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The Unbecoming of Jonathan Jones
All super-powered country-boy JONATHAN JONES wants is to be like you and me. Normal.
Why? He’s got secrets he’s been hiding most his life.
To keep them, Jon travels from his parent’s farm to the big city, unknowingly taking steps that may make him the most unlikely of heroes. He crosses paths with the woman of his dreams, a mysterious anti-hero, and a powerful adversary who takes names and kicks butt. When their four lives become inseparably entwined, his non-super love interest gets caught in the cross hairs. To save her, Jon must dig deep and not only overcomes a ruthless enemy, but himself.
Can Jon rise to the challenge and embrace his powers?
Suspenseful, whimsical, at times, romantic, compulsively readable, THE UNBECOMING OF JONATHAN JONES is an intriguingly immersive fantasy, reminiscent of Bradbury and King, and a fascinating debut.
Why? He’s got secrets he’s been hiding most his life.
To keep them, Jon travels from his parent’s farm to the big city, unknowingly taking steps that may make him the most unlikely of heroes. He crosses paths with the woman of his dreams, a mysterious anti-hero, and a powerful adversary who takes names and kicks butt. When their four lives become inseparably entwined, his non-super love interest gets caught in the cross hairs. To save her, Jon must dig deep and not only overcomes a ruthless enemy, but himself.
Can Jon rise to the challenge and embrace his powers?
Suspenseful, whimsical, at times, romantic, compulsively readable, THE UNBECOMING OF JONATHAN JONES is an intriguingly immersive fantasy, reminiscent of Bradbury and King, and a fascinating debut.
437 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 15, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 16, 2016
OK, at no turn was this book what I expected. A kind of superhero story for grown folks, not like Dead Pool, but in a literary fiction sort of way with adult themes to be sure. Jonathan is a reluctant, haunted superhero and BK Lyon has a fractured yet focused style that complements his fractured yet focused hero. Lyon's switches point of view's at times to show us Jonathan's perspective in a literacy sense from how it looks and feels when he's blazing a trail to simple things like the difficulty opening a can of pop (soda if you're not from Michigan).
Lyon zooms out to third person at times to show us the whole story, which works. He also does a good job of unique character-building in short order with Sarah, Robert, Doc, Sheriff, Jon's parents Jonathan and Martha (you gotta love the choice of names here). Lyons gives us a sort of stream of consciousness with various characters that adds to their development. Add to a unique storyline, vivid details, slick metaphors, and authentic dialogue (Loved Jon's in particular), and I'd recommend this gem to lovers of superheroes and the literary fiction genre.
Lyon zooms out to third person at times to show us the whole story, which works. He also does a good job of unique character-building in short order with Sarah, Robert, Doc, Sheriff, Jon's parents Jonathan and Martha (you gotta love the choice of names here). Lyons gives us a sort of stream of consciousness with various characters that adds to their development. Add to a unique storyline, vivid details, slick metaphors, and authentic dialogue (Loved Jon's in particular), and I'd recommend this gem to lovers of superheroes and the literary fiction genre.
November 22, 2015
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THE UNBECOMING OF JONATHAN JONES is a beautiful story on the theme of mental health. "JONATHAN JONES" is also an unique superhero story, where being super takes a backseat to being human. Finally, JONATHAN JONES has a romance element which ties the other two together well, in my opinion. It is these three elements that make JONATHAN JONES both baffling and fascinating.
For such a short story, JONATHAN JONES spans around a decade.
It's plot is pretty basic. A depressed super-powered guy named Jonathan Jones hides behind normalcy as he tries to get a new lease on life after meeting the girl of his dreams. However, Lyon's execution of the plot is clever, and the symbolism throughout the story is simple and powerful.
The author Lyon's touch is focused—but light—reflected in short snappy chapters, and minimalist exposition and narrative. He deftly lays out how bad luck rips a bright future from an aspirational hero in the making. To make things worse, Jon falls into a severe depression.
Jon's solution crosses his path with Sarah Valentine, a woman just as confused and flawed as him. The presence of two great characters Shade and Ms Jones (as well as a few minor characters) make this a very interesting storyline to watch unfold as one-by-one the adult children of the wealthiest families of the city are murdered.
Still, what I found more interesting as the story moves towards its conclusion is how Jon becomes more the victim of his depression and arrogance—while being marginalised.
Also, Lyon's use of levity is interesting. Sprinkled about the story (sometimes in the oddest situations) are humorous happenings, and I found myself smiling (and laughing) during some very serious moments.
And, without giving anything away, the book ends full circle leaving me to wonder is or isn't it the end.
I think Lyon's leaves it to the reader to decide. One can see the story's end as the fitting culmination of a superhero story. Another option would be to see it as a poignant ending to a romance story. A third would be to see the ending as taking a reader beyond super-heroism and romance into the world of personal tragedy.
