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A review by guyfantastic
Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines
5.0
Super-heroes versus zombies...sounds like it'd be written for junior high school boys - lots of posing on skyscrapers, catch phrases, a dash of sex. Well, it's not. It reminds me a bit of Watchmen - these are real characters with depth and personalities, and they aren't superior in every way to the rest of us. Would super-fast reflexes make you good at killing zombies? Sure...for a while.
The book throws you into the middle of the zombie apocalypse, and then back-fills with flashbacks that cover some origin stories and other history. It leaves a few open questions, but mostly gives the full picture of what's happening and why. The book starts out pretty predictable, but takes a turn later on with a few surprises. I think if there was one flaw, it'd be that it doesn't have enough surprises. But it conveys a real sense of discovery both in the nature of the new world the heroes inhabit, and in the heroes' powers themselves, and I think that more than made up for it.
...Okay, if there were two flaws, the second would be that it wasn't grand enough in scope. The story is good, the character interaction is very good, but the scope is fairly limited. It has three or four major non-flashback scenes, all over the course of a few days. I'm glad to see that there is a sequel, and a third planned. Ex-Heroes definitely left me wanting more of the same.
The book throws you into the middle of the zombie apocalypse, and then back-fills with flashbacks that cover some origin stories and other history. It leaves a few open questions, but mostly gives the full picture of what's happening and why. The book starts out pretty predictable, but takes a turn later on with a few surprises. I think if there was one flaw, it'd be that it doesn't have enough surprises. But it conveys a real sense of discovery both in the nature of the new world the heroes inhabit, and in the heroes' powers themselves, and I think that more than made up for it.
...Okay, if there were two flaws, the second would be that it wasn't grand enough in scope. The story is good, the character interaction is very good, but the scope is fairly limited. It has three or four major non-flashback scenes, all over the course of a few days. I'm glad to see that there is a sequel, and a third planned. Ex-Heroes definitely left me wanting more of the same.