patremagne's review against another edition
4.0
http://abitterdraft.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-ex-heroes-by-peter-clines.html
While I was rummaging through Goodreads for more books to read, I stumbled across a review of Ex-Heroes written by Mihir over at Fantasy Book Critic that convinced me to look into a book I would have otherwise set aside. I don't really enjoy reading about superheroes. While it may be fun to read about Superman or Batman kicking ass and taking names against enemies far less powerful, I usually lean toward reading about flawed heroes or at least ones that can die. Having a hero like Superman who's nigh-invulnerable removes the element of tension and the thrilling feeling you get when the hero is in danger. On that basis, I was hesitant to read the book, but Mihir convinced me otherwise, so I contacted Crown Publishing who obliged my request for a review copy and sent me the lot.
Zombies and superheroes - two themes that are everywhere in modern film and literature. Man of Steel, The Dark Knight, the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, World War Z. When done right, you know you're in for a boatload of fun. Unfortunately, with the sheer amount of zombie books, movies, and shows, many of them are bound to be bad. Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One, blurbs about Ex-Heroes on the front cover, calling it "The Avengers meets The Walking Dead", and I can't think of a more apt description.
The Mighty Dragon aka St. George, Gorgon, Zzzap, Cerberus, Stealth, Regenerator, Lady Bee. Some have acrobatic skills like Stealth or Bee, the Dragon is a fire-breathing Superman, Zzzap essentially turns into a star that can think, all heat included, Regenerator is exactly what he sounds like. Cerberus is a woman inside of a giant battle robot, and Gorgon saps the life from humans who look into his goggles and uses it to boost his martial ability. These heroes, along with a few thousand survivors from the virus outbreak, are holed up in The Mount to defend against the exes. They're called exes, as Clines says, because the world refused to accept that zombies were real. St. George is the protagonist of the heroes, and he tries to fight the good fight. Killing, unless the person is undoubtedly an ex, is wrong and shouldn't be done, always do the right thing, that kind of deal. The other heroes have an "if you're not with me, you're against me" mentality, and this makes for a group of people that is not cohesive. Tension rises and and tempers flare as the people have been trapped in the Mount for quite some time. The heroes all have their own problems, their own scars from the past.
Another trend I've noticed in modern sci-fi and fantasy is increased use of splitting the narrative into a past and present section. When done right, it fills in critical backstory and makes the story much better as a whole, but often it can go wrong, leaving the reader confused. Clines splits Ex-Heroes into two parts, then and now. Past and present. Then fills in that critical backstory, telling us about how the specific hero came to be. Now is the narrative of the real fight against the exes and the growing threat of the Seventeens, an LA gang that styles themselves the SS, no doubt after Hitler's Schutzstaffel. Clines hits the bullseye in this narrative style in his debut. Yes, I said debut. Even after reading Ex-Heroes I'm finding it hard to believe it's a debut, as many of the mistakes that often mark a new author are nearly nonexistent.
Ex-Heroes will appeal to almost anyone who reads the genre, especially with its constant pop culture references. The inclusion of so many references has been hit-or-miss with most reviewers, and while I enjoyed many of them, ones along the lines of "is that the chick from Heroes?", sometimes Clines went overboard with them. When St. George is flying through the sky and lands on a rooftop or Stealth is leaping from rooftop to rooftop, you can count on Clines naming the building. Anything from Target to LA-native names that I didn't recognize, he'll throw the name in. Sometimes it felt forced, like he was trying to fulfill a bet to see how many references he could throw in.
Outside of the slight over-inclusion of pop-culture references, Ex-Heroes is a fast, gritty and action-packed tale that should be read by any fan of the genre. Don't go in expecting super-deep characters, or a complicated plot, because let's face it - it's a zombie story with superheroes, though throughout the story the heroes are made to seem more and more human. Go in with an action movie mentality and you will love this story. Did I say movie? Ex-Heroes is the perfect premise for a blockbuster film, and Christopher Nolan needs to make it happen.
While I was rummaging through Goodreads for more books to read, I stumbled across a review of Ex-Heroes written by Mihir over at Fantasy Book Critic that convinced me to look into a book I would have otherwise set aside. I don't really enjoy reading about superheroes. While it may be fun to read about Superman or Batman kicking ass and taking names against enemies far less powerful, I usually lean toward reading about flawed heroes or at least ones that can die. Having a hero like Superman who's nigh-invulnerable removes the element of tension and the thrilling feeling you get when the hero is in danger. On that basis, I was hesitant to read the book, but Mihir convinced me otherwise, so I contacted Crown Publishing who obliged my request for a review copy and sent me the lot.
