Helpful Score: 2
Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.com
Thom Creed is your average, everyday teenager. Except that he's prone to seizures. And he's gay. Oh, and he's the son of a superhero. An ex-superhero, actually. One who is shunned by the League as well as nearly every member of society. Oh, and Thom has superpowers of his own.
Obviously, life has never been normal, but Thom does his best to fit in. He shines on the school basketball team and does volunteer work while holding down three jobs. Until a series of events that would swallow any other kid whole sends Thom reeling into the very world he's been kept away from his entire life: the world of superheroes.
Now, while still trying to learn everything he can about his powers, the mysterious disappearance of his mother, and his own unexplored feelings, Thom is faced with new challenges. What he learns is that nothing is as it appears. Nothing and no one.
A plot- and action-driven novel, this book is ground-breaking in many ways. Not just in the obvious ways that one might think, although it is interesting to have a gay, teenage superhero as a protagonist. What kept me riveted was the look Moore offers at society. Our tendency to build people up and glory in tearing them to shreds and examining what's left. We thrive on heroes and everything they stand for, and yet, we're never content, as a people, to allow the heroes to enjoy the very things we want them to protect, like humanity, freedom, and individualism.
This book is smart. It keeps the reader engaged with a fast-paced scenes and one intriguing character after another while it conveys a message of redemption.
Thom Creed is your average, everyday teenager. Except that he's prone to seizures. And he's gay. Oh, and he's the son of a superhero. An ex-superhero, actually. One who is shunned by the League as well as nearly every member of society. Oh, and Thom has superpowers of his own.
Obviously, life has never been normal, but Thom does his best to fit in. He shines on the school basketball team and does volunteer work while holding down three jobs. Until a series of events that would swallow any other kid whole sends Thom reeling into the very world he's been kept away from his entire life: the world of superheroes.
Now, while still trying to learn everything he can about his powers, the mysterious disappearance of his mother, and his own unexplored feelings, Thom is faced with new challenges. What he learns is that nothing is as it appears. Nothing and no one.
A plot- and action-driven novel, this book is ground-breaking in many ways. Not just in the obvious ways that one might think, although it is interesting to have a gay, teenage superhero as a protagonist. What kept me riveted was the look Moore offers at society. Our tendency to build people up and glory in tearing them to shreds and examining what's left. We thrive on heroes and everything they stand for, and yet, we're never content, as a people, to allow the heroes to enjoy the very things we want them to protect, like humanity, freedom, and individualism.
This book is smart. It keeps the reader engaged with a fast-paced scenes and one intriguing character after another while it conveys a message of redemption.
