Very Fun

I'm not a big super hero fan, but I have to give praise to this author for how well thought out this series is. It takes a real world look at what would happen in a world with super heroes, what challenged it would face and how society would realistically change. This book is a fun romp with an interesting set of villains, and introduces some new characters. Overall it's a lot of fun, a bit slow at some parts but a fast read.

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Really getting into the Astra universe

The older characters and the new faces are helping to flesh out the Astra universe and bring it to life. I am looking forward to the next "books" since I'm late to the dance and don't have to wait for a new story.

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Wondering read! Er, listen.

I already love the story from when I read it. And I have long wished for an audiobook version. But, it was worth the wait. Miss Kelly is the perfect voice for Astra, and does a great job of bringing all the characters to life. So, a great book was made even better.

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Another Great Volume in This Series

One of the many things Marion Harmon does very well is develop ultra-powerful super villain threats. This time the book opens with the Green Man—a super-powered eco-terrorist with the ability to make plant life grow and spread at remarkable speed. So new trees essentially “charge” across the parks, break up roads, grab and kill anyone in their paths, wreck property, overturn cars and basically try and turn Chicago into a forest. Stopping the growth across a front more than a mile wide and rescuing all the people involved would tax the abilities of the Justice League or the Avengers and it’s a great challenge for Harmon’s Sentinels. But it’s not the only difficulty they face in this story.

The Wreckers, a new group of super villains, has come to Chicago where they are targeting for execution known members of the Paladins—an anti-supers extremist group. The Wreckers powers are top-notch and dangerous and they’re not afraid of causing a lot of collateral damage in their attacks. To make matters worse, their appears to be a connection between the Wreckers and the mysterious mass murderer called the Ascendant, further complicating the Sentinels’ problems.

While all of this is happening, Blackstone decides to increase the fire power of the main team by recruiting a group of trainee heroes to be led by Astra. Technically, these new heroes-in-training will be blocked from most combat operations, but in the insanity that has become Chicago that is often impossible. With the city in constant danger the Sentinels are going to need all the help they can get to win this face off.

Enriching all the action is the growing cast of very strong characters and intriguing personal relationships that are Harmon’s bread and butter. One of the young Sentinels is a Merlin-type super who believes she is Ozma of Oz. Grendel is a shape changer who gained his powers the day he lost his family in the Ascendant’s first mass homicide. Megaton’s family has deserted him because they’re afraid of his new superpowers. These backdrops create intriguing problems for Astra to deal with that can’t be simply punched and kicked into submission.

Finally, in my review of Villain’s Inc I expressed some unhappiness with the change in narrator from K. F. Lim to Caitlin Kelly. I still like Lim’s excellent narration of Wearing the Cape, but Kelly has found her groove in the series and I was completely comfortable with her storyteller’s voice. She shows a lot of talent in bringing the large cast to life and I look forward to hearing her read the next book in the series.

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Pity Party

Wow talking about a step back ! The production was horrible especially the switch between the different characters it will be really low volume or extremely high volume and boy if you don’t like pitying and crying characters then don’t get it just skip this one !

Where are the side stories?

In the second book Jackie's adventure not being available in audio format doesn't have much impact. In this one the lack of an audio version of Omega Night is putting some people at a pronounced disadvantage. For anyone who is willing to do so I highly recommend reading at least Omega Night before listening to this one. Maybe even Jackie's adventures in the Big Easy as well, though thankfully that isn't needed to properly put things in this one into context. Really, those side stories are just as much a part of the series as the main books, and there are a lot of references between them.