1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Perfect, but definitly wirth the read., November 27, 2011
As a child, I loved watching superhero cartoons and movies. Batman, Darkwing Duck, Justice League... the list goes on and, in-fact, continues to this day. It's a rare privilage, however, to encounter the traditional superhero fiction in novel form that is completely original. Here's a pretty good example.
One should first note that the title "Legacy" is a reference to an element of comic fiction; "Legacy Heroes". Legacy Heroes are heroes that have taken their name and overall statis from a predicessor who either dies or retires. Notable examples include the Blue Beetle, Robin, The Flash and many others. It should be stipulated that just because characters share names with a preexisting character, they aren't nessisarily legacy heroes. For instance, Hal Jordan isn't a legacy hero, despite taking the Green Lantern identity following Alan Scott. The difference is intent. A Legacy Hero must not just share a name with his predicessor. He must become his predicessor and truely replace him. And this, fair readers, is the core premise of this book.
Spoiler Warning
The following summary may contain Plotpoints not covered by the books cover which may qualify as spoilers. Read at your discretion.
Lucas Moore is a Highschoool dropout living in a trailer park in Texas with his mother. He knows nothing of his father, save for the fact that he contributed to his mother leaving Seraph City, this world's equivolent to Gotham City. However, one day, a man comes to the Autoshop where Lucas works, claiming to be the boy's father. The man, Clayton Hartwell, also reveals that he is The Raptor, the Batman-esque superhero of Seraph City. He wants Lucas to replace him as Raptor because he is dying. Lucas refuses, not wanting to risk his life for a man he never knew.
However, things quickly shift to the worst when a group of supervillains attack Lucas' home and kill his neighbors and his mother. Driven by a want for justice, Lucas joins his father and begins his training. However, things quickly begin to fade from a clear black and white to a grey area when Lucas sees just what lengths his father goes to to fight crime. Coupled with a rather unnerving encounter with his father's former sidekick and a series of mysterious deaths, and our protagonist is suddenly unsure of who to trust.
As an analysis of the Legacy hero concept, "Legacy" performs above average in terms of its story. The ideas about what makes a Legacy Hero, coupled with a rather troubling look into the psyche of a superhero pushed over the edge by life, makes this a very introspective read for superhero fans. If I have one complaint, it's the details, or rather, the lack thereof. Seriously, you have to wait until he actually reveals his identity to Lucas before you learn the Raptor's symbol is a bird's claw. You also never learn what Talon's (previously mentioned sidekick) costume looks like in any significant detail. I can understand how a comic writer can fail to note such things, since details like design are usually left for the artist to interpret. Still, in a novel, especially a superhero novel where the images have to be formed in the reader's mind, details delivered timely and en-masse are preferred.
In all, I totally recommend this to fans of superheroes. It's a worthwhile little read that will definity make you ready to tackle an army of gang members in Zombie Makeup.
(Personal note: Who the *&@$ designed the hardcover? I mean, I'll admit the paperback is kinda dated with the 90's style rubber-suited superhero, but at least it makes sense. The Hardcover is so random, I can't possibly guess what the book is about. Good call Bluefire for picking a more traditional cover. WTTW though; the book says Raptor wears a cowl, not a domino mask. And, again, actual design details would have eleviated our author's mistake in the book by making Raptor's appearance clear on the cover.)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn the Legacy, October 17, 2009
Legacy by Tom Sniegoski explores good and evil and that murky gray area in-between. At the age of 18, Lucas, a high school dropout learns that his estranged, dying father is a superhero - and expects his son to take up his mantle. Lucas is understandably reluctant to do so, not only because the world of superheroes (and villains) is so different from his own, but because he doesn't want to connect with his deadbeat dad. He's never been there for Lucas before -- why should Lucas be there for him now? Meanwhile, Lucas is content with his life as an auto mechanic, and while he's not lazy or ignorant, he doesn't really have any aspirations to do more or less than what he's already doing. These universal themes transcend the sci-fi aspect of the story and will pull in readers who like stories about family struggles and characters who feel lost after high school, while the superhero storyline will attract those after action and adventure, good guys versus bad guys, and climatic showdowns.
Tom Sniegoski always does a great job with reluctant heroes, especially those who are teenaged. There's a lot of shaky ground you have to navigate when you're stuck in that limbo period when you're not a kid any more but you don't feel like an adult yet. In Legacy, Sniegoski uses that to his advantage, contrasting Lucas' admittedly dead-end but comfortable life and lack of motivation with that of his father, an ailing billionaire who is secretly acting as a vigilante superhero known as the Raptor. If you enjoyed Sniegoski's previous books, especially The Fallen books, you should definitely check out Legacy.
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