Reading: Just Cause by Ian Thomas Healy

[samanthabryant]

#bookeveryweek Just Cause by Ian Thomas Healy

The Just Cause universe is a fascinating one, with a long history, and the world building is quite good. Our main character, Mustang Sally, is a third generation speedster in a world that has known about and organized parahumans for at least that long. I liked her and was cheering for her to find her place in this world.

There was a lot of potential for good conflict in this plot. Sally's father was killed by the big bad guy (Destroyer), so she had a personal stake in the fight when he reappears on the scene. Her relationship with her mother was a bit strained. She was falling in love. She had a strong desire to prove herself. Unfortunately, things overall went a little too easily for Sally. She felt almost charmed in that she was successful at everything she tried without much struggle, failure, or serious roadblocks along the way. So, while I still enjoyed the story, the overall effect was that it lacked tension or a sense of urgency. Too smooth.

I definitely enjoyed the descriptions of powers and the considerations of drawbacks and idiosyncrasies that might come with certain power sets. A lot of interesting characters were introduced in this book, which leaves the author plenty of room to play in this universe for quite some time to come. In fact, I sometimes wished the book would slow down a little and take time to build relationships a little longer before letting bad things happen to characters. The emotional impact could have been stronger if I'd had more time to get to know and care about the supporting characters.

Overall, good and enjoyable. I would read more by this author.

Comments

[johncomic]

I wasn't previously aware that there is so much superhero prose out there -- I always thought of them just in terms of comics (which I have done plenty of in my day).

[samanthabryant]

It's still a tiny niche, but there's definitely a fair amount of superhero prose out there! I enjoy the depth of story that can come about when it's done well.