Hero

I love this book, but perhaps that's because its protagonist is gay, and when this book was first published over a decade ago, gay superheroes were incredibly rare. But I also think the book stands on its own merits....while Moore does borrow from the well known superhero archetypes for the background characters in the book, his main characters are clearly unique and fascinating. Its an exciting book that has both an adventure storyline while also spending a lot of time in character development. I would have loved to have seen more stories in this universe and more stories were planned....a sequel and tv series at the very least. Sadly, the author died before he could see these plans to fruition, a tragedy for much more important show more reasons, but also sad for fans of this book. show less

A wellwritten and engaging superhero bildungs roman.
Apart from a little too many Bridget Jones style embarrasing situations, and a heavy reliance on existing superhero lore when fleshing out some of the characters, there is not much to fault in this YA novel. The characterisation of the main characters is strong, if at times somewhat stereotyped, and although the plot isn't particularly innovative, it works very well, and draws the reader in.

Thom is a high school student with a lot on his mind.
His father is a much maligned failed hero, still waiting for his fellow hero wife to return to him while working long shifts at a factory to give Thom a better life.
Thom himself is trying to deal with his sexual orientation and his emerging show more superpowers without disappointing his father.
He is invited to the superhero League tryouts, and soon juggles two summerjobs, heroing, and an budding romance.

It is a good story, with interesting characters, but it main strenght is the way it uses the superhero conventions to tell a story of parent-child relationships, and the sacrifices made by parents out of love for their children. It echoes the strong tradition of examining social and economical issues in superhero universes such as Superman and Spiderman, contrasting the reality of family ties and poverty with the fantastic powers the superheroes possess. The juxtaposition between the 'real' hero, the parental figure without superpowers, but with very strong morals, and the troubled superhero is also a recurring theme that is used to its advantage in this story. show less

I started reading this book in fits over the years and never got past the first chapter. I don't really know why. It wasn't badly written, that first chapter, but it never grabbed me. So I turned to the audiobook, finally, and sat down with some knitting and my headphones.

I was completely hooked - so hooked that I turned the audiobook off, put down my knitting, and dug the hardcover out from the recesses of my bookshelf. As lovely as the narrator was, I could read much faster to myself.

As a comic book fan, this book is full of superheroes that I recognized, though given new names or had parts of their backstories farmed out to more than one superhero. (Also, very very obvious that Perry Moore was a DC Comics guy. Not complaining, I'm a show more DC gal myself.)

I really liked the plot, the mystery, and Thom's merry band of misfit heroes. I loved Ruth, and hope I have her sass when I reach "wise old broad" status. I liked that this was a coming-of-age story disguised as a superhero book.

I did NOT like (view spoiler) it was still a huge cop-out and sloppy plotting.

So I really liked most of the book. But it loses a star for the unappealing start for me, and the one very major plot point. show less

Thom Creed's father is a disgraced superhero. There's a lot Thom can't talk to his father about--like how he's developing superpowers, that the superhero League wants him to join them, and especially not that he's gay.

I read the whole book in one day. 428 pages, only breaking for food and the water closet. It was just that good. It's *sob* *pause* *gasp* over and over the whole way.

Thom is a totally relatable character that I loved to cheer on, especially speaking as a teenager. He makes mistakes, and he doesn't always have a very realistic image of himself, but he never gives up. He goes after what he wants, and he doesn't mind working for it. The other characters mostly made me want to tackle them and hug them to death, but even the show more characters I didn't like were fascinating. Most of the established heroes are thinly veiled versions of DC heroes--Uberman, Warrior Woman-- but they became archetypes to work from and ideas to explore, rather than the parodies I was worried about.

The plot was intricate, 428 pages is long for a YA novel, but it was easy to follow, one event flowing naturally into the next. Perry Moore slammed right to the heart of what superheroes mean, both the fantastic and the terrible but mostly the amazing.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. YA, otherwise, superhero fan, otherwise, GLBT, otherwise, whatever. I hear there's a TV series in the works and I can't wait... I'm sure I'll be mentioning this book in other reviews, but as yet I don't have anything I can recommend that wouldn't fall flat after reading this. Maybe go read the classic graphic novels. show less

Thom Creed’s father is a disgraced superhero and they live together in shabby circumstances after the disappearance of Thom’s mother. When Thom realizes that he has superpowers of his own, he doesn’t dare tell his father, so he sneaks behind his father’s back to try out for the League. Meanwhile there are other secrets floating around in the Creed family, secrets to Thom’s parents’ pasts, and Thom’s homosexuality.

