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Project Northwoods
In a world where heroism and villainy are 9-to-5 gigs, Arthur Lovelass’s life has reached critical mass. Every attempt he’s made to humiliate his popular and heroic father has failed, his girlfriend has left him, his sister won’t talk to him, and he’s jobless. As if that weren’t bad enough, his roommate is threatening to kick him out of the apartment after he causes an embarrassing accident which leaves her just as unemployed.
Things get worse when Arthur guilts his best friend Tim into accompanying him on a prank at the Heroes’ Guild. Instead of petty vandalism, the two stumble on a conspiracy which leaves four dead and the ‘Lord of Justice’ Arbiter on a campaign of revenge which threatens the very world Arthur longs to be a part of.
Things get worse when Arthur guilts his best friend Tim into accompanying him on a prank at the Heroes’ Guild. Instead of petty vandalism, the two stumble on a conspiracy which leaves four dead and the ‘Lord of Justice’ Arbiter on a campaign of revenge which threatens the very world Arthur longs to be a part of.
594 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2014
4 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Charles Bruce
4 books11 followersAuthor of Washed Hands, Project Northwoods, and Improbables, Jonathan Bruce began writing what amounted to terrible Star Trek: The Next Generation fan fiction when he was four... provided that you accept that "forcing other people to write what he said" is the same thing as "writing". Although the original manuscripts are lost (or perhaps destroyed), we can rest assured that his prose has improved significantly since then. After high school, he began writing and directing plays which gradually improved depending on whom you ask. He discovered his love of a good fight scene after writing a Dracula knock-off which took a 19th century classic and made it less about Victorian yearning and 300% more about stabbing things in the jugular.
He has a Master's Degree in History, thanks largely to his thesis focusing on MUSIC, a Milwaukee-based school desegregation campaign during the 1960's. He also enjoys discussing/making fun of pop culture of the 20th century and reading books of a non-historical nature. In his off moments, you can catch him writing for fun or making inane movies about nothing in particular.
He has a Master's Degree in History, thanks largely to his thesis focusing on MUSIC, a Milwaukee-based school desegregation campaign during the 1960's. He also enjoys discussing/making fun of pop culture of the 20th century and reading books of a non-historical nature. In his off moments, you can catch him writing for fun or making inane movies about nothing in particular.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 16, 2014
Arthur Lovelass is an aspiring super villain but in a world where acts of villainy and heroics are heavily regulated and even scheduled being a villain means ensuring the success of a hero. After his latest proposal is rejected for being infallible and he's denied his villain license once again, Arthur decides to strike back through a petty act of vandalism only to witness the first maneuver in a deadly conspiracy.
Project Northwoods is an amusing, dramatic story with memorable characters and fantastic world building. It's written in an interesting style that's visually descriptive with a focus on action. There are numerous fight scenes that are well choreographed and detailed. The dialogue is sprinkled with amusing and witty one liners. It's somewhat reminiscent of a screenplay in the sense that I imagine it could easily be adapted into a graphic novel, television series or film.
There is a large cast of characters and the story is told from multiple points of view with fluid transitions grouped into sections that are labeled by sigils as villain or hero. Narration is in third person omniscient which I rarely come across so it took me a while to adjust to the style.
I loved the world building in this story. It flips various tropes from super hero stories in a way that surpasses a simple parody by forging its own identity and reality. I liked how much detail was given to the society's structure such as the government model, laws and their enforcement. I also liked that there was diversity among the characters in terms of their powers, competence, mind set, and gender.
I adored the underlying social commentary on the ambiguity of good and evil especially when the story began exploring concepts such as conformity, government, war, and genocide. The alternate parallel war history was interesting with the incorporation of supernatural elements. These components gave the story a darker intensity that was unexpected but I enjoyed how it added depth to the story and heightened the tension.
I don't know the exact word count but I would estimate Project Northwoods to be the length of about three average books at 80,000 words a piece. Definitely getting your money's worth but the length and complexity seemed to enhance rough spots that arose occasionally. Mainly issues that can be contributed to a large cast and the descriptive nature of the story. Though it was distracting at times I found that my investment in the characters and story enabled me to forgive these rough patches.
Project Northwoods is an ambitious novel that blends humor with drama to create a vivid and engaging story where heroes and villains are difficult to tell apart.
[Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book through a blog giveaway]
Project Northwoods is an amusing, dramatic story with memorable characters and fantastic world building. It's written in an interesting style that's visually descriptive with a focus on action. There are numerous fight scenes that are well choreographed and detailed. The dialogue is sprinkled with amusing and witty one liners. It's somewhat reminiscent of a screenplay in the sense that I imagine it could easily be adapted into a graphic novel, television series or film.
There is a large cast of characters and the story is told from multiple points of view with fluid transitions grouped into sections that are labeled by sigils as villain or hero. Narration is in third person omniscient which I rarely come across so it took me a while to adjust to the style.
I loved the world building in this story. It flips various tropes from super hero stories in a way that surpasses a simple parody by forging its own identity and reality. I liked how much detail was given to the society's structure such as the government model, laws and their enforcement. I also liked that there was diversity among the characters in terms of their powers, competence, mind set, and gender.
I adored the underlying social commentary on the ambiguity of good and evil especially when the story began exploring concepts such as conformity, government, war, and genocide. The alternate parallel war history was interesting with the incorporation of supernatural elements. These components gave the story a darker intensity that was unexpected but I enjoyed how it added depth to the story and heightened the tension.
I don't know the exact word count but I would estimate Project Northwoods to be the length of about three average books at 80,000 words a piece. Definitely getting your money's worth but the length and complexity seemed to enhance rough spots that arose occasionally. Mainly issues that can be contributed to a large cast and the descriptive nature of the story. Though it was distracting at times I found that my investment in the characters and story enabled me to forgive these rough patches.
Project Northwoods is an ambitious novel that blends humor with drama to create a vivid and engaging story where heroes and villains are difficult to tell apart.
[Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book through a blog giveaway]
June 14, 2014
Who doesn’t love Superheros? Project Northwoods is a great book about superheros and villains. But the lines get a little blurred. In the 60′s both sides came together to fight a Nazi super-soldier. Unfortunately, the villains were not given their due credit and this causes a rift between the fragile balance between the two. It will definitely make you rethink exactly what defines “good” and what defines “evil”. The good guys don’t always do the right things and the bad guys don’t always do the wrong things.
The main focus of the novel is Arthur Lovelass, who is the son of a famous superhero. His sister also happens to be a superhero. Arthur is brilliant, but perhaps his brilliance is directed to the wrong path. He aspires to be a super-villain; but the Super Villains Guild won’t license him. After another failed attempt to get licensed, his day goes from bad to worse and he finds himself, along with his best friend Tim, in the wrong place at the wrong time. An all out war is brewing.
This book is action packed from start to finish. You will run through a range of emotions; laughing out loud to snippy one-liners between characters, biting your nails as the action goes into full swing and you have no idea which way it will go, and even shedding a tear or two when… well, I can’t give that way now can I?
This is a really long book and probably could have been broken up into two, but truthfully the length isn’t an issue. Once things get going (and it’s right from the very first page) you won’t be able to put it down. The way the story is told leaves things open (but not a cliffhanger, it’s neatly wrapped up at the end) for another book or two (my vote is one with Zombress!) There’s a little bit of everything in this novel; conspiracy, drama, mystery, action, and awesome superheros/villains! Which side are you on?
The main focus of the novel is Arthur Lovelass, who is the son of a famous superhero. His sister also happens to be a superhero. Arthur is brilliant, but perhaps his brilliance is directed to the wrong path. He aspires to be a super-villain; but the Super Villains Guild won’t license him. After another failed attempt to get licensed, his day goes from bad to worse and he finds himself, along with his best friend Tim, in the wrong place at the wrong time. An all out war is brewing.
This book is action packed from start to finish. You will run through a range of emotions; laughing out loud to snippy one-liners between characters, biting your nails as the action goes into full swing and you have no idea which way it will go, and even shedding a tear or two when… well, I can’t give that way now can I?
This is a really long book and probably could have been broken up into two, but truthfully the length isn’t an issue. Once things get going (and it’s right from the very first page) you won’t be able to put it down. The way the story is told leaves things open (but not a cliffhanger, it’s neatly wrapped up at the end) for another book or two (my vote is one with Zombress!) There’s a little bit of everything in this novel; conspiracy, drama, mystery, action, and awesome superheros/villains! Which side are you on?
July 29, 2014
Project Northwoods sets up an incredibly interesting and entertaining universe in which superheroes and villains are the norm. Despite that, the basis of the central conflict wouldn't be out of place in a realistic novel, which is a big plus in my eyes.
