The Science of Supervillainy by C.T. Phipps Narrator: Jeffrey Kafer
Series: The Supervillainy Saga #4
Published by Amber Cove Publishing on April 11, 2017
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 202
Length: 6 hours and 5 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Author
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without Mercy™ returns in the fourth volume of the popular Supervillainy Saga. Having discovered the world's greatest superhero slain by his doppelganger from another reality, Merciful: The Supervillain with Mercy ™, and the arrogant President Omega, Gary dedicates himself to overthrowing both. Unfortunately, this is harder than it looks since Merciful has all of Gary's genre savviness while President Omega has the entire brainwashed United States military behind him. In the end, though, there can be only one ruler of the world and two of these three feuding villains will have to go.
I really love Gary, aka Merciless, the Supervillain Without Mercy™. He wants to be a supervillain so bad he can taste it, but he always seems to be on the side of good in the end (even if he might not have the “superhero” way of getting there).
In The Science of Supervillany, he wakes up in a world where everyone is being drugged into a happy state by Other Gary, aka Merciful. Other Gary is Gary’s doppelganger from another dimension. He is making the world a more peaceful place by taking away free will of the citizens.
This Supervillainy Saga series has been a lot of fun from the beginning. I love this world he’s built where superheroes and supervillains are a daily thing. The characters are a lot of fun. There are some of the craziest supervillains, like The Typewriter, Icecream Man and President Omega. There are also some fun superheroes, Ultragoddess and Nightgirl. There is also Gary’s sidekicks, Cindy Wakowski aka Red Riding Hood and Diabloman. There is also Cloak, which is the cloak that gives Gary his supervillain powers, but is also sentient and has all the knowledge learned from previous wearers, including superhero,The Nightwalker. Cloak talks to Gary in his head and acts a bit like an angel on his shoulder and conscience. Last but not least, Mandy Karkofsky, Gary’s wife.
These characters are what really makes this series fun for me. I’ve really enjoyed watching them grow as characters. I love how they want to be villains, but just can’t seem to do what is best for mankind. I’m a big character driven reader, so I love it when an author really makes me care for characters, even if they are sentient objects like Cloak.
I don’t want to go into this story too much, to avoid spoilers for previous books. Just know this story seems to wrap up the story arc as the final battle finally happens. While, there was some sadness with the ending, I think it was very fitting for the series. I was happy with how it all wrapped up.
This is a fun series full of pop culture references, especially for the nerds out there like me. There are some references I didn’t get, but I got most of them. I think most people who’ve grown up with Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the other classics of nerdom will enjoy all the lines that reference these stories.
If you want to try this series, do start with book one, The Rules of Supervillainy, and read in consecutive order or you will be completely lost.
Narration
Jeffrey Kafer continues to do a great job with the narration of this series. He really brings out the humor in these stories. He’s great with male and female characters. And his pace and tone are perfect for this series. I highly recommend people to checkout his work, if you’ve never listened to him before.
Listen to a clip:
About Jeffrey Kafer
An award-winning, Los Angeles audiobook narrator, Jeffrey Kafer has performed over 375 titles in all genres from indie authors to bestsellers.
About C.T. Phipps
C.T. Phipps is a lifelong student of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. An avid tabletop gamer, he discovered this passion led him to write and turned him into a lifelong geek. He is a regular reviewer at The United Federation of Charles and the author of Agent G, Cthulhu Armageddon, The Red Room series, Lucifer’s Star, Straight Outta Fangton, and The Supervillainy Saga.
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I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.
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This series sounds like a hoot. I’ll definitely be getting to it at some point. 🙂
It is a lot of fun. Gary and the gang are really funny.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
Thank you again for reviewing this. Gary is my favorite creation alongside Jane Doe.
Gary has been great. I do plan to tackle the second Jane Doe book. I really enjoyed the first one.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
That sounds fun.
This series is a lot of fun.
This sounds like so much fun! I love a good superhero / supervillian story. I will have to add this one to my list!
This has been a fun series for sure. 🙂
These covers just look so fun 😉
I really like these covers too. Each book has two new people, so you get to see a picture of most everyone.