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A review by erebus53
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is a book that I picked up as a recommendation from a guy I met in school (hi!). I don't typically seek Super Hero books, but this one definitely has all the twists that I need for it to be a really rewarding read. As I looked at the cover I noticed that it has the endorsement of Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant) which I wondered at, but after reading 10% of the way into the book I began to see some of the same sort of stellar background Disability narrative as I had noticed in "Into The Drowning Deep" by Mira Grant. Props for the use of the word "neuro-atypical". I should use that more.
In a world of Supers, this is a story that feels like it was inspired by movies like The Incredibles. In that film, superheroes are banned from openly using their powers because they cause too many lawsuits and too much collateral damage. I can't help but feel like this is one of the few superhero stories I have read that asks the question "but what about real physics?". There is no guarantee that grabbing a falling person is going to SAVE them - you grab them wrong they may end-up with a spinal injury and die on the spot. You stop them too fast and they might as well have hit concrete. In this kind of world, Anna works as a temp.. a Hench. The agency that she is hired through manages help for super villains - anyone from drivers, hitmen, body guards, consorts, and militias, to secretaries, programmers, baristas, makeup artists, and greeting staff. Super Villains can have expensive tastes.
After standing about being a token female in a publicity lineup of Henches for a bad employer called The Electric Eel ("really.. call me E") Anna finds herself trapped in a hospital bed recovering from a complicated spiral fracture of the femur, as a result of being man-handled by a clumsy superhero. This injury leaves her with a permanent limp. During her long recovery, holed up on a friend's couch, she latches onto the idea of running the numbers to quantify just how much damage this hero causes - which she then blogs about. She catches the eye of that superhero's nemesis who is impressed by her efficiency. This nemesis is a mysterious villain known as Leviathan. Anna is off down a rabbit hole of statistics and strategic planning for the big-bad, but the employee benefits are top-notch.
Natalie Zina Walschots describes hospitals in a way that feels real; the disempowerment, sleep deprivation, pain and lack of lucidity, days that blend together in a fog. Even rehabilitation after a broken bone is recounted with the appreciation of physiotherapists that you hate while they are helping you, because of the necessary brutality of the discipline. The observations are visceral and sardonic.
It's clear that the author loves wordplay.. there are a few (wonderful) bad puns, but I'm left wondering if the decision to make the main character's surname Tromedlov (a name that in an American accent sounds like "traumaed love") could possibly be because she knows what it's like when people think your surname sounds like something else (wall-shots?). As I can't find a whole heap of information about the author, this is pure conjecture on my part.
I noticed more than one reference to New Zealand (my home <3 Aotearoa ahau!) in this book. The author is Canadian but has obviously had dialogue (kōrero) about Māori tattooing practice, with someone at least, as one of her supporting characters is wahine Māori and has moko kauae (lip/chin tattoos). In The Auditor's number-crunching of collateral damage from a superhero, she likens him to an earthquake, and uses similar formulae that have been used to account for the loss of human life hours in natural disasters such as the Christchurch Earthquakes (in my hometown). Ooof.. that blind-sided me a bit. Quoting the number of hours lost to that earthquake I couldn't help but think... "uh - some of those were mine?!". As I relocated out of the city, and threw my life upside down a bit, as a direct consequence of that seismic activity, that hit close to home.
This story is underpinned by a lot of personal relationships that grow and change throughout. The setting is queer-norm and there are non-binary, trans- and various sorts of queer characters. The main character is interested in various types of people, but this only adds to her angst as she finds that living a life on the dark side can get risky for her, and riskier for any person she gets close to. As some of the supers are barely human it seems silly that they be limited to cis-het norms anyway. There's some mention of sub-dom play in there too. Cool to have some elder rep in this as well, and an account of elder-care facilities for folk with super-abilities, yet failing physical and cognitive function.
A Feminist narrative is very blatant as Anna is dubbed "the Auditor" (*shudder* SUPERvillainous!) by an abusive guy, and she develops a working relationship with another woman with superpowers who has been a sidekick, so overshadowed that some of her powers have been attributed to her (male) partner. It seems that the hero narrative must be maintained for the public good.. even if she has to do all the heavy lifting.
