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jasoncjoyner's review against another edition
4.0
Capeville is a fun book that takes readers on a roller coaster ride through an original superhero story. There's a lot of action and imaginative powers, and a plot that keeps you guessing until the end. IMO we don't see enough good superhero novels, and this is one that I'm happy to recommend for older middle grade and all young adult readers, and those adults who still love Marvel and DC.
reanne's review against another edition
I was sent a free PDF of this book by the author. It sounded interesting. I really wanted to like it.
I got through a little over 100 pages.
This book would probably be a good choice for young middle-grade readers. It's pretty light and clean and would probably entertain a young kid really well. As an adult who's read a lot of books, it didn't hold my interest. There were too many little things that didn't make sense or didn't really follow. The author spells mannequin as "manikin" (if this is an intentional choice, there's no explanation of it) and refers to an M&M as "M and M". The MC gets a job and then checks in with the person who oversees volunteers; is he a volunteer or an employee? Said job involves working as a prison guard for elderly supervillains and his training consists of basically "Here's your instruction sheet, now get to it." At one point he and his friend travel in a big ball that's lobbed across the city, causing damage to buildings, landing on people (who would be dead if it didn't turn out they were robots), and no one goes, "Hey, maybe this isn't the best form of transportation."
I did like the scene at the beginning with his parents, especially the maniacal laughter part. It raises a good question which the part I got through never touched on again, and I'm not sure if the book ever gets back to his parents again (since he then goes to stay with his grandpa). His parents actually seemed like the most interesting characters in the book, so I was disappointed that they were left behind so quickly.
For a young kid, it's probably a fun book. It makes me think of the movie Spy Kids. For an adult who's read a lot of books and expects even kids books to make sense on examination, it just didn't work for me. I was going to recommend you consider it if you've got a young kid who's into superhero stuff, but then I thought of how the MC ogles both major female characters pretty much on first meeting them. References to the way said female characters' clothing hugs their curves are among the first things we read about them. Here's a quote: "The employee shirts were red and white vertical stripes. They looked ridiculous on John and Pronto. But on Jupiter Girl, the stripes hugged her body like the road hugging the side of a mountain, and John wanted his eyes to follow the road as often as possible. The top two buttons of her shirt were undone, and her smooth, clear skin looked like cream beside the white and red stripes." This is only part of the information on her appearance which we get before Jupiter Girl says or does a single thing. I get that the MC is a 15-year-old boy so this is probably an accurate portrayal, but I don't think it is appropriate for the apparent target age group for this book (which I would say is more 7-10 than teens), nor does it in any way challenge the 'books written by men for boys where girls are other' status quo of this genre. So, as with anything, I advise parents to check it out for themselves before giving it to their child.
I got through a little over 100 pages.
This book would probably be a good choice for young middle-grade readers. It's pretty light and clean and would probably entertain a young kid really well. As an adult who's read a lot of books, it didn't hold my interest. There were too many little things that didn't make sense or didn't really follow. The author spells mannequin as "manikin" (if this is an intentional choice, there's no explanation of it) and refers to an M&M as "M and M". The MC gets a job and then checks in with the person who oversees volunteers; is he a volunteer or an employee? Said job involves working as a prison guard for elderly supervillains and his training consists of basically "Here's your instruction sheet, now get to it." At one point he and his friend travel in a big ball that's lobbed across the city, causing damage to buildings, landing on people (who would be dead if it didn't turn out they were robots), and no one goes, "Hey, maybe this isn't the best form of transportation."
I did like the scene at the beginning with his parents, especially the maniacal laughter part. It raises a good question which the part I got through never touched on again, and I'm not sure if the book ever gets back to his parents again (since he then goes to stay with his grandpa). His parents actually seemed like the most interesting characters in the book, so I was disappointed that they were left behind so quickly.
For a young kid, it's probably a fun book. It makes me think of the movie Spy Kids. For an adult who's read a lot of books and expects even kids books to make sense on examination, it just didn't work for me. I was going to recommend you consider it if you've got a young kid who's into superhero stuff, but then I thought of how the MC ogles both major female characters pretty much on first meeting them. References to the way said female characters' clothing hugs their curves are among the first things we read about them. Here's a quote: "The employee shirts were red and white vertical stripes. They looked ridiculous on John and Pronto. But on Jupiter Girl, the stripes hugged her body like the road hugging the side of a mountain, and John wanted his eyes to follow the road as often as possible. The top two buttons of her shirt were undone, and her smooth, clear skin looked like cream beside the white and red stripes." This is only part of the information on her appearance which we get before Jupiter Girl says or does a single thing. I get that the MC is a 15-year-old boy so this is probably an accurate portrayal, but I don't think it is appropriate for the apparent target age group for this book (which I would say is more 7-10 than teens), nor does it in any way challenge the 'books written by men for boys where girls are other' status quo of this genre. So, as with anything, I advise parents to check it out for themselves before giving it to their child.
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