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Friday 20 January 2012

“Being a supervillain means never having to say you’re sorry … Unless it’s to the judge or the parole board. Even then, you don’t really have to. It’s not like it’s going to change the outcome or anything.” - Calvin Matthew Stringel

Well, I think it's fairly safe to say that the blog title sums the book up fairly well.

I went for a relatively short book this time, seeing as I needed to do my dissertation still (66 pages), which Audible recommended to me since I enjoyed Ready Player One.

The book follows Calvin Matthew Stringel, a self confessed D-list supervillian "Mechani-Cal", in his attempts to take down some sort of massive corporation and it's leader, who goes by the name, UltraWeapon (after his suit, which outstrips everything anyone else owns by far).

The main plot is related in first person from Cal's perspective. This means that you get to see superhumans "The Olympians" from the light of a supervillian, i.e. complete nuisances, who are actually sometimes just as evil as the people they are facing, without realising it themselves. It's because of this that it lies to a no-body D-list supervillian to save the world, if he wants to....

 The book is so filled with ridiculousness that it takes a while to realise that the entire thing is a complete joke. All of this is to be taken light hearted, and once you do, it's a damn good read, which is very amusing, even with a  sometimes adult theme, which is impressive.

Saying that, the main character is entirely believable, and relatable, if you're a budding supervillian in the making yourself, as I definitely am... Plots twists aplenty occur, but where this book mostly shines is the battles. These are not only exciting, but fast paced and clever. It was these that made the book for me. 

It won't have you thinking an amazing about the plot, or not being about to wait to read the next chapter, but if you want a good, light book, definitely pick this one up. I thoroughly enjoyed it, for what it is.  After all, it beats reading my dissertation... 

Next up, will be either American Gods, which I have not read in a long time, and am looking forward at getting back to, or Leviathan, another Steampunk book by Scott Westerfield. If you have any preferences then put it in the comments and I'll try to get around to that one first.

Thanks for reading,







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