There seem to be a lot of books right now with this genre – gently poking fun of the superhero genre through the eyes of a villain who’s relatable. The Rules of Supervillainy does it better than most.
The reader was good, but I know him from “D-List Supervillain” and the voices sound very similar – and since the plotlines are also similar, it took me a while to shake off the feeling that I’d heard it all before. Once I got past that, I enjoyed the reader very much.
The story has the main character receiving a magical cloak that makes him into the new incarnation of the city’s greatest superhero – a combination of Doctor Strange and Batman with a snarky, sentient cloak. But the protagonist is too cynical to be a superhero; he chooses instead to become a supervillain like his dead brother. First, though, he needs his wife’s permission, because he’s happily married and knows what really matters in life. That’s refreshing to see, and was the basis for some humour. There’s a lot of humour in the book, from the sarcasm of the cloak, the banter of the main character, the personality of his henchmen (and hench-wench), and the setting itself. My favourite joke was how the main character is unable to realize a superhero’s secret identity because he’s been mind controlled, even though everyone else around him sees it. I rarely laugh out loud while listening to audiobooks, but I did with this one!
The main character is morally grey, but not unlikeable. He’s experienced a lot of evil – from society, from villains and from superheroes – so his willingness to rob greedy banks and kill psychopathic villains doesn’t seem that bad. While he’s not a hero, he’s not a bad person.
The book was on the short side, but fast paced throughout. There was enough world-building and teasing that I want to see more; I’m willing to give the sequel a chance.