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yvo_about_books's review
4.5
Finished reading: May 22nd 2016
"All my life, everyone has used my 'ilness' as an excuse to take my choices away. I've been locked up, told what to eat, who I can be friends with, where I can go to school. They even forced those damn meds down my throat." She paused, breathing hard. "It's my life. Even if I'm sick, I'm the only one who should get to choose what I do and how I do it."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
I am becoming seriously tired of the fact that EVERY single YA fantasy/sci-fi series I decide to read seems to be having either a love triangle, insta-love where a strong female main character falls hopelessly in love with the pretty boy or sappy romance scenes in general. I like the genre too much to give up on it all together, but I have started screening my potential reads... So you can imagine how happy I was when Belinda Crawford contacted me about her novel Hero with the promise that it would be a proper science fiction story without any focus on romance. In fact, in her own words:
"A large part of why I wrote Hero was because I was sick of all the female protagonists losing their brains as soon as a cute boy came along. Drives me nuts."
How can I say no to that? Hero ended up being just as good as I was hoping for. First of all, the worldbuilding is really intriguing. The story is set on the distant planet of Jørn and kind of has a dystopian/futuristic feel with all those scientific elements and genetic engineering. The main character is interesting and I can't wait to learn more about her in the sequel, although I do think I liked her ruc-pard Fink even better. In fact, the companion animals and the streetrace scenes are probably two of my favorite elements of this story, although I really enjoyed reading Hero in general. With its fast pace, interesting prose and worldbuilding and the promise of no romance, this first book of The Hero Rebellion series is without doubt worth reading!
It is not every day that you find an entertaining YA science fiction novel that doesn't include any sappy romance scenes, insta-love or love triangle and this fact should definitely be celebrated. But more importantly, Hero is so much more than that. The worldbuilding is intriguing and I really liked the idea of hybrids, companion animals and humans living on a distant planet in a dystopian future. The prose is easy to read and the ending definitely left me wanting for more... If you like the genre, make sure to read this book.
ifthebook's review against another edition
2.0
This is a simple little sci-fi story in which a girl deals with bullying as well as a world-wide conspiracy. Emphasis, however, on the simple. This is a quick read without a whole lot going on. The main interesting feature is the animal companions that all of the children seem to have. There wasn’t a whole lot of point to them, but they were pretty fun.
Full review here.
Full review here.
sunny_care's review against another edition
5.0
That was... wow.
Hero is the story of a special girl who spends all her days being kept inside and monitored all day long when all she wants is to be normal and spend her life as a normal teenaged girl, with her pet hybrid-rat creature who can read her mind.
Sadly, she will never get to be normal, because she's had a destiny assigned to her by a geneticist about 300 years before.
I really enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator is superb and the world is unique and futuristic. Chalk it up to the fact that I don't read sci-fi much, but I cannot recall ever reading about a world quite like Jørn. Belinda has an inventive imagination and the world she created blooms in the narration.
Word to the wise, if you're the type of person who puts on audiobooks in the background while doing chores, you may have a bit of an issue with this one. There is so much information packed into the book you have to pay close attention to not miss anything.
Hero is the story of a special girl who spends all her days being kept inside and monitored all day long when all she wants is to be normal and spend her life as a normal teenaged girl, with her pet hybrid-rat creature who can read her mind.
Sadly, she will never get to be normal, because she's had a destiny assigned to her by a geneticist about 300 years before.
I really enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator is superb and the world is unique and futuristic. Chalk it up to the fact that I don't read sci-fi much, but I cannot recall ever reading about a world quite like Jørn. Belinda has an inventive imagination and the world she created blooms in the narration.
Word to the wise, if you're the type of person who puts on audiobooks in the background while doing chores, you may have a bit of an issue with this one. There is so much information packed into the book you have to pay close attention to not miss anything.
slc333's review against another edition
2.0
I liked the concept for the story and the companions but couldn't get into it because I disliked Hero. She was such a whiny, selfish brat.
woxbirdie's review against another edition
4.0
My usual attitude to sci-fi is "I want to like it, but I can't," so this book was really refreshing. It has pretty much everything I want my sci-fi to include - new planets, floating cities, cool computers - but somehow also manages to avoid all the pitfalls in sci-fi, like the assumption of an ongoing sexism and heternormativity, and an overwhelmingly negative prediction for the future.
I really like this book, in short. I like the characters, I like the setting, I like the lack of an unnecessary and stilted romance arc, I like the plot. It's not the most gripping novel I've ever read, but I'm notoriously a rereader rather than a reader, so I have a feeling I'll enjoy it a lot more the second time around. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequel.
I'd also like to note how well some of the minor revelations were pulled off, the really small ones that make a reader go "huh" but are simply a normalised part of the universe. It was those that made me start to relax and enjoy the story, becoming more confident that it wasn't going to betray me and drag me into tired tropes.
I really like this book, in short. I like the characters, I like the setting, I like the lack of an unnecessary and stilted romance arc, I like the plot. It's not the most gripping novel I've ever read, but I'm notoriously a rereader rather than a reader, so I have a feeling I'll enjoy it a lot more the second time around. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequel.
I'd also like to note how well some of the minor revelations were pulled off, the really small ones that make a reader go "huh" but are simply a normalised part of the universe. It was those that made me start to relax and enjoy the story, becoming more confident that it wasn't going to betray me and drag me into tired tropes.
doddyaboutbooks's review
4.0
This is such a good read. The first part of the book reminded me of a mix of Harry Potter and The Golden Compass, if either of those books had included illegal street racing and police chases.
The story moves fast and just dumps you into the world with little to no explanation. If you like to be gently eased into a story, this book is not for you. The author assumes that the reader will keep up with the world building, new words and the action.
There were a lot of plot points developed in this book that weren’t fully explored – as this is the first in a series I anticipate that the author has laid a lot of ground work in this book to set up her story arcs going forward.
There are some great characters in this book, and I was particularly jazzed that there were so many notable women. Hero’s mum is the ruler of the roost – her father is mentioned in passing in the book but is otherwise absent. Her minder, Imogen, is great value despite first appearances. The two notable scientists, whose work has shaped the society, were also both women. Fink, Hero’s companion animal, was one of my favourites though. Who wouldn’t want a massive cat-like creature that you can talk to in your head and ride on?
This is a great debut novel by Aussie author Belinda Crawford – I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next!
The story moves fast and just dumps you into the world with little to no explanation. If you like to be gently eased into a story, this book is not for you. The author assumes that the reader will keep up with the world building, new words and the action.
There were a lot of plot points developed in this book that weren’t fully explored – as this is the first in a series I anticipate that the author has laid a lot of ground work in this book to set up her story arcs going forward.
There are some great characters in this book, and I was particularly jazzed that there were so many notable women. Hero’s mum is the ruler of the roost – her father is mentioned in passing in the book but is otherwise absent. Her minder, Imogen, is great value despite first appearances. The two notable scientists, whose work has shaped the society, were also both women. Fink, Hero’s companion animal, was one of my favourites though. Who wouldn’t want a massive cat-like creature that you can talk to in your head and ride on?
This is a great debut novel by Aussie author Belinda Crawford – I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next!
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