not super heroes. The plot is well structured and leaves ...
584745
The main characters are interesting, not super heroes.  The plot is well structured and leaves you guessing.  Liked it a lot.  will buy more of this series.
4139434
This novel will not assist the juvenile justice system to make advances but it has an engaging plot with some twists.
3536893
Clean editing, a hero who isn't a total jerk, and a heroine with a backbone who isn't pigheaded to the point of terminal stupidity make this story worth reading. The plot is pretty predictable and I don't condone "instalust" and unprotected sex with strangers anywhere, much less an alley, but the author makes the meeting between H and h work.

This is part of a trilogy and does not end on a cliffhanger. Implied HEA.
2545414
This is a vast improvement over some of the junk being kicked out by DC lately, and it's a good read (Jeff Smith has such a clean, easy to view brush style).  It's not perfect, and it's still not quite a childrens book (Billy Batson being kicks to unconscienceness by a thug isn't kid-friendly) but it's vastly better than the latest Infinity Whatever kicked out by DC lately.
The story is rather hollow, and has virtually no substance other than zippy entertainment.  Which can be good for a fun Shazam-like, and yet I would have liked a little more substance here.  Something a little deeper.
4150539
Four stars is maybe a little high, but three would have been a little low.  Others have described the set up, so I'll be brief on that.  Caitlin Strong is a former Texas Ranger forced to resign after she used a bit too much violence to obtain information.  Cort Wesley Masters is a former mob enforcer recently released from prison when DNA proved that he was NOT actually guilty of the particular crime of which he was convicted.  Events bring them together when connections appear between the disappearance of Strong's husband an the framing of Masters for murder of a Ranger.

Land uses his story to explore the idea of "benign interrogation" without lecturing. Was Strong's violence - inflicted to find a friend's killer - justified?  What makes her different from Masters?  At a more "macro" level, the story raises the issue of whether "non-invasive" (i.e., we don't kill or cut off body parts) interrogation is ultimately less horrible than the bloody kind, and whether we can justify it.

All of this is presented without preachiness, and adds interest to the basic "good guys saving world from bad guys" thriller plot.  On the down side, I did not think Masters' character was entirely successful.  As is the case with other literary "good bad guys" (e.g., Robert B Parker's "Hawk") one has trouble believing that the character ever really did anything bad - he's too nice.  Land explains this as a change in Masters brought on by a number of events, althout it's pretty hard to picture Masters as having been a mob guy.  Still, this is a fantasy (scary mean guy on our side) that readers are accustomed to accepting.

There is another violent scary guy in the story who just seems extraneous and really not believable at all. He purports to be a Venezuelan secret service colonel, of peasant background, who reads Kierkegaard.  Huh? His scenes lost me.  What's he doing in this book?

Finally, the basic doomsday plot.  It was OK and even a creative rule-the-world idea; but somehow not fully satisfying to me.  I think the bad guy was too consumingly evil and powerful - made him a little cartoonish.  This is a not-infrequent issue with thrillers, but this particular cartoon villain bothered me more than many, possibly because the other characters were better executed.

In all, an entertaining read, with more thoughtfulness than many thrillers.
728510
I like that the protagonist is an average guy, not an action hero type.  The story moves along at a nice pace.
1528266
The plot develops more complexity in that the protagonist's positive relationships put her at cross-purposes with her goals to vanquish various enemies.  The story of her training and schooling follows a fairly predictable path, but it is engaging even if not overly original.  There are huge setbacks in this second book that may evoke tears, but the loss of lives seems necessary to push the protagonist to maturity.  Characters are intriguing.  The pace is rapid.  The action sequences are frequent enough to hold the reader's attention.  The romantic moments are bitter-sweet.  A good book for more mature YA readers.
397494
Plot's been summarized elsewhere. It was a good plot, and I liked it as I tore through the book for the first time and expect to like it when I reread, and it wraps up nicely while also leaving room for a sequel (pretty please?) But the thing I liked most about Carousel Tides was the way it respected genre elements without falling into triteness. There are selkies, and fae from other dimensions, and people (using the term loosely) with a mystic tie to the land or the ocean, but they are also clearly, complexly characterized individuals. There's a romance subplot, but you can see why the characters are interested in each other, and it's not - entirely - due to some supernatural link between them. And it doesn't lead them to pay too much attention to having sex with each other and too little to the things that may kill them. The fantasy elements aren't slapped helter-skelter on top of the contemporary reality; they are entwined. The nonhumans are mysterious, and "other," and as capable of being good or evil or petty as are the humans. It all fits together remarkably well, and I recommend it.
1866367
The characters are not flat and very well defined and the plot does not fall apart as it does in pretty much other books of this type.
1644233
Apparently the Librarians is a TV series.  This book is based on that TV series.  The book isn't labeled as YA but I would classify it as a young adult read.  It is pretty simplistic in it's characterizations and superficial in a lot of ways.  The gist of the plot is that the Librarians are tasked with safeguarding mystical and magical books and relic.  The particular relic in this book is Aladdin's lamp.  The Librarians and the Forty Thieves of legend are competing in the quest to find the powerful relic.

