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kleonard's review against another edition
2.0
Not great. In the end, it comes across as a piece against female power, which I think is contrary to what the author intended. But women who always need saving--that's even stated as the obvious trope--and women who are punished for being strong are not what I want, especially in a book about superheroes.
halcyone's review against another edition
3.0
This review was originally published at The Cozy Armchair.
I have a weakness for superhero stories, so I was very excited to read this book. It seemed to promise something different from the other books about superheroes I've read (which really haven't been many). It's told from the point of view of a girl who has known nothing but her parents' disappointment over her lack of powers; she's always been left out and so has been quite miserable for a good part of her life. The trial itself is not as prominent in the story as I expected it to be. Yes, it causes a load of trouble for Celia, but she also gets involved in investigating a series of crimes that occur alongside the trial that appear to herald an emerging villain.
It all sounds very exciting, right? In theory, maybe. The book fell short in several aspects, particularly the narrative, which was extremely flat. Boring, in other words. Celia herself is very whiny. While I can understand her background and motivations, she's still very grating. She hates her association with the Olympiad but expects them to come rescue her all the time; then when they do show up, she acts like a surly child, full of declarations of "I can take care of myself!".
It got to a point where I was like, "Okay, Celia, I get it, you had a crappy life, your parents didn't love you like normal parents, etc. Now please act like the mature grown woman you keep saying you are." The message about family dynamics was very in-your-face, though I can appreciate the value of such a message.
The action itself was interesting, although it was predictable. Still, I enjoyed following the mystery, even if Vaughn did drag out the story by having Celia conveniently choose to withold information from people who could help only to have her later realize several problems could have been avoided if only she'd asked for help.
In terms of romance, this book does touch upon Celia's relationships, but it's ... strange? The development of said relationships suffers from the distant narration that afflicts the rest of the novel. Because I had a hard time connecting wih Celia, I just didn't understand these relationships. They felt very underdeveloped; one in particular seemed just thrown in there to form a connection to the villain, while her relationship with a certain individual felt like it was just used to tie up loose ends. Even though its establishment was really abrupt, I liked this last guy and his match with Celia.
Now, I felt the ending was appropiate on several levels, although the final wrap-up of the mystery was rather trite and over-exaggerated. In a way, this works for a superhero novel, but I was still left underwhelmed.
I know it may not seem like it, but I didn't entirely dislike his novel. It was an easy, sometimes witty and/or pleasant read. It's just that, upon finishing it, I didn't really feel anything. I just wasn't engaged enough to particularly care about the characters.
It gets three stars because while reading I did want to know what was going to happen next. It's not like I just wanted to put it down and never pick it up again. I don't exactly recommend it, but it wouldn't be so bad if you gave it a shot and judged for yourself. If anything you'll learn what does and doesn't work for you when reading about superheroes. I certainly learned that I prefer exceptional badassery in lieu of analyzing the real life implications of superpowers in society.
I have a weakness for superhero stories, so I was very excited to read this book. It seemed to promise something different from the other books about superheroes I've read (which really haven't been many). It's told from the point of view of a girl who has known nothing but her parents' disappointment over her lack of powers; she's always been left out and so has been quite miserable for a good part of her life. The trial itself is not as prominent in the story as I expected it to be. Yes, it causes a load of trouble for Celia, but she also gets involved in investigating a series of crimes that occur alongside the trial that appear to herald an emerging villain.
It all sounds very exciting, right? In theory, maybe. The book fell short in several aspects, particularly the narrative, which was extremely flat. Boring, in other words. Celia herself is very whiny. While I can understand her background and motivations, she's still very grating. She hates her association with the Olympiad but expects them to come rescue her all the time; then when they do show up, she acts like a surly child, full of declarations of "I can take care of myself!".
It got to a point where I was like, "Okay, Celia, I get it, you had a crappy life, your parents didn't love you like normal parents, etc. Now please act like the mature grown woman you keep saying you are." The message about family dynamics was very in-your-face, though I can appreciate the value of such a message.
The action itself was interesting, although it was predictable. Still, I enjoyed following the mystery, even if Vaughn did drag out the story by having Celia conveniently choose to withold information from people who could help only to have her later realize several problems could have been avoided if only she'd asked for help.