Zombies and superheroes - two themes that are everywhere in modern film and literature. Man of Steel, The Dark Knight, the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, World War Z. When done right, you know you're in for a boatload of fun. Unfortunately, with the sheer amount of zombie books, movies, and shows, many of them are bound to be bad. Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One, blurbs about Ex-Heroes on the front cover, calling it "The Avengers meets The Walking Dead", and I can't think of a more apt description.
The Mighty Dragon aka St. George, Gorgon, Zzzap, Cerberus, Stealth, Regenerator, Lady Bee. Some have acrobatic skills like Stealth or Bee, the Dragon is a fire-breathing Superman, Zzzap essentially turns into a star that can think, all heat included, Regenerator is exactly what he sounds like. Cerberus is a woman inside of a giant battle robot, and Gorgon saps the life from humans who look into his goggles and uses it to boost his martial ability. These heroes, along with a few thousand survivors from the virus outbreak, are holed up in The Mount to defend against the exes. They're called exes, as Clines says, because the world refused to accept that zombies were real. St. George is the protagonist of the heroes, and he tries to fight the good fight. Killing, unless the person is undoubtedly an ex, is wrong and shouldn't be done, always do the right thing, that kind of deal. The other heroes have an "if you're not with me, you're against me" mentality, and this makes for a group of people that is not cohesive. Tension rises and and tempers flare as the people have been trapped in the Mount for quite some time. The heroes all have their own problems, their own scars from the past.
Another trend I've noticed in modern sci-fi and fantasy is increased use of splitting the narrative into a past and present section. When done right, it fills in critical backstory and makes the story much better as a whole, but often it can go wrong, leaving the reader confused. Clines splits Ex-Heroes into two parts, then and now. Past and present. Then fills in that critical backstory, telling us about how the specific hero came to be. Now is the narrative of the real fight against the exes and the growing threat of the Seventeens, an LA gang that styles themselves the SS, no doubt after Hitler's Schutzstaffel. Clines hits the bullseye in this narrative style in his debut. Yes, I said debut. Even after reading Ex-Heroes I'm finding it hard to believe it's a debut, as many of the mistakes that often mark a new author are nearly nonexistent.
Ex-Heroes will appeal to almost anyone who reads the genre, especially with its constant pop culture references. The inclusion of so many references has been hit-or-miss with most reviewers, and while I enjoyed many of them, ones along the lines of "is that the chick from Heroes?", sometimes Clines went overboard with them. When St. George is flying through the sky and lands on a rooftop or Stealth is leaping from rooftop to rooftop, you can count on Clines naming the building. Anything from Target to LA-native names that I didn't recognize, he'll throw the name in. Sometimes it felt forced, like he was trying to fulfill a bet to see how many references he could throw in.
Outside of the slight over-inclusion of pop-culture references, Ex-Heroes is a fast, gritty and action-packed tale that should be read by any fan of the genre. Don't go in expecting super-deep characters, or a complicated plot, because let's face it - it's a zombie story with superheroes, though throughout the story the heroes are made to seem more and more human. Go in with an action movie mentality and you will love this story. Did I say movie? Ex-Heroes is the perfect premise for a blockbuster film, and Christopher Nolan needs to make it happen.
ampersandread22's review against another edition
3.0
Read this and other reviews at Ampersand Read.
Zombies and superheroes. Is there a more awesome combo?!
This book only has a couple of slow spots (tactical meetings, backstory for some but not all of our undead-fighting pals), and the rest is action, action, action. In a way, it reads like an action packed TV show. It's very "baddie of the week" (although in this case, it turns out to be the same couple of baddies).
I liked the variety of powers, and the fact that it felt like not all of the superheroes were invincible. In fact, only the Mighty Dragon/St. George (took me a little bit to realize both names were in reference to the same hero) can wade into a horde of zombies and not be bitten because they physically cannot bite through his flesh. Their emotional wounds are also present, as you might expect in a world where loved ones have turned dead and ravenous for your own flesh.
There are a couple of points where you feel as if all hope is lost (as all good action-based stories go - there have to be stakes that feel real in order for the whole thing to pay off), and our heroes pull ahead (spoiler alert?). So it definitely keeps things spicy and keeps you turning the pages.
