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A review by paradoxically
After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
3.0
I'm not the biggest fan of superheroes, mainly because I think their costumes are ridiculous (which, considering what the characters wear in some of the other books I enjoy reading, doesn't make all that much sense, but go figure) and they just strike me as rather absurd overall. Still, there was something about After the Golden Age that I latched onto and enjoyed greatly.
The book is about Celia, who is (unfortunately) the daughter of two famous superheroes. She has no powers of her own, which caused her a lot of grief when she was younger, though she's much better about it at the start of the book (this is good because I don't think I'd be able to deal with all of the whining--it was bad enough reading the flashbacks). It's less about superheroes and more about Celia finding herself as a person, dealing with her dark past, and accepting the people around her.
Celia is a decent main character. She did some (very) stupid things when she was younger, but she keeps trying to make up for it and all she wants is to live her very normal life with very little in the way of bumps. Unfortunately things don't go exactly as planned, her life pretty much blows up around her, and she gets kidnapped like half a dozen times. I kid you not. It was great seeing her rather blase about the entire kidnapping scenario, but at the same time it's a bit disheartening that she's always in so much trouble and she can't even get herself out of the messes.
The relationship she has with her parents is very rocky, to say the least, but it's nice to see both sides of the party try to reconcile with one another, even if it's more one step forward and two steps back than anything else. Her parents are a bit flat. Her mother cries a lot and is sort of super mediator mom between Celia and her father, and her father can't seem to talk to her without wanting to smash things, which grows a bit old.
The pacing is pretty good, and I did enjoy reading the book from start to finish. I wasn't very happy about the last chapter, but mostly that was because it was one of those exposition, "and this is what happens to everyone a few years later" sort of deals. Makes me yawn in general. The plot itself was rather predictable. Even if you might not know exactly what is going on, you can at least predict the general storyline and who is the bad guy and that bad stuff is going down. The romance on the other hand... well, I liked the main couple. You could see hints that the book was leaning towards them from the beginning, but when they do get together, it was somewhat of a rush, which was a bit of a letdown. That and the guy wasn't nearly as fleshed out (except for some small glimpses) as I would like. Ah well. 3 stars.
The book is about Celia, who is (unfortunately) the daughter of two famous superheroes. She has no powers of her own, which caused her a lot of grief when she was younger, though she's much better about it at the start of the book (this is good because I don't think I'd be able to deal with all of the whining--it was bad enough reading the flashbacks). It's less about superheroes and more about Celia finding herself as a person, dealing with her dark past, and accepting the people around her.
Celia is a decent main character. She did some (very) stupid things when she was younger, but she keeps trying to make up for it and all she wants is to live her very normal life with very little in the way of bumps. Unfortunately things don't go exactly as planned, her life pretty much blows up around her, and she gets kidnapped like half a dozen times. I kid you not. It was great seeing her rather blase about the entire kidnapping scenario, but at the same time it's a bit disheartening that she's always in so much trouble and she can't even get herself out of the messes.
The relationship she has with her parents is very rocky, to say the least, but it's nice to see both sides of the party try to reconcile with one another, even if it's more one step forward and two steps back than anything else. Her parents are a bit flat. Her mother cries a lot and is sort of super mediator mom between Celia and her father, and her father can't seem to talk to her without wanting to smash things, which grows a bit old.
The pacing is pretty good, and I did enjoy reading the book from start to finish. I wasn't very happy about the last chapter, but mostly that was because it was one of those exposition, "and this is what happens to everyone a few years later" sort of deals. Makes me yawn in general. The plot itself was rather predictable. Even if you might not know exactly what is going on, you can at least predict the general storyline and who is the bad guy and that bad stuff is going down. The romance on the other hand... well, I liked the main couple. You could see hints that the book was leaning towards them from the beginning, but when they do get together, it was somewhat of a rush, which was a bit of a letdown. That and the guy wasn't nearly as fleshed out (except for some small glimpses) as I would like. Ah well. 3 stars.