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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Superheroes vs zombies, what more can you ask? It was fun and with more gravitas than I expected. I'm really enjoying my romp through Clines's universes.
Zombies vs superheroes...what's not to love?! This book is everything you would expect from this genre mashup, it's fun, it has geeky references and it has zombies. Everything in life is better with zombies.
There are some fairly typical superheroes you would expect from any hero type story- St. George the Mighty Dragon - a man who has super strength, can breathe fire, and is able to glide through the air, Stealth - an abrupt woman who keeps her identity still hidden, Gorgon - who can siphon people's energy through his eyes, Cerberus - a genius intellect wrapped up inside an iron man like suit, Zzzap - who can become pure energy, and Regenerator - can heal almost any injury. The heroes have set up a community with other survivors in the paramount studio lot and life was starting to become somewhat stable until the zombies start regaining awareness.
Ex-Heroes is told in two parts - Now, told from the third-person perspective, and Then, a series of flashbacks for each character told from the first-person perspective. The Now chapters are full of action as the heroes take on the zombies and an old rival gang and is a fairly straightforward good vs evil. The Then chapters provide us with insight into how the heroes developed their powers and how they came to live together. I much preferred the Then chapters and enjoyed the backstories the characters.
Superheroes vs zombies could have been ridiculous (and some people might think it is) but I found it wonderful. Light, fun, engaging, great characters, and a clear big bad the heroes can defeat without guilt. Perfect.
There are some fairly typical superheroes you would expect from any hero type story- St. George the Mighty Dragon - a man who has super strength, can breathe fire, and is able to glide through the air, Stealth - an abrupt woman who keeps her identity still hidden, Gorgon - who can siphon people's energy through his eyes, Cerberus - a genius intellect wrapped up inside an iron man like suit, Zzzap - who can become pure energy, and Regenerator - can heal almost any injury. The heroes have set up a community with other survivors in the paramount studio lot and life was starting to become somewhat stable until the zombies start regaining awareness.
Ex-Heroes is told in two parts - Now, told from the third-person perspective, and Then, a series of flashbacks for each character told from the first-person perspective. The Now chapters are full of action as the heroes take on the zombies and an old rival gang and is a fairly straightforward good vs evil. The Then chapters provide us with insight into how the heroes developed their powers and how they came to live together. I much preferred the Then chapters and enjoyed the backstories the characters.
Superheroes vs zombies could have been ridiculous (and some people might think it is) but I found it wonderful. Light, fun, engaging, great characters, and a clear big bad the heroes can defeat without guilt. Perfect.
While the premise is intriguing, and the action well-plotted and paced, this book falls prey to one of the pitfalls of the early comics that inspired it: blatant and overt sexism. I lost count at how many times I rolled my eyes at the description of a woman's body, or how many times the men talked about having sex with female characters, or "women in refrigerators" (Banzai fit the bill for this really well)... It sucks, because this book has so much going for it, but the treatment of women by the author himself was just too distracting for me to get any real enjoyment out of reading it.
Ernest Cline, author of READY PLAYER ONE describes EXHEROES as The Avengers meets The Walking Dead - and that's pretty much it. Thumbs up!
You have to kill them faster than they're killing you. That was the lesson we'd learned too late.
Superheroes in the zombie apocalypse. Need I say more? This was an entertaining read from start to finish - a total blast. The story follows a group of survivors living in L.A. who are led by a small group of people with super powers. They've converted one of the big movie studios into their fortress and the reader follows along with them as things go from bad to worse upon the discovery of a new threat. I really liked how the story unfolded, with every other chapter going back in time to the early days of the outbreak and focusing on a brief history of each of the superheroes. It was absolutely perfect for me and appealed to all sides of my geekdom. This is a series that is going on my to-read list.
