Playing For Keeps (2007)

Quick and refreshing view of what the world would be like with super heroes.
The main character is like many of us, unaware of her true potential.
A fun read ( )

7th City is a city straight from the comic books--superheroes and villians battle daily in its skies and streets. Not everything is as idealistic as some would like to believe, though. There are those in 7th City not considered strong or powerful enough to gain entrance to the Heroes' Academy. These people, called "The Third Wave," possess strange skills and powers considered too weak to be of any real value to the public. Playing for Keeps is the story of Keepsie Branson, a Third Waver who gets caught up in the power struggle going on in the city. She discovers that maybe her powers, and those of her friends, might not be so useless after all.

This is a fun take on the superhero genre and I loved the story, but there are some flaws in the writing that tended to bug me along the way. Not enough to make me put the book down, but minor annoyances in an otherwise fantastic novel. ( )

http://eclecticlibrarian.net/blog/2008/11/2008books19/ ( )

I enjoyed this a lot - I was interested in the Seventh City world after listening to Barry Coleman's story. The world-building in this novel was very nice indeed, and the powers were a lot of fun. I found the relationships a little flat, and there was an occasional jarring metaphor. If there's a sequel, I'll read it eagerly. ( )