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    Hench: A Novel
    Hench: A Novel
    Hench: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    Hench: A Novel

    Written by Natalie Zina Walschots

    Narrated by Alex McKenna

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    “This book is fast, furious, compelling, and angry as hell."" -- Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author

    The Boys meets My Year of Rest and Relaxation in this smart, imaginative, and evocative novel of love, betrayal, revenge, and redemption, told with razor-sharp wit and affection, in which a young woman discovers the greatest superpower—for good or ill—is a properly executed spreadsheet.

    Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?

     As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured.  And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one.

    So, of course, then she gets laid off.

    With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.

    Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing.  And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.

    It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.

    A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics. 

    Editor's Note

    Super antiheroes…

    Delightfully wicked, this inventive tale is for anyone who secretly roots for the bad guys. When a data analyst crunches the numbers to discover heroes cause more damage than good, she joins forces with a supervillain as his henchwoman. A rollicking, action-packed adventure through data science and super antiheroes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateSep 22, 2020
    ISBN9780062978608
    Hench: A Novel
    Author

    Natalie Zina Walschots

    Natalie Zina Walschots is a writer and game designer whose work includes LARP scripts, heavy metal music journalism, video game lore, weirder things classified as “interactive experiences,” and, unfortunately, experimental poetry. Her first novel, Hench, was a finalist on the 2021 season of Canada Reads and nominated for a Locus Award for Best First Novel. She plays a lot of RPGs, participates in a lot of Nordic LARPs, watches a lot of horror movies, and reads a lot of speculative fiction. She lives in Nova Scotia with her partner and two cats. 

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    Reviews for Hench

    4/5

    626 ratings53 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Listened to this audiobook non-stop! Can’t wait to see what the author has in store for the next one!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The story was great and the actress’s rendering was the cherry on top. Would recommend.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I really liked the first 2/3 or so, but I struggled to finish. I loved the concept and found the perspective of the narrator really interesting. Toward the end, though there were too many drawn out descriptions of fighting, which I find deeply boring, and I also lost interest in the narrator. I made myself finish and I should have just given up on it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I was very much entertained. The universe is a bit The Boys, but the story is totally its own
    • 4/5
      Anna is a low-level hench who prefers to work on spreadsheets and not go out into the field. She works for villains, whatever. After being injured by a hero, however, she finds a new purpose to life - to prove that heroes cause more damage than they ever save.

      It's a "realistic" view of living in a world where people have super powers from the perspecitive of a person low in the hierarchy. It explores the gray area between good and evil, with a nod to the systems that enable them.

      CW: Body horror
    • 4/5
      2023 book #12. 2020. Anna is a data entry clerk how gets work through a temp agency that supplies office workers to super villains. When her latest boss (the Electric Eel) battles super hero Super Collider, she gets badly injured and vows revenge. Well written and engaging.
    • 5/5
      im... REALLY surprised at how much i enjoyed this. the world building leaves a little to be desired, but the characters are all so fun and interesting and the plot kept me guessing
    • 5/5
      Too good of a novel to miss out on. I can see this becoming a full Hollywood level production into a series. A bow to the writer and a remarkable narrator.
    • 5/5
      I wasn't expecting to like this as much as i did. As someone who doesn't enjoy the superhero genre, I really loved the villan angle. The way events and conclusions rolled out was unexpected in some ways too. Recommend, and will be looking out for more from this author.
    • 5/5
      I read this because I saw a tweet that mentioned Hench when talking about "unsettling easy distinctions between heroes/villains through narrative moments of unbearable intimacy" and this is precisely what Hench was.

      In the age of superheroes, few works invite us to talk and think about what the world would really be if they existed. What would be the consequences to normal people, to the everyday human, and how that impact would mold our society? Hench does all of this and more.

      There's a great depth of analysis in this book, a great representation of a disabled protagonist and other characters, a great bisexual representation that is never shamed, and the whole LGBTq+ gets their moments too. We have POC characters that aren't stereotypical or forgetful.

      If all of that isn't enough, Hench has great humor moments, but it's not a book for you if you're squeamish because the gore is present a lot, and there are also lots of triggers. There are also lovely and warming moments that give us comfort and make us fall in love with the characters and their relationships.

      Last but not least Anna. She is a great protagonist for me, she captivated me and made me root for her for the entirety of this book. I am already a villain girl, but Anna makes it easy, not only because there's so much good in her that she's better than most heroes, but because she's loveable and funny and so so lonely and precious it hurts. I'll be waiting for the second book to pass more time in her presence.
    • 3/5
      Just not my genre but well written enough to listen to end. Narrator was great
    • 4/5
      Found my new future career path! Who knew being a hench could be so interesting?
    • 5/5
      Smart and riveting and also easy to follow. The emotional depth was a delightful surprise.
    • 3/5
      More like a 3.5, enjoyed the book but it started losing me around 70% in. It was really interesting but the plot went somewhere that I personally wasn't enjoying fully- would 100% recommend though!
    • 5/5
      I generally don't like fiction that's grounded in reality. I like fantasy worlds or off-planet sci-fi. So a modern day world with superheroes wasn't something I was initially interested in. But 2 years of it being out with stellar reviews eventually wore me down- and I have to say, those reviews are merited.

