Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain

Our page on this book here

Just got this book on Kindle and read it all yesterday. Totally love it.

Penny is the most fun protagonist I've seen in a while. :D

Can't wait for the sequel, I really want to see her having crazy, mad science fun more.

edited 2nd Jun '14 8:44:31 PM by CassidyTheDevil

The setup here kinda sounds like Worm, just without all the horror, tragedy and suffering. Booooooooooring

This just went on my to read list. Although I really should finish the last 8 arcs of Worm first.

edited 4th Jun '14 2:40:51 AM by 32ndfreeze

Bought it, read it, loved it. Hard to find a good spot to point out as my favorite, but I did enjoy Penny accidentally finding extremely dangerous artifacts that her parents think she's hunting for on purpose.

There were a few problems. It's pretty clear the author doesn't have an editor. Mostly just two or three typos throughout the whole thing, but there were some minor things I would have done differently. When Lucyfar unleashed her full Glory, there wasn't really enough emphasis put on how awesome it probably was. He didn't even capitalize "morning star," which felt like a mistake.

Anyway, yes, awesome. I also made a character page.

I brought this a couple of days ago and really enjoyed it. I really think Penny makes an excellent Mad Scientist, I mean she already had the laugh for it. And I would have to say I really like the chracter of Bull, I hope we see more of him and his daughter in the sequel. Personally I think she may reappear as a hero or a villain, but I think it would be neat if she starts off a villain in order to get her dad's attention and ends up a hero by the end of the book.

I kinda have this theory bouncing around in my head that Penny and the others will be there when Bull's daughter manifests her powers, and have to calm her down until her dad can arrive. But that's probably just me.

On a more long-term note, it seems pretty clear the the Conquerors are being set up as a long-term enemy. We're probably gonna get another invasion eventually.

I bought this book just over a week ago and I think I have read it at least three times already. It's that good. Sure, there are some typos and stuff - it would be silly to say otherwise, but they are crushed into insignificance by just how entertaining the overall package is.

I have definitely paid more money than my Kindle copy cost for books I enjoyed far less.

And there is a film version coming, according to the publisher's website.

If that's the case I really hope they don't mess it up. This is definitely the best new series I've read in a while.

Personally I'm more excited for the sequel... not least of which because we'll probably see it first.

That does seem likely.

I don't think anyone has brought this up, but one of my favorite things about the novel is the treatment given to Penny's parents. I really like the fact they despite the fact they are two scarily smart people, they have a massive blind-spot in regards to their daughter.

By all rights they should be able to make a connection about the new supervillain the same age, same gender with technology based powers and a similar name but they don't because the idea of their daughter being a supervillain is just so foreign of an idea for them.

I loved that, plus the reconstruction of the Secret Identity. Yes, anyone could discover Penny's identity in about an hour—maybe a day if they're incompetent. But no one would do that (except Spider) because the other villains would get mad. The whole nature of the game goes a long way towards explaining quirks that we take for granted in comic books.

That's one of the things I will admit to being a little worried about in the sequel. The first book got away with it because Penny's mother was more worried about what might happen to Penny that worrying about what Penny was up to. Now with The Inscrutable Machine slotted firmly into the pre-existing superhero/supervillain dynamic Penny's not going to have that cover any more.

There's also the issue of how long she can keep The Machine itself out of the public eye.

edited 7th Jul '14 4:17:32 PM by KnightofLsama

Well, the supervillain Bad Penny has repeatedly been seen using a number of vaguely insectoid machines with a variety of useful purposes. The girl Penny, on the other hand, just has a vaguely insectoid wrist bracelet thing that has been seen reacting to voice commands, destroying a science faire, and getting her water. There are only tenuous cosmetic connections between them.

You're right, sooner or later her parents are going to realize something's up. But it's likely going to be later.

Hmm. I don't think they will end up finding out about Penny being Bad Penny, at least for quite a while.

Mainly because Brian and Beatrice are such good parents, keen to set an example to Penny, and when they make the decision NOT to track down who the Inscrutable Machine actually are as a couple - when Brian convinces his wife, who is in full on Audit Mode at the time that doing so would be wrong. It's the kind of decision that they would stick to unless the Inscrutable Machine went round killing folks. Apart from that, Penny's supervillain's civilian identity and that of her two mates are inviolable.

