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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
When Cliches Attack!, January 14, 2009
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I very rarely give bad reviews. Not because I'm that nice, but because I can usually find the good side of things. In this case, the three stars are entirely because the intended audience is young, and therefore less likely to be offended by the abundance of cliches within these pages.
If you like to read comics but don't take the time to look too closely at the pictures, you might enjoy this book. It offers action-packed, but poorly hough out scenes, strung together with enough forward momentum to keep you interested.
The premise is simple: A group of four friends stumble upon a website (hero.com) that grants them temporary use of super powers in exchange for successfully completing missions, and/or for cash. Once they have their powers, they are compelled to do good, and sign up for missions via a "job board" of sorts. They become involved in a struggle against the sinister Doc Tempest, who kidnaps their mother and forces them into a dangerous rescue mission.
Hero.com appealed to me because I like reading YA novels (I refuse to grow up, despite my age). However, I like to think that kids deserve a bit more credit than given them by books like hero.com. This was an uncorrected advanced copy, so I won't take the various grammatical errors into account. I will penalize hero.com for a few things though. First, the story didn't seem to be planned out at all. "Oh, I'm in trouble!" is followed by "Aha, but I have this other super power to get me out of it!" The worst example of writing this story out of a corner is when we discover that the Council of Evil contractors sometimes label things wrong, causing unexpected doors to open, etc.
Another unforgiving failing is the incorrect / inaccurate references to things like physics and the workings of the Internet. If a lesson is being attempted, it could have used a bit more research, rather than encouraging kids to buy cool things online (in secret!), with nothing more than a false reference to phishing.
However, YA books are for young adults, right?
If you're a young adult, and you want to read about people flinging fireballs around while flying through the air, being shot by the same glue guns used in "The Incredibles" (fired by bad guys riding the same hover-discs, for that matter) ... well, this is the book for you. It's three solid stars of erratic action and zany laser-eye-beam combat.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Something ELSE To Worry about Your Kids Downloading Off the Internet, July 3, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Superpowers.
Andy Briggs deserves 5 stars for the premise alone. Unfortunately the rest of the book doesn't quite measure up. On the one hand he is gently poking fun at a lot of costumed superhero cliches; on the other hand he is guilty of producing as trite and hackneyed a bunch of costumed superhero cliches as I've seen in a long time, making the better costumed superhero comic books look like great literature in comparison.
Part of the problem is too many main characters; 251 pages just wasn't enough room for Mr. Briggs to do more than give us four walking, wisecracking collections of comic book stereotypes that would be recognizable in any comic book universe: the bullied nerd, the bickering siblings, the poor kid tempted by ill-gotten gain, etc.
In addition Mr. Briggs cannot quite decide whether he is writing a realistic adventure in which people get hurt and die or a cartoon in which characters just "shake off" the damage like Wile E. Coyote and return to the fight. Nor does he offer any explanation for a world suddenly full of superheroes fighting super villains that our heroes just hadn't noticed before.
Interestingly, this prepublication copy offers evidence that Mr. Briggs is capable of more in the included first three chapters of Council of Evil, which appears to be a much better book. Perhaps it is merely the known tendency for villains tend to be more interesting characters, but I think it is also the fact that Mr. Briggs was wise enough to have only a single main character for the second book, allowing more character development in the first three chapters than in ALL of this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A quick easy read -- but don't take it seriously, January 14, 2009
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This is actually a fun book to read. If you're looking for depth, this book isn't for you. It will be easy to read, and honestly won't last more than a few hours. If you wanted to condense this book into a TV-show, it would probably take a 30-minute episode to tell the story.
In fact, that's the main appeal of this book. It would make a perfect television series - perhaps a weekly 30-minute show on a young children's network, either as a cartoon or as live-action. If I had to label this, I would call it "throw-away fiction". There's no need to read it more than once. Although probably geared toward "tweens", the story will appeal to anybody.
The story is fast-paced. The plot develops with very little back-story, and many things are left unexplained. You may shake your head during the first two chapters, telling yourself "this possibly can't happen", but considering that it's a book about superheroes - like a comic book - it actually really doesn't matter. The young leading characters are shallow, there isn't a lot of depth to them, and many of their situations are quite cliché. You'll experience the perceived differences between wealthy and poor, boys and girls, good and bad. There are arguing parents, missing parents, and sibling rivalry. There is some humor in the story, as the leading characters fumble with their newfound powers and try to deal with their particular situations.
The bright spot is the nemesis of the story - Doc Tempest. Although, as an evil villain, his character remains just as shallow as the others, what he's trying to do and how he's doing it will keep you captivated. Many of the situations are typical of comic-book genre - from his hideout, to his vehicles, to his army of henchmen. He's unique, but quite honestly an amalgam of other super-villains you already know.
Many times, you'll find yourself saying "oh, how convenient!" as the plot progresses. But this book isn't meant to be deep, it's just meant to be fun. If you enjoy comic books, sci-fi/fantasy, and extremely short stories, you won't be disappointed with this book.
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