Stronger: A Super Human Clash

The New Heroes/Quantum Prophecy #6

by Michael Carroll

The critically acclaimed Super Human series reaches its shocking conclusion

All Gethin Rao wants is to be like every other boy his age. But normal twelve-year-olds aren't blue. And they certainly aren't thirteen feet tall. That's what happens when his superpowers kick in. And from that moment on, his life is never the same. Treated as a villain--a monster--Gethin spends the rest of his life on the run or as a prisoner in a secret military facility.

When he finally escapes, he falls in with a group of superpowered teens and becomes the one thing he never thought he'd be: a hero. But as the years pass by and he takes the name Brawn, Gethin learns that being a good guy is a lot more difficult than he thought.

Michael Carroll delves deeper into the life of one of his favorite characters and in the process gives readers his most satisfying, exciting adventure yet, which leads directly into his Quantum Prophecy trilogy.

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2012

Reviews

[Dave Reiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of Carroll's Superhuman books. I have always liked Braun and thought there was so much more to his story. He is a hero that cannot escape being clasified as a villian. His story if transformation is heartbreaking.

I love these books because the Supeehumans are such evolved characters, but we the readers are only given glimpses.

I kook forward to seeing what additional things will come out of this universe.

[Jonathon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a mix of awesome and disturbing. Brawn makes a perfect narrator to the epic saga of the super humans from beginning to end. It truly brings everything full circle with an ending that is predictable but satisfying.
The night I finished this I could not sleep. It just hangs at the back of your mind, demanding that you dwell on the more gut-wrenching scenes and how close Brawn came to salvation.
This is for those who have read the other two books.If there ever was one person I absolutely despised, it is Max Dalton. He gets much worse in this book, to the point you want to be sick. Also for those of you who are dieing to know who Ragnarok was, this is it.
The worst part about this book is that in the end you know Brawn becomes a villain. No matter how close he comes to being good, he will always end up on the wrong side.

[Jennifer Groom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stronger by Michael Carroll took the Kelly Clarkson song ‘Stronger’ to the next level. Stronger has as much action as in a comicbook, and as much emotion as pages can handle. Written four years ago, Carroll’s links his two series together The New Heroes and Superhuman in a excellent tie-in. The protagonist, Brawn, is a thirteen foot tall, blue hairless monster, or so everyone thinks.



Flipping between two elegantly constructed and heart wrenching storylines, the readers are in Brawn’s mind at pivotal years of his life. Starting when Brawn is twelve years old, scared and imprisoned; betrayal closing in on him more than the walls. In the other timeline where all superpowers are eliminated, Brawn is protecting his fellow inmates in a mining prison. Brawn spends most of his excuse for a life in prison because the world cannot accept him or he is on the run from those who wish to use him for their own cause.



From the many novels that I have held close to my heart, I have never read a masterpiece this agonizingly beautiful. My heart was broken and mended in the characters and in the writing style Carroll artfully creates. Carroll’s use of writing devices and plot twists put any other storyteller to shame, making him my favorite author. I trust Brawn in a deeper and more intimate way than I have with any other character before. Stronger is more than just exercise of imagination, but a true test of what the human spirit is capable of; even if it takes a superhuman to realize that.



If giant blue anti-heroes and mis-judged evil masterminds are not your forte, then read it for a crushing example of human nature. Though this book might seem like it is written for young adults; however, anyone with a heart should read it. Carroll took me into a new universe that I do not want to live in, but visit occasionally. I met new friends that intrigued me as well causing me cower, making Stronger my favorite novel of all time.

[Jamal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stronger by," Michael Carroll," is an action novel about one of the main super human teens in the Super human series. It tells about his life before he discovered his power's, and his journey coping with them. It gives the reader an insight to a character we saw in the previous books, that the reader just saw as a hulk type character.

