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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
This book was pretty good. I don't regret reading it, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. I'm sure there are plenty of people who will enjoy it more than me, though -- I'm not sure if it's a 'guy thing,' or a 'kid thing,' since superheroes are loved by people of all ages and genders, but I suspect it just isn't my cup of tea. I shouldn't be surprised, as I have never understood/joined the superhero/comic book bandwagon. The only superhero movies I've seen are the Christopher Reeve Superman movies (and I only liked the first one), Fantastic 4 (which wasn't good, but Chris Evans was fun, a preview of things to come), Hulk (the not-Edward Norton one, which is enough to put anyone off of superhero movies), and the Tobey Maguire Spider-man (...ugh). I never got into the whole 'Marvel universe' or anything like that.
That said, I do enjoy books and movies that try to take well-established, tired tropes and turn them on their heads, and what could accomplish that better than a book about disabled superheroes? There were parts that I really, really enjoyed, particularly early on in the book, when it was mostly about exploring this universe we'd just been plopped into. That was fun.
The things I didn't like about the book I think might be mostly unique to me. I felt the reading level skewed a little young/easy for me, as the writing was sometimes bland, which could get boring. I totally called it about five pages after meeting him that Finch was, so it does have some predictability to it. The climax felt like a bit of a cop-out, but I'm not sure what I was expecting. I'm tired of prophecies right now, so that's just a 'me' thing, and not even all the time, I just feel like I've run into a lot of stories with prophecies lately. I disliked the main character some of the time. About half the time, I would say, which made it difficult to empathize with him and stay invested. Some minor things were brought up and then never resolved/touched on again, which happens sometimes (you can't cover everything, after all), but it still annoyed me a bit.
I was surprised by, so it wasn't completely predictable or anything, there are a few surprises tossed in there. I liked a lot of the characters most of the time. Like I said, I'm not sorry I read it, as it was a nice little story.
So do I recommend it? That depends. Are you really into superheroes? Are you a twelve-year-old kid? If you answered 'yes' to either of those questions, then I would recommend it to you -- the superhero part because 'duh,' and the twelve-year-old kid part because it's a lot like the Harry Potter series in that respect. What kid wouldn't love to have their parent sit them down and tell them, 'Son/Daughter, you're a superhero'? It'd be almost as cool as getting your Hogwarts letter.
That said, I do enjoy books and movies that try to take well-established, tired tropes and turn them on their heads, and what could accomplish that better than a book about disabled superheroes? There were parts that I really, really enjoyed, particularly early on in the book, when it was mostly about exploring this universe we'd just been plopped into. That was fun.
The things I didn't like about the book I think might be mostly unique to me. I felt the reading level skewed a little young/easy for me, as the writing was sometimes bland, which could get boring. I totally called it about five pages after meeting him that Finch was
Spoiler
Phillip's 'dead' grandfather, Thomas SallingerI was surprised by
Spoiler
Mr Charles's identitySo do I recommend it? That depends. Are you really into superheroes? Are you a twelve-year-old kid? If you answered 'yes' to either of those questions, then I would recommend it to you -- the superhero part because 'duh,' and the twelve-year-old kid part because it's a lot like the Harry Potter series in that respect. What kid wouldn't love to have their parent sit them down and tell them, 'Son/Daughter, you're a superhero'? It'd be almost as cool as getting your Hogwarts letter.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun story though the clunky and repetitive writing added a lot of predictability.
adventurous
Was looking forward to this book as soon as it was announced. Unfortunately it left a lot to be desired, with the characters being pretty flat and not very interesting, any conflict is either resolved too quickly or predictable, and the main idea of all these characters being disabled is almost exploitative. The writing is more like a fan fiction, and just left me so disappointed
This book doesn't have much going on. The characters lack personal plots and motivations which makes the whole plot lack stakes.
I was really hoping for some good disability representation, but sadly this fell short. It started well with the Braille comics, but quickly went downhill with the segregated special ed class, and bottomed out when the kids combined powers to make the blind kids... not blind. Very clever use of superpowers, but... I thought the premise was that "disabled superheroes are still heroes" not "we can be heroes if the kid in the wheelchair gets rid of our blindness." I'd be more ok with it if there was any time spent on introspection about Philip's feelings about his identity and his blindness, but all we got was a scene where he cries because he sees his family for the first time... and, yes, of course, but... there's no guilt? There's no contrast between the times when Henry is giving him sight and the times when he's blind again? It just feels like at some point the author threw his hands up and said, "Crap! I don't know what it's like to be blind! Now what?!" Not to mention the continuity errors when he should be blind because Henry isn't there but the author describes things as if he's not blind.
And, as others have mentioned, none of the kids are girls, even though there are (apparently) 2 girls in the special ed class (one wasn't even given a name until halfway through the book).
I'd never heard of Jeremy Scott or his YouTube channel, but it's pretty ironic that it looks like his channel pokes fun at plot holes in TV and movies, because this book is full of them... And I don't usually notice that kind of thing...
Spoilers in content warnings:
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Hostage situation, coma, death of a parent
And, as others have mentioned, none of the kids are girls, even though there are (apparently) 2 girls in the special ed class (one wasn't even given a name until halfway through the book).
I'd never heard of Jeremy Scott or his YouTube channel, but it's pretty ironic that it looks like his channel pokes fun at plot holes in TV and movies, because this book is full of them... And I don't usually notice that kind of thing...
Spoilers in content warnings:
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Hostage situation, coma, death of a parent
Pretty good book. I do not normally like books about children growing up, but this one proved to have an interesting spin on it and great written characters helped a lot.
I grabbed this one when it initially came out because I was a fan of CinemaSins, and I loved urban fantasy/superhero novels (especially in a school setting). While the concept drew me in, so many small details and aspects of the plot didn't make much sense, and I didn't find some of the villain characters to be that engaging. My favorite part of it was the main cast's interactions with each other, however, I came into the book expecting a bit more from the action scenes. You know, since it's a coming of age tale of superpowered middle schoolers. I didn't even realize there was a sequel to this until I wrote this, and I have no idea if I'll ever feel compelled enough to read it.
Ok. Superheroes are a very American concept. But I know enough Superhero folklore to enjoy books that play with this subject. I was very willing to love a story about a bunch of kids with disabilities who are also young superheroes, going to superhero school. But sadly, the book was not what I had hoped for. I liked how the boys played around with their powers and combined them into new abilities. It was also interesting that they had so many setbacks, and very few instant successes. But I had lots of issues with errors in logic and with tempo in this book. Also I missed the girls - there were very few women in the story, and those got very little screen time - and the tone of the book was too solemn and heavy on morality issues for a story about 12 year old boys.