Heroes Fall

Heroes Unleashed

by Morgon Newquist, Thomas Plutarch, Kasia Słupecka (Illustrator)

He wanted to be a good man. Instead he became a hero. Twenty years ago, Serenity City's great Triumvirate of heroes - Achilles, the Banshee, and Pendragon - maintained a golden age of peace and prosperity. Then, in an instant, it all went wrong. The city's mightiest champion, Achilles, lost his mind during a showdown with the enigmatic supervillain Thanatos and went on a rampage across the city, leaving the Banshee dead and a swath of destruction in his wake before Pendragon could stop him.

Today, as Achilles rots in solitary confinement, Victoria Westerdale investigates a new mystery. Why are young and forgotten heroes disappearing off the streets? Why doesn't anybody else care? And how is it tied in to those infamous events that brought the city's greatest heroes to ruin?

And what's going to happen to them all after Achilles escapes?

The first of a new wave of superhero novels! Coming soon:

Hollow City from Dragon Award nominee Kai Wai Cheah The Phoenix Ring from Jon Mollison Gemini Man from J.D. Cowan Atlantean Archons from Richard W Watts

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2019

About the author

Morgon Newquist started life by causing an international incident in Central America, and has been marching to the beat of her own drummer ever since. She grew up in the Rocket City - Huntsville, Alabama. After a stint at the University of Georgia to study Latin, she has returned to the place of her upbringing where she wrangles two dogs, a cat, and four children daily.

She is an avid fan of fantasy, science fiction, gaming of all types and other nerdy pursuits.

Her current focus is an ongoing saga of sword and sorcery short stories called The School of Spells and War. The first novella, Down The Dragon Hole, is highly rated and continues to introduce many new fans to the series.

Morgon has worked as a freelance writer off and on since 2007, and written for video game mythologies, table top RpGs, online game guides, and blogs as well as her own short works. She has several published short stories and is currently working on several novels.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heroes Fall is the beginning of the Heroes Unleashed fiction universe. 

The story begins decades back with a superhero, Achilles, going insane, wreaking havoc and killing his wife (also a superhero, Banshee). This sets the stage for a world where superheroes (called Primes) are plentiful. Some become famous like the sports stars of our world. Others have to scrape by using their powers just to survive.

When the story picks up 20 years after Achilles falls, the main character is Victoria, a super-strong hero...with a secret other gift. She encounters other upstart heroes like Nightcat and Mia the invisible girl. Each new character has a clear personality and feels like someone the reader may have met. No basic ciphers here.

As the story moves on, young heroes/Primes begin to disappear off the streets. New villains and their secrets are slowly revealed...and what is the connection to Achilles' escape? And what about the vanquished villain Thanatos? You have to read this to find out more. No spoilers from me.

The story is gritty and realistic. It has the feel of DC's Titans TV show. So much back story is provided at a good pace and at good times. Almost no info dumping for the whole of this book. 

I really want to read more about Serenity City and this universe. Prequels would be awesome as well. The author has really stoked my interest!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

So yup, I'm reviewing two superhero novels in a row. But sometimes that's a good thing. One of the weirdest things about being a book reviewer is the mental shifts I go through between books. I mean, I read the entire Honor Harrington series up to At All Costs in one fell swoop and only stopped there because that was the last book that was available at that time. I read through The Drangonlance Chronicles straight through and then Dragonlance Legends starting the next day. But when I'm reading things in an order that goes SF Comedy, Space Opera, Urban Fantasy, Superhero novel, etc. it get a little weird sometimes. As soon as I come down from the last book I read and its universe I end up in a completely different one. At least this time they were similar and my poor, abused brain didn't have to suffer as much. Come to think of it, I didn't suffer at all because Heroes Fall is a really good book.


Don't get me wrong. Heroes Fall starts quickly but you don't really get a full taste of what's to come right up front. This novel is a slow burn and a long build. I liked that about it.As you're reading pay attention to what is going on. It will be important later and that includes some of the stuff that you're convinced doesn't matter. The stakes keep on increasing right up until the end.


Victoria Westdale is our heroine and she goes by her actual, real name. I found that a bit strange in a superhero novel. I mean, I had thought that I was going to get someone with named after a power or an bird or something but nope.. She's Victoria and she rocks. Victoria spends her time using her superpowers to bust small time crooks and working in a gas station. She's about the most unpretentious superhero I've ever heard of. In a weird way, her lack of pretense is what makes the whole story work.


