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A review by jenbsbooks
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
3.25
So I absolutely LOVED this author's Lock In and Dispatcher series. The Kaiju Preservation Society ... that was just okay for me. This one? Unfortunately, it was the latter again (I guess I'll need to try the "Old Man's War" series for a tie-breaker). I made it through this, but just never fully engaged, didn't really enjoy it, and I can't say why. Ironically, if one of my boys saw the book and asked me if they should read it, I'd say "definitely give it a go" as I think it's ME it just didn't click with. This was just a little silly, snarky, over the top, maybe similar to my feelings toward the Dungeon Crawler Carl or Murderbot series, that others seem to love and were just okay for me.
Even beyond Dungeon Crawler Carl, I've enjoyed a "smart cat" in the 3am series. The cover ... it's a little too silly I think. I prefer the paperback cover. I had one show up in my Little Free Library (and I'll admit, I snagged it, but I'll now put it back in rotation). Had a bit of a wait to get the Kindle copy from the library. I went primarily with the audio.
Easy conversational tone - first person/past tense. Simple, chronological chapters (28 of them). I had to buy the audio on Audible, as it's exclusive there. Will Wheaton did pretty good. Some different voices and such. There was a little author's note at the end ... explaining he got Covid while writing, not really anything profound as some author's notes are. It was included in the audio (author's notes seem to be about 50/50 inclusion, and sometimes the author's notes have essential info to the understanding of the story!) I do wish the author's notes were voiced BY the author, just to make it more personal. Hearing it in the same voice that did the narration for the book ... just impersonal (if practical).
So ... ehh. There were moments I thought "that was funny" but thinking that instead of actually laughing? Maybe that was my mood. Maybe it's the bit of an "Austin Powers" feel that just isn't me. There was quite a bit of proFanity (kindle count at 62 - which is more than I would have guessed).
Even beyond Dungeon Crawler Carl, I've enjoyed a "smart cat" in the 3am series. The cover ... it's a little too silly I think. I prefer the paperback cover. I had one show up in my Little Free Library (and I'll admit, I snagged it, but I'll now put it back in rotation). Had a bit of a wait to get the Kindle copy from the library. I went primarily with the audio.
Easy conversational tone - first person/past tense. Simple, chronological chapters (28 of them). I had to buy the audio on Audible, as it's exclusive there. Will Wheaton did pretty good. Some different voices and such. There was a little author's note at the end ... explaining he got Covid while writing, not really anything profound as some author's notes are. It was included in the audio (author's notes seem to be about 50/50 inclusion, and sometimes the author's notes have essential info to the understanding of the story!) I do wish the author's notes were voiced BY the author, just to make it more personal. Hearing it in the same voice that did the narration for the book ... just impersonal (if practical).
So ... ehh. There were moments I thought "that was funny" but thinking that instead of actually laughing? Maybe that was my mood. Maybe it's the bit of an "Austin Powers" feel that just isn't me. There was quite a bit of proFanity (kindle count at 62 - which is more than I would have guessed).