There are many things I enjoy about this book. It is much like the other books from the Super Human series, it changes from one part of the story to another every chapter. The best thing about the book is that? It is very suspenseful, it never has a dull moment, and even when they tell the back story of the protagonist(Brawn), you have to pay attention to that cause it will all tie in to the story at some point. It also goes into the future, showing how the young heroes have changed from their young selves into full heroes, like how Abby changes into Hesperus over time, and showing how Brawn becomes an outlaw. but its dissapointing it wasn't more scenes with the other heroes from the series, like Thunder, Paragon, Abby, or even Lance,this is mainly my only complain for the book.
Despite the whole book being based on the one character Brawn and there not being any minor characters, I would recommend,"Stronger", to anyone who likes sci-fi, or action based books. The constantly changing setting and whats going on keeps the reader on his or her toes. I hope they add another book to the series, i will most likely read it.

[T.L. Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of the metahuman fiction genre than Michael Carroll's six book (so far) series is a must. You can't find a better reason for why than this book which ties the two trilogies together and spans the metaphysical career of one Braun, a gigantic and hugely misunderstood metahuman who is blamed for his own murder, hunted, used by corrupt and scrupleless organizations and locked into a horrific secret slave camp for years. The narrative follows Braun intermittently from the onset of his "powers" to the time he spends in the prison camp over twenty years later. You really feel for this boy in a monster's body due to the time spent fleshing out a character who has been subsidiary before. Although you will feel for the protagonist in his 'young adult' situations of constant adversity (my twelve year old boy cried while reading it), I believe that here is the power of the 'realistic' writing that Carroll has provided for our entertainment. A wonderful character in a fully realized world. Carroll never sacrifices character development for plot (as so many writers in the this genre do), which would have been easy considering the breadth of time depicted in the narrative. I hope Mr. Carroll will continue to provide us with more superhuman books to read (and hopefully we wouldn't have seen the last of our beset blue hero).

[Jeffl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to note that it is the third book in the series and the series goes as followed: Super Human; The Ascension; Stronger. If you skip to The Ascension and go to Stronger you are spoiled the second book and you basically don’t have to read it. But you might as well read it because you do learn a bit more about some characters that are not mentioned in the third book.

In the book Stronger: A Super Human Clash, you follow the story of the supervillain/superhero Brawn, a thirteen-foot, blue, bald, pupilless giant. In it you go back and forth from Brawn’s beginning and what he does present day. In the past he only wanted to become human again, but now in the present, what is left of his strength is what is keeping him from getting killed in prison.

I would recommend this series to those who enjoy superhero stories obviously. That being said I would say Male in their teens. I guess people who would hate it are those who like their non-fiction.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book only about Brawn? This is glorious!

And it doesn't dissapooint. Though it is quite different from what I expected.

What's the name of the trope where the guy can just never catch a break? The weebly? Kick the fluffy dog? Oh whatever. The light heartedness and kind of hidden dark undertones of the other two books are gone, replaced by just thought provoking darkness. But out of this darkness comes one of the best developed characters I've ever seen. Brawn who at first glance is just a hulk ripoff is really deeper and more than hulk ever could be.

Sadly, I think you need to have read the original trilogy to get everything in the latter third of the book.

[Shaeley Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primarily set at a prison camp mine in an unknown location with flashbacks to previous events

[Isaac Sturgeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book review is on Stronger:A Super Human Clash. Author;Michael Carroll. (Lexile Level;760) In this book a 14 year old teenager is at church one day and is nervous for his solo. He ends up going to the bathroom thinking that he is going to puke and he walks out to a big explosion. Out of nowhere a big explosion puts him into shock and he wakes up and he is like the hulk except blue. Literally, he is 13 feet tall and weighs like 500 pounds. Before he even realizes what has happened to himself, the FBI and the military shows up and starts open fire shooting right at him. To his surprise he is bullet proof! Eventually the book goes on to talk about him learning to talk again because he is a monster and whenever he would try to talk, all that would come out is growl sounds. Later on in the book he gets put into a slave mine where he has to mine away in underground Antarctica and he breaks out and everything is ok at the end.



