Book Review: Blaze of Glory, by Sheryl Nantus

What if superhero battles were as fake as WWF wrestling, but then they really did have to save the world?

Samhain Publishing, 2010, Approximately 74,000 words

Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.

Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she’ll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.

When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the “supers” are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians are going to die…unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.

Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe—and becoming the hero everyone thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.

( Contains superhero in-jokes, Canadiana and large alien craft shaped like avocados. Really. )

Verdict: As superhero novels go, Blaze of Glory is fun and a quick ride, without being terribly deep or requiring you to invest yourself in the world or the characters at all. It's about middle-of-the-pack relative to other novels in the genre I have read, but Jo "Surf" Tanis is one of the better heroes, true to the heroic genre without being a four-color cardboard cutout. If you really like it, there is a sequel coming soon.

Book Review: Blaze of Glory, by Sheryl Nantus

What if superhero battles were as fake as WWF wrestling, but then they really did have to save the world?

Samhain Publishing, 2010, Approximately 74,000 words

Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.

Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she’ll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.

When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the “supers” are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians are going to die…unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.

Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe—and becoming the hero everyone thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.

( Contains superhero in-jokes, Canadiana and large alien craft shaped like avocados. Really. )

Verdict: As superhero novels go, Blaze of Glory is fun and a quick ride, without being terribly deep or requiring you to invest yourself in the world or the characters at all. It's about middle-of-the-pack relative to other novels in the genre I have read, but Jo "Surf" Tanis is one of the better heroes, true to the heroic genre without being a four-color cardboard cutout. If you really like it, there is a sequel coming soon.