refreshingly Grounded for the fantasy it contains

The language symbol in the puns ample. Satisfying, imaginative considering the saturation of the market with superpowers with dry humor where I cut myself laughing out loud in the car While driving. I guess it is superhero fiction for those that are fed up with superheroes.

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Book might not rule the world but it does rule

I really enjoyed this book and downloaded the next book before it even finished. It is a lot of fun with snarky dialog and plenty of action, it's the type of book that doesn't take itself to seriously and is all the better for it. Lots of cool names for both the good guys and the bad guys that would give the Avengers a run for there money. Loyalty doesn't matter when you have super powers and sided can be switched when you are fighting to the death, as long as you do it with style and a quirky catchphrase. I don't normally listen to the next book in the series straight away (preferring to space out the enjoyment) but with Zombies taking over the city (the next book) I can't just leave it there.
When someone leaves a cloak on his doorstep Gary Karkofsky picks up the mantle and becomes the supervillian he has also was wanted to be. He is no ordinary villain though, he only kills bad guys and people that need killing like people that annoy him (kidding). He tries to follow the super villain handbook and the 1st rule is not to kill super heros. But what happens when the super hero themselves aren't to worried about killing innocents to get there target. What happens then? Gary is about to find out. He stops the ice cream man from robbing a bank, only to turn around and rob it himself (well I said he was a villain) a long will his sidekicks, ex girlfriend Cindy and Diabloman. The city that hired him (well okay he blackmailed the city into paying him) to take out the ice cream man turns on him and sends anti hero's to take him out. With the death of the anti heros Gary is sent to the moon where he stirs up a whole lot of new trouble for himself. What does it take, to take over the world?
I like the narrator and think he is a big part of why I enjoyed the book so much. I hope he sticks with the series.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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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.

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1 person found this helpful

really good listen

this book is great some bits made me laugh and I just love the world made up of super heroes and villains really fun

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Deeper than it seems

Merciless, the villain without any mercy. That should sum up the main character, who doesn't seem to be too bright, but does have some moral principles which almost make him into a hero. He received the cloak of a superhero when that hero died and now wants to use it to be a villain, except he's not too good at being a villain because of those morals. Unfortunately there are a lot of other villains around, and super heroes, including one guy whose powers, vehicle, clothing, etc are "ultra"-, i.e. ultra-speed, ultra-vision, etc. He does get apprehended, of course, and sent to the prison for super heroes (I won't say where, that would be a spoiler). Then things get really bad when there is a prison break.

Definitely worth listening to. I am looking forward to the next book.

I received a free copy of this book and chose to write a review.

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enjoyable all the way through

very enjoyable, with nice dabs of humor through out , found my self wanting to find out what happened next every chance I had I listened to more

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Fun fun fun!

I quite like this anit-hero premise, and it is an interesting ride from battling crazed up supes to ultra-max prison in moon.
So how does less than average villain does it? Well, with the help of super-cloak that speaks only to him of course! (In Jeffrey Kafer's voice, which is quite good perhaps even one of the best ;)
"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review."

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