I think the theme in a sense is kind of like a never give up type theme. The main character has to go through struggles of people not understanding, and not beleving he is just an inecent teenager that did nothing wrong. Also being enslaved into a mine where you have to literally work days on end barely even eating, like he’s lucky if he eats once a day. These are all things that Braun had to go through and he never had to give up and accept the fact that he is forced to work against his will. No matter what happened, no matter how hard life was or how unfair life was, he never gave up and he escaped and became free.


This book was a good difficulty book. It was a nice challenge reading and understanding, but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle. This book hit home when he was struggling and life was bad for him, but yet he persevered. I would recommend this book to someone who’s ok with having a longer book that really takes time and effort in order to understand and to truly enjoy the book.

[Jester Hutchison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not every superhero book needs a boatload of action. I found it refreshing to see a more psychological / emotional battle for a main character. Brawn makes it clear that he is one of the most powerful superhumans. It’d honestly have been boring if it was battle after battle of Brawn kicking the snot out of the same heroes we’re already used to.

And I know reading this in 2021, and it’s from 2012, but of course I’ve gotta say it:
I docked a star for the one OBVIOUSLY queer character getting killed.

[TheObsessiveCupcake · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I am not sure how fair of a review I could write for this book because I realized that this is the third book in the second series/subset of the main series when I only had about 20 pages left in the book. Surprisingly, the book still made sense. It did seem like they jumped forward in time a good bit but I thought that was a plot decision... Still enjoyed this even while I missed a whole part of the story in the second book. So, now go and read!

[allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the best one out of the prequels thus far. It takes on a different approach that allows Brawn to narrate his own tale rather than the all seeing narrator Carroll usually uses. Let’s just say that it works very well. Brawn feels like a character you’ll remember and he’s a character who has layers now. This is a pleasant read that sets up for what’s to come.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3/5 By the end I loved Brawn’s character and Carroll does a great job tying all the stories together here. Some of the same dialogue and character issues, but again, some awesome twists and lore reveled here. Almost finished!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book despite (in my personal opinion) it's the most saddening of the series so far.

[Kris Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly riveting character. the third book in the saga is heartbreaking and real. the reader is drawn in quickly with a sense of confusion since the time goes back and forth.
re-read: Gethin Rao is just an ordinary boy who is forced to be the choir boy by his mother. One day in church, he becomes violently sick and transforms. he now stands 13 feet, can't control his limbs, and can't properly speak.he is taken in by an organization that claim to be the FBI at first. he is held captive. they eventually get Dr. Tremont (who claims to be held there himself until they no longer require him) to teach him how to speak again. they even give him an oversized computer so that he can type out what he can't say. he learns to speak. he escapes. he makes it to South America with the help of some scientists who found him thanks to their dogs(who just wanted to snuggled up to him and keep him warm in the snow). he is captured by super heroes and Dr. Tremont's group, back and forth. he survives in the wild, back and forth. people treat him like a monster and he refuses to be one until Max turns Abby(Hesperus), Thunder, and the rest of the gang (except Lance) against him. it goes back and forth in time. the back is how he went from Gethin Rao to Brawn and met the young super hero team and came to be a villain to them. the forward is him serving time in a secret mine full of super villains who have lost their powers and those that are to be forgotten with political ties.
the most complicated and intricate book that brings them together cohesively whilst furthering the story to lead to the next books and the next generation of super heroes.

[Jennifer Margulis · Rating 1 out of 5]

My 12-year-old son and I were both so disappointed by this book. I wanted to give it two stars, he insists on only one. After two previous books in the same series that were action-packed and interesting, this one falls completely flat. Nothing happens. Page after page after page. I'm sorry we kept reading but after 100 pages in we felt like we shouldn't put the book aside. I liked the main character, Brawn, despite the fact that he had almost no personality, no back story, and no articulated goals (except to stop being 13 feet tall and blue-skinned.) But he does almost nothing throughout this entire book. He has no real personality. And he's just not compelling.

The characters from the other books that we liked--Abby and Thunder--turn into ruthless killers in this book. They are being mind controlled, presumably. But they lose all reason. So when bad things happen to them, the reader doesn't care. Why take a cast of awesome teenage characters and turn them into automatons? What is the work of this book? What was the author's point? It's impossible to tell.

