San Valencez has a problem. Gangs are overrunning the city and the cops are too corrupt to do anything about it. It’s not even safe for high school kids to get to and from school because every street seems to be the territory of one gang or another. Which sets up the action of the story…
Hoods is about four students with very low-level super powers who decide to band together and try and do something about the gangs. It’s a cute story—not particularly deep but with lots of fun action. Watching the superpowers get put to use is always enjoyable, although I wish there had been a little more time spent on character development. All in all, this is a simple origin story with the clear promise of more adventures to come.
As superhero stories go, I think Hoods ranks in the middle of the pack but has the potential to rank much higher with the next adventure. There’s just enough realism to ground the story in our world—no four color super heroic adventuring here. In fact, the four teens struck me more as low level batmen setting up their network to watch over their neighbors so they can sweep in to protect them. I couldn’t help but cheer for them so I’ll be keeping my eye out for volume two.
I got this book free from Audiobookcodes.com in exchange for an honest review.