“Superpowers” by David J. Schwartz
In David J. Schwartz’s Superpowers, five college juniors in Madison, WI throw a party, drink beer and pass out. When they wake up, they don’t have hangovers, they have the superpowers of the book’s title: super strength, speed, invisibility, telepathy and flight. The book wonders what would happen to real kids in the real world if suddenly blessed–or is it cursed?–with superpowers.
Superheros is an older teen novel, featuring college protagonists struggling with real-life issues, in addition to their new problems. It’s also an introduction to superhero culture, perhaps best for fans of shows like Heroes or Smallville who haven’t yet become comic-book readers. I don’t think I’m the target reader; I’m too familiar with comic books dealing with similar themes, from early Spider Man and X-Men to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, to more recent comics like Powers and Runaways. For less geeky readers than me, though, this is an enjoyable young adult what-if tale.
December 13th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I hadn’t heard of this book before. I may need to check it out.