The Rules of Supervillainy

Well it made me laugh

The combination of a great story with a brilliant narrator made this really worth recommending, as there are so few genuinely funny fantasy books for geeks. While not quite up there with the greats like Terry Pratchett this is fun with just enough darkness to draw you into the plot. Fun with numerous comic book and film references to make you laugh. While it's not a literary game changer, the fact that it doesn't try too hard is part of it's charm. Despite my concerns when reading the description, it's actually one that should appeal to both male and female listeners. I would have liked it to be longer but I'll definitely be buying the rest of the series. Probably not for those who only get through one book a month as there are probably enough 5 star books to keep you busy but for those of us who are frequent listeners, know far too much about comic book law and 80's movies, i'd give this a try.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

A wild, but sometimes confusing romp

What made the experience of listening to The Rules of Supervillainy the most enjoyable?

Jeffery Kafer does a really good job of performing a snarky super villain.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The world is a bit confusing, at times I didn't know what to make of it, supers (both good and bad) seem to run roughshod over national government. At times there are floods of exposition, and then things are causally tossed in and then not mentioned again (such as Atlantis).
Gary Karkofsky (aka Merciless) is a very odd character, at times he is extremely moral (he is outraged when some anti-heroes cause collateral damage to get to him), but feels no remorse when he casually murders someone who gets in his way; he hates authority and has somewhat anarchist/socialist view points, but at the same time wants to rule the world and get rich, the character doesn't seem to make a lot of sense (at least to me)

Which scene did you most enjoy?

No one scene particularly stood out.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was decent enough that I could have done, had my schedule allowed for it.

Any additional comments?

Other books have covered the same ground, and done so better (D-list supervillain series, for example), but it not a terrible book by any stretch of the imagination.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fantastic!

This superhero/supervillain novel turned out to be just the sort of fun romp it promised from its synopsis.

Gary Karkofsky is just a normal guy living in a world filled with all sorts of people with superpowers. He lives with his wife in the suburbs and used to work as a bank teller before he lost his job. Opportunity knocks for Gary when the magical cloak of his home towns greatest superhero gets delivered to him in the mail. Rather than take up the selfless mantle of the heroic Nightwalker Gary instead decides to indulge in his life long dream of becoming Merciless: The Supervillain Without Mercy!

The whole story was as crazy and as fun as it sounds. Gary was an easy to root for guy. He loved his wife, cared for his friends, and was not quite as evil as he wished he was. Though he did have his villainous moments!

The world was pretty fun. It was the sort of over the top type of superhero world that you get while watching a movie like Marvel's Avengers. Which is great. This actually had a similar tone to the Avengers movies with plenty of humor and crazy action mixed in with likeable characters who were never short of a witty bit of banter.

The only real flaw I can spot is that this was such a short story. With the open ending I hope we do not have to wait long for the sequel.

Jeffrey Kafer did a fantastic job with the narration. He really got the tone of the story and has the perfect sort of voice for narration.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great Listen

At times laugh out loud listen. The story of the world's newest Super Crook, Gary aka Merciless. Fun, exciting and at times poignant. The story falls in two parts, the first his 'rise' as he takes to a life of crime, the second his 'fall' as he is incarcerated and seeks escape. Perhaps stronger in the narrative as his rise is set out, the book sets the scene for hopefully more adventures. I would definitely get more of this author.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

loved it

thoroughly enjoyed. some interesting ideas and great twist on traditional super hero and villan concept

Made my ears hurt.

the narrator starts off the sentence yelling, then finishes whispering. No work has been done to fix this using EQ. Ive had to turn the volume waaay up, just so i can make out the whispering parts. Needless to say, the parts where he is yelling are not very plesant.

However the actual book is very funny, would recommend to most people.

A love letter to the Superhero genre

This novel does a masterful job of giving its protagonist (and audience) a tour of comic book superheroes. It feels like a series of set pieces, each of which showcases a different classic comic book scenario, but tied together by the supremely likeable main character and his long suffering magic cloak. Whether he's robbing a bank or rescuing hostages, Merciless (the supervillain without mercy) is a delight to read/listen to.

So glad I stopped at this!!

Fantastic listen. Great narration of an unusual take on the genre. Unfair to compare to Pratchett but a dark cynical and funny look at the super hero world. Enough to keep the geeks happy and not to much to put a first timer off! Looking forward to the rest of the series!

funny take on super heroes

excellent audio book , great story funny and full nerdy one liners. performance is good but take a while to get used to the multiple Voices done be the one actor.

Great start to a Series of books

Definitely like the interaction between all of the different characters, some great sense of humour the start of the book getting slightly darker as it moves through, I have already downloaded the next two books and I hope they are as good as the first