I'm looking forward to the next installments fleshing (ha! Pun unintended...) out the rest of the hero characters. In this first book, everyone's tragedies are just briefly touched upon. You get the most out of St. George, but you get a taste of some pretty tragic stuff from a couple of the others.
Overall, it's well-paced and the characters interesting...so far. There are a lot of them, and I'm nervous for how that will be handled in the next book or two. Could be hard to juggle all of that backstory and still give readers characters to root for and feel empathetic for.
Zombies and superheroes. Is there a more awesome combo?!
This book only has a couple of slow spots (tactical meetings, backstory for some but not all of our undead-fighting pals), and the rest is action, action, action. In a way, it reads like an action packed TV show. It's very "baddie of the week" (although in this case, it turns out to be the same couple of baddies).
I liked the variety of powers, and the fact that it felt like not all of the superheroes were invincible. In fact, only the Mighty Dragon/St. George (took me a little bit to realize both names were in reference to the same hero) can wade into a horde of zombies and not be bitten because they physically cannot bite through his flesh. Their emotional wounds are also present, as you might expect in a world where loved ones have turned dead and ravenous for your own flesh.
There are a couple of points where you feel as if all hope is lost (as all good action-based stories go - there have to be stakes that feel real in order for the whole thing to pay off), and our heroes pull ahead (spoiler alert?). So it definitely keeps things spicy and keeps you turning the pages.
I'm looking forward to the next installments fleshing (ha! Pun unintended...) out the rest of the hero characters. In this first book, everyone's tragedies are just briefly touched upon. You get the most out of St. George, but you get a taste of some pretty tragic stuff from a couple of the others.
Overall, it's well-paced and the characters interesting...so far. There are a lot of them, and I'm nervous for how that will be handled in the next book or two. Could be hard to juggle all of that backstory and still give readers characters to root for and feel empathetic for.
hmonkeyreads's review against another edition
3.0
This one is all over the place.
Negatives: I'm sick of zombies and end of the world stories. I'm not a huge fan of super heroes. I don't like reading about battles and gory monster stuff.
Positives: origin stories of super heroes are cool. (Frustrating that they aren't more fleshed out here.) Love among super Heroes in a zombie apocalypse could be interesting and fraught with danger/angst.
More negatives: characters that are super annoying (mostly Stealth, the super hot Victoria's Secret model / genius / crabby leader of the Heroes)
More positives: cool/interesting characters like St. George and Gorgon and Cerberus.
I will make an allowance here because he's setting the stage for future books. I will try book two but it will have a short leash.
Negatives: I'm sick of zombies and end of the world stories. I'm not a huge fan of super heroes. I don't like reading about battles and gory monster stuff.
Positives: origin stories of super heroes are cool. (Frustrating that they aren't more fleshed out here.) Love among super Heroes in a zombie apocalypse could be interesting and fraught with danger/angst.
More negatives: characters that are super annoying (mostly Stealth, the super hot Victoria's Secret model / genius / crabby leader of the Heroes)
More positives: cool/interesting characters like St. George and Gorgon and Cerberus.
I will make an allowance here because he's setting the stage for future books. I will try book two but it will have a short leash.
cluelessleigh's review against another edition
3.0
Zombies and superheroes, what more could a girl want? Well, something. I'm not sure what as I did enjoy the book and I will read the next one (when it stops being £6.95) but there was something missing. I think it might have been characterisation. Perhaps that will get better with subsequent books in the series.
ericb237's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting premise but tends to fail in certain areas due to poor writing.
fairybookmother's review against another edition
4.0
3.5, but I'm rounding up for super snappy dialogue and action as well as a really interesting take on the spread of zombie infection. If you like superheroes and zombies and both together, you'll like this!
mkaber's review against another edition
5.0
Holy cow. This book was SO good. I'm both shocked and thrilled that I hadn't read it before... because now I have a whole dang series to look forward to!
Seriously, this was both original and well worn in all the right places. As dozens of others have said, this is a zombie/ superhero mashup, think Watchmen meets 28 Days Later. However, it doesn't feel overdone or hackneyed. Honestly I just can't describe it well enough to do it justice. Just do yourself a favor and read it. You can thank me after.
