Read Time: 2 Minutes
This is one of those hard-to-like books that is also kind of hard to hate. Let’s get one thing out of the way; the main character, Aidan Salt / Apex Strike, is a colossal douchebag. He’s eighteen years old, frothing with hormones, and a world of super-villainy has just opened up before him, filled with smoking hot babes who just want sex with bad guys.
So if you can put aside the sense of desperate author wish fulfilment, the story itself isn’t half-bad. In the universe imagined by Matt Carter, the superheroes have won. Supervillains are mostly a thing of the past, with any new pretenders swiftly knocked out of play before they even begin.
In this world, what real use do superheroes play then? Then along comes Apex Strike, the most sensational supervillain in many years. After a miserable start to his criminal career, his follow-up act has him in the headlines for days. This, of course, cannot go unpunished… but not in the way you might think.
Recruited by a team of superheroes to be their own personal villain, Apex and a group of other wannabe villains are given the chance of a lifetime. Together they form a knock-off Suicide Squad where they get to be bad but on the superhero’s terms. This promises them a life beyond their wildest dreams.
Narration by Nicholas Techosky was decent, and production values were good until near the end, when the quality dropped off. Obvious re-takes spliced in that didn’t match the other audio made for some irritating moments.
Overall, a decent story with a cringe protagonist. Don’t say you weren’t warned if that’s not your kind of thing!