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amybraunauthor's review against another edition
3.0
Actual rating is 3.5! This was a fun read, though it took me a little while to get into. I liked the complete embrace of monsters, aliens, and comedy, loved the side characters, and the action. I wasn't a huge fan of the constant Kurt Russell references (seriously, CONSTANT) but I still had fun with it.
The characters are all a lot of fun and have their own quirks and distinctive traits. I wasn't a huge fan of Kayla, though I do understand her, and Arthur was definitely a fish out of water, but Shaw is a strong woman and Clyde is absolutely adorable.
Like I said earlier, I really loved the monsters and action and while my attention drifted at some points (especially near the beginning when the timeline and settings kept flip flopping), I was pretty well hooked by the ending. Fans of fun books with a lot of heart, imagination, and pop culture references will have a lot of fun with this one.
The characters are all a lot of fun and have their own quirks and distinctive traits. I wasn't a huge fan of Kayla, though I do understand her, and Arthur was definitely a fish out of water, but Shaw is a strong woman and Clyde is absolutely adorable.
Like I said earlier, I really loved the monsters and action and while my attention drifted at some points (especially near the beginning when the timeline and settings kept flip flopping), I was pretty well hooked by the ending. Fans of fun books with a lot of heart, imagination, and pop culture references will have a lot of fun with this one.
schleproque's review
4.0
It was a very fun cross between a police procedural and a lovecraftian horror novel. The hero is a police dectective that gets recruited into a secret intelligence agency tasked with stopping invaders from another dimension. What I really enjoyed about the book is the hero's realization that he is more than the sidekick to the agents with super powers.
sparrowlight's review
4.0
A fun and compelling read in my new favorite genre (police/mystery novels set in England with a paranormal focus. It's narrow, I know). Some small elements of the plot and characterization annoyed me, but the story was well constructed and I thought the Lovecraftian influence worked perfectly. I will definitely pick up the next on in this series.
dantastic's review
2.0
Homicide cop Arthur Wallace gets recruited by British intelligence agency MI37 and plunged into a secret war against alien horrors called the Progeny. But one member of his team is a mole and is actually working to bring the unspeakable cosmic horror known as the Feeders into our reality...
This book was almost good. Let's examine the good points first before I tear it a new orifice.
- The core concept was well thought out. I love the idea of neighboring realities and horrible maggot like things that live inside people's heads working to bring Cthulhu-like monsters into our reality.
- The electricity-based magic system was great. The phrase "Electricity is the universal lubricant" will stick with me for quite a while.
- The characters Clyde, Tabitha, and Kayla were quite memorable. You've got the nerdlinger wizard, the angry goth researcher, and the killing machine, all with quirks that make them more than stereotypes.
- Copious Kurt Russel references. Come on, the man played Snake Plissken AND Jack Burton!
- British humor. No explanation needed.
And here comes the rant:
Arthur is a veteran homicide cop but acts more like an insurance agent for most of the book. One of the supporting characters tells him to grow a pair at one point. Arthur apparently needed to grow an entire squadron. He spends most of the book bemoaning that he's not a hero. Like most urban fantasy heroes, he spends most of the book out of his depth and takes a tremendous shit-kicking.
Basically, if No Hero had a lead who wasn't so passive, it probably would have been a four star book. All the winning ingredients are there. Its magic system is very original and I love a lot of the cast. It's not a bad book but the fact that it took me three attempts to get all the way through it should be an indicator of how many problems I had with it. I enjoyed the hell out of a few parts of it but not enough to read the next book in the series.
A phrase that is repeated quite a few times in the book is "What would Kurt Russell do?" Well, he probably would have quit reading this book after fifty pages.
This book was almost good. Let's examine the good points first before I tear it a new orifice.
- The core concept was well thought out. I love the idea of neighboring realities and horrible maggot like things that live inside people's heads working to bring Cthulhu-like monsters into our reality.
- The electricity-based magic system was great. The phrase "Electricity is the universal lubricant" will stick with me for quite a while.
- The characters Clyde, Tabitha, and Kayla were quite memorable. You've got the nerdlinger wizard, the angry goth researcher, and the killing machine, all with quirks that make them more than stereotypes.
- Copious Kurt Russel references. Come on, the man played Snake Plissken AND Jack Burton!
- British humor. No explanation needed.
And here comes the rant:
Arthur is a veteran homicide cop but acts more like an insurance agent for most of the book. One of the supporting characters tells him to grow a pair at one point. Arthur apparently needed to grow an entire squadron. He spends most of the book bemoaning that he's not a hero. Like most urban fantasy heroes, he spends most of the book out of his depth and takes a tremendous shit-kicking.
Basically, if No Hero had a lead who wasn't so passive, it probably would have been a four star book. All the winning ingredients are there. Its magic system is very original and I love a lot of the cast. It's not a bad book but the fact that it took me three attempts to get all the way through it should be an indicator of how many problems I had with it. I enjoyed the hell out of a few parts of it but not enough to read the next book in the series.
A phrase that is repeated quite a few times in the book is "What would Kurt Russell do?" Well, he probably would have quit reading this book after fifty pages.
techiechick's review
5.0
I've found my new favourite author. There is pretty much nothing about this book that I didn't like.
I knew as soon as I read page 1 that I was in a good place, and that feeling remained right up to the last page 2 days later (what? I have a life to lead, holiday to be on, food to eat). I love Jonathan's style of writing. The informal, partial sentences stream-of-consciousness style that I have a tendency to employ myself, where he is not afraid to repeat phrases and swear in order to emphasize a point, and to convey his central everyman working through the challenges of being thrust into a situation he feels supremely ill-equipped for.
