John Scalzi jumped up on my radar after reading Fussy Nation, so picking up Starter Villian was a no-brainer when it bubbled up as a bestseller. While it's a little less sci-fi and a little more James Bond (or, perhaps, Aston Powers), Stater Villian is a thoroughly enjoyable quick read. 

What makes the novel work is how Scalzi takes a typical fish-out-of-water story and transforms it into a whimsical world of supervillains. The fish is Charlie Fitzer, whose personality mirrors many of Scalzi's self-degrading protagonists with one exception. Fitzer is more affable and doesn't know what he is doing. And unfortunately, that is what keeps it from getting five stars. 

While I loved Starter Villian, Scalzi often spends too much time letting Fitzer talk about not knowing what he is doing — literally every time he meets someone or something (like dolphins). It's all he talks about. And because the true plot is so outside his prevue, it wasn't all that enjoyable when Scalzi turned everything upside down at the end. Surprises are only surprises when the protagonist has expectations, and Fizter never does. 

The result leaves one with a "Oh, gee, really?" kind of feeling. Sure, it makes sense, but so what? It also means Fizter doesn't grow as a character. He's just along for the ride. Fortunately, it is an entertaining ride except for a few conversations that run too long as Scalzi leans a bit too hard on some laugh tracks — the negotiations with super smart dolphins that want to unionize included. Don't get me wrong. They are funny. But it would have been more amusing with fewer pages. 

The banter between the supervillain club and what Fizter's uncle did or should have done or whatever was also drawn out a bit much. The net sum of it made the story a bit passive in its telling, relying on the concept of inheriting a supervillain to keep everything going (which it does). It might have been nicer had Fister embraced the job more before having the rug pulled out from under him again. 

While not as compelling as some of Scalzi's other work, Stater Villian is still worth its lighting speed read. And even if it is a bit difficult to endear oneself to Fizter, there are some potent characters most readers will like, chiefly Morrison and, of course, any character who is a cat. Personally (and unfortunately), I'm allergic to cats (even if they do like me) — but Scalzi's love for them is contagious enough that you might want to adopt a few before the book is done.