Like everyone, I picked up this book after reading Gibson’s first “villain” book, “Villains Rule”; a funny book about a self-professed Wile E. Coyote, super genius, that gets outsmarted and is in exile without his power (mostly.)
While I realize these types of books won’t win Pulitzers any time soon, there is a major problem with this story: the issue is that, while he is in exile again, he still has powers, every plan works perfectly, and everything goes according to his will. There’s no conflict, no plans-go-awry moments, and no moments when he doesn’t get exact what he wants/expects (yes, I used an Oxford comma. Don’t be a caveman, Gibson.)
While I get that a lot of the story is taken from the first book/super hero lore in an attempt to be meta, it just comes off as lazy writing. Hopefully, the next book will be better.