To be blunt, I gave up on this book about halfway through. Mostly out of frustration, a little out of anger.

Bennett has painstakingly created an incredibly rich and detailed sci-fi setting, complete with superhumans, cyborgs, and a myriad of other concepts which had the POTENTIAL to blow a reader's mind.

The actual execution fell so far short of that potential that I feel shame for writing this review on Goodreads.

PROS:
- Unique and detailed background with immeasurable promise
- Remarkably dilig More...

I had very ambivalent reactions to Only Superhuman.

I really liked the central concept. Bennett starts with a fairly optimistic future in which, a century hence, there are hundreds of space habitats in the inner- and mid-solar system. The environment is rife with social schisms and empire/colony-ish tensions. The novelty is in Bennett postulating that humans with both intrinsic genetic and external technological adaptations to better survive in space might literally be inspired by and emulate 20t More...

If I could give this half-stars, it would go to 3.5. Since it can't, I'm knocking it up to a 4.I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it, but I probably won't be revisiting it. If, however, Mr. Bennett writes a sequel, then I'd definitely want to at least check it out. He certainly left enough doors open to revisit the same protagonists and antagonists--or create entirely new ones within the confines of his elaborately constructed future of roughly 100 years from now.

In a nutshell, this book wa More...

***Disclosure - I received an Advanced Reading Copy from a Goodreads giveaway.***

I'd give Only Superhuman 3.5 stars. It's a nice book, but the pacing is a bit slow. It's interesting, but not exactly innovative.

I don't have too much experience with cyberpunk, but I'd say this book is part cyberpunk, part comic book super hero story, and part hard science fiction.

All the main characters owe their super powers to cybernetic enhancements. And the main plot line is a struggle for power over the surro More...

Originally published at our Kirkus blog

In the year 2107, humanity has banned any human genetics modifications—other than the basic mods needed for human survival on Earth and the immediately adjacent colonies, that is. But while Earth and her immediate neighbors are genetic conservatives, human settlements in the Asteroid belt and the outskirts of the solar system are far more radical minded. Here, human genomes are spliced with animal and machine, resulting in people with super-human abilities, More...

A lot of books take themselves seriously, but this one is blatantly about gorgeous supers dishing out justice in the asteroid belt, while delivering corny punchlines, while looking fantastic.

Bennett doesn't just get the science right in this, he comes up with ideas for settings and background that I just haven't seen laid out in such a believable and rigorous manner. These were not info dumps, but a well paced story that kept on hitting you with new awesomeness through nearly the whole book. Eve More...

Let me start with an explanation. I was given this book to read by the Library Systems Reader's Choice selector leader. It looked interesting and like something I would read. I really did enjoy the interesting storyline about humans living in space after the Earth is partially destroyed. The space dwellers have their own governments and ways they feel are best to live. Interesting story about a Group known as the Troubleshooters, who are kind of a vigilanty police force. I was almost ready to pu More...

Superheroes and prose are always an awkward fit at best, and Only Superhuman makes things even more awkward by moving everything into a posthuman science-fiction milieu. It's hard to imagine what would make any individual so outstanding in a world where anyone can transform themselves into a weapon of mass destruction through genetic modification and advanced technology. Which isn't to say it can't be done, but that Christopher L. Bennett doesn't even begin to tackle that issue.

It also doesn't h

More...

A novel involving "Wrath-Of-Khan"-style, cartoon-ish superhumans from the near future who help maintain a fragile peace and civil order in an era of humanity scattered about the solar system. Some of these "mods" are needed to live in the high radiation off planets, some are for ideological reasons, and some just from curiosity. Debates about appropriateness and ultimate goals for altering our genome combine with population, political, and economic struggles to put all the variety of humanity in More...

I really love the concept for Only Superman. Space colonization comic book heroes with all the tropes? Yes, please! The characters are a lot of fun, and Strider society manages to be both plausible and reasonably fresh. There's a lot here to recommend the book.

That said, I had some trouble with it. It plays the comic book tropes quite well, and the whole environment is clearly comic-book-y: brightly colored and action-packed. However, as well as those tropes play in a comic book, they don't alwa More...

This comic bookish novel revolves around the life of Emerald Blair of the Troubleshooters, a group of modified humans with special implants and genetic changes that make them stronger and more powerful than ordinary humans.

The Troubleshooters are in space in the space stations and habitations surrounding the Earth to try to keep the peace between the very different humans that live out there. Specifically, many of the people who have left Earth, have determined that advances in body modificatio More...

Only Superhuman is written by Christopher L. Bennett and is a hard-science take on superheroes, in a science fiction setting. Without giving too many details away, the main plot is about Emerald Blair, a member of the Troubleshooters Corps, a group of modified humans who maintain law and order in the colonies established in the asteroid belt region beyond Earth. When a conspiracy is discovered to enslave all of mankind, Blair's loyalties are questioned when all is not what it seems to be.