In terms of romance, this book does touch upon Celia's relationships, but it's ... strange? The development of said relationships suffers from the distant narration that afflicts the rest of the novel. Because I had a hard time connecting wih Celia, I just didn't understand these relationships. They felt very underdeveloped; one in particular seemed just thrown in there to form a connection to the villain, while her relationship with a certain individual felt like it was just used to tie up loose ends. Even though its establishment was really abrupt, I liked this last guy and his match with Celia.
Now, I felt the ending was appropiate on several levels, although the final wrap-up of the mystery was rather trite and over-exaggerated. In a way, this works for a superhero novel, but I was still left underwhelmed.
I know it may not seem like it, but I didn't entirely dislike his novel. It was an easy, sometimes witty and/or pleasant read. It's just that, upon finishing it, I didn't really feel anything. I just wasn't engaged enough to particularly care about the characters.
It gets three stars because while reading I did want to know what was going to happen next. It's not like I just wanted to put it down and never pick it up again. I don't exactly recommend it, but it wouldn't be so bad if you gave it a shot and judged for yourself. If anything you'll learn what does and doesn't work for you when reading about superheroes. I certainly learned that I prefer exceptional badassery in lieu of analyzing the real life implications of superpowers in society.
eiie's review against another edition
4.0
Between Baby Boomers and Millennials, Americans are thoroughly dissatisfied with following the career paths their parents have tread. So it's no surprise that when Carrie Vaughn turns her attention to a modern superhero family, that their daughter wants nothing to do with following in mom and dad's footsteps.
Viewing this as a novel about superheroes is to miss the story completely. After the Golden Age is an at times touching story about parents and children, and how we come to live alongside our parents as adults and understand them . . . unfortunately those two events don't often occur at the same time.
Celia West is the daughter of Commerce City's two most renowned superhuman heroes . . . and Celia, by her own description, is a dud. Whatever granted her parents' superpowers skipped her completely. Still, she's pretty damn impressive in her own right: "No one was afraid of her; she didn't have any powers. But she wouldn't flinch. That was her talent. That, and recognizing people under their masks." After a period of teenage rebellion, Celia became a forensic accountant . . . and as much as she would like to avoid it, her chosen career still brings her in line with the task of defeating the city's supervillians.
When I initially heard of this book, I thought it would be YA; superheroes' teenage daughter rebels. But that part of the story is actually told through flashback. Instead, After the Golden Age picks up with Celia at age 25 while she's working as a CPA and her total estrangement with her parents has become a still tense, but lighter estrangement.
An easy but artfully rendered and engaging read.
Viewing this as a novel about superheroes is to miss the story completely. After the Golden Age is an at times touching story about parents and children, and how we come to live alongside our parents as adults and understand them . . . unfortunately those two events don't often occur at the same time.
Celia West is the daughter of Commerce City's two most renowned superhuman heroes . . . and Celia, by her own description, is a dud. Whatever granted her parents' superpowers skipped her completely. Still, she's pretty damn impressive in her own right: "No one was afraid of her; she didn't have any powers. But she wouldn't flinch. That was her talent. That, and recognizing people under their masks." After a period of teenage rebellion, Celia became a forensic accountant . . . and as much as she would like to avoid it, her chosen career still brings her in line with the task of defeating the city's supervillians.
When I initially heard of this book, I thought it would be YA; superheroes' teenage daughter rebels. But that part of the story is actually told through flashback. Instead, After the Golden Age picks up with Celia at age 25 while she's working as a CPA and her total estrangement with her parents has become a still tense, but lighter estrangement.
An easy but artfully rendered and engaging read.
el_reads17's review against another edition
4.0
It started slow but it had me flipping the pages really fast by the end. Loved the humour. It was all very cinematic. I want this to be a movie :)
librarimans's review against another edition
3.0
Not a bad read, not the best read, pretty much the definition of fluff summer reading that's essentially chick lit for the superhero set. It doesn't do a lot, but it was a fun read regardless.
lisawreading's review against another edition
4.0
Such fun! I really enjoyed this one, and can't wait to read the sequel.
blairconrad's review against another edition
4.0
Not earth-shattering, but enjoyable. I wasn't always in love with Celia's character, but I didn't mind spending the time with her that we did. An interesting exploration of some potential pitfalls of being a "normal" daughter of super-powered parents. Small amounts of humour coupled with some actual suspense (to contrast it with [b:my previous read|7945049|Bury Your Dead (Armand Gamache, #6)|Louise Penny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1278515084s/7945049.jpg|11453665]) kept me turning pages. Aspires to be an [b:Astro City|72111|Astro City Vol. 1 Life in the Big City|Kurt Busiek|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1246140727s/72111.jpg|97133] arc, and nearly makes it.
