Chilling reflections by Drew Hayes

Plot

After the end of the last book life has gone back to whatever counts as normal for our superheroes and villains. With the addition of Tories line of self-defense products that are being launched forcing her to spend be presentable and spend time in the corporate world. That it until a dimensional nova bursts and sends shock-waves through the multiverse including earth. For a time the barriers between dimensions are weaker causing random (and not so random) portals to open releasing various monsters.

The nova is a time of chaos but also opportunity for those like VRX77 who can more easily travel to this dimension. Traveling here means hiding from Lodestar but it's worth it because this Tori Is a 97% match and VRX77 will do anything it takes to get her.

the New science sentries are struggling with the death of their teammate at the end of the last book. Something that's hitting Ellie hard and professor Quantum is plotting to get the team back to how he wants it even if it means kicking out certain members.

My thoughts

I didn't know the short story collection would be so integral to this but it is. For a large part of the story Ivan is off doing his own thing after getting called away to an other dimension by a friend from one of the short stories. Which I don't mind between him and Lodestar there are a lot of potential deus ex machina characters.

It had a point in the middle that felt very much like it was the end. With the main threat being neutralized. This book however is one where different characters follow different plots intersecting one another rather than converging like the other books. 

After Ike's death in the last book the characters ever present need for more power takes on a new urgency. Tori realize that even her new suit made from the material she stole from Alfred Settler doesn't hold up as well as she had hoped against VRX77 and the other more powerful foes they are coming up against. In this world there is always someone stronger and so getting stronger just means more difficult opponents.

Also professor quantum gets worse the more you learn about him to the extent that it's questionable why he is even in the AHC. At least if Quorum or Lodestar knew about it their reaction would be interesting. At least in this there are a sense of petty revenge in that his plans all fail and some theirs steal his stuff.

The epilogue sets up so much plots and I can't wait for the next book.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Chilling.

Villains vingettes by Drew Hayes

 In preparations for my Uppsala trip I restarted my Audible account. I didn't actually use it then but once I got home I have been listening on and off. The first book I got was this one. A collection of three short stories set in the same world as Forging Hephaestos. If you haven't read that or the second book then this is not for you. This ties quite heavily into the second book and does contain spoilers for it.

The Plot

The Meta...villain? Spooky Trudy has returned and she has turned a random small town into a Halloween experience. Within the town wearing any costume lets you have the abilities associated with that character. People flock from all over to experience the powers of superheroes and villains alike although in a weaker form. It's harmless fun... during the day at night the town turns dangerous. But staying the night will grant magical boons or even powers especially for whoever wins the nightly battle royal at the grave yard. 

Chloe is adamant that she wants the gifts offered. Tori and Beverly being good friends and roommates tag along to help her and keep her safe. As do their neighbors the superhero team The new science sentries though they have their own hopes for the night. 

However the meta Fashionistadore sees his opportunity to gather powers. He can assume another metas powers if he wears a part of their costume and in a place where all costumes are real this is prime hunting ground.

My thoughts

The Hallowville setting is a nice way to organically contain the story. Fashionistadore is not actually a threat that some of the more powerful characters couldn't deal with instantly. But with Spooky-trudies rules stopping Lode-star from using her power there and the rest unaware he and his grab bag of powers are enough to cause problems. Add to that Beverly, Tori and Cloe are all using borrowed powers and so can't access their own. The question becomes how they can solve this. I personally would have liked to see another solution. 

The problem of is Fashionistadore that bad is one I kept thinking about while listening. Granted we don't know of his final plans this is just to gather power, but still Tori and Beverly at least are villains and even if all the people he stole costumes from died that's still a low death count compared to several other characters. 

I do like how random the powers are. How some people just gets a shitty power and have to make the best of it. It's always a thought with most random powers universes of how useless most are in a non combat environment. This doesn't solve that but rather leans into it occupationally giving powers that are useless in every situation. 

The series has a very large set of characters and I would have liked if this took the chance to explore some of them. Actually that was what I had expected it to be or doing new team ups They are all the ones explored in previous stories. Tori and her roommates, the new science sentries in the first, Ivan in the second, Tori and Ivan in the third along with quick scenes from other familiar characters. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it and I think anyone who has read the first two books will as well but I expected something more. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Vingettes.

Forging Hephaestus by Drew Hayes

 This is a story about superheroes and villains but more realistically portrayed. And I don’t mean that in a The Boys, everyone's an arsehole, way.
The heroes are mostly just people trying to do their best, even if they are a bit too obsessed with public perception. The same goes for the villains. Their focus is on having the freedom to do what they want and are in general nice to one another. 
Several decades ago a scientist, who would later become the world's first superhero Professor Quantum, broke physics with an experiment and since then people have been randomly getting superpowers, becoming metahumans. There followed a time of general chaos where superheroes and villains regularly fought in the streets but for the last or so decade things have been mostly quiet.
The story mostly follows Tori Revas. She gained fire powers after an accident trying to design a meta suit (think iron man) and is caught stealing plans from Indigo technologies a company that unbeknownst to her is owned by Wade Wyatt aka Doctor Mechanical a legendary super-villain and founder of the guild of villainous reformation. Taking an interest in Tori he offers her a place at the guild (the other option is death so she agrees) and then blackmails his old friend and former roommate Ivan Gerhart (aka the infamous Fornax) to mentor her.
She befriends the other new recruits, learns to harness her powers, how to hold down a regular job and generally manage her public persona as well as her villainous one. During this she finds out that the reason for the quiet is that the guild follows a strict code of conduct and brutally murders anyone who doesn't follow it. But things aren't always what they seem and there are forces that lurk frying to get back to the good old days of murder and mayhem.
I've read it three times now, well listened to it and its sequel as an audiobook. The things that make me want to reread a book are usually characters I like and this one has several.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Forging Hephaestus