This book is a very fun and very unique entry into the genre. The music and pop culture references are extremely well done. The powers are frankly weird and the puns are solid. The plot overall is very good and anyone complaining of him not interacting with anyone is silly. He interacts with his companion the entire time. By not introducing too many characters the author can fully develop Gus, his powers, backstory and world build. Its not a flaw its perfect for a first book. Now on to why I gave it 4 stars. As solid as this book is there are a few very annoying holes I could not ignore. Spoilers: * * * 1) Gus gets a specialization and does not spend even 30 seconds looking through what it should be. We are not made aware of any choices he could have. He does not talk them over in his head or with his companion. Nope he just picks energy absorption, 10 seconds flat. As if he had been waiting for that moment his entire life. He didn’t get any explanation for it, didn’t know what it does, didn’t compare it to anything despite it being a monumental choice. Then miraculously that power is needed to save them day. That’s fine but why and how did he do that? The answer is the author did it. Not him and that’s terrible writing. 2) He had no way of knowing mediocus was the bad guy, none. No inclination the guy is still alive or evil. Yet at the end of the book they say “let’s go fight mediocus”….ummm. Did I miss a chapter because it was a nameless, faceless enemy and a point of origin for zombies and magma. It was never mentioned it was him. How did they know? These two moments are terrible editing and writing. They pulled me out. However I did enjoy and will be getting book 2. Just come on. Make it natural and pay attention. I should never feel the “because I said so” plot nonsense. Gus couldn’t have known those things so introduce them in a better more natural way like the rest of the book.