I took a break from reading about issues facing other countries for a novel set in the U.S. this time. The protagonist of Hero fits into my February theme of reading about those who are different from me because he is a gay teen. He is also a superhero, but that doesn't really count for what I'm trying to do here. Sadly, I haven't read very many books featuring gay characters. I want to change that, and I figured this would be as good of a place as any to start.
Hero follows the story of Thomas Creed, a teenage boy keeping two big secrets from his dad: he has superpowers and he is gay. When he is asked to try out for the League of Heroes, the same superhero league that his father was kicked out of in disgrace years earlier, he has to try and balance his outside life with his increasingly complicated secret life. Throughout the novel, Thomas struggles to reconcile his desire to help save the world with his desire to be the son his father expects him to be. Hero is a story about conquering your fears and standing up to do what's right, even in the face of bigotry and super villains.
This novel is an example of what happens when an amazing idea meets sloppy execution. You end up with a book that is okay, but could have been so much more. I wanted Hero to be a lot better than it was, and I feel like it could have been phenomenal if it weren't for its clumsy writing and dangling plot threads. However, let's save the negatives for last and first discuss what Hero does well.
The characterization of Thomas is very strong. I can't recall ever reading a novel with a male teen protagonist that showed so much depth. He is funny, sensitive, intelligent, and is shown to have thoughts that extend beyond the end of his own nose - qualities that YA male protagonists generally lack. He can play basketball AND do laundry...what a concept! I liked Thomas and I wanted him to find a way to be happy and solve his problems. The supporting characters were interesting as well. Thom's dad was an interesting mix of good father and angry jerk, while the band of misfits that made up Thom's superhero probationary team were a group of underdogs that I wanted to see succeed.
Another point in Hero's favor was its subject matter. I though it was a fantastic idea to mix a real teen issue in with the fantasy world of superheroes. Thom is gay, and he struggles with bullying and being closeted, but that isn't what the entire story is about. A book dealing with teen sexuality that doesn't define its characters entirely on that concept is rare and awesome. I really enjoyed this combination.
The superhero world Thom lives in is campy and fun. There are several obvious nods to famous superheroes like Superman and Wonderwoman. It's easy to tell that Moore has a lot of love for the genre, and his novel really does read like a comic book.
The language and humor throughout Hero stand out as well. The dialogue is realistic to how a teenager would talk - lots of swearing and sarcasm. Some of the lines were laugh-out-loud funny and Thom's sense of humor was well done.
There was so much in Hero that was smart and excellent. Unfortunately, the good moments were often derailed by writing that was confusing and poorly constructed. A lot of contradictions popped up throughout the text that took me right out of the story. For example, at one point Thom is on a bus that gets taken over by super villains. Thom describes these villains as a non-famous, ragtag group that he didn't recognize. Then, in the next paragraph, he somehow knows all of their names and powers. There were lots of little moments like this that just made the narrative seem sloppy.
Another issue was the action sequences, which felt overlong. The descriptions of what was happening during these scenes weren't clear. I often had no idea who was where and had to go back and reread to clear up my confusion. These sections lacked the flow that a reader would expect as the tension builds and they read faster and faster through the pages to get to the resolution of the scene. I shouldn't have had to keep flipping back and forth. It ruins the excitement.
Certain parts of the plot didn't really make sense. There is a story line that follows a string of superhero murders that only gets partially resolved. Similarly, the plot thread about Thom's mother is never fully explained either. Thom's superpower, which is the ability to heal living things, is never clearly defined. I still don't really know what his powers are. The final fight at the end of the novel was poorly foreshadowed, and thus, didn't make much sense. On the other hand, some of the foreshadowing regarding other elements of the story was so obvious that I was able to guess almost everything that happened in the novel well before I was supposed to know. Honestly, it was a mess. It was a compelling mess though, and I kept turning pages.
Despite several issues with the novel, I did still enjoy it. It was just very frustrating because the concept behind this story was so strong that I think a little more polish and editing would have produced an amazing novel. In doing some research on the background of the author, Perry Moore, I discovered that he had meant for this to be the start of a whole series of novels about teen superheroes with real world problems. Sadly, Moore passed away in 2011, before he got a chance to write more books in the series. What he accomplished in Hero, while imperfect, is still admirable for giving readers a window into the world of what gay teens have to struggle with in a way that is not too preachy or depressing. I would still recommend this novel as a unique adventure featuring a character a little bit different from your standard bland YA male protagonist.
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