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A review by melissarochelle
Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines
4.0
I'm glad I ignore reviews until after I've read a book because I'm surprised that the top two reviews on a book with an average rating of 3.88 are both two star reviews (one which reads like a much higher star rating than two, BTW). Also...because I liked this book. A lot.
I discovered this book by accident. I was in the stacks looking for cozy mysteries to fill a display, noticed [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg|14863741] on the shelf, grabbed it for a different display, and Ex-Heroes fell to the floor. Clearly the book wanted me to read it -- it jumped out at me!
I picked it up and discovered blurbs by two authors I've read and enjoyed previously: [a:Mira Grant|3153776|Mira Grant|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1380320279p2/3153776.jpg] and [a:Ernest Cline|31712|Ernest Cline|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1310753539p2/31712.jpg]. Any blurb that says the contents inside are a mash-up of The Walking Dead meets The Avengers will make me want to find out for myself. I forced every co-worker that was here that day and my husband to read the description -- it sounded so good. One co-worker tried to bring me down by telling me this superheroes/zombies mash-up already existed as a comic book (Marvel Zombies, I think)...but I'm not really into superhero comics so I wouldn't know if something like that existed.
Anyway, if you've made it this far then you know that I was exited about finding this book. It just sounded like a fun read.
And. It. Was.
We're first introduced to Katie, a girl who is patrolling the wall at the Mount -- a safe haven for the non-dead humans -- and St. George, a hero who has just come back from his own patrol. The story then unfolds back and forth between now -- apocalyptic, zombie-filled world -- and then -- before the "ex" virus took over. I loved the variety of perspectives in the "then" chapters. We were able to see the beginnings of the virus and get backstory on the heroes; some as they were just discovering their powers and others a little later into society's collapse. Most of the characters were pretty great and the dialogue was snappy -- except for Stealth, probably on purpose, but Stealth's dialogue came across as unnatural and not at all how someone actually speaks.
Overall, a fun genre mash-up. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series!
I discovered this book by accident. I was in the stacks looking for cozy mysteries to fill a display, noticed [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg|14863741] on the shelf, grabbed it for a different display, and Ex-Heroes fell to the floor. Clearly the book wanted me to read it -- it jumped out at me!
I picked it up and discovered blurbs by two authors I've read and enjoyed previously: [a:Mira Grant|3153776|Mira Grant|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1380320279p2/3153776.jpg] and [a:Ernest Cline|31712|Ernest Cline|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1310753539p2/31712.jpg]. Any blurb that says the contents inside are a mash-up of The Walking Dead meets The Avengers will make me want to find out for myself. I forced every co-worker that was here that day and my husband to read the description -- it sounded so good. One co-worker tried to bring me down by telling me this superheroes/zombies mash-up already existed as a comic book (Marvel Zombies, I think)...but I'm not really into superhero comics so I wouldn't know if something like that existed.
Anyway, if you've made it this far then you know that I was exited about finding this book. It just sounded like a fun read.
And. It. Was.
We're first introduced to Katie, a girl who is patrolling the wall at the Mount -- a safe haven for the non-dead humans -- and St. George, a hero who has just come back from his own patrol. The story then unfolds back and forth between now -- apocalyptic, zombie-filled world -- and then -- before the "ex" virus took over. I loved the variety of perspectives in the "then" chapters. We were able to see the beginnings of the virus and get backstory on the heroes; some as they were just discovering their powers and others a little later into society's collapse. Most of the characters were pretty great and the dialogue was snappy -- except for Stealth, probably on purpose, but Stealth's dialogue came across as unnatural and not at all how someone actually speaks.
Overall, a fun genre mash-up. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series!