The plot is ok in the book and it does have plenty of action.  You need to suspend all disbelief to get into the story.  It has it's moments but it does read like a TV script.

Overall it was a fun read but not in the least captivating however the author is make far more money on his work than I am on mine so draw your own conclusions.

web: [...]
3236363
This was a lot of fun to read.  The backstory and "science" was interesting
in a superhero story type of way.  The plot is grand which I really liked.
The characters were likeable, but the bad guys were written very one-dimensionally,
in the "evil people are just so evil" kind of way.  Just a warning, the second book in this
series is quite disappointing.  It's less interesting, more cliched with flatter
characters.
3984421
This is the first Parker Francis novel I have read, and I started in the middle of the series.  This left me slightly out of the loop since I didn't understand some of the back story, but the story itself is well written.  There are a few areas where it falls flat though. It doesn't exhibit much emotion on the part of characters, possibly due to the first-person narration, and it doesn't draw me into the life of the protagonist.  I understand him, I can deal with him, I just don't feel like I am him.

On the other hand, the plot is decent, with some twists and a few slightly predictable events, culminating in an unforeseen ending.  If you're a fan of the Mickey Spillane, Robert B. Parker and John D. MacDonald books, you'll likely enjoy this one. It's not the strongest mystery I've read, but it's far from the weakest.  I will probably read the earlier works and I know I would read the next one.
4797402
I find this to be a well rounded movie.  The complexity of the mother/daughter relationship is difficult without taking away from the lightheartedness one wants from an animation.  AND, there's really no villain.  The heroes are their own villains.  AND I tear up every time but I'm a bit of a sap.
2137032
3.5 stars is more like it.  If you're looking for a good superhero read, with three of the greatest superheroes of all time, then snatch this one up.  Wagner's writing is good, at times intelligent, at times a little campy, but this is a required combination for a story dealing with three "gods" that wear spandex.

At times the art will blow you away, like Fleischer cartoons with highlights and more intense coloring.  But toward the end you can almost see through the images, to where Wagner was pushing himself or rushing the book along.  The story concludes a little abruptly, not leaving you necessarily thirsty but maybe a little disappointed.

Overall though, this IS a good read, and few writers can balance these three characters together, while keeping each of them equally interesting.

Bravo, Wagner.
2414507
Review written by Dan Weatherly. I found it to match my views so I am posting it here.

Though, strictly speaking, The Zombie Knight is more of a supernatural fantasy story than a superhero story, it has enough in common to feel comfortable and familiar but enough to distinguish it so that it doesnt feel boring and derivative.

Instead of getting bitten by a radioactive spider, The Zombie Knights protagonist, Hector, is saved from death by a reaper, who prolongs his life in exchange for Hectors servitude. The servitude, though, turns out to be more of a complementary partnership. Hector, in spite of his own problems and his miserable high school existence, is thrust into a complicated (and clearly well-planned) mythology. Its a fun and fascinating world full of interesting characters and complex alliances among heroes and villains. The writing is competent and occasionally brilliant, and in between the violence theres plenty of humor to keep things balanced.

