After the Golden Age

Weird, compelling, depressing, emotional...not a good intro to Carrie Vaughn's talents. While the writing is exceptional, the book is just so...odd. I have this residual feeling that I read a comic book with no illustrations. The story feels disjointed - like episodes in multiple comic books - and cohesive all at once - like a tightly designed and written novel. Then again, maybe this IS a good intro to Ms. Vaughn's talent...I can't think of any other author that could write this book and I would have kept reading just to know the ending without peeking. ( )

I'm on a bit of a superheroes kick since The Avengers came out and reminded me of a childhood spent breathlessly waiting for the next episode of Batman, or Spiderman, or Superman. These days I'm more of a Marvel fan -- is it, uh, legal to admit that I watched the first ten minutes of Batman Begins and got bored? -- but anyway, the point is, superheroes! And Carrie Vaughan's After the Golden Age catered to that wonderfully.

I think the premise at its most basic isn't really anything new: the child of two superheroes, who is powerless, rebels and gradually finds her own place in the world. I liked that she was an accountant. I liked that she got tired and frustrated and did things wrong, and that she second guessed her own motives.

Best I liked the romance. It didn't turn out how I was expecting, and it was a pleasant surprise. It was well built up and brought together.

Overall, the prose wasn't stunning but the pacing was good, and the moments of shock and pain reach through to the reader perfectly. It's a quick read, and also the kind of read where you aren't conscious of the time that does pass -- in my experience, anyway. ( )

Recently, I discovered Carrie Vaughn via a dystopian anthology and then I read her new teen novel, Steel. Her YA effort was okay, but not stellar. At first, I thought After the Golden Age would be the same, as it had a slow beginning, but as I hit the midway point, it really took off (pardon the superhero-y pun).

Celia starts out as a somewhat annoying heroine. She is 25, but retains her teenage mistrust and irritation with her parents, because growing up with superheroes for parents is not as magical as everyone else thinks it should be. She doesn't really trust anyone actually. Her saving grace is that, although she is a continual victim of supervillain wannabes, she does not act like a victim (well, except when her family's considered). As the story goes on, Celia's able to deal with many of her demons, which allows her to accentuate the positive elements of her personality and someone I liked much more.

The romance was well done. I was somewhat worried that I was shipping the wrong person, but I was not, so yay! There's nothing worse than when you believe someone else is perfect for her, but the main character determinedly goes for the lame, stupid, obvious one. I definitely shipped her with the guy, right from the beginning and through to the end.

After the Golden Age reminded me most strongly of the Astro City graphic novel series, with the portrayal of both superheroes, ordinary folk and those who know who the masked heroes are and have to deal with that. For anyone who likes reading about superheroes, After the Golden Age is definitely worth checking out. ( )

So it seems that this book was destined to help me make up for lost time! I absolutely could not put this book down once I started it. And I have to say that I was completely surprised by this book. It was so much better than I ever thought it would be.

It starts out feeling a little comicbookish, a little cartoony. I mean, it's about super heroes, for goodness sake. And that aspect of the story is very comicbookish - not that that is a bad thing. If that was all there was to the story, I'd have still liked it, but it would have been a 3-star like, rather than a 5-star love. But there was so much more to this story than a good vs bad, superhero vs villain story. This was a really interesting and innovative twist on the story that sucked me right in and kept me glued to the pages until there weren't any more of them. And now I feel a bit sad that it's over.

I was very surprised at how emotional this book was. I completely identified with the main character's feelings of isolation and desperation and despair and frustration and everything in the situation that she was in. In fact, I thought she handled the situation infinitely better than I would have. I would have probably shut down and closed up shop and said 'screw it, then'. I have to give Celia credit for not doing that, and not giving up.

I really loved this book, and as an introduction to Carrie Vaughn's writing, it was amazing. Now my only concern is that her other books might not live up to this one. ( )

I loved the premise of this book. As a comic book geek and avid fan of superhero stories, the idea for this story immediately struck my interest.

The actual story, though... a lukewarm response. On the one hand, I think Carrie Vaughn is an excellent writer. On the other hand, her books always start off slow for me (with the exception of "Discord's Apple"). It took me several attempts at reading this to get truly drawn in.

I would recommend this book; just be cautious of a slow start. ( )