Reviews

Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire

nniskanen's review

5.0

I can't believe I haven't read this book before! Seanan McGuire writing superheroes? AWESOMEST! This book was a fun read full of interesting ideas. I must have more.

middlekmissie's review

4.0

http://thebookfix.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/no-rabbit-jokes-please/

macthekat's review

4.0

fun, fun, fun!

My full review: http://www.mackat.dk/book/2013/12/velveteen-vs-the-junior-super-patriots/

laurenmitchell's review

5.0

I wish I hadn't waited until these stories were collected to read them. For the life of me I can't think why I ever thought denying myself any Seanan stories for any length of time was a good idea. But now I have met Vel, I look forward to reading her ongoing adventures.

ryuutchi's review

4.0

I've said before that I really enjoy McGuire's writing-- even moreso when the stories aren't written for anything besides the enjoyment of herself. The Velveteen Vs series started off as a one-shot in thanks to a couple of fans, and expanded into an online series of short stories about the former child superhero, Velma Martinez (codename: Velveteen), her rejection and subsequent reacceptance of the superhero life. The stories were collected into two published books ("Velveteen Vs The Junior Super Patriots" and "Velveteen Vs The Multiverse"), which I finally bought. If you've read any of the superheros-as-marketing comics (or watched Tiger and Bunny), you'll recognize some of the tropes. In a lot of ways because the series was a spontaneous series of creations, it feels less over-worked than some of her commercial writing.

suggoiai's review

4.0

I have read only a little superhero prose, but I like Seanan's style so I thought I'd give this one a try. This collection of Velveteen stories has a nice arc to it, and each story is complete in and of itself.

The audible narration was good, with basic differentiation between characters.

taeli's review

3.0

finished 4/1/15

jennyanydots's review

4.0

Velma used to be a child superhero, until she ran away from the controlling marketing department shortly before her 18th birthday. All she wanted was a quiet, anonymous life, without an army of animated stuffed toys and plastic models following her around everywhere but Marketing have other ideas. This was a fun collection of related short stories rather than a single linear plot, although I realised on looking at the other reviews that this is probably significantly caused by the original publication as blog posts. Obviously not complete but some clear foreshadowing for the next 2 books. I love just about everything she writes, but her more recent work is much stronger, hence 4 stars here. I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next 2 books but would suggest new readers don’t necessarily start here.

kite's review

adventurous dark funny reflective

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

wardenred's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Most kid superheroes made kid stars look well-adjusted, sane, and absolutely well-socialized.

I first read most of the Velveteen stories when the author was publishing them online as she wrote them. Now, thanks to a friend generously lending me the book, I got to re-read the first volume of Velveteen's/Velma's tales in book form, and I loved this journey into the familiar universe. This book is essentially a collection of short stories interwoven by a common narrative thread that becomes more and more obvious and consequential as the story progresses—and it becomes better and better with each installment.

I love books that put a unique spin on a familiar concept, and that's what Seanan McGuire excels in. Despite the genre and tone differences, Vel's story reminds me a lot of the author's famous Wayward Children series. In both narratives, kids have to deal with larger than life challenges, and then they have to deal with the aftermath without any help from those great forces that governed their fates while they needed those kids to save the world. Except where the protagonists of the Wayward Children books are spat back out into the "normal world" and have to adjust somehow, here the MC has to fight tooth and nail to get out of the Super Patriots governing her life.

This is one of the most frighteningly realistic superhero settings I've ever encountered. Sure, there are all kinds of whacky powers here—the MC controls toys, of all things—and the universe is a kitchen sink of weird science and magic, but, like any of McGuire's 'verses, it's filled with realistic, flawed, human people. In this case, it's filled with realistic and (questionably) human capitalists who want to profit off just about everything. Superheroes included. Kid superheroes included in particular, roped into the Junio Super Patriots' ranks as soon as their powers manifest and given just about everything in exchange for giving up their lives: existing to fight evil part of the time and to smile and look pretty for the cameras the rest of the time because it sells merch. Some get lucky and get away when they grow up, but of course the Super Patriots never forget of your existence.

There are two more books in the series; getting them now is all but impossible, especially for an international reader. Still, I very much hope to get my hands on them one day.

Read for the following September 2020 readathons:
- CoffeeReadathon: Unique Plot
- Mythothon3: Female Author