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A review by juliemawesome
Chance Fortune and the Outlaws by Shane Berryhill
2.0
Kid with no superpowers wants to go to a superhero school. Very Sky High-ish, but Sky High is better.
This follows the same pattern I've been reading so far in that the kid is tutored first before going to the school. Though there's no spiritual/magical journey involved in this one.
Typical school heirarchy, only the ones at the top are demigods -- children of gods. Next are 'mortals' which are superheroes with cool powers. Then 'adventurers' which are superheroes with less cool powers.
Writing/Editing: The name 'Chance' appears in the text before it's supposed to, which is confusing. The story is mainly from Chance's point of view, but then the author takes the sneaky way out and uses different points of view for when the bad guy's doing stuff Chance doesn't know about and then in battle scenes, to get every member of the team a chance to see some action that Chance isn't an immediate part of. Which works if you're writing a comic book or a movie, but doesn't work so well when it's a novel. Also, there are lapses in the Chance POV when sadness can be seen in his eyes, or other things can be seen in his eyes. Yea, don't think Chance is looking at his own eyes, do you?
Gender: In short, the gender sucks. Yea, okay, so there are superhero chicks and their powers aren't too stupid and too stereotypical, but the names are horrid! Psy-chick, Steel Valkyrie, Iron Maiden, Delilah. Yin (or is it Yang?) The names all clearly say 'I am female'. The only exception I found was 'Anime'.
Race: The 'nerd' character seems to be black. I missed that 'til nearly the end. There's an Indian girl who seems to be the daughter of Shiva. And there's an entire 'Team Manga' made up of Asian kids. Seriously? Who's more likely to come up with a team name of 'Team Manga'? Some Asian kids or say.. white American kids?
Homages: I don't mind homages. Name a kid Grayson if you want to. Name your space station Heinlein. Sure, that makes sense. But don't tell me the aliens are from Shazzbot, without at _least_ saying 'The planet you humans call Shazzbot'. Then there's Chihiro hanging out with a dragon. Randomly. And then a huuuuge, roll-your-eyes moment involving deep, secret, dark, magical language that I won't name specifically because OMC, it might be a spoiler.
World: There's some cool stuff with the world. Superheroes have been around awhile. They have a whole island city they've created. Regular humans cook with atomic ovens. There's some silly comic book-esque swear words. That's all cool. I just wish we didn't also have the homage problems listed above that ruin the whole thing.
Action scenes: The most boring. Thing. Ever. And just when you think we're finally past an action scene, there's another one. And another. Until the final climax when you're just ready for it to be over with already. And which, it turns out, was mercifully short.
Angst: Over-the-top and out of nowhere. Chance has an angstful breakdown about being too much like his father, who we hadn't heard thing one about before that. Then he gets over it pretty quick with the help of a girl. But he also spends a lot of time second-guessing how much he really wanted to be in the school. Meh.
And the last thing I wanted to mention, because it didn't fit anywhere else above, Chance seems spectacularly clueless and dumb about superhero things, given that he wanted to go to this school forever and ever and spent years getting ready for it. So we get a whole As You BLOODY WELL SHOULD KNOW, Bob conversation on the way to the school.
Some good stuff buried in this book. I just wish it had been much better edited. Tor, you let me down.
This follows the same pattern I've been reading so far in that the kid is tutored first before going to the school. Though there's no spiritual/magical journey involved in this one.
Typical school heirarchy, only the ones at the top are demigods -- children of gods. Next are 'mortals' which are superheroes with cool powers. Then 'adventurers' which are superheroes with less cool powers.
Writing/Editing: The name 'Chance' appears in the text before it's supposed to, which is confusing. The story is mainly from Chance's point of view, but then the author takes the sneaky way out and uses different points of view for when the bad guy's doing stuff Chance doesn't know about and then in battle scenes, to get every member of the team a chance to see some action that Chance isn't an immediate part of. Which works if you're writing a comic book or a movie, but doesn't work so well when it's a novel. Also, there are lapses in the Chance POV when sadness can be seen in his eyes, or other things can be seen in his eyes. Yea, don't think Chance is looking at his own eyes, do you?
Gender: In short, the gender sucks. Yea, okay, so there are superhero chicks and their powers aren't too stupid and too stereotypical, but the names are horrid! Psy-chick, Steel Valkyrie, Iron Maiden, Delilah. Yin (or is it Yang?) The names all clearly say 'I am female'. The only exception I found was 'Anime'.
Race: The 'nerd' character seems to be black. I missed that 'til nearly the end. There's an Indian girl who seems to be the daughter of Shiva. And there's an entire 'Team Manga' made up of Asian kids. Seriously? Who's more likely to come up with a team name of 'Team Manga'? Some Asian kids or say.. white American kids?
Homages: I don't mind homages. Name a kid Grayson if you want to. Name your space station Heinlein. Sure, that makes sense. But don't tell me the aliens are from Shazzbot, without at _least_ saying 'The planet you humans call Shazzbot'. Then there's Chihiro hanging out with a dragon. Randomly. And then a huuuuge, roll-your-eyes moment involving deep, secret, dark, magical language that I won't name specifically because OMC, it might be a spoiler.
World: There's some cool stuff with the world. Superheroes have been around awhile. They have a whole island city they've created. Regular humans cook with atomic ovens. There's some silly comic book-esque swear words. That's all cool. I just wish we didn't also have the homage problems listed above that ruin the whole thing.
Action scenes: The most boring. Thing. Ever. And just when you think we're finally past an action scene, there's another one. And another. Until the final climax when you're just ready for it to be over with already. And which, it turns out, was mercifully short.
Angst: Over-the-top and out of nowhere. Chance has an angstful breakdown about being too much like his father, who we hadn't heard thing one about before that. Then he gets over it pretty quick with the help of a girl. But he also spends a lot of time second-guessing how much he really wanted to be in the school. Meh.
And the last thing I wanted to mention, because it didn't fit anywhere else above, Chance seems spectacularly clueless and dumb about superhero things, given that he wanted to go to this school forever and ever and spent years getting ready for it. So we get a whole As You BLOODY WELL SHOULD KNOW, Bob conversation on the way to the school.
Some good stuff buried in this book. I just wish it had been much better edited. Tor, you let me down.