A review by andreablythe
Less Than Hero by S.G. Browne
4.0
3.5 stars
I wasn't as in to Less Than Hero as I have been with other books by S.G. Browne (and when I say that keep in mind that I LOVED Breathers and Fated). This was in part my own fault, as I went into reading this expecting more of an action-packed style superhero satire and was presented with more of a character driven pharmaceuticals satire. I should have expected this having read other books by Browne.
Lloyd Prescott is a professional guinea pig — that is, an otherwise healthy person paid to sign up for pharmaceutical trials in order to test for side effects. All this mixing of drugs, though, ends up having an unexpected consequence for Lloyd and his guinea pig buddies, when the group begins to develop the ability to project their side effects (such as narcolepsy, vomiting, seizures, rapid weight gain, etc.) on to other people — which of course leads them into trying to be superheroes. However, it there are super villains out there too, with their own abilities.
A large portion of the book deals with Lloyd's life as a guinea pig, how he feels without direction, and with his mostly happy relationship with his girlfriend. It's deep into the novel before the guys start to figure out that they have supernatural abilities and they joke around with their powers for a while before they find enough direction to become heroes. There's a pondering quality to the story and something almost, but not quite, plausible about these heroes, which makes it fun.
Although, Less Than Hero doesn't have the spectacular stunts featured in a Marvel movie, there is definitely a stand off and a "great power comes with great responsibility" feel to it. I rather liked how things wrapped up (or didn't wrap up). Plus, there was at least one cameo from a character in Fated, which was unexpected and awesome (you don't have to read Fated to get this story, but it's a fun reference for those who have).
I wasn't as in to Less Than Hero as I have been with other books by S.G. Browne (and when I say that keep in mind that I LOVED Breathers and Fated). This was in part my own fault, as I went into reading this expecting more of an action-packed style superhero satire and was presented with more of a character driven pharmaceuticals satire. I should have expected this having read other books by Browne.
Lloyd Prescott is a professional guinea pig — that is, an otherwise healthy person paid to sign up for pharmaceutical trials in order to test for side effects. All this mixing of drugs, though, ends up having an unexpected consequence for Lloyd and his guinea pig buddies, when the group begins to develop the ability to project their side effects (such as narcolepsy, vomiting, seizures, rapid weight gain, etc.) on to other people — which of course leads them into trying to be superheroes. However, it there are super villains out there too, with their own abilities.
A large portion of the book deals with Lloyd's life as a guinea pig, how he feels without direction, and with his mostly happy relationship with his girlfriend. It's deep into the novel before the guys start to figure out that they have supernatural abilities and they joke around with their powers for a while before they find enough direction to become heroes. There's a pondering quality to the story and something almost, but not quite, plausible about these heroes, which makes it fun.
Although, Less Than Hero doesn't have the spectacular stunts featured in a Marvel movie, there is definitely a stand off and a "great power comes with great responsibility" feel to it. I rather liked how things wrapped up (or didn't wrap up). Plus, there was at least one cameo from a character in Fated, which was unexpected and awesome (you don't have to read Fated to get this story, but it's a fun reference for those who have).