After reading the other two books, we were hoping to get some clarity on the world Michael Carroll was building when Krodin was the villain. Who are the authorities? What type of government is it? Instead of answers, however, this book just has scene after scene after scene of Brawn working in the mines, the guards being cruel and killing wantonly, and--you guessed it--nothing happening. I suspect this is the last book by this author we will read. So disappointing.

[Shannon Luxford · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was pretty crap. I love this series, but this book was just so far left field for me. I would have loved to have seen Titan and Energy more in this book other than the brief appearances they get - which is ridiculous! Titan is said to be the most popular of all the Superheros, but he gets barely mentioned in any of the books! Brawn, to me, seemed like a 12 year old throughout this entire book. It's like his mind stopped developing and everything else just went into the sudden growth and skin colour change.

In my opinion, it should have been about Titan's rise, Quantum's Visions, Max's manipulation of Quantum, Façade taking Quantum's place and them battling Ragnarok (as well as the introduction of earlier forms of his clones). Then right at the end, Energy would reveal she is pregnant with Colin, Danny's mum is pregnant with Danny - Quantum's mental breakdown about his Vision of Danny in the future. Then as a epilogue it would have Max Dalton talking to Ragnarok about the vision and seeing if he would help.

But that is just my opinion

[Pete Bylone · Rating 4 out of 5]

by far my favorite of the series so far, this book focuses on the story of Brawn, a role player at best in the two previous books, and gives his account of how things played out after the conclusion of book two. It also fills in some of the details in Brawn's back story, largely left out of the first two books. I enjoyed the ensemble approach in the first two books, but focusing on only one character in this book was engaging and riveting. The story does fluctuate between present and past, but the consistency of the character involvement made it easier to follow from beginning to end. Despite his limited development, Brawn proves to be a wonderfully complex and sympathetic character, deserving of having his story told. I look forward to continuing to read about these characters.

Any fan of YA books should really enjoy this. Although you don't need to read the first few books to understand this one, reading them first will make it a more enjoyable experience.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been a sucker for Hulk stories, and this one definitely fit the bill. It's a superhero story, but one that's less noisy and more about a teenager coming of age (trying to deal with the fact that he's huge, blue, and feared by everyone). I started reading and just kept going, because this book it better than food or sleep. Reading the ones before it in the series (just Super Hero and Ascension, chronologically) is useful in the book making more sense, but not needed. Brawn (the main character) is a little bit of a punk, but not in an annoyingly-stupid-and-rash-why-did-he-do-that kind of way.
The book switches from a flashback plotline to a flash-forward plotline, but somehow the book seems connected (not disjointed with bad pacing, as you would expect from a book with this much going on).
The book is fantastic, addicting, and mouth-wateringly-interesting (even the chapters just about hiding in the woods).

[Tchurch41 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book " Stronger: A Super Human Clash" was just as good as the first and second books of the series. It takes place when Brawn is about 34 years old and it tells his story of who he was before being super human. It tells what happened to him before he found the group of super hero's which he helped in the first and second books. The book goes back and forth through time so you can tell how the past helped the future Brawn and how he always wanted to help people. I couldn't help finding myself sympathizing with Brawn because when he was twelve he went from a 5'5" black kid into a 13 foot blue monster that gave of a scent that told the subconscious mind to be afraid. He obtain super strength but lost his old life. I believe that this book is the best in the series and give this book a 10/10. I recommend the series to everyone and will most likely read it again.

[Ethan Teague · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Stronger" is one of my favorite books that I have ever read. Reading about Brawn was kind of like reading about someone with hulk's reputation who didn't deserve it. The people in this world think of Brawn as a monster and a murderer (though the most illegal thing he did in the book was take food from a store to survive). Honestly this book really made me angry and a little upset for all the things that Brawn went through. He was manipulated by way too many evil people. (Max Dalton and the fear pheromone did not help out his reputation when everything that saw him either wanted to run from him or kill him). I'm going to stop ranting before I gave away too many things but I seriously recommend reading this book. Although you wil need to read the other books in the series to understand anything in is.

[Jason Polhemus]

"Stronger: A Super Human Clash" by Micheal Carroll is a very good book. The book had two different sides of the story. The book is about a boy named Gethin Rao randomly turned into a blue super human. One side of the story is when is around our age. That side of the story is when he escapes Antarctica and meet new people. He finds out that there are other super human like him.He also,gets revenge on Dr.Tremont and Yuan. They're the people who trapped him in Antarctica.The other side of the story is when Gethin is a prisoner at a mine. The person who runs the prision is a very cruel prision.

What I liked about the book was how Gethin randomly turned into a superhumans. What I didn't like about the book is every time the army or something finds him he always goes to prision. It was annoying.

I recommend this book to people like a two side story. Also a lot action and fighting.

[TheReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say, this book was a unexpected gem for me. Unbeknownst to me, I began to read this book without reading any of the other books set in the same world that were supposed to be read before this one, but have no worries, as I know I will be reading those, and any more nooks writing by Michael Carroll.The only one thing I didn't like about this book is when it sometimes changes the time it becomes confusing for me, but I have kept in mind that it might be because I haven't read any of the previous books. Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I definitely wouldn't mind reading it a second time. A great book, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys superhero or super villain books.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stronger is the final book in the Super Human Clash which is a prequel for the Quantum Prophecies written after the Quantum Prophecies. This book is rather confusing because it goes back and forth between Brawn's present day and moments in his history. Brawn has been put in a mine for his superhuman crimes that he committed when he was a teenager. Brawn is always trying to help his fellow miners though to get better conditions for them. Brawn is blue, tall and a 36 year old man who has no hope anymore to help anyone. While he regrets being evil the one decision he does not regret was letting go Ragnarok.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picture a committee of 12 year-old boys hashing out this plot, every sentence starting with, "Wouldn't it be AWESOME if..." In other words, this book will find its readers. They will be young, male, and uncritical. But this was not a book for me. Too many blow-by-blow descriptions of fights between superheroes and supervillains. Too many random inventions. Too many evil people who wanted to take over the world. And plot! So many random events. It felt like a whole series of comic books slammed into one cover with all the drawings taken out.

[Susie Carson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really this gets 2 1/2 stars. For the most part, it was slow going. I finally got into it about halfway through. That might be because Brawn is one of the characters I don't really care about. My major complaint is that we don't get to find out what happened to make Brawn and everyone else lose their powers. There is this huge buildup, and then nothing. I hope this isn't the last book because I still want someone to take Max out and make everyone remember all the times he changed their minds. I am sooooo frustrated by that.

[Denysia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this super human clash series! I want to applaud Michael Carroll on doing an excellent job on describing super heroes, but this book is way different from the first 2. This book is about a villain. This book is based on brawn, the blue super human in the first book who helped the good guys get rid of the bad guy. Anyway, I don't want to spoil this book for anyone, but this book is really really good. Check it out if you want to read more about super heroes and villains.

[Catie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I'm glad we got to see this all from Brawn's POV. Wish we could heard more from Lance especially after ***.I woulds suggest this series for anybody who likes the Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, or Harry Potter. Start with Superhuman then the Asention.






SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER I cried when Abby died. And did my little happy dance when Abby said Solomon was marrying Abby's sister
*** Slaughter killed his Family.

[Karin Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book. I can't keep up with my teenagers reading habits so I usually don't know what he's reading. I grabbed this one out of the series because he said it was the darkest one and I wanted to know how dark it got. I was totally sucked in and happy it wasn't too dark. Yes, it was dark because many people the main character knew were killed. It was descriptive without being gory so that was nice. I'm thinking I need to read the rest of them.

[Jobert · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, pero pagdating nalang sa dulo. Talagang inunti-unti nya yung backstory sa character ni Brawn. Tas sa bandang dulo, dun na bumawi, action na uli. Kaya nga ayan at ngayon ko lang natapos. Pero yeah, okay pa rin kasi naging mas malinaw na yung ibang kwento dun sa previous books. Sana lang mas okay na yung dalawa pang susunod na libro.