HOODS: THE BEGINNING is a novella that is setting up what I hope to be a series about a group of Runaways-esque (the comic not the band) superheroes in the city of San Valencez. This is, for those fans of David Niall Wilson’s other works, the setting for his Dechance Chronicles books. It is a San Fransisco-esque location with hidden communities of vampires, gangs, wizards, and now apparently mutants.
I really enjoyed this book as it introduced a quartet of interesting teenage heroes struggling to live their lives despite life being pretty hard. As they discover their superpowers, they all decide they want to be superheroes but it turns out that is a lot harder than it appears. Good lawyers immediately get their attempts to find evidence on criminals thrown out and their own identities are nearly compromised.
This is a very short but solid and entertaining book. I definitely think fans of superhero novels should check this one out. It was fun from beginning to end and I hope that it is just the start of an entire series. The narration is top notch as well.
9/10