rbreade's review against another edition
Interesting premise: the ordinary daughter of two superheroes is frequently captured and held hostage by a succession of criminals and super villains, until her forensic accounting skills enable her to crack a mystery that began decades ago, one that resulted in the creation of superheroes--her parents, included.
ofearna's review against another edition
2.0
Oddly, especially for a Carrie Vaughn book, I struggled to finish, felt NOTHING for any of the characters and can't remember much of the book without a lot of thought..
atinydisaster's review against another edition
4.0
There is something to be said for stand alone novels. They’re hard to find in the fantasy genre now, which is a shame because sometimes I just crave getting real closure at the end of a book. Plus, there is an invaluable added suspense, not being 100% certain that the main character is going to survive whatever situation gotten themselves into. No one needs to survive for a sequel, that’s tense. One of my favorite authors, Carrie Vaughn, has been churning out stand alone books on top of her Kitty books for the last year or so. Yay! They haven’t been getting super fantastic reviews but they’re still fun reads.
I enjoyed this one. While it is all about superheros (yay!) there is a very relate-able themes of living up to the expectations of your parents and not being able to ever fully escape past mistakes. The main character Celia grew up the daughter of two mega superheros who had dedicated their lives to protecting ‘Commerce City’ and who were always just waiting to see what powers their daughter would develop. What powers does Celia get? None, and that is what pretty much defines her. So after making some bad choices Celia decides she can’t live up to the pressure and breaks away from her parents, attempting to live a normal life, as an accountant no less.
The romance in this book isn’t remotely predictable, and that manages to be both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s fun when things don’t go quite how you expect but sometimes things are stereotypes for a reason. This book lacked some of the hallmarked budding romance moments that while expected still give you the warm and fuzzies to read about. It was all just handled a little awkwardly but since the romance was a secondary (if that) plot line, it didn’t effect the book too much, but it still would have been a nice addition.
The characters were very reminiscent of traditional comic book superheros but with a more obvious shade of gray, something novels can give you that comics aren’t always able too. Celia feels like she is the only person who sees her parents as real people when the rest of the world is so busy seeing Captain Olympus and Spark. Her take on the world she was born in to is sometimes a-typical and usually very dry and funny.
Overall, I liked it but probably won’t be rereading it. Carrie Vaughn is still one of my top four, probably even top three and I won’t hold the fact that this book wasn’t earth shattering against her because I enjoyed it and really, that’s what I was hoping for when I picked this book up. That and book characters in spandex, I pretty much got that too! Hurrah!
I enjoyed this one. While it is all about superheros (yay!) there is a very relate-able themes of living up to the expectations of your parents and not being able to ever fully escape past mistakes. The main character Celia grew up the daughter of two mega superheros who had dedicated their lives to protecting ‘Commerce City’ and who were always just waiting to see what powers their daughter would develop. What powers does Celia get? None, and that is what pretty much defines her. So after making some bad choices Celia decides she can’t live up to the pressure and breaks away from her parents, attempting to live a normal life, as an accountant no less.
The romance in this book isn’t remotely predictable, and that manages to be both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s fun when things don’t go quite how you expect but sometimes things are stereotypes for a reason. This book lacked some of the hallmarked budding romance moments that while expected still give you the warm and fuzzies to read about. It was all just handled a little awkwardly but since the romance was a secondary (if that) plot line, it didn’t effect the book too much, but it still would have been a nice addition.
The characters were very reminiscent of traditional comic book superheros but with a more obvious shade of gray, something novels can give you that comics aren’t always able too. Celia feels like she is the only person who sees her parents as real people when the rest of the world is so busy seeing Captain Olympus and Spark. Her take on the world she was born in to is sometimes a-typical and usually very dry and funny.
Overall, I liked it but probably won’t be rereading it. Carrie Vaughn is still one of my top four, probably even top three and I won’t hold the fact that this book wasn’t earth shattering against her because I enjoyed it and really, that’s what I was hoping for when I picked this book up. That and book characters in spandex, I pretty much got that too! Hurrah!