but it never quite claws its way to greatness. The start was slow. The ending felt like it tripped over its own shoelaces and just lay there staring at the ceiling tiles.
There are moments of real fun though, the cats are brilliant (Hera especially) and the dolphins were chaotic little agents of nonsense that really did make me grin. But the humour always seemed to hold back at the last second. It wanted to be sharper, weirder, meaner... but didn’t commit. Other than the dolphins, they went there.
Also... full honesty? The whole time I was comparing it (unfairly but unavoidably) to Dungeon Crawler Carl in humour. Charlie Fitzer is like Carl with a faulty sarcasm chip and half the trauma, and once you’ve read DCC, mild banter just doesn’t hit the same.
Would I recommend it? Sure, to people wanting light, quirky, and low-stakes villainy with cats, unionised dolphins and lasers. But if you’re coming from high-chaos, high-emotion books... temper your expectations.
I really did enjoy it in spite of what I have written, I just wanted more.
It’s fine. Genuinely. The bones of a great, sharp, chaotic villain story are here... but it never quite claws its way to greatness. The start was slow. The ending felt like it tripped over its own shoelaces and just lay there staring at the ceiling tiles.
There are moments of real fun though, the cats are brilliant (Hera especially) and the dolphins were chaotic little agents of nonsense that really did make me grin. But the humour always seemed to hold back at the last second. It wanted to be sharper, weirder, meaner... but didn’t commit. Other than the dolphins, they went there.
Also... full honesty? The whole time I was comparing it (unfairly but unavoidably) to Dungeon Crawler Carl in humour. Charlie Fitzer is like Carl with a faulty sarcasm chip and half the trauma, and once you’ve read DCC, mild banter just doesn’t hit the same.
Would I recommend it? Sure, to people wanting light, quirky, and low-stakes villainy with cats, unionised dolphins and lasers. But if you’re coming from high-chaos, high-emotion books... temper your expectations.
I really did enjoy it in spite of what I have written, I just wanted more.