However, overall, JONATHAN JONES maintains an intriguing and sometimes irritating thematic connection between depression and self-destruction.
THE UNBECOMING OF JONATHAN JONES is a beautiful story on the theme of mental health. "JONATHAN JONES" is also an unique superhero story, where being super takes a backseat to being human. Finally, JONATHAN JONES has a romance element which ties the other two together well, in my opinion. It is these three elements that make JONATHAN JONES both baffling and fascinating.
For such a short story, JONATHAN JONES spans around a decade.
It's plot is pretty basic. A depressed super-powered guy named Jonathan Jones hides behind normalcy as he tries to get a new lease on life after meeting the girl of his dreams. However, Lyon's execution of the plot is clever, and the symbolism throughout the story is simple and powerful.
The author Lyon's touch is focused—but light—reflected in short snappy chapters, and minimalist exposition and narrative. He deftly lays out how bad luck rips a bright future from an aspirational hero in the making. To make things worse, Jon falls into a severe depression.
Jon's solution crosses his path with Sarah Valentine, a woman just as confused and flawed as him. The presence of two great characters Shade and Ms Jones (as well as a few minor characters) make this a very interesting storyline to watch unfold as one-by-one the adult children of the wealthiest families of the city are murdered.
Still, what I found more interesting as the story moves towards its conclusion is how Jon becomes more the victim of his depression and arrogance—while being marginalised.
Also, Lyon's use of levity is interesting. Sprinkled about the story (sometimes in the oddest situations) are humorous happenings, and I found myself smiling (and laughing) during some very serious moments.
And, without giving anything away, the book ends full circle leaving me to wonder is or isn't it the end.
I think Lyon's leaves it to the reader to decide. One can see the story's end as the fitting culmination of a superhero story. Another option would be to see it as a poignant ending to a romance story. A third would be to see the ending as taking a reader beyond super-heroism and romance into the world of personal tragedy.
However, overall, JONATHAN JONES maintains an intriguing and sometimes irritating thematic connection between depression and self-destruction.
November 24, 2015
The story begins with Jonathan hunting with his father. His father sees a hare and tells Jonathan to shoot him, but Jonathan freezes and the hare gets away. Jonathan wakes near a pond, with the hare he almost shot, licking his face with no rememberance of how he got there and thats when the real tale begins.
It's plot is pretty basic. A depressed super-powered guy named Jonathan Jones hides behind normalcy as he tries to get a new lease on life after meeting the girl of his dreams. However, Lyon's execution of the plot is clever, and the symbolism throughout the story is simple and powerful.
We soon learn that Jonathan has powers, that he is some sort of superhero. He doesn't want them, he only wants to be normal. But what person wouldn't.
This was a very very different read for me. It was gripping and the short quick chapters were flipping through my hand faster than I could take a breath. This is one of those books, where from the get you are engaged and at the end your like wow, what a great read.
It's plot is pretty basic. A depressed super-powered guy named Jonathan Jones hides behind normalcy as he tries to get a new lease on life after meeting the girl of his dreams. However, Lyon's execution of the plot is clever, and the symbolism throughout the story is simple and powerful.
We soon learn that Jonathan has powers, that he is some sort of superhero. He doesn't want them, he only wants to be normal. But what person wouldn't.
This was a very very different read for me. It was gripping and the short quick chapters were flipping through my hand faster than I could take a breath. This is one of those books, where from the get you are engaged and at the end your like wow, what a great read.
December 17, 2015
Check out my review on Amazon.
February 12, 2016
*Received this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you're a reader who is simply looking for a good story, I would recommend this book. It was engaging, well told and well-paced. The characters were developed enough that I cared about their journey.
Where the book lacked was in its editing. From the uncommon formatting choice of spacing between every paragraph, to either lacking or overuse of punctuation, to the overuse of sentence fragments that did not work, the mistakes pulled me out of the story too often for me to call it an enjoyable read. The story itself was good, but it was a shame that the poor editing overshadowed it.
If you're a reader who is simply looking for a good story, I would recommend this book. It was engaging, well told and well-paced. The characters were developed enough that I cared about their journey.
Where the book lacked was in its editing. From the uncommon formatting choice of spacing between every paragraph, to either lacking or overuse of punctuation, to the overuse of sentence fragments that did not work, the mistakes pulled me out of the story too often for me to call it an enjoyable read. The story itself was good, but it was a shame that the poor editing overshadowed it.
December 9, 2015
Not my normal reading material but I'm glad I gave it a chance. The characters were well developed, I felt Jon's pain and internal torment. Loved how the Jon/Sarah relationship developed. Ms Smith is one of my favourite characters this year! Looking forward to the next instalment.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews