Summary

An extraordinary and emotional adventure about unlikely friends and the power of choosing who you want to be.

Jamie woke up in an empty apartment with no memory and only a few clues to his identity, but with the ability to read and erase other people’s memories—a power he uses to hold up banks to buy coffee, cat food and books.

Zoe is also searching for her past, and using her abilities of speed and strength…to deliver fast food. And she’ll occasionally put on a cool suit and beat up bad guys, if she feels like it.

When the archrivals meet in a memory-loss support group, they realize the only way to reveal their hidden pasts might be through each other. As they uncover an ongoing threat, suddenly much more is at stake than their fragile friendship. With countless people at risk, Zoe and Jamie will have to recognize that sometimes being a hero starts with trusting someone else—and yourself.

Quick Comments

I loved that it wasn't entirely a Superhero = Fantasy Cop, aka magical realism copaganda. Though that didn't spare it from the copaganda, unfortunately. It had a fairly lighthearted tone to it but could be serious when it needed to be. And it didn't shy away from traumatic scenes, but not in a fetishization sense. I also loved that the characters felt like actual Asian people and not white people calling characters of color 'golden tanned sunkissed' etc and pretending they're PoC with zero ethnic culture. I also enjoyed that it featured more of a villain than another damn generic superhero story.

Summary

Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?
As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured. And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one. So, of course, then she gets laid off.
With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.
Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing. And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.
It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.
A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics.

Quick Comments

This is the shit I want. This is contemporary, realistic superheroes and just how fucked up it is for them to operate in a real life setting. There's gore and torture and superheroes behaving like real life cops, acting with government funding and absolute freedom to maintain the status quo. It's brutal. Read the content warnings. But at the same time I hope this doesn't discourage curious readers. The romance is odd and awkward, and while I didn't care for it, I did genuinely empathize with all the not-so-villanous underdogs. They're ordinary people, like you! Just like the superhero genre wants to make you feel, like you could be an extraordinary person! Just like the superhero genre wants you to forget that evil criminal is robbing a bank because they don't have rent money, that the evil hench man can't find decent work because he's a felon and the prison industrial complex devours whole lives like we're nothing. Just like that.
I do have complaints. The author is white. Not a problem but I feel like characters of color could have been utilized a lot better. It feels like they're being used in a vaguely performative 'hey here's a not white character!' before going through a racially stereotypical arc and being discarded thereafter.

Summary

Gifted with metahuman powers in a world full of capes and villains, Tori Rivas kept away from the limelight, preferring to work as a thief in the shadows. But when she's captured trying to rob a vault that belongs to a secret guild of villains, she's offered a hard choice: prove she has what it takes to join them or be eliminated.
Apprenticed to one of the world's most powerful (and supposedly dead) villains, she is thrust into a strange world where the lines that divide superheroes and criminals are more complex than they seem. The education of a villain is not an easy one, and Tori will have to learn quickly if she wants to survive. On top of the peril she faces from her own teacher, there are also the capes and fellow apprentices to worry about, to say nothing of having to keep up a civilian cover.
Most dangerous of all, though, are those who loathe the guild's very existence. Old grudges mean some are willing to go to any length to see the guild turned to ash, along with each one of its members. Even the lowly apprentices.

Quick Comments

I like tori rivas. Shes my token not quite character of color. See below for that. Tori is an underdog, a fancy bitch, an ordinary person who's entertainingly clever and fun to watch stumble through life into something amazing. I love the sole villainous point of view of the plot, though it does feature a few POVs that aren't villains. The characters feel like real people who talk like normal humans beings and not terrible MCU witty comebacks and such. Ok sure there are some cheesy villain lines, but it's a superhero genre. Of course there are.
I also adored the teacher student friendship. Absolutely zero romance and even the book comments 'oh yeah, there's absolutely nothing happening here'. I do feel like due to the large cast, some characters are flat or feel like props for other characters. Morgana, and Stasis to some extent. Not such a bad thing, understandably this is Tori's story.
The bad of it.
Oh Jesus Fuck.
For some fucking reason the suthor included a superhero thats a literal kkk clan member. As in their superhero outfit is kkk themed and they pass out white supremicist pamphlets at scenes of tragedies they show up to 'help' at. Yes theyre mentioned at least twice and are featured in one scene. No they're not portrayed as a good guy, and i suppose they're emblematic about hash tag free speech white liberal type attempts at commentary on race in society. I don't ever want to hear a white man talk about this shit and I think the book does not need this.
Theres also a scene in the book that explains why a character of color joined the villain side if only to have a safe place to learn their powers and not be literally drafted into a superhero defense squad a la the vietnam draft. [yes this is a thing in canon] The reason being the good guys back in the legal segregation era of usamerican history had a segregated unit for Black superheros and Superheos of Color. Again its not portrayed as a good thing. The attempts at these topics are topical and bland and not often brought up again. I can appreciate the attempt to pay attention to such things. But as the author is white, is a very limited portrayal and feels more like mouth service than anything impacting the story.
Tori is a poc? Specifically woc. I hadn't realized. Again the author is white and like all whites they fall into the same ignorant cookie cutter of making a character a poc but not following through beyond the standard markers of curly hair and tan skin. Rivas's parents are dead and thats all we hear of them. Are they hispanic? Did they not have an extended family? Did no one from their assumably catholic church not attempt to care for the newly orphaned Tori? I won't say she's a mary sue or self insert, but as far as ethnicity goes you could state shes white and have a hard time canonically disproving that.

Summary

After her apprenticeship was done and a place in the guild of villains secured, Tori's life was supposed to get simpler. Unfortunately, a poorly timed errand sees Tori caught in the debut of a new team of capes, one wearing an all-too-familiar name.
Thrust into the spotlight, Tori will have to navigate her unwanted fame as well as the suspiciously superheroic new neighbors down the hall, all while keeping up with her own villainous enterprises. With the guild no longer a secret, Hephaestus needs to grow as strong as possible to face her mounting threats.
Ambitious gangs, battling against mechanized traps, and brawling with capes are only the beginning. Behind the scenes, a hidden enemy works to settle an old score, one that has burned for decades. This secret scheme will not only endanger Tori, her friends, and the guild, but the very world itself.

Quick Comments

Ah the sequel. Despite being similarly long, it didn't feel like a rehash or meandering attempt at cash in. It feels like a real nice update and drop in just a little while after the first book. There's a fresh new plot and we see Tori adjust to being a real villain and a ordinary civilian.
Also for those worried about romance. There's still nothing in this book, thankfully. Sorry for those looking for a villain to fall in love with a hero or vice versa. This ain't it for you.
I think my complaints about the first book still remain with this one. And it's even worse in this as we get a shitty white liberal plot twist that I think is dumb as hell, and something only white people who have never experienced colonization would come up with.