The first chapter was a little rough to get through because you're thrown directly into an action sequence as an introduction to the world, but when we meet Arthur and his friends, everything gets easier to follow. Everything that's meant to be easy to follow from there at least.
The novel's biggest strengths are easily the characters (who are all three dimensional and easy to root for) and the dialogue (which is snappy and funny and kind of reminded me of an R-rated version of Whedon lines). There are a lot of characters though and sometimes that got confusing, but that's why there's an appendix and really, that's just my lack of familiarity with ensemble books coming out probably.
The action sequences are intensely detailed which is a double edged sword. On one hand, it was easy to picture the fights, but on the other, there was so much that at times the fights dragged.
Overall, it's an entertaining book that plays with the superhero genre at times and utilizes the strengths of it at others. If you like superheroes and characters with real motivations for kicking ass with a witty one liner, this would be a book to check out.
The first chapter was a little rough to get through because you're thrown directly into an action sequence as an introduction to the world, but when we meet Arthur and his friends, everything gets easier to follow. Everything that's meant to be easy to follow from there at least.
The novel's biggest strengths are easily the characters (who are all three dimensional and easy to root for) and the dialogue (which is snappy and funny and kind of reminded me of an R-rated version of Whedon lines). There are a lot of characters though and sometimes that got confusing, but that's why there's an appendix and really, that's just my lack of familiarity with ensemble books coming out probably.
The action sequences are intensely detailed which is a double edged sword. On one hand, it was easy to picture the fights, but on the other, there was so much that at times the fights dragged.
Overall, it's an entertaining book that plays with the superhero genre at times and utilizes the strengths of it at others. If you like superheroes and characters with real motivations for kicking ass with a witty one liner, this would be a book to check out.
October 11, 2014
I honestly wasn't sure just what to expect when started Project Northwoods, but the description intrigued me. Heroism and villainy as 9-to-5 jobs? A world where both roles are filled in numbers so great they have their own political parties (not to mention news networks)? Plus, okay, I'm a sucker for anything with "Project ______." What I found upon reading was that Jonathan Charles Bruce had created a novel different from anything I'd ever read before.
The book starts out in 1965 with a bang (numerous ones, in fact, as something massive rampages through New York while heroes AND villains try to stop it), then moves ahead to the present for us to see how those events further shaped the society of an already intriguing world. The characters are distinct (and a couple of them had me distinctly wanting to punch them at times, but in a good way), and the plot unfolds in a way that gains momentum as the book continues.
It should be noted that, while I completely identify as a geek, my geek-tastes have never taken me too far into the world of comic books. (Exceptions: Watchmen and Sandman.) I found, at times, that the world-building took me a bit to catch up to as I tried to reconcile it with my own attitudes of what I was used to. But that's my problem, not the book's, and that's definitely not to say I didn't enjoy it. The way Bruce put a comic-book twist on our real-world political & media establishments (not to mention the mafia) had me grinning.
While I do wish the earlier chapters developed a bit more quickly (this is a LONG book), I nevertheless enjoyed where they took me. Bruce has done a great job of taking the comic book medium and making it work in a novel format.
...Er, no pun intended.
The book starts out in 1965 with a bang (numerous ones, in fact, as something massive rampages through New York while heroes AND villains try to stop it), then moves ahead to the present for us to see how those events further shaped the society of an already intriguing world. The characters are distinct (and a couple of them had me distinctly wanting to punch them at times, but in a good way), and the plot unfolds in a way that gains momentum as the book continues.
It should be noted that, while I completely identify as a geek, my geek-tastes have never taken me too far into the world of comic books. (Exceptions: Watchmen and Sandman.) I found, at times, that the world-building took me a bit to catch up to as I tried to reconcile it with my own attitudes of what I was used to. But that's my problem, not the book's, and that's definitely not to say I didn't enjoy it. The way Bruce put a comic-book twist on our real-world political & media establishments (not to mention the mafia) had me grinning.
While I do wish the earlier chapters developed a bit more quickly (this is a LONG book), I nevertheless enjoyed where they took me. Bruce has done a great job of taking the comic book medium and making it work in a novel format.
...Er, no pun intended.
April 21, 2014
This book surprised me in many ways, not all of them good.
