Book Review: Starter Villain by John Scalzi (2023)

Starter Villain by John Scalzi’s is my follow up read to his lighthearted Kaiju Preservation Society. From beginning to end, Starter Villain is packed full of soft (and sometimes sardonic) humor with a side of social commentary as it follows Charlie, a destitute, down-on-his-luck ex-business journalist turned substitute-teacher. Charlie’s only asset is the house of his late father, which really belongs to his siblings as well who want him to move out so they can sell it. Other than his faithful cat, Hera, life sucks for Charlie.

After Charlie’s estranged uncle dies and leaves behind his fortune, allegedly attained from his parking garage empire, Charlie’s contacted by his uncle’s assistant who informs him that it was the final wish of his uncle to purchase his house from the family trust and gift it to Charlie outright, but only if he stands for his uncle at the funeral. And that’s when the fun begins.

Charlie soon realizes there was more to his uncle’s life than being a parking garage czar might suggest. Amidst an unapologetic dive into the world of supervillain tropes and attempting something fresh and somewhat unpredictable, it’s clear that Starter Villain also has a social point to make. Starting off a sort of a humdrum character, perhaps the only way in which Charlie is not a blank slate is his background as a business journalist, which allows him to shrewdly process the economics of his uncle’s endeavors, mostly consisting of a handful of wealthy heirs manipulating global events to increase their own fortunes. It turns out that by comparison Charlie’s uncle wasn’t so bad, and this gives Charlie’s inherited business the moral high ground in almost any direct conflict with his peers. The commentary on hoarding wealth, class warfare, and market manipulation doesn’t go especially deep, but it works as far as it goes, with an early burst-out-laughing scene involving a ‘meeting’ with dolphins.

While the book won’t win any awards, it’s a fun and quick romp if you don’t think too much about it. Whereas some light reads might be classified as ‘popcorn’ books, Starter Villain lends itself more to cotton candy if we’re going to use food analogies. For me, the book had me at “hyper-intelligent talking spy cats” and I never looked back.

Final Score: 8/10

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