A review by madarauchiha
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

 โค๏ธ ๐Ÿงก ๐Ÿ’› ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’™ ๐Ÿ’œ  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara ๐Ÿ’œ ๐Ÿ’™ ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’› ๐Ÿงก โค๏ธ

Oh wow. Ok. So I liked the balance between realism and the grimdark gore. I don't read too much about superheroes--I prefer villain characters in the ol' super hero 'genre'--but I did like this plot a lot. I liked the brutality. It didn't feel like it veered into edgy grimdark goofiness, as superhero plots tend to. The destruction superheroes create tends to be skipped over in most media. "Oh Superdude saved Freedom City!* [*billions of infrastructure damage and lives lost not mentioned.]" 

It felt like it gave credence to the plot wherein the MC tries to fight back with her limited, mundane skill set. I thought it was refreshing to see a ordinary human try to take on superheroes without making themself superpowered or going full cheesy embarrassing knock off anime. 

I'd agree that some parts of the plot were ignored. Such as the MC
going after multiple superheroes using her data analytics.
I can accept that, as I'd rather have the book focused on one issue at a time rather than juggle multiple plotlines and fail at that. Who cares if the MC
goes after several small time schmucks when it's the big name superhero that is the problem?


The romance was... a lil weird. Not entirely unfounded. The power imbalance did creep me out, as did the
hand on the throat
scene at the end. The love interest did seem a bit childish, but that's probably due to incredibly
stunted growth as a person due to childhood trauma / torture, and having very little chance for mundane human relationships [platonic and otherwise]
. FWIW if you're not into romance, it's not featured heavily until, perhaps, the last few chapters. And even then it's not too much.

I'm not sure about how diverse this book is. Are the characters of color? Yes. Are they developed and deployed tactfully? Not really. Like the one asian character is mentioned, we had a Hindu character who
was used as a honeypot to manipulate a white character into death
. There's also an Aotearoan woman, who also gets a pretty shitty plotline. Which I can kinda forgive because it makes some sense in how
she is exploited by the white secret organization for her powers, her 'token brownness' of diversity, etc etc.
Not unlike how this happens to use in real life. She does get a decent ending but she's also a piece of shit. She's a complicated lady, and I hope she gets... Not redeemed. A peaceful conclusion. Assuming there's a sequel. 

I'd like to see a sequel to this. Either where it left off, or where Anna is now in some timeskip past this book.


content warnings: 
minor ableist c slur, 

medium emetophobia / vomit, alcohol use, misogyny, body horror, marital infidelity, 

major kidnapping, child abuse, gore, murder, leg trauma, medical content, misogyny, sexual harassment, toxic relationships, domestic violence, medical abuse, child abuse, medical abuse, confinement, unsanitary, prison abuse, kidnapping, torture, stalking, toxic relationships, child abuse, kidnapping, smoking tobacco, 
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