This is More...

I confess, this book was written for me. There I said it. I was completely biased the entire way through. Every thread of the plot, every string of story felt tailor-made for me. I kept feeling like I was experiencing a mash-up of both Battlestar Galactica and Heroes t.v.s shows as done by the Wachowskis. I enjoyed the feel of the universe that Mr. Bennett developed, and felt that his science (fiction) elements fit in very nicely alongside the super-human backdrop. My personal preference would h More...

Pretty good book blending sci-fi and superheroes. Gets a little preachy at times with with political commentary but speeds up at the end. Check the glossary at the back if some of the terms and slang give you problems, it will help. I would recommend this for people who really like space based sci-fi since most of it takes place on orbital habitats and not on any planets and have an equal liking for superhero stories and the whole "with great power..." debate. I did have some problem is with the More...

A pretty fun superhero book. In a world rife with genetic manipulations, a few with particularly strong mutants have teamed up to be a league of heroes. Needless to say, others do not like them, and some have superpowers of their own.

I'm not really a big comic book fan, and this is definitely a comic book form, though without the pictures, but I still enjoyed it. One thing I appreciated was that none of the superpowers were impossible. They were mostly either extra muscle and recuperative powers More...

I was really excited about this book. I mean, science fiction with a female protagonist plus sex. And that cover!

But it's just not for me. This was like the life story of a superhero. At 20%, I'd experienced more flashbacks than present action. The world-building was beautiful and complex, but sadly it was conveyed through infodumps and flashbacks. Maybe there was just too much effort put toward showing off the world and not enough effort toward developing a story in the present.

I didn't finish More...

Here it is (finally), a legitimate science fiction novel with a superhero component. But the superheroes don't fit into in a Green Lantern/Superman mold. They can't save the world or stop the sun from flaring. They're called Troubleshooters and that's what they do. They prevent trouble. Emerald Blair (aka the Green Blaze) is the toughest of the bunch. She's a wild child with an Electra Complex and her mission is to champion the underdog, save some lives, make a difference, and "have wild thank-y More...

I loved the premise of this book. Science Fiction and Superheroes? Count me in! But...the dialog instantly kills the book for me. Although written for a mature readership (contains adult language etc.) the dialog was so juvenile, I couldn't read on.

It may appeal so some folks, but the cheesy Superhero dialog is better suited to children's books, not adult fiction.

This one was wavering between a 2.5 and 3 star book. ETA: Upon further thought, have to go with 2 stars though Reminded me a lot of the book by Austin Grossman, Soon I Will Be Invincible, definitely had a very comic-book feel to all the characters, but that was expected, and not all a bad thing. My biggest issue by far, was the constant interjecting the main character's sexuality into, well, everything. Unfortunately, this rings true to the hyper sexualized giant boobs tiny costumes history of w More...

It's a decent audiobook. Not amazing but it kept my interest. The other reviews had me thinking that it was going to be reading about a sex fest or something but the parts that had Dex in then were pretty subdued in my opinion. Worth listening to though, the whole concept is pretty cool and it seemed to emulate a comic book fairly well.

A very enjoyable book with many good characters. I love the society the author sets up in the asteroid belt. The only thing that keeps me from giving this book 4 stars is the preoccupation with sex running constantly through the book. It really got in the way of the plot.

I did not finish this book. I had been every excited to read this--I am a huge comic fan and from the little bit I had read about it, I thought it would be interesting.

Needless to say, I got about 25% of the way through my read, and found I had no interest to continue. I put the book down about a week ago, and I cannot recall much of anything that I read--heck, I can’t even remember the specific points about why I disliked it, let alone anything that might have been good.

So, for me, this was not More...

A very good read.

#159/2012

An imperfect book without question but a very promising glimpse into a feverishly imaginative mind. I think the second biggest issue is trying to cram so many goodies into one story without having a very strong plot to move all the pieces along. The first is failing to create sympathy with the main character who does come off a little like a male fantasy rather than an actual woman. But I read it and I would read the sequel. My bet is he gets much better next time around.

NYCC12 freebie.

I was only able to get through the first chapter. I love scifi and I like superheros but this was not written for me. The dialogue was cheesy and the characters stereotypes. I'm betting the target audience is teenage boys.

An interesting romp through a solar system sized world of genetically engineered people. Avoids infodumping while still providing room for thought amidst the action scenes.

Ambitious attempt at future post-human superheroes in space. Failed due to Strong Female Characters behaving like a teenaged boy's wank fantasy.

And the most magnificent cover award goes to...!!!