What do you think?
Rate this book
Superpower Chronicles #4
Villains
It’s up to me to stop the apocalypse, and... I got nothing. My friends want to quit, my allies don’t believe me, and the only ones willing to help me are criminals. Someone wants to burn this city to the ground, but I don’t know who, I don’t know why, and I don’t know how to stop them. And, fun fact, they are not the only villains! If you enjoy diving into pulse-pounding action, puzzling out clues, and rooting for the underdog--you will love Raven’s adventures in Villains, the fourth book of Superpower Chronicles. For fans of Spider-Man and The Teen Titans. Get your copy today!
- GenresSuperheroes
318 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 6, 2019
74 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 29, 2020
I think the copy editing, which was shockingly bad in the earlier books, actually got a bit better in this one - though neither the author nor the editor he credits have run spellcheck, still.
Setting that aside, I like these books, because Ryan/Raven is a classic underdog. He doesn't have much in the way of superpowers, though it seems like his powers have got a bit better in this book (I don't remember his super-healing, though maybe that's me). He can't fly, he's not super-strong or invulnerable or anything useful like that, he can't fire energy beams or set things on fire. He learns physical actions really easily, so he's a parkour expert and martial artist, and he can (sometimes, unreliably) go into a subjective "slow time" mode which gives him more time to react to what's going on. That's it - except it isn't. His real superpower is that he's good at recruiting allies, even from among the villains; and he's really, really determined to do the right thing (protect the city and the people who live there), at any cost to himself, despite being comprehensively outmatched at every turn. He's also a decent detective, though that's mainly down to the allies thing.
At one point, he has what could easily have been the stupid Convenient Eavesdrop trope, except the author makes him earn his eavesdrop by deliberately hiding in a precarious position to overhear what he knows will be an informative meeting (which in turn enables him to be at another meeting to eavesdrop and allows him to save someone and recruit another ally). There are one or two small coincidences to advance the plot, but nothing too convenient.
Superhero fights form a large proportion of the book, again, and it was almost a little too much, again, but not quite. The action is varied, there's always more at stake than just "do they win the fight," and watching Raven improvise his way to another narrow victory (or, at least, a defeat he and his allies can escape in more or less one piece) is always entertaining. The author knows how to write an action plot, and the snarky narration is genuinely amusing.
His mess of a personal/family/school life is more in the background for this volume, though it's getting more and more entangled with his superhero life.
I came out of this one wanting to read the next, but I will still wait for the price to drop a bit. The normal price of the books is too high for the poor standard of copy editing, which is also what kept this one off my Best of the Year list.
Setting that aside, I like these books, because Ryan/Raven is a classic underdog. He doesn't have much in the way of superpowers, though it seems like his powers have got a bit better in this book (I don't remember his super-healing, though maybe that's me). He can't fly, he's not super-strong or invulnerable or anything useful like that, he can't fire energy beams or set things on fire. He learns physical actions really easily, so he's a parkour expert and martial artist, and he can (sometimes, unreliably) go into a subjective "slow time" mode which gives him more time to react to what's going on. That's it - except it isn't. His real superpower is that he's good at recruiting allies, even from among the villains; and he's really, really determined to do the right thing (protect the city and the people who live there), at any cost to himself, despite being comprehensively outmatched at every turn. He's also a decent detective, though that's mainly down to the allies thing.
At one point, he has what could easily have been the stupid Convenient Eavesdrop trope, except the author makes him earn his eavesdrop by deliberately hiding in a precarious position to overhear what he knows will be an informative meeting (which in turn enables him to be at another meeting to eavesdrop and allows him to save someone and recruit another ally). There are one or two small coincidences to advance the plot, but nothing too convenient.
Superhero fights form a large proportion of the book, again, and it was almost a little too much, again, but not quite. The action is varied, there's always more at stake than just "do they win the fight," and watching Raven improvise his way to another narrow victory (or, at least, a defeat he and his allies can escape in more or less one piece) is always entertaining. The author knows how to write an action plot, and the snarky narration is genuinely amusing.
His mess of a personal/family/school life is more in the background for this volume, though it's getting more and more entangled with his superhero life.
I came out of this one wanting to read the next, but I will still wait for the price to drop a bit. The normal price of the books is too high for the poor standard of copy editing, which is also what kept this one off my Best of the Year list.
November 18, 2019
Great read
Wonderful addition to the Superpower Chronicles series. The books have great humor, action, emotion and awesome characters. I've enjoyed all four books immensely. Can't wait until the new one comes out next year. Raven is a wonderful character and having all the heroes in the same school now will have so much more room for stuff to happen. Just hope Peregrine comes back. With Raven the only person who knows who all the others are there will be a lot more mishaps to come I'm sure. I would recommend this book to any reader that enjoys humor and action in their stories.
Wonderful addition to the Superpower Chronicles series. The books have great humor, action, emotion and awesome characters. I've enjoyed all four books immensely. Can't wait until the new one comes out next year. Raven is a wonderful character and having all the heroes in the same school now will have so much more room for stuff to happen. Just hope Peregrine comes back. With Raven the only person who knows who all the others are there will be a lot more mishaps to come I'm sure. I would recommend this book to any reader that enjoys humor and action in their stories.
May 5, 2022
Mr. Mayor is still improving with each books. Lots of action in this one. Raven is becoming the leader he needs to be. Still a bit of imbalance between his secret identity life and his superheroing activities, as I'd like to know more of the consequences of his choices with his family and friends. It's also a bit crazy to think that the 4 books covers less than a month in time (got to read faster!).
Looking forward to #5.
Looking forward to #5.
June 16, 2020
Why is he out so late on a school night?
I sometimes worry about Raven's home life. The kid's out so late, but his dad never seems to notice. And he never does his homework! (As a dad, this bothers me.) Does anyone else think his dad is a secret villain?
I sometimes worry about Raven's home life. The kid's out so late, but his dad never seems to notice. And he never does his homework! (As a dad, this bothers me.) Does anyone else think his dad is a secret villain?
July 27, 2020
Fantasy Land
Every kid should love this and every wanna be kid as well! I'm off to buy book five and see if Mindraker wins.
Every kid should love this and every wanna be kid as well! I'm off to buy book five and see if Mindraker wins.
August 13, 2020
Great
Excellent world building, great characters, and is an all around amazing read that expertly weaves together slapstick and darker, more intense ideals.
Excellent world building, great characters, and is an all around amazing read that expertly weaves together slapstick and darker, more intense ideals.
December 26, 2021
Great book
This is the 4th time I'm reading this series, and I thought it was time to leave a review. Its great.
This is the 4th time I'm reading this series, and I thought it was time to leave a review. Its great.
May 29, 2022
review to follow
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews