Bob Proehl

This book is incredible. It's all the best parts of the X-Men metaphor plus more actual representation and more actual stakes (which are possible because this can be a universe with stakes and real death and change without the constant forever ongoing story with nothing big changing ever that Big 2 comics end up with)

But seriously, it's so good. You can tell Proehl absolutely loves X-Men and this book is a love letter to mutant kind and and all of us for whom the mutant metaphor is a show more metaphor. I can't wait to read the second half of the duology. show less

I’ve never read a book that gets fandom like this one. Proehl understands what makes science fiction and comic books so beloved, and how the behind-the-scenes of shows and writing and cons works, and how geeks think. The plot, and the subplots, and the wit of the prose, and even the structure of the novel are steeped in it all, and there are too many cameos and name drops to mention. (All shifted a step or two sideways, of course.)

Also, Proehl gets people and he gets life. This is a book show more about how messy and flawed and complicated the world is, about how fierce love and pain and anger can be, about coming to terms with mistakes and bad situations and making the best of it. There’s no character who didn’t feel real enough to step off the page, and in a genre where people can get a bit too neat as they’re written towards an ending, that was refreshing. (The plot also didn’t veer towards the pat for the most part, and I wasn’t sure how things would end until they did.)

Other things I liked: the way Proehl uses SF tropes to shift the story and to comment on the tropes themselves; the way Valerie’s show intrudes on the story; the sense of fun that permeates everything; every scene with the lesbian comics writer; the fact that I actually tried to nab some quotes from it for my queue but every sentence was so good I’d have to type out the whole novel; the sense of hope for a better world and a better fandom.

Basically, I really, really liked this one and if you’re a genre-savvy SF geek or simply a fan of well-executed lit fic, I highly recommend.

Warnings: There’s a recurring group of booth babes/cosplayers in those tight, high-cleavage outfits, but they’re not written as bombshells, more as commentary on sexism in comics. There’s also commentary on sexism in fandom, internet trolls, and sexist hiring practices, and some of the shadier bits of comic book history besides.

9.5/10 show less

Finally, a superhero novel that isn’t shy about tackling issues, and the standard superhero metaphors of race and disability and orientation, with the seriousness they deserve! Finally, a take on the X-Men-style ensemble cast instead of the lone hero or faux-Justice League! Finally, a superhero novel written from the literary tradition instead of the genre one! Finally, a superhero novel that is topical.

This wasn’t a perfectly even book for me, in terms of how it goes about things, and show more I’d have liked some of the issues and scenes to pack a bit more punch for me than they did, but Proehl does what he’s aiming for well and with the witty, lyrical, true-to-the-world style I remember from his first book. He’s got a great and diverse cast of characters, has some lines that made me snort out loud, and is not afraid to let shit get real.

(It’s worth noting that his first novel was one of those books that spoke so directly to me that nothing Proehl writes will probably ever measure up, so I’m probably being pickier than this book really deserves.)

I also liked the way the X-Men are remixed, revamped, and realized in this book. Proehl takes some of the common powers and thinks through how they’d actually affect people, how they might be used outside of a superhero context, and there are characters who’ll be recognizable to X-Men fans that get new life and depth breathed into them. It’s one thing to give a teenaged girl invisibility; it’s another to deal with how that plays into her insecurities and family life. It’s not straight-up X-Men copy, though. He’s added a few other elements to the world, at least one of which is really cool.

So, while this didn’t give me the full-on “whee!” sensation of his first book, this was still an entertaining, engaging, clever, and occasionally terrifying novel (in this sense of, “yep, of course someone did that awful thing in this world too”). Proehl’s clearly a fan of the X-Men and has given the “X-Men but real” concept a lot of thought, and that alone would’ve sold me on this. And while I don’t have the urge to gush about this and tell everyone to read it, I certainly recommend it and will definitely be reading the sequel, because I want to know what happens to the characters and what exactly Proehl’s going for with those unanswered questions.

A solid book, in other worse, and while it might have minor second-novel syndrome, you should probably read it anyway if you like the concept.

To bear in mind: As mentioned in my summary and review, this tackles some pretty major issues within Western/American culture, including terrorism, incels, radicalization, murder, Islamophobia, other racism, hate speech, hate crimes, and internment camps, always with the point being, “this is wrong.” There were scenes where I (white, not-American) was sucked into the emotions of the above, so can only imagine the sort of power these scenes might have with people living more closely with those realities. Also contains a suicide and a power that’s almost but not quite a bomb.

8/10 show less

There are many little hints tossed in for the reader to make a connection back to the real world that it's almost distracting. Despite that, I enjoyed this one and the "behind the scenes" look at a comics convention. The character development is great.

For a book picked out from the library's eBook collection by my toddler, it was a nice surprise.