Cute story, great writing, but too short.
Genre: Y/A, Fantasy, GLBT
No. of pages: 39
From Goodreads:
Unlike most people, Ethan Elliot never wanted to be a superhero. Nevertheless, when his powers flare up to save his life—and the lives of innocents—he has no choice in the matter. Plunged into a world of capes, costumes and derring-do, he’ll do what it takes to succeed. Even if that means casting away his old life to become someone else. Maybe even someone better…
Fun, campy, everything you’d expect from a superhero tale.
But ‘Untouchable’ was a little too short. There was little world building and hardly any time to give the characters’ back story or motivation. It just jumped straight into the action. The narrative has a comedic dry wit that is pleasing, and I wish this had been longer, more developed because Starcevic’s writing style is brilliant.
I staggered a little catching up with the lingo as well. Without the landscape being step up and time taken to explain the slang I was left re-reading parts to make sense of it all.
In the same vein, the relationship between Ethan (our protagonist) and Greyson didn’t have time to build, and felt rushed – forced even. I love the concept of gay teen superheroes, but we need more “story” for this coupling to truly shine.
Additionally, because of the plot being rushed along, some of the character’s reactions felt fake/forced. Would have loved this story to progress organically. It would have been brilliant. There is so much potential here, I was really hoping this could have been developed into a full length novel. With the campy, witty writing style I got to sample, it would become a fast favourite.
We get introduced to some interesting characters and superheroes. Their powers are fun (even if a little derivative,) but the tone of the novella is set early and you get a lot of punch for such a brief short.
Looking forward to the next installment, ‘Unmasked’ but given the authors publisher has gone belly-up, it’s uncertain when Starcevic’s work will be available for purchase again. I emailed the author directly to get an e-copy for this review. I’m keeping my eye on this one – great things could happen 🙂
Overall feeling: Brief, but brilliant.
© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Casey Carlisle 