Look, I like heroes in the Superman mold and I think Green Lanterns in general, and Hal Jordan in particular, are the greatest things that ever happened to the Superhero genre. I love watching those guys fly off to save an entire star system that's at war with itself armed only with their powers and a plucky attitude. I really do. That's not Victoria though. She doesn't set out to save the entire world. She starts out the novel trying to save one girl from a gang of thugs. That's the single biggest reason that Heroes Unleashed makes sense.


Victoria is a small time hero that gets caught up into something she hadn't anticipated. I like this approach because it allows her to learn what is going on. While she is learning what the problem is, so are we. We're not dealing with long bouts of exposition while someone takes us by the hand and walks us through the problem. We're actively learning about the world that we've been dropped in and we're not being talked down to. I really liked this approach.


Now that I think about it (Don't tell my mom I was thinking. She'll tell you it always gets me in trouble.) Victoria is pretty much the answer to anyone who has a problem with the "strong female protagonist" movement, and not just because super strength is her superpower. While it is true that Victoria is quite the asskicker there's more than just that to her. One of the strong themes of Heroes Unleashed is Victoria's caring nature. She's not just a woman with lots of muscle, she's a woman that wants to help. The superhero culture in the work is one of crass commercialism and Victoria rejects that, deciding instead to work someplace where she can make a real difference. I don't want to spoil too much, but she remembers her roots and works really hard to protect those who are like she once was. I have a lot of respect for this chick and I don't say that about too many people, real or fictional.



Any superhero novel is going to include a number of fight scenes and Newquist has done her job splendidly. Not only are the fight scenes fast paced and exciting but she groks that which lies at the core of a superhero fight: A battle between the participants and their powers. When characters in Heroes Fall go up against each other it feels right because they're taking advantage of everything they can, using both their powers and the way they interact with the environment around them. Newquist could teach a class entitled "Superhero Battles and How to Write Them." I'd probably sign up.


Of course someone out there is going to consider my praise for the battles as being a condemnation of the plot. They're wrong. I've mentioned the slow burn aspect of Heroes Fall previously and that's a big part of it. There's more to it than just that though. There is a lot of backstory here and it is woven into the plot seamlessly and in a way that makes it not just relevant, but important. There isn't a wasted page here. What is here makes sense though. It moves quickly and we're constantly trying to keep up, but it is about as logical and entertaining as is humanly possible. This is one of those books where I knew you had to go to work and that meant I should've been in the shower ten minutes ago, but let's fact face it, I'm a Lyft driver and I don't have a schedule so I can go ahead and read this next chapter and... uhhh... I was supposed to leave half an hour ago and I'm still in my pajamas. It's a good thing I don't have a boss.


I can't quite believe that I'm just now mentioning this, but Heroes Fall is the first in a new series. I believe it's going to be a magnum opus with multiple contributors along the lines of Chris Kennedy Publishing's Four Horseman Universe. I hope I'm right because the Heroes Fall universe is one with a lot of potential and more authors means I get new books faster. I'm Mr. Greedy Fan. I like that.

[Benjamin Espen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout. Thanks to the author, Morgon Newquist, for reaching out on Twitter. I’m always happy to review new stuff.

As soon as I finished the first chapter, I was hooked. If this chapter didn’t start life as a short story, I think it could easily have stood alone, and been a damn fine piece of work. Each character comes to life in a few short pages, and the stage is set for everything that follows from the unexplained tragedy of the Rampage. I wept a little bit when I read it the first time, and then I wept again when I read it again at the end, now knowing why.

The question this book asks is: what is the greatest weakness of a superhero?

One might guess from the eponymous Achilles, the disgraced hero who nearly destroyed the city he was supposed to protect, that each and every superhero has their characteristic weakness, a secret that can be used to defeat them. While this is true, it isn’t as interesting as the realization that heroes [and villains] share our fallen human nature, no matter their powers, and are just as prone to vanity, foolishness, and moral turpitude.

A man who cannot control his passions is forever weak, no matter how much he can lift.

This sets the stage for Newquist’s world-building, which is about the kind of society that would emerge when powers can get you fame, influence, or money, but no one has been granted unusual wisdom or exceptionally good judgment beyond human ken.