Its not perfect. From time to time, a characters decisions has struck me as totally unrealistic. Hectors school scenes usually don't feel quite like how high school kids actually interact (not to me, anyway). But my biggest complaint is how quickly and how massively the plot opened up. In a short time frame, Frost introduced bucketloads of new characters in new locations with new friends and new foes and it was a little overwhelming. Perhaps that was intentionalhow better to help the readers sympathize with Hectors arrival to this sprawling, intricate world of reapers than to force the readers to share his befuddling (albeit temporary) confusion? But the part of the story that hooked me was the relationship between Hector and his reaper. And even though all that macrocosmic plot juiciness is interesting and enjoyable, occasionally I find myself wishing for a few more scenes of just the basicsgood ol Hector and Garovel. But perhaps thats a credit to the authors skill instead of a criticism of the story itself.

If anything, The Zombie Knights greatest strength is in its possibilitiesthe characters and the plot are good enough and open-ended enough that, based on the foundation laid so far, theres a lot of potential for some even more impressive action to come.
2524829
"The MacGuffin Hunt", I mean "The Icarus Hunt" is a not-so-ambitious, lightweight, easily forgettable sci-fi adventure story.  Our hero is a Han Solo swashbucklinkg type, good-natured and resourceful but with some secrets he keeps close to his chest.  The book moves fairly quickly, and it's an easy read, probably appropriate for 12-year old and above.  There are plenty of plot twists, and the hero/narrator has a sense of humor which keeps it light.  Overall enjoyable, and doesn't take too much brainpower to figure it out.  As for myself I guessed early on who the mysterious antagonist was based on the same clue that tips off our hero.  But there were other parts that I should have guessed, but didn't.

On the negative side, character development is thin outside of a couple of the main characters.  There are a couple of red herrings concerning the rest of the crew and their possible motivations with respect to the main mystery facing our hero, and these go unresolved.  The plotting gets repetitive - fly to a planet, run some errands, get in trouble, make narrow escape, repeat.  The hero/narrator also has a habit of recapitulating the plot points periodically, I suppose to remind the reader lest they forget what the mystery is and who the suspects are, and what the evidence is for/against each one.  It is clearly aimed at a very broad, general audience including younger readers, definitely not high-brow writing.
4676747
This is high level artwork. The faces have a lot of expression, which makes the mouths look just a little creepy. But, that is a trait.

The story is very straightforward and is diverted from the revenge quest by chance.

The characters for Bruce, Jim Gordon, Bullock, and Alfred seemed to have been completely replaced. Bruce lacks the empathy have a true mission  and the drive to be thorough in ...preparation for achieving his goals.

Jim Gordon is broken and beaten. This is not a person that is willing to fight the system for decades So that people can have cops worthy of trust. People say that broken individuals in a corrupt city is realistic, and I agree. but, There are zero good cops shown in Gotham. Zero. That is not one beaten guy. This is a broken city without any hope at all. Uh-uh, flag.

Alfred knows that Bruce is crazy and out of his depth, yet trained a child to fight a battle he could not...

Bullock is a cheerful and naive outsider...And handsome.

The "heroes" of the story are accidental and incidental. They are more lodestones people feel that they need to depend on. Because no one is willing to stand up for themselves...

That is not realism, that is nihilism.

Real people fight racism, corruption, and crime without being corrupted. They are a persisting and persistent minority. Johns greatest failure in this book is removing the core of heroism from his city.

the word villain comes frome ville man. This means villiage man. It was used to describe common people and their manners and world view.
heroes are people of noteworthy achievements and character.
Superheroes are impossible. But heroes are all around us. They are the people that refuse the money. They are the ones who reenlist to protect home, hearth, and the freedom of others. They do the right thing despite the pressure. And those are the people that actually change the world. Not the figureheads and politicians.

Geoff Johns did not make a world where there were just no superheroes, he made a world of only villains.

A few things biased my review.

I was born in the poorest city in the US.
I have been treated for mental health issues.
I exercise and train regularly.

The first statement makes the concept of Gotham being remotely realistic a joke. No one breaks police as a whole in the USA. The Sicilian mob could not break the police in Sicily. The cartels could bribe the police in Mexico and central and South America. but; the hundred thousand dead crooks, civilians, and cops over decades makes a good case that the cops do not roll over as a whole.

Second, I read a lot about different kinds of mental illness when i was taking medication for depression. And I have family with PTSD.

Third. You do not train for years and not know your body. After a year of training, you should know most of your capabilities and limits. And, people usually test their gear. Spoiler.