Superhero Novels

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Kanglor

Silver Knight of the Realm
292
92
Just read a book from VE Schwab called Vicious, somewhat dark but thought it was pretty good.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Just read a book from VE Schwab called Vicious, somewhat dark but thought it was pretty good.
Downloaded that a couple months back, been pretty high on my list for next read because it sounds pretty cool. Will move it up to next now that there's a recommendation here.
 

Luthair

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,247
85
One not mentioned - Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. Its been a few years since I read it but I recall it being quite good though I never got round to reading the rest of the series
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
One not mentioned - Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. Its been a few years since I read it but I recall it being quite good though I never got round to reading the rest of the series
Can't believe I didn't mention this one, I must have in some thread.

First book is very cool. WW2 era Nazi engineered superhumans vs. British intelligence warlocks.

Book 2 is cold war era and gets a bit weird. Still quite enjoyed it. I haven't read the 3rd book yet but I'm pretty sure it's back in WW2 times.
 

T-rex_sl

shitlord
28
0
Downloaded that a couple months back, been pretty high on my list for next read because it sounds pretty cool. Will move it up to next now that there's a recommendation here.
Not sure if you read it yet, but it was among my favorites of 2013.

In terms of superhero books I also readThe Violent Centuryby Lavie Tidhar which was also pretty good. The writing is very strange (and fairly annoying) but the content of the story was great.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Just read a book from VE Schwab called Vicious, somewhat dark but thought it was pretty good.
Finished last night. Really enjoyed it. It's small scale but handled really well. The Protagonist/Antagonist are both interesting and I enjoyed both perspectives pretty thoroughly.

Then I started the Jim Butcher penned Spider-Man book, The Darkest Hours, that Nebuchadnezzar mentioned last year. Good stuff, never realized how similar Peter Parker and Harry Dresden are with constantly escalating threats and constant wise cracks, including their internal monologues.

edit: After finishing, it is very much a Dresden book in Spidey's clothing=P Good quick read, it's under 200 pages.
 

velk

Trakanon Raider
2,512
1,094
I just finished the serialWorm, and I have to say, I was blown away by how good it was overall. I highly recommend.

The start was ok, enough to get me interested a bit if not convinced, but it gets better, and then better, and then Leviathan shows up and shit gets real.

It's long enough for a series of books, and I've really enjoyed almost all of it. Given it's free, I highly recommend to anyone remotely interested in superhero genre.

It starts off more or less about a teenager with the power to control insects who decides to become a vigilante superhero. In what is a deliberately outrageous understatement, things do not go according to plan ;p


 

velk

Trakanon Raider
2,512
1,094
Heard lots of great things about Worm, but I need it to be on my lame old Nook if I'm going to read that much.
Calibre will convert html to an epub - just save the first few chapters and convert them, see if you like it enough to convert more. I'd suggest it's well worth the effort ;p
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Meh. Someone else do it. I'm incredibly lazy.
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Read the 2nd Shadow Ops book by Myke Cole. Way better than the first. Spends less time on Oscar Britton, the waffling cunrag protagonist of the first book, and is much more enjoyable for it. Got better as it went on as well, and set up for a potentially awesome 3rd book.

At this point I would recommend the series, you probably won't hate Britton as much as I did and even if you do the setting and style is good enough you can overcome it to enjoy the second book, where he's really only the primary character for about 25-30% of the book.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Finished the latest Ex-Heroes book,Ex-Purgatory. Still good but it really feels like he's treading water with the last two books. First half of this one really starts to drag, once the basic premise is established and we sort of know the big "secret" about 20 pages in it carries on in that vein for another 150 pages or so. Ridiculous and unnecessary.

It's still an awesome premise, heroes vs. zombies, but there's precious little of it in this book. Which makes some sense, the zombies aren't much of a threat at this point it's other super powered people that are. It just takes way too long to get to that point.

If the scope of the next book doesn't significantly expand in to the world I'll be really disappointed. LA is established, it's about fucking time to find out what the hell is going on with the rest of the world. I wouldn't even mind if he just sort of reset in another city and started with a new set of protagonists. It's fertile ground, it will be interesting to read how someone with a different set of powers handles it.

