The Fussy Stuff

Title: Hench

Author: Natalie Zina Walschots

Narrator: Alex McKenna

Format: Audiobook

Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Quick Take: Witty, dark, and genuinely surprising: a supervillain story with sharp one-liners, epic battle scenes, and a weirdly compelling obsession with research methodology. Yes, really.

My Take

I want to start with a small confession: I think I did this book a disservice by listening to it.

Not because the audiobook is bad. Alex McKenna does a genuinely great job. But this is one of those books where I kept catching myself wanting to slow down, sit with a line, maybe even go back and read it again. The writing is sharp in a way that deserves your full attention, and audio does not always let you give it that. Lesson learned for next time.

Because the writing really is something. The one-liners in this book are fantastic. The kind where you want to highlight them, screenshot them, and send them to three people immediately. There is a wit running through the whole story that never tips into trying-too-hard, which is a harder balance to strike than it looks.

What I did not expect, and what genuinely impressed me, is how wildly the tone swings, and how well it works. One chapter you are in the middle of a huge, cinematic battle sequence. The next you are deep in a surprisingly detailed, almost academic discussion of data and research methodology. Those two things should not belong in the same book. And yet somehow, they absolutely do. It takes a genuinely gifted author to pull off both of those things with equal skill, and Walschots does it.

The unpredictability is part of the fun. I never quite knew where this story was going to take me, and I was into it every time it surprised me. The whole premise, looking at the superhero world through the eyes of someone on the other side of it, gives the story a perspective that feels fresh without being gimmicky. It takes the concept seriously, which is exactly why it works.

This is a five-star read for me, and I do not hand those out casually. If I had read it as an ebook, it might have broken my brain in the best possible way.

Unfussed Verdict

If you like dark, funny, genuinely clever fiction and you are not precious about your superheroes being the good guys, this is an easy yes. Just maybe reach for the ebook over the audio so you can actually savour it.

Unfussed Homework (Optional, Obviously)

Think about the last book that made you wish you had read it in a different format. Did you switch, or did you finish it anyway and just accept the loss? Is there a book on your shelf right now that is waiting for you to be in exactly the right mood and medium for it?

– Read what you love, The Unfussed Reader