Author: B.L. Radley
Genre: sci-fi/dystopia
Similar books: The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
The Extraordinaries by T. J. Klune
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): A Normie’s guide to staying alive in Sunnylake City:
1. Keep your head down.
2. Don’t make enemies.
3. Strictly no heroics.
The world is run by those with the Super gene, and Riley Jones doesn’t have it. She’s just a Normie, ducking her way around the hero vs. villain battles that constantly demolish Sunnylake City, working at a crappy diner to save up money for therapy, and trying to figure out how to tell her family that she’s queer. But when Riley retaliates against a handsy superhero at work, she finds herself in desperate need of employment, and the only place that will hire her is HENCH.
Yes, HENCH, as in henchmen: masked cronies who take villains' coffee orders, vacuum their secret lairs, and posture in the background while they fight. Riley's plan is to mind her own business and get paid...but that quickly devolves when she witnesses a horrible murder on the job. Caught in the thick of a gentrification plot, a unionization effort, and a developing crush on her prickly fellow henchwoman, Riley must face the possibility that even a powerless Normie can take a stand against injustice.
My opinion: I wished I liked this book more than I do. It starts out in what has become familiar territory - the realization that a world with superheroes probably wouldn't be very friendly to non-powered people. In this case, all of the best jobs, the roles with power and influence, go to people with powers. The "normies" are scrambling to feed their families and have few opportunities for anything better. And the "good guys" take whatever they want, no matter who it hurts. This exploration of what it means to be a hero and who declares someone a villain is fairly commonplace. This book stand out from the crowd in that it doesn't stop there. Sure, the heroes are kind of jerks. But the villains are undeniably evil if fairly ridiculous. As the plot progresses we realize that there are other power structures at play, that the dramas that play out on the news and in the streets aren't exactly what they appear. Those additional elements make this a unique read. I did struggle with it, though, largely due to pacing. There are so many elements, so many pieces at play between family drama, relationships, the details of the job, the efforts to unionize, and the larger plot of the heroes and the town, that the book seems to plod along. This is one that requires some patience.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by Net
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