In Serenity City, being a superhero is much like being an Instagram personality: a pretty facade hiding a winner-take-all mad dash for endorsements where appearance rules all. Into this cutthroat and remorseless world steps Victoria Westerdale, our young heroine and POV character. She is young, but not young enough not to be disillusioned by the phoniness and media-whoring of the hero business.

As the story progresses, we learn just how deeply Victoria was wounded by that world, and why she fled from her chance at fame and fortune for a walk up flat in the bad part of town and the night shift at a seedy convenience store. Nearly twenty years after Achilles fought his former friend and colleague Pendragon, devastating the city, Victoria finds herself drawn into all of the unanswered questions that lingered from that terrible day. Her inability to let this mystery go is in part because the answers give her the ability to finally stop running away from her own past.

Heroes Fall is the first novel in a shared universe, funded by a Kickstarter campaign. The other four authors are J.D. Cowan, Kai Wai Cheah, Jon Mollison, and Richard Watts. I’ve previously reviewed a short story by Kai Wai Cheah, so I’m likely to give at least the initial five novels a read. Given how much I enjoyed Heroes Fall, I am looking forward to Newquist’s sequels as well.

[Marshall Clowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superhero stories are kind of like zombie stories. There are lots of them out there and sometimes I think it's 'played out'. Happily this story is a bit different. You've got your masked, caped, armored heros that play to the cameras and live to be in the limelight; then you've got this one who hangs around on the wrong side of the river, wearing a hoodie and yoga pants.
I found Victoria a likeable main character, not as "cartoony" as most super heros, but she's not as gritty as Jessica Jones. She's just doing her part to keep the unsafe section of Serenity City as safe as she can make it.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Marta R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a new perspective on the heroic. How you handle your responsibility having more of the strength and limelight than another human being. All this being set into a breathtaking set of adventures with contrasting, sometimes extreme characters, where at times it’s not easy to see who is on whose side, who are the ‘good guys’ or the ‘bad guys’. I really enjoyed this read, am seriously contemplating buying the sequel, ‘Death Shroud’! :)

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

She has no need for a cape or a super name to be a hero. She does her best to help those teens who needs her help the most. Soon some of the teens were disappearing and she may need to go back to her super hero life to save them. She did not want to go back but she will do anything to save them. Can she find them? Can she save them? Follow her adventures

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Sheila Gabler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful start to a new series! The characters were compelling and interesting, the world building was great and the storyline was twisty and unexpected. I am looking forward to many more books in this series and will be making the effort to find and read them all!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kieran Creek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read! Superheroes have Supervillains, and Heroes Fall introduces us to a select group of these men and women. Two of the old guard have fallen and the new guard is not all that super. Lines are drawn, lines are blurred, and some will cross the line. Just who will you side with?

[Pat Eroh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating, from page one! A world of supers (heroes and villains) that make the world better? Or worse? Exciting and definitely page-turning, this is a story you don't want to miss.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some heroes need to fail, some need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. This story has both. Interesting twists in the 'Super Hero' genre.
Well written characters, solid story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superhero stories can be many things. Riotous fun, letting our inner 8 year old ride along with huge action setpieces, glamorous fisticuff fights showcasing the clever use of hero and villain powers against one another, and especially the geek speciality of hero-on-hero smackdowns. They can offer a unique and fascinating funhouse mirror on the human condition, exaggerating virtues and flaws, strengths and weaknesses, and exploring the grey areas of right and wrong. And yet, despite my enjoyment of many recent Marvel films, I find the whole genre a bit morally problematic. Alan Moore's brain may be paranoid and diseased, but his brillant deconstruction in _Watchmen_ still stands: what are superheroes but vigilante thugs? Who watches the watchmen, and given human nature, who would trust men and women with such power? Superman may have started as a secularised pseudo-Jewish Messiah, a figure of superhuman goodness and power who sorts the righteous from the wicked, but the genre has gone through some very dark places since then.

Which brings me finally to Heroes Fall. The worst I will say of it is that it tries to pack practically all of the above into one breakneck adventure: setpieces and geek fights, morally complex and compromised heroes, a powerful desire for true heros and an unease with self-seeking vigilantes, and some rather darker themes. (NB: sexual abuse themes, not explicit. A lot of martial-arts-ish violence. Not PG.). If that sounds exhausting just to read, it is, and a bit tonally mixed as a result. It skates a bit close to the margin of suspension of disbelief sometimes too.

