‘Never judge a book by its cover’ is a common saying, and it’s one that defines this blog. However, it’s also one that isn’t commonly followed. In John Scalzi’s Starter Villain, judging a book by its cover worked well in its favor. Something about a cat in a suit sparks curiosity, and it’s still accurate to what the book is.
Charlie Fitzer is an ex-business reporter, ex-husband, and a current substitute teacher struggling to make ends meet after his father passes. He’s living rent-free in his childhood home—which he co-owns with his siblings—with his cat, Hera. Just as he fails to get a loan to buy a pub in his effort to turn his life around, his siblings push him to sell the house, and as his bank account continues to dwindle, he hears the news that his rich uncle Jake has died.
During the funeral arrangements, he quickly discovers that his Uncle Jake had many enemies and that he was a villain with a villainous business that Charlie had now inherited. With only the help of his cats, Hera and Persephone, and his uncle’s trusted protege, Mathilda Morrison, he needs to somehow learn how to become more than a starter villain, like the title suggests.
Navigating this new cutthroat world isn’t as dramatic as Charlie expects. Explosions, assassination attempts, and supervillain organizations are all thrown into the mix, and he even has an island with a volcano—but sentient cats and dolphins who dream of unionizing also enter his life. Together, the book that is created can only be described as comically bizarre. The plot contains twists and turns, but that’s mostly the result of surprise explosions coming out of nowhere or animals suddenly communicating.
The narrator is somewhat unreliable, but ironically, he has a selfless demeanor like that of a hero, and he’s easily underestimated. The relationships between him and the other characters are well written and Scalzi also includes a bonus story at the end of Hera, Charlie’s cat, which is the perfect ‘epilogue’ to show how Charlie is living at the end of the book, as well as showcasing the same relationships that were developed in the book.
Readers looking for a more serious story of a villain origin story might want to try their luck in a different book, but this book can be perfect for both dog and cat people as Starter Villain is likely to be a book that simultaneously makes readers question what they’re reading and not regret judging a book by its cover: a mix of emotions that is the perfect reflection of the book’s contents.
