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space_and_sorcery 's review for:
Starter Villain
by John Scalzi
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received this novel from Tor Books, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity.
Every time a new Scalzi novel appears on the horizon, I know that I will find a fast-paced, humorous tale that enjoys poking fun at some of humanity’s flaws: Starter Villain is no exception, and it proved to be as riotously entertaining as I hoped for.
Charlie Fitzer, a former journalist who lost his job and is now making ends meet by working as a substitute teacher, is besieged by financial problems: his current employ barely pays the bills and the house he’s living in might be taken from him since his half-siblings have every intention of selling it, so he’s unable to use it as collateral for a loan that would allow him to buy a historical pub and give his life a new (and hopefully fruitful) direction. Imagine then his surprise when he learns that his uncle Jake - a successful entrepreneur dealing in parking lots - just died and named him as his representative at the funeral ceremony: Charlie has not seen Uncle Jake since he was five years old, and all he knows about him is that Charlie’s father did not want his son to have any contact with the man.
Charlie’s shocks are far from over, however: at the funeral - where many floral arrangements sport less than complimentary phrases - people seem more interested in confirming that Jake is really dead, and one of them even tries to knife the corpse. On top of all this, Charlie is contacted by his uncle’s administrators and learns he’s been named Jake’s successor - but not to the parking lots “empire”, because his uncle really was a very successful, highly placed criminal with a broad scope of interests. A villain. And Charlie must learn quickly how to step into his shoes…
Do you remember those older Bond movies where bad guys participated in vast, encompassing organizations dedicated to mayhem (think Spectre)? Where the main villain owned a secret retreat, usually on a deserted island, that was his base for the construction of some doomsday machine? And where said villain appeared usually stroking a cat? Well, Starter Villain enjoys all these elements, and more. The novel is a lovingly irreverent homage to those movies and tropes, with satellite-killing laser beams, secret vaults holding unimaginable riches, dastardly plots to influence world politics, and so on, all viewed through the progressively less innocent gaze of Charlie, who starts this adventure like the proverbial fish out of water but little by little shows a huge reservoir of pragmatic good sense and a shrewdness that keep him afloat (and alive!) in the very troubled waters he’s forced to navigate.
Charlie is not alone in this adventure, though: back home he shared his life with two stray cats he had adopted, Hera and Persephone, and the final revelation in the avalanche of discoveries he’s subjected to is that some cats are quite intelligent and able to communicate through a special keyboard - Charlie’s two housecats belong to this peculiar category and were his uncle’s observers from day one. I am aware, through John Scalzi’s social media, of the presence of both dogs and cats in his household, so this latest theme in the novel is indeed a way of showing his affection for his feline friends and a way of introducing a commentary on human foibles from the perspective of another species. The discovery that these highly evolved cats hold executive positions and manage large funds in the organization is only one of the amusing revelations you can expect from Starter Villain.
Cats are not the only sentient creatures you will find here, however: at some point Charlie is introduced to talking dolphins, who immediately present their labor grievances to the new boss, threatening a strike: this is one of the funniest sections of the story, both for the rude, foul-mouthed disposition of the cetaceans and for their chosen names which range from “Who Gives a S**t” to “Eat the Rich”. The dolphins’ names made me somehow think about the ships’ names in Banks’ Culture series: weird and funny at the same time, they were the perfect way of depicting those creatures’ attitude toward the rest of the world.
The hilarious, improbable characters peopling this story are placed in an equally improbable (?) corporate setting in which the villainous organization operates through a subscription system and even holds yearly meetings in a luxurious environment - the trick here is to be able to survive the assassination attempts from the other… ahem… colleagues. Don’t look for layered villains here: they are humorously depicted caricatures whose lack of subtlety is indeed the main attraction: they need only to be totally evil, and that’s what makes them perfect for the tone of the story.
I had great fun with Starter Villain - no surprise there, what was unexpected was the ending of Charlie’s journey and the real reason for his uncle’s choice of successor. Unexpected but ultimately right for the kind of person Charlie is shown to be. Once again, I closed this latest Scalzi book with a big smile on my face, and that’s exactly what makes this author one of my favorite reading choices.