At it's core, you have a premise of good superheros and bad superheros battling with each other in a phony, scripted environment until something happens to force them back into their old ways of truly looking to harm one another.
With a very comic book like base, you would expect something light, however, the material here is anything but. It is a somewhat dense read and read like it was 200 pages longer than what was listed.
This isn't to say that this is a bad thing, though, as the story uses superheros, but really does so to tell a different story entirely. It is telling a story about government and its inherent dangers.
I like this as it was fully unexpected for me coming in. It made some really good points and statements, many mirroring to our own government today, through its story.
The story seemed to break down more when it dealt with the combat. You would have pages upon pages of a giant battle where we were switching between different fights with multiple members. It oftentimes got confusing, and eventually would lose my interest.
Another rough spot is the beginning, which completely threw me and took me a number of chapters to unwrap my head from.
Overall, though, I did enjoy the story, but it is a little bit of work on the reader's end. As long as you don't expect something quick and light, you should be ok.
At it's core, you have a premise of good superheros and bad superheros battling with each other in a phony, scripted environment until something happens to force them back into their old ways of truly looking to harm one another.
With a very comic book like base, you would expect something light, however, the material here is anything but. It is a somewhat dense read and read like it was 200 pages longer than what was listed.
This isn't to say that this is a bad thing, though, as the story uses superheros, but really does so to tell a different story entirely. It is telling a story about government and its inherent dangers.
I like this as it was fully unexpected for me coming in. It made some really good points and statements, many mirroring to our own government today, through its story.
The story seemed to break down more when it dealt with the combat. You would have pages upon pages of a giant battle where we were switching between different fights with multiple members. It oftentimes got confusing, and eventually would lose my interest.
Another rough spot is the beginning, which completely threw me and took me a number of chapters to unwrap my head from.
Overall, though, I did enjoy the story, but it is a little bit of work on the reader's end. As long as you don't expect something quick and light, you should be ok.
January 30, 2015
Growing up on Superman, Batman, the Fantastic Four, and other heroes of the world, I was very interested to read about a world where both superheroes and villains are the norm, rather than the exception. Ever since a major battle took place several decades ago, there has been an alliance of sorts between the villains and heroes--to the point where everyone is classified as hero, villain, or neutral. And there are strict rules that must be followed.
The main thrust of the story centers around Arthur Lovelass, whose father is a very popular hero. Author is a genius inventor nerd-type and wants to be a villain in the worse sort of way, but his every attempt to join the villain's league is voted down--he's just too good. There's no way he could be defeated.
There are many other characters involved in this book and the author does a great job at investing the reader in their lives. Even though on one level they are "comic book characters", there's a lot more to them than that.
One caveat: this is not a book you want to pick up for a light hour of reading. This book is long, but don't let that put you off from picking it up. Just allow yourself plenty of time to read it. I think you will be glad you did.
I am looking forward to Mr. Bruce's next book. I definitely hope it is set in this same universe. It's somewhere I want to visit again.
The main thrust of the story centers around Arthur Lovelass, whose father is a very popular hero. Author is a genius inventor nerd-type and wants to be a villain in the worse sort of way, but his every attempt to join the villain's league is voted down--he's just too good. There's no way he could be defeated.
There are many other characters involved in this book and the author does a great job at investing the reader in their lives. Even though on one level they are "comic book characters", there's a lot more to them than that.
One caveat: this is not a book you want to pick up for a light hour of reading. This book is long, but don't let that put you off from picking it up. Just allow yourself plenty of time to read it. I think you will be glad you did.
I am looking forward to Mr. Bruce's next book. I definitely hope it is set in this same universe. It's somewhere I want to visit again.
August 29, 2014
I read this book several months ago and I’m about to start it again. It’s one of those stories that you think about often and consider the characters and replay the epic battles in your mind and keep going back to once a year to relive it all again. The plot feels like a classic superhero tale, yet unpredictable with its own fun twists, which for a story of this type is impressive. It builds to epic proportions, flirts with melodrama—because, superheroes—and culminates in some spectacular showdowns. Superhero stories do not get much better than this.
May 18, 2014
It was really super to read this kind of books sometimes. I really like to get into their hero's world. Usually I don't read this kind of book.. I watch it or I usually read comic or manga's like this book. But sometimes making different things is good. I don't want to give readers spoiler but you'll definately love the book if you're really into reading fight scenes :)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews