Hi all! This has been a "superhero-y" month in my book life! I've read three superhero novels -- one of them being the one I'm about to introduce you to now! It's Bryan Davis's latest: Wanted: A Superhero to Save the World. I was probably a bit impulsive when I signed up to read and review it, but it turned out to be one of the best books I read this month xD
Eddie Hertz is smart, real smart. He has to be. What other twelve-year-old patrols the streets of Nirvana alone, hoping to foil the schemes of the evil Mephisto? Since Eddie is small for his age, he trusts in his Batman-style gadgets belt and acrobatic skills as well as lots of experience, like knowing how to swing across dark alleys without being seen.
Eddie has a dream, to become like Damocles, Nirvana’s great superhero. To make that dream come true, Eddie invented a device that is supposed to give him superpowers, but using it on himself is dangerous, maybe even fatal. He doesn’t have the nerve to try it.
When Mephisto unleashes an earthquake machine on the city, Eddie gets a surprising teammate — his quirky eight-year-old sister, Samantha, who comes up with an unexpected way to help Eddie in the frantic battle to prevent the biggest earthquake of all.
Eddie has a dream, to become like Damocles, Nirvana’s great superhero. To make that dream come true, Eddie invented a device that is supposed to give him superpowers, but using it on himself is dangerous, maybe even fatal. He doesn’t have the nerve to try it.
When Mephisto unleashes an earthquake machine on the city, Eddie gets a surprising teammate — his quirky eight-year-old sister, Samantha, who comes up with an unexpected way to help Eddie in the frantic battle to prevent the biggest earthquake of all.
Since Damocles has lost his ability to help in physical form, Eddie and Samantha are the only hope for Nirvana and the world.
It's a 250 pager, so not too long. It took me about three days to go through, and turned out to be pretty engaging and fascinating.
First, of course I'd like to point out that I am not exactly in the "intended age group". This is an MG novel. I'm going to have to talk about it on my level, plus on a middle grade level.
For my fellow teens, you'd probably enjoy this well enough as a quick easy-to-read-and-understand book. I think you'll love the characters, grin at the twists, nod at the plot, and laugh at the humor. I doubt it will shake you up or that it will give you any huge surprises and you will certainly feel entirely "safe" while reading it. And it may even be a breath of fresh air from the intensity and grittiness of YA.
For MG readers, this book is pretty much perfect. It's completely clean and contains all you are looking for in a good dose. It's easy to follow and understand and it won't bore you at any instance with long winded thoughts, observations, or descriptions xD
Eddie Hertz is an excellent narrator -- relatable too. Not exactly who I am now, but what I was, or could have been :D His struggles are are, for the most part, pretty real, expected, understandable and relatable for a 12-year-old superhero. Sam is such a blast to have around! She's really sweet and hilarious and so completely accurate as a little sister. The sibling relationship was just so spot on the whole time. And these two as a team? I. so. support. GO YOU. Their mom is actually not hugely in there for the first half, but later on oh yeah. And it was surprising + nice the way parents and grown ups were included!
Damocles was basically all you expect in a superhero admired by a kid, and Mephisto was basically ... all you expect in a super villain with a few amazing twists thrown in there ;)
I just love them all and am pretty impressed with the fact that absolutely NO ONE ANNOYED ME AT ALL. Not. once. The characters were definitely the best part. Real and relatable enough -- with some standard "cliche-ness" thrown in to make me grin -- and the humor was totally gold :D
Plot wise, I think it would keep younger readers completely engaged and give them a thoroughly exciting ride. Even for myself I never got bored. I liked it that even though there was this one main goal there were still all these various side problems/issues popping up all the time that had to be dealt with as well.
As for the superhero/villain high tech stuff it was pretty fantastic -- complete with super gadgets and mind blowing technology. It was all explained in such a nice simple way. We need this simplicty in YA, okay? Because my brain's understanding of how technology/magic works = the understanding of a ten year old. *shakes head*
The themes -- while maybe simple to us YA readers -- are probably just perfect for middle graders and they do ring true for me too. I can maybe appreciate them even better? And they meld with the story so well. Not only the explicit themes, but the implicit ones as well. Just by the actions and decisions and examples, I think it's all amazing! It would be healthy reading for anyone xD
And finally, considering the fact that I'm reading superhero stories in order to learn to write them, my appreciation of this is even higher than normal :D So what can I say but, THANK YOU BRYAN DAVIS!
All in all, I think this would make an enjoyable read for all you guys -- BUT ABSOLUTELY THE PERFECT BOOK TO RECOMMEND/GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SIBLINGS/FRIENDS/COUSINS!!!
So what are you waiting for? Go add it to your tbr!
So, my friends, there are two giveaways! (*cheers*) The winner of the first one gets any Bryan Davis book of his/her choice, plus a Wanted: A Superhero to Save the World t-shirt and bookmark.
The second one is the GRAND PRIZE contest. (Grand prize = the items of the first giveaway + a complete Bryan Davis book series or $50 Amazon gift card). All you have to do is hunt through all the blog tour posts and collect numbers from each, add them all up, and plug the sum into the Grand Prize Rafflecopter. The numbers might be announced out right, or stealthily inserted into the post. But they all should be highlighted or underlined in one way or another so that it won't be hard for you to find them!
