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Book Review - Villain

 A tornado of emotion, and you can't look away!







Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots, Published May 2026 by William Morrow


An exploration of grief, trust, loyalty, and agency.

To continue the story of the author's previous novel Hench, which I felt was a true original, we had to take a dive deeper into the repercussions of the ending of the last book. New adversaries arise that challenge our Hench at her own game. Several twists subverted my expectations, and I was riveted the whole time. Our protagonist continues to work hard to be an antagonist to those she feels are bringing more harm than good into the world. I really appreciated the time and care that was taken in explaining and moving through the grief and pain that our characters experience. 

What does it mean to follow the path you have set for yourself? To what lengths are you willing to be changed by the pursuit of your goal? What does trust really mean? Can you truly give trust to someone without the freedom to choose? To what lengths will you go to stay completely loyal to some one, or some ideal? The depths of these questions are plumbed, and I found my own mind thinking these questions over, and exploring my insides too, finding them gnarled and twisting as any human who has lived in the world.  

Even more than these former questions, this is a book about relationships: professional relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, among others and how some have navigated through the treacherous waters of all these, facing both positive and negative dynamics.  Tough, strange, weird inside, awkward, lustful, supportive, manipulative, and bent and strained till breaking... it's a tornado of emotions. Many do survive this storm, but none emerge unscathed.

While delivering a lot of the same snarky fun as before, this story goes deeper and darker into these damaged psyches. We follow our main character stumbling into elation, exhaustion, and even horror at choices that must be made as she blazes her own trail up the mountain of embodying the cover title, a Villain with a capital V. Just as she truly embraced the transformation into a Henchwoman in the previous story.

This is not necessarily a happy ending, it's a comic tragedy, I think.  No one alive at the end is happy necessarily, but goals will be reached. If you found the previous story even somewhat engaging, you will be possessed utterly by this book. I was, and I loved it.


9 out of 10 galaxies


The author provides a content warning, and while nothing is graphic, many difficult things are discussed or mentioned.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy.


Please buy Villain from your local independent bookshop!

Or order online from Bookshop.org.



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