Heroic: The Golden Age by Evan Currie

 

Heroic: The Golden Age by Evan Currie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Heroic: The Golden Age is in actuality the fourth novel in the Superhuman series which began back in 2018. In this novel five years have passed since the alien probe "infected" humanity and brought about the rise of super powered individuals. Alas the effects are biased towards those with violent and aggressive tendencies meaning the war between "Hero" and "Villians" to put it in comic book terms is woefully one sided. Nevertheless the man who was known as The Marine fought valiantly but has not been seen publicly for five years and things have only gotten worse despite government backed enhanced law enforcement (LEO's) and huge leaps in technology to fight those that use their gifts for criminal and antisocial purposes. The main narrative of this novel is the siege of New York as a mob war between the Mafia and Russian groups explodes as enhanced goons come into play and the victors strengthen their hold on the city thanks to being able to "create" on demand their enhanced "soldiers" some of which have talents well beyond being able to fly or throw a car across the street.
Against this background we focus on two young people, Novah Isabella Islay who is new to the area and very intelligent especially in the sciences and Devin Meeran who has a gift for coding and an obsession with Superhumans and his streaming channel. Not an obvious couple but fate has things in store for them as the war for possession of New York raws around them and super powered fall one by one along with hundreds of police, national guard and civilians.
I was delighted when this fourth novel came out, I'd enjoyed the first three but upon reading I was sceptical if a novel without the main character from the first three would keep my interest. Without any doubt it did, I really did not want this novel to finish as the characters across the spectrum were all well written and interesting to follow with some creative events going on as the world watch New York once again come under the pressure of historic and tragic events.

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Superhuman by Evan Currie

Superhuman by Evan Currie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Who would have thought living on a small ball of rock orbiting a rather average star near the end of one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way was a good thing. Well when an intelligence that sees the galaxy as its own domain and views organic life as an infestation and plague to be eradicated at all costs not being noticed is a rather good thing.
A probe detects an anomaly on a world near its designated target and sends word back, life is flourishing and is taking steps to populate it's solar system and then blossom out into the galaxy, this can not be allowed and long standing protocols are enacted. The probe enters orbit of Earth and selects subjects for its first experiments, it acts and then watches as the mutations created in the DNA of members of the dominant species begin their work. From the viewpoint of former Marine Captain Alexander Hale and his friends from various branches of the US military it's just the first evening of a reunion at a local camping/carnival ground. Things start to go wrong when find themselves in the middle of a biker war as two gangs fight for dominance and local and federal law enforcement are getting involved. As the firefight threatens to escalate the probe acts and a handful of the people awake with no injuries but others are ripped apart, body parts scattered throughout the area.
Unbeknown to the survivors of the event their world has changed forever and the choices they will make may determine if the human race can survive the manipulation by this cold and efficient alien intelligence.
Superhuman was a fantastic read, I picked it up and pretty much didn't put it down until I was done. The writing and story are fast paced yet the characters are well developed and fleshed out and you never feel cheated of back story or relevant plot detail. The action is well envisioned and as a fan of both tv and movie superhero media I was easily able to envision the conflict and actions of these enhanced beings and in Alex Hale we have a genuine "Captain America" type hero and with the appropriate "human" villain and uber nemesis.
A highly enjoyable and fun read and looking forward to the sequel and may pick up some of Evan's other work.

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