Superheroes in the zombie apocalypse. Need I say more? This was an entertaining read from start to finish - a total blast. The story follows a group of survivors living in L.A. who are led by a small group of people with super powers. They've converted one of the big movie studios into their fortress and the reader follows along with them as things go from bad to worse upon the discovery of a new threat. I really liked how the story unfolded, with every other chapter going back in time to the early days of the outbreak and focusing on a brief history of each of the superheroes. It was absolutely perfect for me and appealed to all sides of my geekdom. This is a series that is going on my to-read list.
I'm not a huge fan of zombies or the horror genre in general. But I do enjoy superheroes. So the combination of the two in this book turned into one of those "you got chocolate on my peanut butter; this is awesome!" moments. The only thing that kept me from giving it a full five star rating was a major plot element that I figured out as soon as something happens in the story that the main characters didn't seem to entertain as a possibility until just before the end. That and the flashbacks. I think they could have been woven into the story better. There's no connection between the flashbacks and what's going on in the story. They're like extras someone unlocks in a video game. You've unlocked this new character, here's a chapter about what their life was like during the start of the zombie apocalypse. Over all, I really enjoyed this book, and will be adding the sequel to my reading list shortly.
3.5 star rating
I borrowed this book from another Kindler because someone chose it as our horror group read on Shelfari and to be honest, I didn't want to buy it. It's not the type of book that I would normally read. I like superheroes and whatnot but a couple of hundred pages worth? Yeah...I was wary.
I have to admit that I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this book.
There were several superheroes, all original creations. At least I think they were because I have never heard of them. As the story progressed, there where chapters labeled 'Now' and 'Then'. Each 'Then' segment spent a bit of time with a superhero and filled in the gaps about them-as far as how they were created and how they came to be in LA fighting zombies.
Yes, superheroes fighting zombies...I know it sounds silly (and it was a little bit silly), but it was also well written, gory, bloody and just good fun. I will be buying the second book, just to see what happens.
I borrowed this book from another Kindler because someone chose it as our horror group read on Shelfari and to be honest, I didn't want to buy it. It's not the type of book that I would normally read. I like superheroes and whatnot but a couple of hundred pages worth? Yeah...I was wary.
I have to admit that I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this book.
There were several superheroes, all original creations. At least I think they were because I have never heard of them. As the story progressed, there where chapters labeled 'Now' and 'Then'. Each 'Then' segment spent a bit of time with a superhero and filled in the gaps about them-as far as how they were created and how they came to be in LA fighting zombies.
Yes, superheroes fighting zombies...I know it sounds silly (and it was a little bit silly), but it was also well written, gory, bloody and just good fun. I will be buying the second book, just to see what happens.
I started this book on July 16, 2019, via its audio edition. I wasn't tracking the story very well, so I ordered a trade paperback of it in the wee hours of the 17th, got the print book on July 19th, and restarted it from the beginning.
(I should mention that the audio edition is excellent and exceptionally well-performed by Jay Snyder and Khristine Hvam and it is not their fault that I failed to track what I was hearing. It was my mind that was at fault.)
I loved this story. Superheroes and zombies made for a super world to read about. Across the four days I read this book, when I was reading it, I didn't always read a lot of it, but I was always drawn in to this world whenever I picked it up. And reading it in between [b:A Kiss Before the Apocalypse|2915837|A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (Remy Chandler, #1)|Thomas E. Sniegoski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347664241l/2915837._SY75_.jpg|2943014] by [a:Thomas E. Sniegoski|27140|Thomas E. Sniegoski|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1238440776p2/27140.jpg] wasn't as confusing as I thought it might be once I got past the first few chapters.
The characters in this story were just so unique and wonderfully written that I found it impossible to confuse them with Remy Chandler and the undying fatalities in his world. Plus, this story was set in Los Angeles, while A Kiss... was set in Boston. So they were well-separated in my mind. ❤
If I had to pick a favorite superhero, it would probably surprise none of you to know that I really love St. George, formerly known as The Mighty Dragon. 🐉❤
If I didn't fall in love with him upon learning he could glide/fly and breathe fire (he was also invulnerable and super-strong), the "St. George Kills the Mighty Dragon" Then chapter right before the Epilogue would have clinched him as my favorite. I love how George told Stealththat they were not going to handpick survivors to populate the Mount; they would save all the survivors they could, even those whose skills weren't valuable for them. And she agreed with him and said he was a Saint! ❤
Then we had the Epilogue, and it was really great. I cried on the final page (p310) of this story. It was really touching. 😭❤
(I should mention that the audio edition is excellent and exceptionally well-performed by Jay Snyder and Khristine Hvam and it is not their fault that I failed to track what I was hearing. It was my mind that was at fault.)
