Superworld

by Lawrence Ambrose

So Many People. So Much Power. So Little Time. "This book reminded me a lot of Marcus Sakey and his Brilliance series, which I also loved." -- DontPushMe Not a cartoon-style novel about superheroes. This is a serious exploration of the consequences of a world populated by superpowered people, along the lines of Marcus Sakey's BRILLIANCE (a series I greatly admire - though I wrote SW before reading his series). The alien Object gave humanity the gift of superpowers, but will it be enough to defeat a vastly more advanced alien civilization that has the human race marked for extinction? The alien nanovirus delivered by the Object spreads through the populations of Earth bestowing a cornucopia of superpowers – strength, flight, teleportation, telepathy, telekinetics, even clairvoyance – in varying degrees and kind to each individual. But while the basic fabric of people's bodies is vastly strengthened the fabric of society is threatened by newly super-powerful beings who challenge the traditional rules of society. Jamie Shepherd is dying of pancreatic cancer and about to lose her home to bank repossession when a black, cylindrical object crashes on her property. From that moment everything in her world changes. A 171,000-word epic novel of death, loss, and rebirth that transports the reader from the chaos of a collapsing society to the gates of a virtual heaven and the brink of an interstellar war.

556 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2016

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUPER WORLD is something like a comic book but written as a novel. Certainly the tropes of "super powers" including superstrength, flight, telekinesis, telepathy and so on are all attributes of one or more of my (our) favorite comic book heroes from Superman to the Fantastic Four's Sue Richards (nee the Invisible Girl). In Ambrose's novel, Jamie Shepard is dying of pancreatic cancer and about to lose her farm since she hasn't been able to work and pay the bills when a strange capsule shaped object falls from the sky onto her land. No markings or anything to indicate what it is. All Jaime can tell is that it is very heavy and made of some scratch-proof material of unknown origin. Shortly after encountering the object, which she shows to her father, she comes down with a cold. So does her dad. Pretty soon her father is feeling much better and starting to play basketball with skill as a 47 year old guy that he never had as a kid. On Jaime's next visit to her doctor, she is astounded to learn that her cancer has vanished entirely. And she realizes that she is feeling pretty good herself. A couple of local kids are next to be "infected", and pretty soon there are 4 superpowers individuals, each with different powers, but all highly contagious.

So begins SUPER WORLD, the 3rd or 4th book by Lawrence Ambrose that I have read so far. It rapidly evolves into an interesting science fiction scenario involving a team of ordinary superheroes led by Jamie who is the most powerful of all who fight crime (sort of), big government, an aliens plot, space travel, parallel worlds and more. Like my favorite comic books of old (of which I was constantly reminded), it was all rip-roaring fun.

Ambrose writes with a light touch. economy of words and steady pacing There's no "purple prose" or over-the-top dialogue or ridiculous characters. Just regular folks, good and bad, who can suddenly read minds or fly, taking care of business here while some of them try to save the earth from an alien threat. Great fun and and an easy read. Written for adults but totally suitable for a YA audience as well.

Recommended.

JM Tepper

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read in the last month about superheroes.

The premise to this is great and there are some excellent ideas portrayed, however I feel there was just too much going on in this novel.

There was an alien orb that unleashes a nanovirus that can change all humans in to super,or augmented, people. I enjoyed this aspect, and I enjoyed reading about how perfectly normal people suddenly find themselves with the ability to fly, or to read minds, and how they adapt. This was all interesting, and to be honest, could have served as just one book with a few twists added to it.

On top of the super powers however, we are also given the plots of a new Government agency made up of the best augmented people that will bring law and order to the world for those supers who are on a power trip. This plot could have served as a whole novel in itself.

Then on top of that, we are given other plots including alien invasion, alternative dimensions and realities, an online RPG that people are choosing to live in instead of the real world (this would make an excellent standalone novel), and a love story.
All very good ideas, and all were written well, but for me there was far too much going and it could easily have been toned down, perhaps even spread out into separate novels to create a series using the same main protagonists.

I wasn't particularly keen on the main protagonist either, for reasons unknown, but I found her rather annoying and selfish, especially her behaviour at the very end of the novel, but that's just a personal view.

Overall, a good novel and certainly plenty of action. It's well written and there are really good ideas explored, but I personally think it could have been better by toning down the action and exploring one or two main concepts, instead of all.

[Iori · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world and the plot were interesting, Jamie and Tildie are the best characters in the novel.

[Tracey Pedersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good things about this book. First, it is deliciously long! Second, it's a complicated story with a lot of moving parts but it doesn't hurt your brain to read! I didn't have to flick back through pages to work out what was happening - not even once! This is the 4th or 5th book I've read by this author and I read them partly for the interesting stories, but also for the endings, which always have me thinking about them for days afterward. I can't say that about a lot of authors. There are diverse characters that don't all blend into one and I find myself staying up all night to find out what happens next. This book reminded me a lot of Marcus Sakey and his Brilliance series, which I also loved. And now that I'm here to leave my review, I see there's a second book! Dammit - I won't be getting any work done this week!

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story but I didn't connect to the characters.