Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Themes
Synopsis
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital. It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good. In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.
Is Starter Villain appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 13 and up.
This comedic fantasy involves supervillain corporate warfare with moderate action violence (laser death rays, corporate assassins) and satirical dark humor. Language is moderate with some adult vocabulary and mild profanity typical of adult humor.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and moderate language. Content notes include death, violence, and corporate greed.
Publisher ages reflect reading level; our rating reflects content maturity — they can differ.
Who'll love this
A hilarious underdog story where a substitute teacher inherits a supervillain empire complete with talking spy cats and unionized dolphins to battle evil corporations.