What made the star rating for me was the ending. A likeable main character and vivid, effective storytelling and action sequences helped as well. But while the villain in Heroes Fall (like the villain in Watchmen) sneers at superheroes and posits a sort of Nietszchian take: a real "superman" would have the will to rise above good and evil, to sacrifice _others_ where necessary to build a better world, Newquist manages an inversion I didn't see coming. This is not a straightforward Christian inversion, but is quite cool, and has a great deal more of the Kingdom in it that Moore's bleak ending. This could go in some interesting directions. Also, while not a cliffhanger, quite a lot is left hanging at the ending.

[A M Aliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic page turner that will keep you guessing until the very end!
A triumvirate of Super Heroes, fighting together against evil. What could have caused one to look, and act, insane while attacking another? This is a tale where a number of the population are born with one or more “special gifts”. Not all work on the right side of the law, and not all of those without special gifts are tolerant of those that do have gifts. Especially when they initially develop their gifts when they are children and can be dangerous until they can control their gifts.

We also meet Victoria who once required extensive training to control her gift. After losing both her parents, where could she go? Is there a place made especially for primes learning about their powers and how to control them? Do we ever find out why two super heroes who had been best friends fought so viciously that they tore down a good section of the city?

This is not just a book about humans with super powers. It is also about love and loss, people who give of themselves to keep others safe and other people that prey on folks. There are the good and the evil. There are some that are loyal almost to a fault. One thing I can say about this book is that even as much as I read, I could not have guessed what was going to happen next, nor how it would end! If you want a book that will keep you from getting your chores done over the weekend or keep you up for 36 hours straight because you couldn’t put it down, you have found that book!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Richard Dominguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heroes Fall is a terrific story that grabbed me from the beginning and never let go. Along with characters that are well rounded and wonderfully crafted comes a story that is unique as well as captivating. Ms Newquist manages to touch on the difference between doing what is right and what is best. As a Prime (one of the heroes) Victoria is a relatable character that despite the circumstances always rises above them ...
In a media that (like Hollywood) seems to dish out subpar material for a quick "Ching Ching" of the register, Heroes Fall is a standout that does not disappoint ...
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review ...

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heroes Fall is book one in the Serenity City series. Morgon Newquist has created a unique tale of superheroes which is very refreshing. Heroes Fall is well written with interesting characters, of individual growth and discovery, adventure, intrigue that is a very enjoyable read. I think this is a series to keep an eye on. It will be interesting to see where this series is headed. Received a copy from Booksprout and this is my voluntary and honest review.

[Astalnar · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel starts really strong. Right at the start we're thrown in the middle of the action of a gigantic fight involving Achilles, Pendragon, Banshee, and their nemesis Thanatos. From there on, comes 20 year timeskip, and what we're left with is at times endearing protagonist Victoria who is looking out for teenage Primes who don't really know how to use or want to use thier superpowers.

Still, no matter how interesting the story might have been, I can't forgive it the idiocy of the main cast of characters including Victoria and Achilles. From reading the blurb, I was expecting an exciting tale of superheroes defending their city from supervillains. What I got was superheroes who lie, supervillains who tell the truth.

The conclusion to the novel is also pointless, as the sacrifice Victoria and Achilles make in order to save the reputation of Pendragon, and with that the public image of superheroes is void.

The entire book feels like a prequel that should've never been published in the first place. Or at least be written with different stakes in mind, because some things Pendragon did are just unforgivable, and if it takes to other heroes to hide and lie for him to avoid justice, then the villain trying to expose him is in the right.

I don't know if this was the intent of the authoress, but the implications, as far as my understanding of superheroes genre goes are damning. What are we left with, when the villains are villains for exposing the truth, while the heroes are the ones covering up straight up crimes?

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Allan Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, annoying MC

The author sets up a very good story. The item that cause this to be a 3 star story is my dissatisfaction with the MC jumping into a fight without a plan for how she will deal with a villain she knows set up the situation.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite the noir-ish superhero story. Perfect fodder for a City of Mist rpg story.

[Nicholas Ahlhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very solid work

While the novel gets off to a slow start, it comes together well. While it doesn't art the world on fire, it's a great slowburn take well worth the read.