The double standard seems obvious to the audience.. well.. me. The Auditor is furious that another woman is being sidelined by an oppressive partner, all the while she herself is a support character to Leviathan's main. Even though she's coming up with all his best plans, she still feels like she's not the one running the show. I can only hope that's going to be explored more in the second book.
In a world of Supers, this is a story that feels like it was inspired by movies like The Incredibles. In that film, superheroes are banned from openly using their powers because they cause too many lawsuits and too much collateral damage. I can't help but feel like this is one of the few superhero stories I have read that asks the question "but what about real physics?". There is no guarantee that grabbing a falling person is going to SAVE them - you grab them wrong they may end-up with a spinal injury and die on the spot. You stop them too fast and they might as well have hit concrete. In this kind of world, Anna works as a temp.. a Hench. The agency that she is hired through manages help for super villains - anyone from drivers, hitmen, body guards, consorts, and militias, to secretaries, programmers, baristas, makeup artists, and greeting staff. Super Villains can have expensive tastes.
After standing about being a token female in a publicity lineup of Henches for a bad employer called The Electric Eel ("really.. call me E") Anna finds herself trapped in a hospital bed recovering from a complicated spiral fracture of the femur, as a result of being man-handled by a clumsy superhero. This injury leaves her with a permanent limp. During her long recovery, holed up on a friend's couch, she latches onto the idea of running the numbers to quantify just how much damage this hero causes - which she then blogs about. She catches the eye of that superhero's nemesis who is impressed by her efficiency. This nemesis is a mysterious villain known as Leviathan. Anna is off down a rabbit hole of statistics and strategic planning for the big-bad, but the employee benefits are top-notch.
Natalie Zina Walschots describes hospitals in a way that feels real; the disempowerment, sleep deprivation, pain and lack of lucidity, days that blend together in a fog. Even rehabilitation after a broken bone is recounted with the appreciation of physiotherapists that you hate while they are helping you, because of the necessary brutality of the discipline. The observations are visceral and sardonic.
It's clear that the author loves wordplay.. there are a few (wonderful) bad puns, but I'm left wondering if the decision to make the main character's surname Tromedlov (a name that in an American accent sounds like "traumaed love") could possibly be because she knows what it's like when people think your surname sounds like something else (wall-shots?). As I can't find a whole heap of information about the author, this is pure conjecture on my part.
I noticed more than one reference to New Zealand (my home <3 Aotearoa ahau!) in this book. The author is Canadian but has obviously had dialogue (kōrero) about Māori tattooing practice, with someone at least, as one of her supporting characters is wahine Māori and has moko kauae (lip/chin tattoos). In The Auditor's number-crunching of collateral damage from a superhero, she likens him to an earthquake, and uses similar formulae that have been used to account for the loss of human life hours in natural disasters such as the Christchurch Earthquakes (in my hometown). Ooof.. that blind-sided me a bit. Quoting the number of hours lost to that earthquake I couldn't help but think... "uh - some of those were mine?!". As I relocated out of the city, and threw my life upside down a bit, as a direct consequence of that seismic activity, that hit close to home.
This story is underpinned by a lot of personal relationships that grow and change throughout. The setting is queer-norm and there are non-binary, trans- and various sorts of queer characters. The main character is interested in various types of people, but this only adds to her angst as she finds that living a life on the dark side can get risky for her, and riskier for any person she gets close to. As some of the supers are barely human it seems silly that they be limited to cis-het norms anyway. There's some mention of sub-dom play in there too. Cool to have some elder rep in this as well, and an account of elder-care facilities for folk with super-abilities, yet failing physical and cognitive function.
A Feminist narrative is very blatant as Anna is dubbed "the Auditor" (*shudder* SUPERvillainous!) by an abusive guy, and she develops a working relationship with another woman with superpowers who has been a sidekick, so overshadowed that some of her powers have been attributed to her (male) partner. It seems that the hero narrative must be maintained for the public good.. even if she has to do all the heavy lifting.
The double standard seems obvious to the audience.. well.. me. The Auditor is furious that another woman is being sidelined by an oppressive partner, all the while she herself is a support character to Leviathan's main. Even though she's coming up with all his best plans, she still feels like she's not the one running the show. I can only hope that's going to be explored more in the second book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Violence, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Terminal illness
Minor: Animal cruelty