I loved this story. Superheroes and zombies made for a super world to read about. Across the four days I read this book, when I was reading it, I didn't always read a lot of it, but I was always drawn in to this world whenever I picked it up. And reading it in between [b:A Kiss Before the Apocalypse|2915837|A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (Remy Chandler, #1)|Thomas E. Sniegoski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347664241l/2915837._SY75_.jpg|2943014] by [a:Thomas E. Sniegoski|27140|Thomas E. Sniegoski|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1238440776p2/27140.jpg] wasn't as confusing as I thought it might be once I got past the first few chapters.
The characters in this story were just so unique and wonderfully written that I found it impossible to confuse them with Remy Chandler and the undying fatalities in his world. Plus, this story was set in Los Angeles, while A Kiss... was set in Boston. So they were well-separated in my mind. ❤
If I had to pick a favorite superhero, it would probably surprise none of you to know that I really love St. George, formerly known as The Mighty Dragon. 🐉❤
If I didn't fall in love with him upon learning he could glide/fly and breathe fire (he was also invulnerable and super-strong), the "St. George Kills the Mighty Dragon" Then chapter right before the Epilogue would have clinched him as my favorite. I love how George told Stealth
Then we had the Epilogue, and it was really great. I cried on the final page (p310) of this story. It was really touching. 😭❤
There are a few moments here and there where you stumble into a zombie trope or two, or a detail reminds you of Walking Dead. That isn’t much of a negative, though, seeing as the zombie genre has been mined so deeply that it’s nigh-impossible to avoid.
It’s fascinating to watch heroes–people who traditionally act primarily as lone vigilantes or teams of active protectors–relegated to semi-passively protecting a single area and the people within it. They do patrols together. They organize people to help kill the exes or make sorties to search for supplies. I’m fond of the post-apocalyptic survival genre niche, so I enjoyed that. I also love how Clines handles heroes–they’re very real people, and sometimes the best way for them to help isn’t by being the flashy savior. They can get tired and frustrated just like the humans around them. The characterization is lovely.
The stakes are sufficiently high–no matter how practiced you are at dealing with exes, there will be mistakes and bad luck and treachery to keep things humming along. That pacing is fantastic and kept me glued to my seat.
The world-building is very close-contact–i.e., we learn about it from people’s personal memories and experiences rather than through an infodump or the like. Because of that, the world feels very solid and real.
For a longer review, visit my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2015/09/review-ex-heroes-peter-clines/
It’s fascinating to watch heroes–people who traditionally act primarily as lone vigilantes or teams of active protectors–relegated to semi-passively protecting a single area and the people within it. They do patrols together. They organize people to help kill the exes or make sorties to search for supplies. I’m fond of the post-apocalyptic survival genre niche, so I enjoyed that. I also love how Clines handles heroes–they’re very real people, and sometimes the best way for them to help isn’t by being the flashy savior. They can get tired and frustrated just like the humans around them. The characterization is lovely.
The stakes are sufficiently high–no matter how practiced you are at dealing with exes, there will be mistakes and bad luck and treachery to keep things humming along. That pacing is fantastic and kept me glued to my seat.
The world-building is very close-contact–i.e., we learn about it from people’s personal memories and experiences rather than through an infodump or the like. Because of that, the world feels very solid and real.
For a longer review, visit my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2015/09/review-ex-heroes-peter-clines/
Refreshing, new take on superheroes and zombies (exes). This was a fun combination of two of my favorite genres.