Audiobook Review: Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Starter Villain
Author: John Scalzi
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Publication: Tor Books (September 19, 2023), Audible Studios
Length: 8 hours and 5 minutes

Description Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

My Thoughts: Charlie Fitzer has hit a down period in his life. He's recently divorced, has lost his job as a business reporter, and in living in his father's house after his father's death. However, the house is jointly owned with his older stepsiblings who want him to sell. He has less than $200 to his name and his dream of buying a local pub is just a dream. 

Then he learns that his billionaire uncle has died. Uncle Jake was his mother's brother. He hasn't seen him since his mother died when he was a child. To say that he was surprised when his uncle's assistant comes and asks him to greet people at the funeral home would be an understatement. 

The surprises continue when he realizes that all of the mourners at the funeral home are only there to be certain that Uncle Jake has died. When his house is blown up, he learns that he has inherited his uncle's estate. Only part of it is legal. His uncle was a villain and the other billionaire villains all want what Charlie has inherited. But Charlie isn't alone against this league of supervillains. His uncle's assistant Matilda Morrison and his cat Hera are also on his side. 

Charlie soon finds himself in a different world. In this one there are cats who communicate using keyboard, talking dolphins who want to go on strike, and commando whales. There are also many plotting villains who are trying to take advantage of Charlie's lack of knowledge about his new life. 

This was a fun story ably narrated by Wil Wheaton. I enjoyed the talking cats and Charlie's ability to outwit the supervillains.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.