Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines, Ex-Heroes #1
The Mighty Dragon. Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap.
They were superheroes fighting to make Los Angeles a better place.
Then the plague of living death spread. Billions died, civilization fell, and the City of Angels was left a desolate zombie wasteland
But the ex-humans aren't the only threats the heroes face. Another group is amassing power... led by an enemy with the most terrifying ability of all.
Ok. Where to
start. Who doesn't like superheroes? I am just a sucker for them and that was
the reason I have been eager to read Ex-Heroes, I am always on the lookout for
superhero books or something similar. It's just who doesn't want to have
superpowers right. Ex-Heroes is a non-stop display full of action, humor and
not to forget superpowers and yes: zombies. If you are looking for a quick action
packed and thoroughly entertaining book to read, Ex-Heroes should be right on
top of your list.
The beginning of Ex-Heroes readily puts
you right in the state of mind for the story. Superheroes. The first
introduction is that of The Mighty Dragon/St. George, the I think more main
protagonist of the story. He able to fly, breath fire, has amazing strength,
cannot be pinned down by a bullet . St. George is a bit a do good typical hero.
Always helping out and saving the day in his tights. However not every superhero
in Ex-Heroes has this type of personality. I can probably make countless of
references towards superhero or mutant fiction and compare, but I won't. In
creating his superheroes for Ex-Heroes, Peter Clines has come up with some
unique concepts of his own that make up for some interesting heroes. There are
quite a few in the story but some like Zzzap, Gorgon and Cerberus and from the
bad guys Midknight. Zzap is just awesome being able to shift his body into a
living mass of energy, think a solar flare sorta. But it doesn't there Zzzap is
also able to tune into radio frequencies and commune directly to walkie
talkies. Ow wait and yeah fly at speed of sound. Now Gorgon, who is able to
suck live out of people by looking into them, I actually thought he was a bit
of a letdown being a hero, his power only influences, the living and since the
majority of the inhabitants of Los Angeles are ex-living well... however in the
end of the book there is nice turn of events that really makes Gorgon’s
character stand out, together with Zzzap, this is just the type of stuff I
wanted to read about. Lastly there is Cerberus, and this is one hero that is
quite different, more of a self made, self proclaimed cyborg hero, the operator
invented the Cerberus system and kitted it out with a lot of guns... of course
there are quite a few more heroes in Ex-Heroes and most of them all have their
own introduction. It was good to see the diversity in superpowers and how the individual
superheroes acted.
The part of having their own
introduction really helps to make the story more interesting and to establish
each individual superhero into the storyline. I think everyone is always
curious as to how a superhero got into his or her powers and what they can do.
In Ex-Heroes you are introduced to the characters and later their individual
stories are being highlighted in different chapters. Mentioning how they got it
and what kind of impact it had on their lives. These chapters are themed
"then" and the current storyline takes place in the "now"
chapters. Like I said this alternating between the past and current events
really produced a much more interesting and engaging storyline, especially
given the background of several superheroes.
As for the zombie part. Ex-Heroes
actually takes place not that long after the initial events of the outbreak,
only a year or two. The zombies are referred to as ex-humans (ex-living),
having lived and not living anymore. The government stated that zombies were
pure fiction and wouldn't except that term. Peter Clines shows the ex-humans in
a slow and dumb manner, getting stuck in closets and in showers behind the
curtains, giving them on one hand quite a humorous take but when in some scenes
several characters do get cornered by them it isn't quite all that funny
anymore and Peter Clines manages to hit the right snares in his writing to
produce that eerie and tense dark feeling of being surrounded with no possible
escape. Furthermore it was good to see that we, as a reader, didn't have to
take the introduction of the ex-humans on the fly. As the story progresses in
Ex-Heroes you learn more and more about the events that earlier transpired with
the virus, the efficacy of it, how it operates and that probably everyone does
carry it. The ex-virus doesn't has the same mode of operation as many other
often used pathogens in zombie fiction. Eventually reading about the origins of
the ex-virus was a complete curveball, I wasn’t expecting that to happen!
The storyline of Ex-Heroes is starts off
with only a small problem for our superhero, you see how they live their daily
"normal" lives, scavenging remaining food stores while the city of
Los Angeles is riddled with exes around each corner. The exes aren't their own
problems as there is still the threat of the Seventeen, a gang that is holed up
in Los Angeles as well and they don't have a keen eye on the superheroes. By
this friction the story of Ex-Heroes takes a turn for a much darker side as our
team of superheroes now have to take on a force even they will have their hands
full of. In setting up the plot of the first book I really liked how Peter
Clines took the zombie aspect even further, further than just showing the ex-human,
the virus can do a lot more and the higher forces make it even more
interesting... take a close look at the title!. With what Peter Clines has done
for the ending of the book you are in for a surprise.
Ex-Heroes is a highly enjoyable read that tackles the superhero and zombie themes and mashes them up in one action packed, blockbustery story. Peter Clines has created his own set off cool superheroes that each have their own pro's and yes they have flaws as well, they aren't all the all omnipotent, all powerful but even they can succumb of mortal wounds. It's for them also a game to watch out for the ex-humans and this taken together with the mass of them does create a great tension when our heroes our cornered in various scenes. The characters in this book aren't explored in the deepest but they all do have their own history and part in the storyline which makes them individually stand out. The focus of Ex-Heroes is on the whole of the story, with the bad guys being beaten by the superheroes taken together with the threat of the ex-humans. And on this whole, Ex-Heroes succeeds. If you are looking for a fast paced, action packed book when no superhero movies are on TV, get this book, otherwise still get this book it's enjoyable, you will get your laughs but also that dark gritty and claustrophobic sense when the exes come knocking!