So: the premise. Arthur is a detective working in Oxford, investigating a series of unusual and gruesome murders, when he is approached by a government agency - the UK equivalent of Men In Black. This underfunded and sparsely populated department are all that stand between an unsuspecting public and an impending armageddon they are blissfully unaware of. Arthur has to get up to speed really fast, partly using the skills he has been recruited for and partly channelling his mis-spent film enthusiast youth by asking himself "What would Kurt Russell do?"
The pace of the action ramps up to a dénouement where the not-hero doesn't magically develop super-human strength or an ability to magically hack computers first time. The team maintain their ineptitude right to the last page which, I feel moved to say, I loved. The confrontations that our not-hero has do not disappoint.
Again, there is swearing and fairly graphic dismemberment, so these books are probably not for anyone younger than mid-teens, however, for everyone else they should be required reading.
I knew as soon as I read page 1 that I was in a good place, and that feeling remained right up to the last page 2 days later (what? I have a life to lead, holiday to be on, food to eat). I love Jonathan's style of writing. The informal, partial sentences stream-of-consciousness style that I have a tendency to employ myself, where he is not afraid to repeat phrases and swear in order to emphasize a point, and to convey his central everyman working through the challenges of being thrust into a situation he feels supremely ill-equipped for.
So: the premise. Arthur is a detective working in Oxford, investigating a series of unusual and gruesome murders, when he is approached by a government agency - the UK equivalent of Men In Black. This underfunded and sparsely populated department are all that stand between an unsuspecting public and an impending armageddon they are blissfully unaware of. Arthur has to get up to speed really fast, partly using the skills he has been recruited for and partly channelling his mis-spent film enthusiast youth by asking himself "What would Kurt Russell do?"
The pace of the action ramps up to a dénouement where the not-hero doesn't magically develop super-human strength or an ability to magically hack computers first time. The team maintain their ineptitude right to the last page which, I feel moved to say, I loved. The confrontations that our not-hero has do not disappoint.
Again, there is swearing and fairly graphic dismemberment, so these books are probably not for anyone younger than mid-teens, however, for everyone else they should be required reading.
beingshort's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
beingshort's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
deeparcher's review
4.0
This was a fun, light read that's sort of a cross between Hellboy and Men in Black.
mferrante83's review against another edition
4.0
I would consider any horror novel beginning with its main character asking himself “What would Kurt Russel do?” to be well worth my attention. Thankfully, Jonathan Wood’s No Hero manages to back up his grin inducing first lines with a solid story full of interesting characters and an exciting, if somewhat bleak, world. In No Hero, Oxford police officer Arthur Wallace has a near fatal encounter with a sword wielding woman seemingly responsible for several murders across town. As he recovers from his injuries he finds out that the truth is far more complex and far more terrifying.
Inducted into a shadowy government organization gathered together to fight an invasion by the offspring of unfathomable creatures from beyond our universe Arthur Wallace finds himself in situations both dangerous and profoundly strange. Wallace’s grossly underfunded new place of employment is staffed by a handful of quirky misfits including the geeky magician Clyde whose magic is powered by batteries and energy conducted along surgically implanted copper wire; gothy antagonistic Tabitha; the antisocial, cantankerous and sword-wielding scottswoman Kayla and a pair of strange, aquatic, clairvoyant twins who provide cyptic riddles that hint at the Progeny’s plans. Wood packs his novel with a humorous punch thanks particularly to Wallace’s wry borderline deadpan observations on his new-found coworkers and new experiences with the otherworldly. It works well for No Hero providing some much-needed levity during rather grim situations.
No Hero’s MI37 is a well blended mish-mash of X-Files, Torchwood and the Men in Black at times focusing on the deadly seriousness seen in the X-Files but not afraid to veer closer to the humor seen in the latter. Wood accurately captures the notion that secret government group was once more powerful than it once was but that its waning influence is most assuredly marked by a reduction in the threat it was founded to protect against. The protagonists of No Hero have to save the world with very little help from the government that supports them making our heroes including Wallace sort of the underdogs in the whole affair. This is an excellent start to a new series and fans of action and horror that would do Big Trouble in Little China proud should jump into No Hero as soon as possible.
Inducted into a shadowy government organization gathered together to fight an invasion by the offspring of unfathomable creatures from beyond our universe Arthur Wallace finds himself in situations both dangerous and profoundly strange. Wallace’s grossly underfunded new place of employment is staffed by a handful of quirky misfits including the geeky magician Clyde whose magic is powered by batteries and energy conducted along surgically implanted copper wire; gothy antagonistic Tabitha; the antisocial, cantankerous and sword-wielding scottswoman Kayla and a pair of strange, aquatic, clairvoyant twins who provide cyptic riddles that hint at the Progeny’s plans. Wood packs his novel with a humorous punch thanks particularly to Wallace’s wry borderline deadpan observations on his new-found coworkers and new experiences with the otherworldly. It works well for No Hero providing some much-needed levity during rather grim situations.
No Hero’s MI37 is a well blended mish-mash of X-Files, Torchwood and the Men in Black at times focusing on the deadly seriousness seen in the X-Files but not afraid to veer closer to the humor seen in the latter. Wood accurately captures the notion that secret government group was once more powerful than it once was but that its waning influence is most assuredly marked by a reduction in the threat it was founded to protect against. The protagonists of No Hero have to save the world with very little help from the government that supports them making our heroes including Wallace sort of the underdogs in the whole affair. This is an excellent start to a new series and fans of action and horror that would do Big Trouble in Little China proud should jump into No Hero as soon as possible.