Listen, I admire the author in general for writing this. Writing isn’t easy, pleasing everyone is impossible. I’m sure there are lots of people out there who would really enjoy this book, but this just really really isn’t for me. The main character is just such a … scared loser who only mostly thinks about himself throughout 75% of the book. He’s scared and almost non-functional through 85% of the book and he doesn’t use his real power until about 5% at the end. Seriously, 95% of the book and the main character doesn’t do anything but constantly counter and weasel and act afraid of his own power, etc. etc. I felt so annoyed, I was like “JUST DO IT ALREADY” and yet… just wow. I can accept the main character needs to grow but it needs to happen quickly. And the main bad guy is supposed to be so ridiculously powerful he took out a whole league of superheroes in a ridiculously powerful space station with little to no effort, and yet this ramshackle barely-trained, scared of their own shadows (at least the main character is) team of former-sidekicks was able to fight him? It was just, well, not believable. Then when I get to the end battle and the “good guys” win, I was looking forward to the post-battle / epilogue, where he goes back and tells his boss to shove it, where he’s more assertive to his ex-wife instead of letting her walk all over him, where he improves his life and becomes a better overall more-confident character with a decent job/income and he’s not so loser-esque anymore. But what happens? Right after they “win”, the book ends. No post-battle epilogue of how things turned out. For all we know, this main character went back to his old loser of a life, a guy who’s afraid of everything, no backbone, lets his boss and ex-wife walk all over him, not enough money to even afford cab fare, etc. I mean… wow.
Anyways, I really really wanted to like this book but it was not for me. And it says this is a Comedy Superhero adventure but there’s very little comedy, it’s quite sad/gruesome in a way. Dark comedy maybe? “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you” “Promise?” “Promise” and then the guy gets killed by a magma mutt. Seriously? “John Doe, crime of jay walking” then John Doe explodes in flame while screaming. That’s funny? Not to me.
