Planet Hero brings four-color comic books complete with over-the-top action and purposefully-cheesy dialogue to the ebook format. It focuses on Dr. Davis Mallory (probably of our world) who happens to be an exact-lookalike of supervillain, Dr. Portal, who finds himself switching places with his doppelganger and having to learn how to wield superpowers in a world where just about everyone seems to have them on some level. The premise isn’t that unique, but the plot is fun and moves fairly quickly. In an attempt to get home to the sister who needs him, Davis agrees to impersonate Dr. Portal to try and find out the dastardly plans of an even bigger supervillain. Davis is not trained for such actions and so has to be introduced to the world of super heroics at light speed. In doing so, author M.A. Carlson uncovers a fascinating world of nano-technology where science never developed because of the superpowers the nanites make possible.
I really enjoyed the story and look forward to seeing sequels to the book. My only complaint (and I’m not certain it’s a fair complaint) is that the author chose to make this a LitRPG. I have nothing against LitRPGs but I don’t understand why it was necessary for this novel. Davis is not operating in a game environment, and constant reference to his character sheet slowed the story down considerably. What frustrated me is, none of it was necessary. We were, after all, shown the development of Davis’ powers by what he does with them. We didn’t need a character sheet to keep track of his progress and in fact, giving it to us only served to break the suspension of disbelief that helped make the story so effective.
That being said, there’s a nice story here and if you like superhero tales, the odds are high you’ll enjoy it.
I got this book free from Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review.