There is a lot to like about Hero. Thom is a great narrator, just the right amount of humour, determination, and teenage embarrassment. The scenes where he trips over himself trying to impress the League are hilarious. But where there is humour there is also heartache, and Hero is particularly good at portraying show more the lives of superheroes especially when they fall from fame. Thom’s father is probably the best realized character in the book. Even when he’s being aggressive or homophobic, he tugs at your heartstrings.

There is a lot about this book that made it poignant. Seeing Thom and his father struggle for money and respect felt very real, as did Thom’s situation with his sexuality. Or the stories of Thom’s superhero comrades like Scarlett or Ruth. This isn’t your typical wham-bam adventure. These are real people that the reader can understand.

However, the second half of the book wasn’t as good as the first half. Thom’s romance with a fellow basketball player, while thrilling to start with, was resolved unconvincingly. The plot twist about the bad guy also came too quickly, and I would have liked to have seen more about Thom’s mother and her motives. But even as Hero left me feeling frustrating in some areas, it is still an overwhelmingly excellent novel. show less

Basically I was very excited to read this book. And it definitely did not disappoint. Anyways, imagine a motley group of superheroes. One is gay, with the power of healing. Another is old and psychic, and a third has the power to make you really sick. Then there is extremely touchy Scarlett, who is angry all the time, and the team leader Golden boy, who has been put on probation from the League because of one teensy mistake. Imagine that, and you have Thom Creed's team. Thom is the son of an ex-superhero(who never had powers) who is fighting the secrets that he hides from his father. It doesn't exactly help that he is gay, has a thing for superheroes, and a dad who is the social outcast of the town(and really judgemental just FYI) show more because of a catastrophic event in the past. Thom's life changes when he starts to develop superpowers and is invited to try out for the League, a prestigious league of superheroes. And the others that have tried out are every bit as much of a misfit as he is. You will fall in love with this cast of D list superheroes that are unorganized yet miraculously save the day. I personally loved Typhoid Larry and Ruth (the person who makes people sick and the psychic.) Typhoid Larry was just adorable in all of his insecurities, and Ruth was the cool but crazy Grandma who knew the answer to everything (if not because she's wise, then because of her psychicness.) Moore wove a beautiful story with characters dancing (and sometimes stumbling) in and out of conflict throughout the whole thing. He also wrote a wonderful love interest, and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of love in this story. What shocked me the most, was how I reacted to all the superheroes. Read this book and go to Geeky heaven, because even if they aren't real superheroes, I like them better than your basic Spiderman or Batman. (Too many "mans", luckily there was only the one Uberman in this book.) The writing in this book was was a perfect blend of witty and hearfelt at all the right moments. A choice quote? "And Golden Boy, if you weren't so busy trying to be a one man rescue machine... Well, there may be no 'I' in team, but apparently there's a real big one in 'Kevin.'" And the ending, the ending had me on the edge of my seat! You find out who the villain is (a surprise, but not really if you paid attention like me), who the mysterious 'Dark Hero' (a possibly bad, possibly good mystery guy) is, and everyone resolves their character vs. character issues! The ending was beautiful, the characters were beautiful, the writing was beautiful, this whole freaking book was beautiful. I might use this for my July Challenge, not sure yet. Anyways, go read this freaking fantastical book! show less

Superheroes. Teen Angst. Diverse characters. More superheroes. Bad decisions. Action. Corny names. Even more superheroes.

I found this to be a really great, emotional coming-of-age story. It’s about finding yourself, but also finding validation in being yourself. But around all the teen angst and bad decisions are sprinkled in some of the most blatant totally-not-copyright-infringement versions of popular superheroes, and I found them pretty hilarious. It’s like a fun little mini game you can play while reading: What Marvel/DC character is this referencing?