Full Disclosure – I know Charles and he gave me a copy for review.
Ahh . . . The Tournament of Supervillainy. I will admit, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get into this one. As this is the 5th novel in the Supervillainy series, I was afraid of getting burned out. Even in my own writing, I fear fatigue for myself and the audience. But, I was very pleasantly surprised. And that’s my bad, because Charles will always give you a Charles book. And as always, the amazing audio narration of Jeff Kafer can take any story and bump it up a couple of notches.
There are other reviews out there that go over the plot, so I won’t rehash that here. But, I will say that this book felt more like an open-world video game’s side-plot than the actual main storyline. And that’s a good thing. (Witcher 3 fans always talk about the Bloody Baron side story, but no one really expounds on Geralt’s mission to find Siri). The point is, this cosmic combat tournament feel ‘right’ in the world of Gary AKA Merciless. The humor and pop culture is ever present and the menagerie of supporting characters do as they always do. We are even introduced to several characters from Charles’ other books, Jane Doe, Agent G, and Cassius Mass from “I was a Teenage Weredeer”, “Agent G”, and “Lucifer’s Star” respectively. Sadly, Booth from “Cthulhu Armageddon” and Jacob Riverson from “Wraith Knight” were missed. (My guess is that Charles knew either one could possibly beat Gary.)
I’ll get my negatives out of the way first. The aforementioned other “Phippsiverse” ™ book guests really have little to do other than . . . being there. Sure they lend an ear when needed and help in ways when the plot demands it. But they never really shine. But, this is Gary’s book and not theirs. As well, the supporting cast, all of them, continually recounts all of Gary’s accomplishments when he has self-doubt. Like I said, this is the 5th book, so we the readers know what Gary’s done and the constant recap of previous books kind of slows things down. There are more love triangles (quadrilaterals?), as you would expect in these books, but they are more intrinsic to the plot than before. And lastly . . . Cindy. I won’t go into plot-spoiling specifics, but this time around she rubbed me the wrong way and I’m quickly turning into an anti-Cindy reader. But, maybe that’s a good thing, as not all characters are meant to be liked.
Okay, with that out of the way, let’s focus on the good. Damn it, the book was fun. Yes, you can play pop culture bingo as you read. It is a blessed love letter to all the fighting tournaments you’ve come to know and love from video games and movies. With the stakes set at the primordial god-like level, Charles manages to weave in a thread of humanity and heart. As I’ve said in the past many times, I think my favorite Gary moment isn’t some shenanigan, quip, or joke. But when he had a face-to-face with his dead brother back in book 1. See, when “the cloak” comes off and it’s just Gary having real moments, it makes the bravado and foolish act more tolerable. Because no one would suffer someone who acted a fool like that all the time, unless there was something underneath. And this book delivers on said moments. Kudos. But never fear, the book is still jam packed with comedy and action that fans of the series have come to love.
So, overall I enjoyed my time with the Tournament of Supervillainy. As always the audio narration provided by Jeff Kafer was flawless and adds a richness to the antics that Charles pens. Long story short: did you like the previous Supervillainy books? Then get this one. – 4.5/5
– MK Gibson, author of The Shadow Master Novels, and the Technomancer Novels.