Hero

You picky picky people! Wanting to know the name of the book I loved so very much...ridiculous.

Anyway, it's Hero by Perry Moore.

The story is about Thom Creed, who is such a wonderful character you are forced to forgive him the pretension of spelling his name with an "h". Thom is pretty much your typical teen. Except that he's not. Thom has secrets; a lot of them. But we'll get to that in a moment.

One thing that is not a secret is who Thom's father is: Hal Creed, once known as Major Might, one of the greatest heroes in the world. Now, Hal is in disgrace, reviled by the public and his old comrades. He works in a factory trying to make enough so that his son can have a better life. But the story of how Hal came to be in disgrace is one that no one understands completely... No one but Hal, and he won't talk about it.

Hal has forbidden the discussion of superheroes and especially the League. He rants frequently about those with powers, and how they will bring the fall of society.

So naturally, when Thom begins to manifest powers, he keeps it to himself.

But Thom is a good kid, who volunteers as a mentor to younger kids, and works two jobs as well as juggling schoolwork to help his dad out. He's not the sort of person who can just sit back while people need help. So when the League approaches him and asks if he'd like to try out for the team, he jumps at the chance.

Unfortunately, Thom has a bad habit of putting his foot squarely in his mouth, so his probationary teammates all see him as a bit of an idiot. Not only that, but Thom also has another secret. One that you find out near the beginning of the book, but one that took me by delightful surprise, so I'm not going to spoil it here.

Along his way, Thom meets Ruth, a cantankerous old woman who can see the future and who always has a quip or bit of advice; Typhoid Larry, who can make people sick, and who looks like a walking disease himself; Golden Boy, the Silver Bullet's sidekick who has a giant stick up his ass, but may actually turn out to be a decent guy; and Miss Scarlett whose temper is not to be trifled with.

All of the characters are rich and multi-layered. Just when you think you have someone pegged, you find out another piece of their background. "Oh," you say, "so THAT'S why they've been acting like that."

The plot is ultimately predictable (though there were some twists I didn't see coming) but it's fast-paced and draws you in so it's hard to stop reading.

But what I liked most about it was the way it wore it's heart on it's sleeve. It's like one of those movies that obviously didn't have a very big budget, but you can tell everyone who worked on it had a great time and really cared about the project as a whole. Sometimes those movies are a little cheesy, there are some flaws, but you forgive them because it just looks like so much fun! It's clear that the author really cared about these characters and so you find yourself caring about them too. They're not perfect, but that's why you love them.

The heroes themselves are rather obviously molded after the comic book heroes we (or at least, I) already know and love. I think Hal is equal parts Batman and Captain America. Then there's Warrior Woman, the Silver Bullet, King of the Sea, the Spectrum, and many more. Each of them is unique, but with little winks to the audience who might know them by another name.

So, there you have it. Hero.

Tomorrow, I'm planning a trip to the Met Museum for a little inspiration, so hopefully I'll have a story about that for next time.

Jules