Also finished the 3rd and final book of the Milkweed Triptych,Necessary Evil. I enjoyed the shit out of it. Old man version of Marsh is back in time and sort of dueling with Gretel the clairvoyant to try and save at least one timeline from the hell they unleashed in his own. It's a string conclusion to the series and I recommend all three books. Nazi super powered people vs. British warlocks unleashing evil to save the world, what more could you want?
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,374
10,987
I was left feeling a little unfulfilled with Ex-Purgatory as well. I mean, it was interesting enough I guess, but as you said, there isn't a lot of actual superhero vs. zombie stuff anymore, or expansion out into the rest of the world to keep it fresh. I like most of the characters well enough, but I need to see them do something different. This one was a little fun because you got to see a different side of the heroes, but I am ready for some bigger shit.

I guess I need to read the Milkweed stuff, I've seen enough mention of it. Finishing up the 3rd Grimnoir book right now, Warbound, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the setting at first, the books are really growing on me. Obviously I don't know how this one ends yet, but talk about upping the ante, he's definitely taken it the opposite direction that the Ex-Heroes guy has, and I like it.
 

Brand

Molten Core Raider
1,159
313
I was pretty much pissed at ex-Purgatory...It was clever in a contrived TV show sort of way. It was like a Heroes episode of the ex-Series. I really hope the next one gets back on track...There are lots of great plot lines in the world that we shouldn't have to suffer through crap like this...

Milkweek was great, but I'm glad that I read them over time...I'm not sure that would be a good binge series, too much duplication of formula.
 

Karloff_sl

shitlord
907
1
It's a bit more generic then the stuff mentioned since it's a 1930's tale of Superman and Lex Luthor but It's Superman by Tom De Haven was a pretty good read.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Read the prequel toConfessions of a D-List Supervillain, one of my favorites in the genre.Origins of a D-List Supervillainis, unsurprisingly, about the origins of Cal Stringer/MechaniCAL from the first book. And really it should probably be read before that one now that it's out.

Anyways, I really liked it a lot. Once again in first person and once again handled well. You get to really know why Cal feels like he does about a lot of the characters from the first book and you get in to just how he actually decided to become a bad guy. It's entertaining and does a good job expanding the world that was already pretty impressively built in such a short book before. This one is a bit longer, and his writing seems a little bit more refined. Or maybe he got a better editor or something.

If you haven't read the first one by now I'd say to start with the second...which is technically the first now. The series is even numbered that way, with Origins being book one, Confessions 2, and the recently releasedSecretsas book 3. I'm really looking forward to it. After reading Origins I immediately re-read Confessions and the new book picks up from there.
With Cal and his new team of insanely powerful friends sort of sitting between the good guys and the bad. Happy to help out for good if the threat is big enough, but not pulling punches and and playing the typical hero games where the bad guy gets to walk away only to come back.
. Really eager to see how the new paradigm in their world plays out.
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,374
10,987
Wow, I loved Confessions and had no idea there were two others. Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely be getting to those soon.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Probably some spoilers to follow...


3rd book, Secrets of a D-List Supervillain, is kind if a disappointment. It was pitched as moving the story forward with his new team but over half of the book is him telling Stacy/Aphrodite the story of getting the team together, filling the gap between him getting the idea for the remotely controlled suit(s) and them showing up to finish off Ultraweapon towards the end of Confessions. This is all spread throughout the book between current time segments. And honestly the flashback stuff is not bad, it's more of the usual Cal problem solving etc. The real problem is the actual current stuff, Cal is happy and with the woman he loves. And the dialogue between them is just...brutal. It's not as bad as the dialogue in Ready Player One, but it's not much better. Happy Cal is just dropping "clever" quips non-stop and she comes back at him equally "cleverly". It is....tiring. Very quickly.

It might be a problem going forward. But they end the book by setting him up with a new nemesis which should mean a motivated and angry Cal some. Hopefully one with less dialogue stolen from a 14 year old internet poster. The character is a dick, but he's beenourdick so far. Making him happy and winning really took a lot away from my enjoyment of him I guess.