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The Rules of Supervillainy

The Supervillainy Saga Volume 1

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The Rules of Supervillainy

By: C. T. Phipps
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
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About this listen

Gary Karkofsky is an ordinary guy with an ordinary life living in an extraordinary world. Supervillains, heroes, and monsters are a common part of the world he inhabits. Yet, after the death of his hometown's resident superhero, he gains the amazing gift of the late champion's magical cloak. Deciding he prefers to be rich rather than good, Gary embarks on a career as Merciless: The Supervillain Without Mercy. But is he evil enough to be a villain in America's most crime-ridden city? Gary soon finds himself surrounded by a host of the worst of Falconcrest City's toughest criminals. Supported by his long-suffering wife, his ex-girlfriend turned professional henchwoman, and a has-been evil mastermind, Gary may end up being not the hero they want but the villain they need.

©2015 C. T. Phipps (P)2015 Amber Cove Publishing and C.T. Phipps Action & Adventure Fantasy Fiction Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Superhero Crime Comedy Funny Witty Feel-Good
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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!

So glad I stopped at this!!

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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.

A love letter to the Superhero genre

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It seems not to take itself serious, but don't be fooled.

With Marvel taking over the universe and DC wallowing in misery there seems to be a new superhero I'm seemingly expected to give a crap about every five minutes and Sanderson likely has another trilogy out by the time I think of buying them on offer.

This one takes the piddle, throws in a deluge of movie gags and adds a cheer to the void left by Pratchett in bringing a good laugh to the audience and laughing at them and their tropes. Instead of churning out another TV franchise, Netflix should have a look at this, as I imagine the rest of the series will be quite a giggle and they are a very well produced audiobook, that was easy to zip through in a few sessions and leave me wanting to finish it off. Not a bad thing and audible will devour future tokens on the follow ups at some stage during this year.

I'd like to have seen more of the hench wench at the back end of the story, but for me, Cloak stole the show and it will be interesting to see what comes next.

A damn good laugh, seemingly not serious

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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.

Made my ears hurt.

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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.

Well it made me laugh

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