Villian's Code Series [March 15, 2021]

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

This is a Buddy Read for The Villians' Code series by Drew Hayes starting March 15, 2021.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Bones of the Past will be on April 7th... thanks Niki

[Soo]

Thanks, Niki!

[Brian]

Thanks

[Soo]

Starting tonight or tomorrow. =D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

looking forward to this

[Brian]

I am so behind on reads. Got three from library so trying to wrap those up before this one. Wish me luck

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

My reading has dipped quite a bit as well... mostly reading at work... watching alot of reruns at home...

Probably gonna finally assemble my new PC today, get that setup, and consider playing some more active games that'll get me listening to books at home again...

Getting bored of all my idle games...

[Soo]

I think this is the same world as Superpowereds but we're getting the flip side of how the bad guys are trained, etc.

I'm not sure if it's my mood or Amy Landon's narration or what but this is not as fun or engaging as Superpowerds. Cool stuff is happening but the writing is not as engaging?

Could be just me.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I don't think this is connected... just like I'm unsure Everything Box is connected to Sandman Slim...

I haven't started yet, but I think Drew Hayes just likes super powers, in general, and has written several series that touch on it directly/indirectly... look at 5 minute sherlock with it's mad science experiments gone awry...

[Narilka]

I've been waiting for my next audible credit. Though now I'm interested in your thoughts too. That's a long book to slog through if it's not engaging.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm about 10% in, and not having any problems, yet...

I'm not surprised... I'm used to liking alot of things more than Soo :D

And also being less picky about my narrators...

This is another villainous series with a sub-focus on office politics, similar to Hench, I think...

The first 5% or so is exposition-heavy, and now I think things are setup and I think things are going to start happening?

I can definitely see similarities to Super Powereds, but I'm not sold on this being the same world...

EDIT: reddit says no, as per the author: VC books are in a world where meta-humans started showing up after an experiment by a scientist. Super Powereds, the powers are genetic.

[Soo]

Narilka, you should see if your library has the book. A bunch of Hayes books are at my library. If you have KU, the ebook is on KU.

I'm near the end now and I realized it's not the same world. The more you learn about how the "Good/Bad" guys work, it's obvious. BUT some of the themes, questions & etc that comes up by story gives a definite Superpowereds vibe.

I think it's a mix of narrator & Hayes trying to straddle the line without being too good or bad, etc. I do like how he tries to show how all the meta people are people with powers, but he's being kind of fishy on establishing stuff.

I do like the mentor/Ivan guy. I think Tory is cool too. I totally want to know more about Nexus.

Even with my gripes, there are some great action scenes & giant Look at Me signs about plot & characters that I totally want answers.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm past the 2/3rds mark... I feel like I'm in the home stretch of the book, with impending disaster foreshadowed... but there's still like 9-10hrs left in the book, since it's such a long book...

Overall, I think this is the book that most reminds me of Worm of all the super books I've read... between the villainy, and bug swarm guy and just the scope of things... and the length of the book... altho, this is more if WORM was broken into 3 books?... since WORM has several big climax sequences throughout the story...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

80%: last time, I compared the villains/series to WORM... but the hero side of things reminds me more of The Boys... with idealistic characters like Cybergeek, and more jaded characters like (view spoiler)[Apollo, who I think is the other man in the mirror, working with Balan... more to have a chance to murder the Villains’ Guild than anything, I think... super zealot... the rest of his stuff reminds me Homeland... more concerned with image than anything else... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Almost time for book 2...

Drew Hayes was evil with the dangling threads/cliffhangers at the end of the first one... (view spoiler)[oh, by the way, someone managed to kill an unkillable superhero somewhere in the multiverse... (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

There wasn't much chatter about the first book. Soo seems to have liked it. What about you Iain and Brian?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I liked it... I'm more open to office normality creeping into my superhero stories and other books, I think...

I liked Hench more than Soo as well...

It's a thick book, so there are elements I liked more than others, and some characters were introduced relatively deep into the story...

But yea, I really liked it, even if I suck at giving specifics a few weeks later... tons of good powers and relationships and dynamics to the world... and I liked the Master/Apprentice setup, too...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm not sure Brian ever made it to this book...

[Brian]

Nope sorry. I got swamped with some other reads.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Finally made headway on book 2... think I'm halfway through the tome?

I agree (with reviewers I think?) that some of the side characters from the first book don't feel like they've gotten much dimensionality added, in favor of new characters/storylines (Ivan's son, the new Quantum team, etc)...

Can't decide if the secret villain is someone from Ivan's past, or someone from the villain prison that was busted open in the previous book...

Interesting seeing heroes and villains try to live/work together, even if only half the characters know the other identities involved...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Finished book 2 of Villain's Code... solid book again, if mega-tomey...

I spent most of the book thinking the Big Bad was connected to (view spoiler)[Fornax (hide spoiler)] only to be surprised when it turned out to be (view spoiler)[connected to Professor Quantum and the origins of superpowers (hide spoiler)]... pretty cool... and I liked how Tory's developments played out... altho I'm REALLY waiting for (view spoiler)[her secret identity to be outed, at least to Cybergeek and the New Quantum squad (hide spoiler)]... sparks should fly, but considering all the stuff with (view spoiler)[Helen/Ivan and Lodestar/Fornax (hide spoiler)] I think it would be interesting...

Not sure how I feel about the Chloe developments... should be cool, but the Nexus comments have me worried... speaking of Nexus comments, the Lodestar bombshell was great... explains alot... and could have psychological consequences... especially given characters like Faithful (view spoiler)[out to kill her... (hide spoiler)]... I mean, that whole conversation has me thinking that one of the keys (view spoiler)[ to killing Lodestar has to do with overfilling her power reservoirs... I mean, she says there's no limit, but the difference between a star and a black hole is about crossing a density threshold and the speed of light... so I see possibilities there... (hide spoiler)]

The new Quantum team proved a more interesting addition to the cast than I initially expected... Professor Quantum seems like he's going to be a problem... Beverly's family needs fleshing out...

Think that about covers it... Bones of the Past generated the most theorizing out of me in April, I think...