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julieandrewsI picked up this book by Michael Carroll because it caught my attention while searching the library catalog for new arrivals. It's one of the new themes competing with vampires for YA attention; superheroes.
The first chapter started in the middle of a superhero battle. People we don't know, with powers that may or may not be new and interesting, fighting with each other, just because some are heroes and some are villains.
I don't like stories that start in the middle of a battle. I don't like battles in general and superhero battles are no exception. It's worse when the story starts that way though, because I'm not invested in any of the characters. I'm just watching strangers duke it out.
But I figured I'd give it a chance. The battle has to end eventually and we'll get to something more interesting. So I skimmed, and skipped, and got to the real first chapter.
Which starts in a classroom. With an infodump in the form of a class discussion.
That was enough. Triple whammy. There's a little teaser -- the quantum prophecy of the title -- but it's not enough for me to keep putting up with this style, with no characters to latch onto yet.
The book's not for me. If it was a movie, sure, definitely. A battle and a classroom infodump would be just fine for a movie, and not too bad in comic book form. It doesn't work for me in a novel though.
So I get to return this to the library and knock my number of books checked out down by one.
Maybe I'll start the Tanya Huff book I just bought...
The first chapter started in the middle of a superhero battle. People we don't know, with powers that may or may not be new and interesting, fighting with each other, just because some are heroes and some are villains.
I don't like stories that start in the middle of a battle. I don't like battles in general and superhero battles are no exception. It's worse when the story starts that way though, because I'm not invested in any of the characters. I'm just watching strangers duke it out.
But I figured I'd give it a chance. The battle has to end eventually and we'll get to something more interesting. So I skimmed, and skipped, and got to the real first chapter.
Which starts in a classroom. With an infodump in the form of a class discussion.
That was enough. Triple whammy. There's a little teaser -- the quantum prophecy of the title -- but it's not enough for me to keep putting up with this style, with no characters to latch onto yet.
The book's not for me. If it was a movie, sure, definitely. A battle and a classroom infodump would be just fine for a movie, and not too bad in comic book form. It doesn't work for me in a novel though.
So I get to return this to the library and knock my number of books checked out down by one.
Maybe I'll start the Tanya Huff book I just bought...