The Bookwyrm's Review of Villain Core by John Stovall

 

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Rating: 9/10

Synopsis

Sam Smith, the biggest superhero fanboy ever, was excited to get super powers… until his first evening as a crime fighter meant dealing with the villain Exosuit.

Then Sam died. It was a heroic death, but still not how Sam imagined things going.

To his surprise, Sam wakes as a “Villain Core”—the A.I. behind superhero training centers. He’s quickly informed that an equal number of superheroes and supervillains will be created for an intergalactic competition over the control of Earth, and Sam must prepare his side—the superheroes—for this grand war.

Which is awesome, up until Sam learns the supervillains are cheating.

With the aid of his A.I. assistant, Melissa, and a superhero team run by Sam’s old friend, Lucas Lee, now the hero Fury Fist, Sam must grow his training center to become the most powerful Villain Core ever, both to level up the heroes around him and to survive the villains attempting to destroy him.

A Dungeon Core story for fans of superheroes.

Review

Since I was a kid back in the 70's and 80's I've been a huge fan of superheroes. I read tons of comics, watched the TV shows, then started watching the movies when they were made. I discovered superhero prose novels about a decade ago, and found some truly talented story writers creating worlds easily as good as anything in Marvel or DC. When I saw that John Stovall had mixed superhero prose with LitRPG, I realized this was like peanut butter and chocolate: a perfect combo that I had to check out. Here's what I discovered.

The story is set in a world where devices started appearing that granted certain people superpowers, ranging the gamut from the Superman package, psychic abilities, various types of energy projection all the way to mental control of computers and other tech. This all started in Stockton, California, of all places, for an unknown reason. This explosion of people with fantastic powers brings a renaissance to Stockton, with the city being mostly rebuilt into a new city, Champion City, where the new super science mixes with the old run down that was Stockton. Of course, some of the people given powers became villains, and the heroes were forced to try and stop them. This is the world the characters find themselves in, where heroes stand tall to protect the regular people of the city, and are the new celebrities everyone aspires to be. It's even wilder, since heroes and villains alike can level their abilities up through certain actions, like it was a video game. It's a great mix of realistic and fantastic elements, pulled off seamlessly for the most part, and is a real selling point for the story.

The characters are a fun group. The main character are Sam Smith and Lucas Lee. They are as different as can be, both physically and power wise, but they still geek out over the same things, and both desperately want to be superheroes. When they get powers, Lucas of the low level Luke Cage variety, and Sam of the computer control variety, they immediately think they're now ready to superhero it up.  After this goes tragically wrong, and Sam finds himself in a whole new situation as far as bodies, it's this naïve optimism that pushes them through. That and brains steeped in superhero lore. Sam's new job as villain core is built around this knowledge, knowing he has to train heroes to level up as challengingly as possible, and the truth behind why people are getting the powers also drives him. Lucas is driven to progress as well, feeling he has let Sam down, knowing they weren't ready. Its great watching his character growth as he forms a super team and leads them in training and trying to foil the first of the Supervillain groups plans.

The secondary characters are a fun bunch. From Lucas's teammates to Sam's AI assistant, we get to see some really interesting character arcs. Sam's assistant is particularly hilarious, being based on his imagination as a 19 year old young man, leading to a lot of mild humor and embarrassment for Sam. She really helps keep him motivated, and keep his ego in check. The author does an excellent job putting a real face to his fictional characters, giving the reader something to relate to in each of them. 

The antagonists are an eclectic group of supervillains, with their own powers and motivations. Exosuit is much more of a psychotic type than a huge planner, and his appearances clue the reader in that there is a bigger baddie in the shadows, pulling strings behind the scenes. We get to see some other villains as well, especially as the villains plans are set in motion. While we don't get a lot of backstory on them, we get to see a wide array of personalities and powersets, which helps draw the reader in as well.

The narration is ably handled by Brian Wiggins. He gives a lot of warmth and life to the various characters, and he does a great job differentiating the various characters. Considering some of the characters barely qualify as human, he manages to make them understandable and distinct, while also giving them an alien feel. He does an excellent job with Sam and Lucas both, giving them the feel of teens just becoming adults, still wet behind the ears but earnestly wanting to help people. He just really draws the listener in.

 While it may seem to be an odd combination, supers and LitRPG actually fits together rather well. The author of Villain Core really does an excellent job creating a world that is just beginning to deal with the reality of supers, and all that entails. With a great combination of characters, tight plotting and excellent world building, I think Villain Core should appeal to a wide variety of readers, from comic readers to sci-fi to thriller readers. I highly recommend this story, and I can't wait to see where the author takes it from here.