“Starter Villain” by John Scalzi
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Rating: 4/5 Stars
A humorous and interesting story involving the usual clueless main character who discovers that he has been given a massive inheritance from a deceased relative. Only here, the relative is an uncle who turns out to have been a villain (complete with evil volcanic lair) who now wants him to run his evil empire.
As the story develops, it turns out the empire he inherits is not quite so evil after all. It does work for various governments and agencies. But it then quietly reuses the technology developed for other purposes. For example, a laser technology used to make rain gets repurposed (and boosted) to take down satellites (yes, it does get used in the story).
The main story involves the character interacting with other villains in the world who, while not plotting to take over the world, do want to accumulate vast wealth. And the death of his uncle opens up an opportunity for them to take over his business; and possibly get rid of him too.
The writing is fun and fast moving, with witty dialogue and explanations for why his uncle’s evil empire does what it does. Perhaps, in the end, he doesn’t turn out to be the villain he is expected to be, and the world might end up becoming a better place, if he survives the takeover attempts.
Book read from 2023/10/19 to 2023/10/22