They've raised her with that whole honesty thing. I know she skates about the truth with about as much skill as E-Claire uses with those glidey things on the bottom of her teddy bear costume without flat out lying to them, but I think the only way that her parents would find out is if they asked and she said yes. Because I think she would do precisely that.

It's not The Audit tracking down Bad Penny's identity that I think is the problem. It's the other end of the string. It's Penny's mother using her Audit skills to figure out what Penny Akk is up to and discovering that she's a supervillain.

Same result, but approached from the other end.

I'm not entirely sure on this, but I get the impression that Beatrice tries not to pry into her daughters life in full on Audit mode. That's not to say she wouldn't pry in a motherly way. But I think she draws a distinction between the two.

Although I think all bets would be off if she thought Penny was in genuine danger.

Edit: I found this nice quote while re-reading the book that supports this.

"...it's a miracle if Mom aver makes breakfast. She's right; I'd hate it if she pulled her Audit routine at home, and she needed a break. Not that she could stop herself completely"

edited 9th Jul '14 6:22:51 AM by 32ndfreeze

An excerpt from the sequel, At Least I Didn't Blow Up OUR Moon has been floating around for a while. Penny needs bio-engineering and cloning tools. That could end horribly very very quickly.

And this brings particular attention to the fact that Penny's super power doesn't exactly have the best record with safety precautions. considering what happened with the uranium, I do not think this will end well.

Well, the clue could be in the title, eh? Something about a lunar object of some sort going boom! eh?

I'm curious on the OUR part though. My first impression is either an alternate reality, which would be terrible and result in a LOT of death, of more likely Penny somehow destroying some other moon.

I wonder if it will be destroyed directly by Penny's inventions though, it might be somehow related to the Conquerors as from the technology we have already seen from them they seem to be powerful enough to do it.

I think it's Bad Penny's doing, or at least I expect it will be. Would be awesome if it was a Colony Drop to take out a lot of Conqueror robot thingies.

Just finished it. Uhmm.. I've been known to read more complicated plots into books than the author intended, but..

A few theories, in order of confidence ; Theory the first: "With near-unity probability": Her parents know. Every conversation they have with Penny, and every conversation Penny "Accidentally overhears" makes a lot more sense if viewed as deliberate briefings aimed at the bad penny. Heck, I wouldn't rule out that every one of their little larks after the events at the school is sitting in HD video in her fathers lab.

Just how much of events were deliberately set up, however.. less sure. It would, for example, make a lot of sense if Mecha was on call in case things went south and and the power immune guard was a contact sent there to clarify to the kids that they needed to get some actual defences.. but that bowl? Don't see how they could have predicted or planted that. There are limits to prediction. Or they could just be watching to see how things go.

I don't have a good guess as to why they are doing this. I have several low confidence ones: 1: "Getting her mixed up in the most complex plot possible is an attempt to trigger her *mothers* power in her." 2: "It's a better entry path into the super world than being a sidekick". 3: "Audit calculation says intervening would most likely make matters much worse".

Theory the Second: Claire is, technically, the Antichrist, (adopted) daughter of the devil, Lucy-far keeps hanging around claire's mothers place because she is Mrs Luthra also. They are keeping that quiet to avoid Claire acquiring demented cult followers, assassination attempts, ect.

edited 11th Jul '14 8:15:54 AM by izeintime

I think it's more the Lutra ladies both having weaponized cuteness and/or sex appeal. Lucyfar may be as bi as Claire is implied to be here on this very wiki, and probably fancies Lutra Senior. Who is, as noted, single.

Read it about a month ago, stoked about the potential for the sequel. One of the things that had me wondering is, is The Audit officially a Badass Normal with her analytical skills or is she implied to be more?

Well, at the beginning Ray and Penny find the idea that a "normal human" can do that sort of thing ridiculous. On the other hand, Bull and a couple other supers seem to take it for granted that yes, she is a normal human, she's just really good. I feel like the supers would have a better idea of that sort of thing than the mundanes.