Here is a list of all the blog tour participants so that you can start the number hunt!
Wednesday, September 20th
Tour Kickoff @ The Author’s Chair
Book Spotlight @ Backing Books
Book review and YOU WRITE: About Bryan Davis @ Zerina Blossom’s Books
Book Spotlight and Review @ The Spooky Bookshelf
Book Spotlight and Author Interview @ Scattered Scribblings
Book Review and Character Interview @ Light and Shadows
Thursday, September 21st
Book Spotlight and YOU WRITE: About Bryan Davis @ Red Lettering
Spotlight and Author Interview @ The Reader Addict
Spotlight and YOU WRITE: About Bryan Davis @ target verified
Book Review and Character Interview @ Hidden Doorways
Book Review @ Ashley Bogner
Book Review @ The Page Dreamer
Friday, September 22nd
Book Spotlight and Character Interview @ Story of Fire
Book Review @ Inkwell
Book Spotlight and Character Interview @ Liv K. Fisher
Book Review @ writinganyone
Spotlight and YOU WRITE: About Superheroes @ Dreams and Dragons
Author Interview and YOU WRITE: About Bryan Davis @ March to a Different Drum
Book Spotlight @ Author Jaye L. Knight
Saturday, September 23rd
Author Interview @ Jessi L. Roberts, author
Book Spotlight and Character Interview @ Book Lovers Life
Book Review and Character Interview @ Verbosity Reviews
Book Spotlight, Author Interview and YOU WRITE: Superheroes @ Creature of Graphite
Character Interview @ Wanderer’s Pen
Book Spotlight and Author Interview @ Adventure Awaits
Bryan Davis is the author of the Dragons in Our Midst, Oracles of Fire, Children of the Bard, the Reapers Trilogy, Dragons of Starlight, Tales of Starlight, and the Time Echoes Trilogy, fantasy/science fiction/dystopian novels for youth and adults. His first novel, Raising Dragons, was released in July of 2004, and several books in that series have hit various bestseller lists, including Eye of the Oracle, which hit number one on the CBA Young Adult best-seller list in January of 2007.Bryan was born in 1958 and grew up in the eastern U.S. From the time he taught himself how to read before school age, through his seminary years and beyond, he has demonstrated a passion for the written word, reading and writing in many disciplines and genres, including theology, fiction, devotionals, poetry, and humor.
Bryan is a graduate of the University of Florida (B.S. in Industrial Engineering). In high school, he was valedictorian of his class and won various academic awards. He was also a member of the National Honor Society and voted Most Likely to Succeed.
Bryan and his wife, Susie, work together as an author/editor team to create his imaginative tales.
There you have it, friends! Go hunt down the numbers, get the book on your tbr, and stalk all the interviews! You know what to do :)
Have you read this book?
Or anything else by Bryan Davis?
Will you?
Ahhhhh I need this book in my life! I remember when Bryan Davis was posting sections of this story on his blog a couple years ago (or something like that...I can't remember how long ago now :P). It was a lot of fun, and I've heard so many good things about the book now!
ReplyDeleteBUT THAT GIVEAWAY. O_o I want alllllll the things. Because Bryan Davis books! And swag! And all the fun stuff! EEP.
In answer to the question...I don't know. I'm not the biggest superhero fan so I really couldn't say which REAL superhero I'd want to be. Maybe Frozone from Incredibles? His ice powers were pretty awesome. ;)
YES!!! Oh wow that must be cool! To be able to say "I was around when this story was born" ;P Must have been fun!!! And yes so have I and it is super (haha pun intended)
DeleteI KNOW THE GIVEAWAY. And can you believe it I was so busy I forgot to enter it myself D: *sigh* Good luck to you tho <333
Oh yes the Incredibles are hilarious and Frozone is awesome too xD
I've heard a lot already about this book and saw you were on the tour, so I just waited to see what you had to say about it. Sounds awesome. Hopefully it comes to our library so my younger sibs can read it.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Lisa!
<3
~Ivie
iviewrites.blogspot.com
Haha thanks :) I'm glad you trust my opinion that much :P It was awesome and I hope it comes to your library :D Ours doesn't have any Bryan Davis books *sigh*
DeleteI think I will like this one.
ReplyDeleteI think you will too <333
DeleteGreat review! I read and reviewed the book as well, and I totally agree with everything you said. *nods*
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! Thanks! I'll go look up your review too <333 I'm glad you read it and agree *high fives*
DeleteLisa, thank you for the review. I'm glad you enjoyed the book. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, sir!!! I was really happy to be part of your tour!
DeleteThis sounds like such a cool book! I don't think I've read any superhero book before, as a matter of fact. Unless Michael Vey counts... but I don't think it does. XD
ReplyDeleteLOVELY REVIEW, LISA.
Uh-huh ... I really hadn't read much superhero before this either :P THANK YOU A LOT <333
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