Hollow City (Song of Karma Book 1) (Heroes Unleashed) Review

Hollow City (Song of Karma Book 1)

By Kai Wai Cheah

Next up after Morgon Newquist's Heroes Fall: Serenity City (which I reviewed here) was Kai Wai Cheah's entry, Hollow City. After the first book in the Heroes Unleashed series was released the bar was set high for future offerings, so was this lofty goal reached?

That would be a resounding 'yes'.

Hollow City is set in the same universe as the first, but in a different city. This time we follow the life of Prime, Adam Song, a police officer whose life is turned upside down after he takes out the son of a powerful cartel boss. A hit is then called in on Adam, the higher-ups in the police force play politics, and things proceed to get out of hand from there.

Much like the first Heroes Unleashed novel, the world feels real without being bland. Although we see super-powered individuals on both sides of the law, it remains grounded in reality without losing the more 'magical' aspects. The attention to detail was also fantastic with guns, and all the attachments Adam has customized them with, shown to great effect.

Adam Song is a great character, with an interesting background. His sense of justice, and background in the military combine to make a character that, while restrained by his morals, could just as easily remove every target he chose if he so wished. The way that he wrangles with the dilemma this creates I found great, and when he finally decides to handle the situation he is handed, it was really satisfying. In fact it was so satisfying that when the book finished, I was itching for more.

The book was a real page-turner, and much like the first Heroes Unleashed novel, I blazed through it and loved every moment. Now I can't wait for the next installment.

If you like superhero fiction, or action-packed thrill-rides, this is the book for you. Get it now. You won't regret it.

Heroes Fall: Serenity City Book 1 (Heroes Unleashed) Review

Heroes Fall: Serenity City Book 1
By Morgon Newquist

I will be honest, I'm not usually the biggest of superhero fiction fanatics. I like the occasional Batman film, The Shadow is my favourite superhero of them all but he's been ruined in recent years, and all the rest of the malarkey going off in the superhero comics/film/etc industry? Miss me with that nonsense. So you can understand my usual lack of interest in the genre.

Vox Day re-ignited my interest in comic superheroes with the Alt-Hero comics, but beyond that, there has been only one or two superhero-focused products that I was mildly interested in, such as Flying Sparks and so on.

Then Silver Empire's Russell and Morgon Newquist launched their Kickstarter for their Heroes Unleashed project. Featuring Kai Wai Cheah, Jon Mollison, J. D. Cowan, Richard Watts, and the initial book by Morgon Newquist, I decided I'd give the series a chance to make up for the lack of superhero goodness. That it was novels rather than comics, which were what every man and his dog were crowdfunding at the time, pleasantly surprised me. I'm much happier with books than comics, so that alleviated some initial indecisiveness on my willingness to jump in. So I backed the project with the thought that even if I didn't personally enjoy the finished product, at least it would help out some good folks in some small way. I would have been able to make a better dent in my 'to-be-read' list, so that would have been a bonus in that outcome.

Instead Morgon delivered a top-notch book. Curses.

I just finished reading this book yesterday, and it was good. Really good. I was beyond pleasantly surprised, I was hyped for more. No simple Marvel/DC knock-off, this was an original universe, with a unique cast of characters, and a frankly better approach to superhero morality than anything the current crop of superhero universes provide. Heroes that were in it for themselves, for fame, for fortune, or the simple wish to do good, there was a nice mix. There was kind of less focus on the villains, but to be honest, there was plenty of villainy done, and adding more villains in would have crowded the scene somewhat.

I'd like to make special mention of the main villain who was a nice change of pace too. The usual approach with villains these days is a split between "I'm insane" and "I like being evil." The main villain in Serenity City is so good at his job he doesn't even make a true physical appearance until nearer the end the book. Morgon does a great job of painting the picture of this almost omnipresent evil master puppeteer. His reasons for what he does, why he does it, and how he goes about it are great as well.

The main plot is riveting, just so you know, keeping you turning pages, with that 'I'll just see what happens next' feeling that is all too common in good books. So you'll probably not want to start reading late at night if you have somewhere to be in the morning in a coherent state.

All in all, this was a great book, that I fully enjoyed, and I would heartily recommend it to anybody who enjoys superhero fiction, or good stories in general. Now I can't wait to see what is in store in the future for the Heroes Unleashed project.