Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Data for supervillains

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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Back in April 2012, I went to see The Avengers at my local theater. It was one of the most fun movie-going experiences I’ve ever had. I went by myself but I was definitely not alone – it was a packed house, even during a matinee, on a weekend, in my small town. In later years, I would see most MCU movies in the theater, in similar circumstances, but The Avengers was the first and it was fun. With age and, you know, everything, it’s a lot […]

Beside the victory, that’s her destiny

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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Anna: I’ll have to come back eventually to get the stitches removed and for some checkups. But soon I’m on my own. June: What do you mean ‘on your own’? You can’t even piss by yourself. You gonna waddle down the stairs in that shitty Terminator leg brace to get your delivery tacos three times a day? When we meet Anna, she is scraping by trying to stay afloat doing odd jobs at a local temp agency for henches (villain support staff). After receiving a […]

In six weeks alone, Supercollider was responsible for 468 lifeyears lost.

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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I loved Hench, LOVED IT! It’s funny, thoughtful, violent, compassionate and full of rage. Anna Truelove, pronounced troh-MED-lov, is trying to get a stable job working for a supervillain. The gig economy though, means mostly she temps and tries to stave off scurvy while she rises and grinds and waits for her invoices to get paid. As she’s starting to get a foothold in the Electric Eel’s organization, Supercolider and his sidekick, Accelerator, intervene in the Eel’s dastardly deeds and Anna ends up in the […]

Where Are Those Sokovian Accords When You Need Them

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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Hmm this was definitely highly recommended by a number of people, but it ended up falling flat for me. I thought a lot while reading it as to why that was, and I think the conclusion is this: the motivations of the various characters, both primary and secondary, never seemed to resonate in a way that made me root for their successes. Anna/The Auditor, the titular Hench, works temp jobs doing data entry for supervillains. She’s all about The Data, in a way that reads […]

Data analysis beats superpowers!

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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This book is kind of like if Office Space and Better Off Ted were written into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it is perfection. And from a fellow Canadian! Plot: villains get their staff same as any other major corporation, through temp agencies. Anna is a temp that does data entry work for villains. She doesn’t care about who they are, she just needs to pay rent. That is, until a chance encounter with a hero leaves her very badly injured, and real mad. Stuck […]



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