Inverarity is not a Scottish village

Canadian superheroes engaged in rampant hijinks in Vegas.

Fight alone, die alone.

Blaze of Glory, Book 2

In the weeks since Jo “Surf” Tanis and her rough-and-tumble band of super-powered actors broke free of the government-sponsored superhero show, they’re all still dealing with the aftershock of adjusting to this thing called reality.

It doesn’t get much more real than a mission to dig survivors out of what’s left of Erie, PA, after a mysterious earthquake. A trembler that powerful is as out of place as Jo feels as the de-facto leader of the troupe. Not to mention the soul-shaking feelings she has for Hunter, a team member whose past as an Agency Guardian casts a heavy shadow over any possible relationship.

It seems one of the supers, an earth-warper named Ground Pounder, has gone rogue, using his freedom from the Agency’s brand of virtual slavery to put the “villain” back in supervillain. Failure to find him before any more innocent bystanders are hurt means the team could be back under the Agency’s thumb.

It’s a burden that doesn’t rest easy on Jo’s shoulders...especially when the man who’s invaded her heart is caught in the crossfire.

( Sexxytimes and superheroes... a slightly uneven romp straddling silly and SRS BZNSS. )

Verdict: Heroes Without, Monsters Within is nothing more than what it pretends to be, which is a light-hearted fan-friendly romp. For superhero fans, this is a fun book, particularly if you like a side of romance. If superheroes aren't your thing, then you may not be able to read past the essentially silly premise enough to enjoy the story. Sheryl Nantus is not wicked clever nor a lyrical wordsmith, but I find her to be a very readable author, and frankly better than a lot of writers with much bigger books from much bigger publishers.

Also by Sheryl Nantus: My review of Blaze of Glory.

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My complete list of book reviews.

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

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.