Review: Good old college try
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2013
Superhero books are one of my favorite genres for pleasure reading (the others being space exploration (alaThe Engines of God) and space opera (The Dreaming Void (The Void Trilogy))).  Unfortunately the quality of superhero themed books varies widely.  On the one end, you have things likeDiary of a Teenage Superhero (Teen Superheroes Book 1)(don't let the 4/5 star ratings fool you) and on the other end you have true gems like this book.Super Powereds takes the rather popular plot line of a group of young metahumans learning to cope with their powers and being trained to become heroes and gives it a polished and thoughtful treatment.  LessSky High [Blu-ray] and moreX-men: First Class(but funnier.)In the Super Powered's universe, people come in three varieties: normal, powered, and super powered.  Powereds are people who have the same abilities as supers but lack the ability to control them.  For some, that can be a simple annoyance (uncontrollable 'glowing in the dark') while for others  (spontaneous and unpredictable energy blasts, for example) it can be deadly to themselves and the people around them.  Powereds are often shunned by normals and supers alike, treated as pariahs and outcasts.  For their part, powereds can only dream of one day becoming supers much less heroes, the elite few amongst supers that pass a rigorous training and selection program.*** Spoiler Free Synopsis ***Year 1 opens as five young men and women are selected to participate in an experimental program to turn powereds into supers.  Successfully 'upgraded' and then enrolled into Lander University, one of the few colleges training supers to be heroes, these five young people must adjust to not only college life but to a doubly secret life - hiding their hero-in-training status from the general public and their powered past from their fellow supers.  A large and interesting cast includes the five protagonists (Vince, Hershel/Roy, Nick, Mary, and Alice), their sponsors/minders (Mr. Transport and Mr. Numbers), the Hero program staff (Dean Blaine, Coach George, and Coach Persephone), as well as their fellow students on campus (both in and outside of the Hero program.)Over the course of the book, the main characters (Vince, Mary, Nick, Alice, and Hershel/Roy) form relationships and bond together as they struggle to survive both the rigors of the Hero program as well as the social challenges and pitfalls of college life.  Those bonds are sorely tested as unseen but powerful forces (and the obsessive hatred of a fellow student) move against the would-be Heroes and leads to a shattering betrayal and climatic showdown.********Wow - I'm still having difficulty believing this is Mr. Hayes' first published book.  The pacing is good, the characters multidimensional, and the dialogue, internal and external, is unique and consistent for each character.  The primary focus of the novel is the on the main characters, their relationships to each other, their classmates and friends, and to the staff.  That isn't to say the book doesn't have its fair share of action - there are a number of combat oriented challenges and assessments in the college as well as a number of unsanctioned off-the-books fights.Characterization is probably where this story shines brightest. The novel is long, just shy of thirteen thousand 'places' on the Kindle, and Hayes uses that length to provide a great deal of insight into the thoughts and emotions of the different characters.  Each character has a very distinct voice and, combined with glimpses into the past lives of the leads, this gives each character a very real and lived in feel.I want to give special mention to Nick who is a fascinating character, full of contradictions and mysteries.  Initially he seems to be the least combat capable (arguably, given Alice's limited abilities) member of the group - an impression that is rather challenged by the end of the book.  "Holy s***", indeed.Although nearly flawless on the artistic side of things, the book does have a problem with missing words, incorrect words, and homonym (they're, their, there) substitutions.  It doesn't happen on every page but it does happen often enough to be distracting and remind you that it just happened previously a few pages back.  This is a very minor complaint and is probably more noticeable for its conspicuousness given the quality of the story's content.The book has a significant amount of adult language and situations and would probably be PG-13 or R-rated if it were a movie.  This isn't a problem but something that potential readers bothered by such things need to know beforehand.That aside, this is fantastic work and Drew Hayes is a name I will watch for from now on.