I read some books about superheroes because who doesn’t want to see life where the good guys win with superhuman abilities!

Renegades by marissa meyers

4 stars

Good superhero story.
Liked the moral questions raised, the power dynamic exploration of super powered people, and how the world is set up.
Nicely written and easy to get through.
Characters were great, and lots of interesting questions to keep you coming back for the next book.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

4 stars

I really enjoyed this one!

I liked the world that was created, and the POV of David was really great. I loved his funny character, and his interactions with the others. I really liked Brandon’s writing style too.

I found myself wanting to know more about Steelheart himself, and I look forward to the other books in the series to hopefully fill in more of the blanks about the world created – particularly the things that are still a question mark 😀

Superman dawn breaker by Matt De La Pena

SuperBoy discovers his powers, who he really is and who he wants to be. Meanwhile, racism abounds in a plot against the minorities and evil white man is taken down.
I honestly barely hold onto this by a thread. Firstly, I like when is Clark already established as Superman better (though things like Smallville have done a good job with it before he reaches that point), so I was already less interested. Then they hit you with a racism plot and I just completely lost interest. Superman wasn’t about race or minority divides, it was about justice for everyone. Crime that had nothing to do with race, but here we are in our current age making everything about race (or sexuality which is the other big topic we seem to make everything into). Why can’t we just have a hero be a hero? Bad guys can be bad guys, and a fictional world with Superman fighting for the little guys.

Failstate – John W. Otte

4 stars

I really enjoyed this book. I had a good time, the superhero action was great and the plot kept me engaged.
The Christian elements felt like the weakest point of the book, but hey weren’t the worst I’ve read. I did get the overall gist of what the author was going for.
I felt the climax of the heroes journey could have waited a few more beats. I would have liked more explanation in that moment and more introspection as well, just to flesh that out a bit.
Some things didn’t feel like they were explained well, and others were weaves together very well, so some conflict in myself in that regard.
I know there are further books but due to the content of those I won’t be reading, however I would have liked to see the characters again in another story as I had a lot of fun with them.

Captain America: Winter Soldier by Alexander c. Irvine

2 stars

Clearly a written copy of the movie. Didn’t seem to even try and follow a more book type format. Could have fleshed out and developed things more but I can understand why they went this way.
Was nice for some internal dialogue but not enough to save it for me.

Cobalt Blue by Matthew Rilley

1 star

Potential, but disappointing follow through.
This book was power rangers meets superhero bloodbath.
It was violently unnecessary and way too quick. No development of characters or world, instead one of the most annoying parts.
This book is almost entirely ‘flashback’ driven. It’s almost all info dump flashbacks instead of cleverly weaved world building and information provided as the story progresses.
The author couldn’t have screamed ‘Gold is the GAY character’ any louder – so much so that he became a characature instead of a real person. You can actually write gay characters without screaming it from the rooftop every time you mention them.
A thoroughly disgusting portrayal of a Christian (most of us ARE NOT like that), which was totally unnecessary.
This was short but certainly not sweet. It was irritating at the lack of depth and development. It felt like someone edited out half the story and just left the action scenes and random exposition.

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We always love a good hero, and now I know what it’s like to read about them instead of watch them. Honestly, I like both.

See You in The Adventures!
Christy Grace