Seriously, this was both original and well worn in all the right places. As dozens of others have said, this is a zombie/ superhero mashup, think Watchmen meets 28 Days Later. However, it doesn't feel overdone or hackneyed. Honestly I just can't describe it well enough to do it justice. Just do yourself a favor and read it. You can thank me after.
healsdata's review against another edition
3.0
This book had an interesting way of making zombies but it had some pretty big flaws. Minor, but it isn't internally consistent when it comes to handling zombie bites for super heroes.
But more egregious was the fact that the entire climax / final fight is completely pointless. It could have been resolved in exactly one second and no attempt was made to explain why it wasn't done. That's the problem with using super heroes. If one of them would be the "perfect" solution to a problem, you must explain why they didn't solve it.
But more egregious was the fact that the entire climax / final fight is completely pointless. It could have been resolved in exactly one second and no attempt was made to explain why it wasn't done. That's the problem with using super heroes. If one of them would be the "perfect" solution to a problem, you must explain why they didn't solve it.
old_tim's review against another edition
3.0
While superheroes vs zombies seems like some sort of satirical sendup of Hollywood, the concept does capture something in the zeitgeist of the 21st century. In fact I’m somewhat surprised that we haven’t seen a series of movies on SyFy featuring this theme.
In Peter Clines’ debut novel, he goes all in on the genre tropes. The story takes place after the zombie apocalypse. A small group of superheroes and a larger group of normal humans have taken shelter on a converted movie studio lot in Los Angeles. They’re trying to survive, but in addition to the millions of swarming “exes” (Clines word of choice instead of zombie), they are also menaced by the remnants of a street gang who want the weaponry the superheroes have access to.
The strength of Ex-Heroes lies in the pacing and action sequences. With so many constant threats to survival, there are plenty of opportunities for heroics. Zombies to kill, humans to rescue, evil gangbangers to overcome. Clines does a good job of taking a story that seems to fit more naturally into a comic format & convert it into a novel.
The weakness of the novel lies in the characterizations. Clines chooses to basically simply file the serial numbers off several famous superheroes. This approach is fine, but even the flashbacks used to establish the heroes identity before the outbreak are not enough to make me really care about any of the characters. This diminishes the stakes significantly.
In short, while a quick & fun read, Ex-Heroes was on the whole disappointing. I wish I’d read the graphic novel instead.
In Peter Clines’ debut novel, he goes all in on the genre tropes. The story takes place after the zombie apocalypse. A small group of superheroes and a larger group of normal humans have taken shelter on a converted movie studio lot in Los Angeles. They’re trying to survive, but in addition to the millions of swarming “exes” (Clines word of choice instead of zombie), they are also menaced by the remnants of a street gang who want the weaponry the superheroes have access to.
The strength of Ex-Heroes lies in the pacing and action sequences. With so many constant threats to survival, there are plenty of opportunities for heroics. Zombies to kill, humans to rescue, evil gangbangers to overcome. Clines does a good job of taking a story that seems to fit more naturally into a comic format & convert it into a novel.
The weakness of the novel lies in the characterizations. Clines chooses to basically simply file the serial numbers off several famous superheroes. This approach is fine, but even the flashbacks used to establish the heroes identity before the outbreak are not enough to make me really care about any of the characters. This diminishes the stakes significantly.
In short, while a quick & fun read, Ex-Heroes was on the whole disappointing. I wish I’d read the graphic novel instead.
matosapa's review against another edition
4.0
Yet another zombie series but this one has a new component that I've wanted for some time - super heroes (actually, more closer to mutants but you get the idea). It's a mash-up of a zombie apocalypse (set in LA) and superheroes who are fighting to protect an enclave in the middle of a city of zombies.
It worked for me on all levels. The plot was nothing new but the super powers where well-done and , in some cases, damn interesting. The main characters were engaging, believable, and developed in interesting ways as the story progressed. One of the mechanics I thought worked very well was the short flash-backs for each of the main characters; mainly focusing on the time when they acquired their powers or were actively using them before the apocalypse hit.
All in all, a great read for those who are looking for something new from the walking dead and those caped crusaders.
It worked for me on all levels. The plot was nothing new but the super powers where well-done and , in some cases, damn interesting. The main characters were engaging, believable, and developed in interesting ways as the story progressed. One of the mechanics I thought worked very well was the short flash-backs for each of the main characters; mainly focusing on the time when they acquired their powers or were actively using them before the apocalypse hit.
All in all, a great read for those who are looking for something new from the walking dead and those caped crusaders.