      I'm also very glad I went into this not knowing what to expect. The story is gripping, and who doesn't love a queer anti-hero?
    • 5/5
      Unique twist on Villains and Heroes. Will keep you engaged throughout the story, extremely entertaining.
    • 5/5
      A funny witty book. Great twists and characters that you love to hate.
    • 5/5
      I love the matter of fact way the universe of this book is just accepted. All the areas that other authors would exploit for social commentary or shock effect are just taken as standard. The humor is quality as well.
    • 3/5
      Ah clear "meh" from me for Hench. Great start, funny, entertaining, fast paced, and a very different setting for superheros. It started to slow down halfway, the reversed roles seemed to reverse to right themselves (villains being heroes turning kind of bad again), and after an interesting showdown an unenthusiastic ending.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this a lot. Very entertaining. Very well done
    • 5/5
      I've read so many mediocre books this year that I'm gonna give this five stars, even though it's really a four and a half star read for me. I picked this up because I'm slowly slogging though the rest of the GR Awards sci-fi nominees, and I'm glad I did! (Even though I categorize this as fantasy, not sci-fi).

      So much fun to read, good writing, great characters! I love the less serious take on super heroes and villains, where they are mostly just self-important, pompous fools who constantly monologue and don't really consider the real life consequences of their actions. And even more so the perspective of the minions (or Henches) who just try to make a living and not become collateral while they are doing it.

      I'm really looking forward to what this author comes out with, next.
    • 5/5
      Very well done. Fast paced, good editing, interesting story line. Thoroughly enjoyed this.
    • 5/5
      This was a phenomenal book and I’m praying there’s a sequel in the works ?
    • 5/5
      So witty and funny, but realistic and unapologetic at the same time. It is The boys retold from the bad guys point of view and I loved it. Awesome world building with ironic touches and cliches made gun of everywhere. I read it in 2 days, something I have not done in at least 2 years. So worth the read!
    • 5/5
      If you’re looking for some superhero fiction, this would be an excellent place to start. This is about a henchwoman who becomes chief assistant to a supervillain because she figures out a way to really defeat heroes–in the court of public opinion. It’s all a matter of perspective–if you account for all the collateral damage they do, they end up doing more harm than good. There’s a little bit of John Scalzi’s Redshirts in here combined with Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincible.But more to the fact, it’s “My Fair Lady”. The main woman starts at the bottom and becomes a super-villain in her own right. In the meantime, she’s wondering if this is the right thing to do–if this is just part of her own petty vengeance for being part of that collateral damage (since she was acting in a henchman capacity) or if she’s gone too far. It soon becomes a war of who can act more heinously and ends up in some disturbing zones (including a little body horror).It’s an examination of the dark side of superheroes and the life of supervillains. If you like shows/comics like “The Boys” or “Invincible”, you’ll like this. It’s not as over-the-top violent, but it has an intriguing plot and good characters.
    • 3/5
      Three stars is about the ceiling for a well written book that is lacking even a shred of humor and is told by an unlikable narrator.
    • 4/5
      I expected a bit more hilarity, some goofiness really, but this is a smooth moving exploration into the costs of superpowers, revenge, monomania and told with some humor, yes, and with a scattering of building busting super-nastiness.
    • 5/5
      ONE OF MY FAVORITES OF THE YEAR!This story is so good and funny! Anna is a hench, meaning she is one of those who backs up or works for a known villain. After a particularly nasty run-in with a Superhero that leaves her body and mind shattered in agony and anger, she develops a web page listing all the damage Supes do to human lives. This catches her a job with another villain and she becomes their number 2; developing petty small plots to show the world how bad Supes really are.The pace is fast, the dialog is witty and I laughed out loud in many instances. There are several fantastic fight scenes. The one liners are zingers of first rate.This was such a good audiobook that I decided to also purchase it in a physical copy.**All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
    • 3/5
      Borrowed on a whim and pleasantly surprised, since I am definitely not the target audience. So, even if you have no interest in superheroes, Marvel comics or cosplay, if you do like a well-written romance that is a bit unusual, I can recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Conceptually, this is genius. But, as the author acknowledges in the acknowledgements, she's not so good with feelings and this is reflected in the book. It doesn't distract plot-wise since there's so much to be entertained by, but I felt the characters lacked emotional depth.

      Highly recommended and I eagerly await Walschots next literary foray.