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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.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/29/2026)
...y Michael Pollen. In audiobook format, I listened to https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/21898/starter-villain Starter Villain by John Scalzi, narrated by Wil Wheaton. Scalzi is a favorite author. His books are always so much fun, and this one is no exception. And it has cats. From there, I...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/22/2026)
...Book 3 to come out this summer. Now I'm listening to https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/21898/starter-villain Starter Villain by John Scalzi, narrated by Wil Wheaton. Scalzi's books are always a blast.
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (12/25/2025)
...so am enjoying extra reading time. I recently finished Sipsworth by Simon van Booy and Zebra-Striped Hearse by Ross MacDonald. I'm currently reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi for my IRL bookclub
-Nanette_S
What are you reading this week? (3/20/2025)
Oh, I love John Scalzi. He's got some very entertaining books out there. Let me know what you think of Starter Villain. It's on my short list of books to pick up.
-kim.kovacs
"Scalzi again examines tropes in a tale of an ordinary individual being cast into an extraordinary situation with his trademark quick pacing, clever banter, and ability to find humor in desperate situations…. With a large print run and a clever premise, Scalzi's latest will appeal to his legion of fans and draw in new ones." ―Booklist (starred review)
"Combining the sarcastic humor of Scalzi's Redshirts with an origin story for James Bond–like supervillains operating with the competence-porn-level efficiency and work ethic of Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, this story of snark with a heart reminds readers that the logical conclusion of "dogs have owners, cats have staff" is that cats are management and never let anyone forget it... Highly recommended." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"In this clever, fast-paced thriller, Hugo Award winner subverts classic supervillain tropes with equal measures of tongue-in-cheek humor and common sense… The result is a breezy and highly entertaining genre send-up." ―Publishers Weekly
"Witty dialogue, clever world-building and engaging secondary characters make this a satisfying escape from the real world. And of course, if you've got a feline companion, Starter Villain is a perfect lazy Cat-urday read." ―Wall Street Journal
"Scalzi's latest is a light-hearted story with a likeable fish-out-of-water protagonist and a lot of very smart cats. There's also a dolphin labor dispute, some truly awful techbros, and a volcano island lair... Who could resist?" ―Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Black Sun
This information about Starter Villain was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Scalzi is one of the most popular science fiction authors of his generation. His debut, Old Man's War, won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Redshirts (which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel), The Last Emperox, The Kaiju Preservation Society, and Starter Villain. Material from his blog, Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com), has earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.
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