Hello, lovely readers! You may have noticed that The Gilmore Guide to Books doesn’t look the way it usually does. Instead of brief excerpts of the books I’ve reviewed, the landing page now contains the full review for every book. It is clunky and not how I like things to look. Sadly, it’s been almost ten years since I’ve had to dive into the code that makes this blog work so my coding skills are rusty. I’m working on a fix, but for now, this is what we’ve got.
In brighter news this is going to be a week of nothing but reviews of books I recently loved. Somehow through no conscious effort of my own I’ve managed to dial my reading into deeply enjoyable books. Are they the kind that I’ve read in the past – literary, challenging, diverse novels? No. But they’ve been what I needed at a time when my brain is not not working the way it used to (kind of like the blog).
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Published by Tor Books
Publication date: September 19, 2023
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Humor, Vacation Reading
Bookshop
The cover alone was enough to make me pick up this book, but Starter Villain, surpassed all my expectations leaving me laughing on every page and happily willing to follow along on what is a completely insane premise. Charlie never met his Uncle Jake so when the man dies he’s surprised to learn he’s left everything to Charlie. He’s even more surprised to find that “everything” means Jake’s fortune and his company, a supervillain business. Given that Charlie is marginally employed and living in the family home his siblings are trying to sell this is great news even if he’s not sure what a supervillain company does. The more he learns, the more dangerous (and hilarious) things become.
Thankfully, his uncle’s two most trusted employees are there to help him. One is a frighteningly austere woman who intimidates Charlie as she makes her disdain for him and her intellectual superiority clear as she inundates him with information. The other he already knows, although he didn’t know they worked for his uncle. It’s his cat, Hera, who apparently has been keeping tabs on him for his uncle. With the use of a computer she now communicates with him by typing, informing him of his uncle’s many enemies and leaving him to worry just how much he has offended her by treating her like an ordinary cat for so many years.
From here the plot and fun continue to ramp up, with the funniest funeral I’ve ever read, talking dolphins, and an annual supervillains conference that goes terribly wrong and forces Charlie to use his own skills and experiences to save himself, and possibly the world. All while grappling with the fact that maybe he’s a better villain than he thought. This all could have been a indigestible stew of silliness, but author John Scalzi brilliantly manages to superimpose reality and even normalcy over the craziest elements in Starter Villain. Talking dolphins are extreme, but their belief in unionization for the work they do? Why not? It’s this level of quirky creativity, combined with dry wit, intelligence, and a sharp pen that makes Starter Villain one of the best vacation reads I had this summer. Wicked fun.
Want more humorous, bizarro world reading? Try The Library at Mount Char, another novel I adored.
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I absolutely loved this book. The cursing dolphins had me laughing out loud. We all need a bit of levity and preposterousness these days. I’m tempted by Mount Char, but worried it might be too scary.
Yes! I’m so sorry for the late reply on this, but I’m still thinking about that book. Thank you so much for sharing!