Ever The Hero

Eververse #1

by Darby Harn

ASIN B082GNFW1L moved to the more recent edition

Superheroes are big business. Imagine not being able to afford them.

Kit Baldwin just wants to make rent. The only work she can find in the ruins of her devastated city is scavenging for alien technology. When she finds a powerful alien weapon, her discovery pays off more than she could have hoped: it draws the attention of the most powerful of the superhuman Empowered, Valene.

Valene hears everything, everywhere. She suffers for it, and as they begin a precipitous romance, Kit believes she can use the weapon she’s scavenged to mitigate Valene’s pain. If she can’t, Valene will retreat to the soundlessness of space. Without Valene’s compassion, the stricken city is left to the mercy of Valene’s ruthless father, who denies the assistance the city needs unless it can pay for it.

As Valene’s condition worsens, Kit becomes more desperate and unleashes the full power of the alien weapon. In an instant, she is transformed into a being of cosmic power. She can acquire the knowledge and energy of anything – or anyone – she touches.

Genres: Science Fiction, LGBT, Superheroes, Ebooks, Fantasy, Lesbian

340 pages, ebook

First published January 28, 2020

About the author

Darby Harn is the author of the SPSFC quarterfinalist Ever The Hero, which Publisher's Weekly called "an entertaining debut uses superpowers as a metaphor to delve into class politics in an alternate America." His short fiction appears in Strange Horizons, Interzone, Shimmer, and other venues.

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't follow anything that was happening for a lot of the story. I found it hard to connect to the characters, they felt one-dimensional and the story was lacking in world building.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, this is gonna be long and rambly, probably my longest review. I had to take time off from the book every so often to put down my thoughts because I was sometimes bored, sometimes confused, all the times just not-clicking. And I needed to know why, because the premise, and even the core thread, seemed very interesting to me. And the beginning gave me hope, but I grew increasingly disappointed and angry at this book so I ended up not liking it at all. (However, I can see how others can like it much more.)


WRITING

The writing fails at eliciting the feeling of tension and danger I can see it’s trying really hard to create. I think definitely because it all seems like not that big of a deal, like the MC is making a mountain out of nothing about a lot of stuff. Probably because we actually don’t get to see and know anything of importance.

- Why did it matter that her mom died? We never saw her or the MC care for and about her.
- What does it matter that the first LI might leave Earth? We don’t see her or the MC care about her. Also, literally no development to this love, they meet and then they sleep together and they’re an established couple? Who don’t talk?Like we have more of a sense of the colleague who has a crush on her, which, sure, she is obviously gonna be LI #2 (which, I have to say, I cannot understand why she sees the MC as the best thing in her life when they both agree the MC is in love with someone else, the MC keeps pushing her away “for her own protection”, and basically LI2 needs to keep doing all of the emotional work for her – oh wait, I know, it’s because the MC is written literally like a man – see below), but at the moment, what should matter is why the urgency to save LI1. Also, why can’t LI1 just leave and come back when the suit is ready, when it’s implied that easy space travel exists? And wtf is that unwavering faith in this one white girl who's done little to be deemed better than everyone else?
- But also, for example (because after this one, I stopped trying to list everything that didn't manage to elicit the reaction it was trying to), what does it matter that a journalist got her on tape in a black market looking at alien tech? Given the apparently overwhelming grasp on everything her LI1’s company has on the city, I doubt she would see any consequences. (But regardless, we didn’t get to see anything pointing to any risk in being there, and then we’re told she could go to jail, and that’s the main issue.)

I just- I don’t know, I could not getting invested at all, it just did not work. And it all ended feeling prettily told, not shown. Or confusing when it’s neither telling, nor showing.



WORLD

Where is the commentary on the system that I could feel boiling under the surface and thus felt pointedly actively avoided:

- e.g. the MC becoming part of the obviously exploitative and unfair system just because she’s in love with one of them;
- e.g. how the system of super heroism is inherently unhealthy and exploitative to the heroes – and not the BS we get about people being fed up with random destruction;
- e.g. how any megacorporation will never have the rights and well-being of their clients and customers at heart – "the company operates more like a medieval feudal state than a Fortune 500 company." Wait till you hear about all the other fortune 500 companies;
- e.g. how a system revolving around profits and power is inherently genocidal).

Which is all made worse with the cliché of the “impartial” opportunistic journalist (aka just going for the ratings) who screws over the MC, while having built a reputation of going after the megacorporation strangling the city.


I did appreciate the underlying aspect of the actual physical implications, the toll and side effects, of the superpowers, and not in a way that’s ”Oh the weight of the world on my shoulders! Oh the morality of my actions!” Although it tends to read more like the cliché “dangerous/depressed/distant detective because of the toll of their work”, especially for the MC for whom this boils down too often to a fight against the other entity trying to take over :c

But also this book is way too basic and conventional in how it defines heroes. I hoped it would be much more thoughtful, with commenting on how heroes are exactly not what we’ve been brainwashed by usamerican media to imagine. But we get the person in the best position to both illustrate and make that point tell the MC that she didn’t get a medal, and she didn’t get the girl despite this being what “real heroes” are supposed to get? Wut?? This person is a woman of color who walked away from the life of superheroism to become a doctor for the disenfranchised, and THAT’s the lesson she imparts? Also, she tells the MC that her inner heroism or wtv should make her brave enough to expose herself on TV to give hope to people? What the hell kind of logic is this?

(On that note – well, kinda – how many dead birds must now litter anywhere that the MC goes…)

("You can’t wait for someone to give you respect. You’ve got to respect yourself first." Ooh boy... If that isn’t the epitome of white male pseudo-psychology…)


And I had hopes for the commentary about the status quo, and how people on their own understandably just want to live and that’s why we’re all complacent with the system, and how trying to change the system by being part of the system will never accomplish anything but change you to be a cog and make perfunctory gestures to appease without real change, and how “you can’t help everyone” is always used to justify keeping the power structures in place, even if it’s all entirely meant as support for the main character to take on the entire structure on by herself with just brute force I guess.

But the character saying you need to work from within the system and wanting to protect the very company that this book conveniently simplistically portrays as the “only” failure of the system while it had previously perfunctorily mentioned inequalities before the alien catastrophe, is the one promoting fixing the causes and not bandaging the symptoms as if working in the system is not perpetuating the causes?? And like, how is he presented as the voice of reason? Especially when this white dude is presented as the reason in opposition to the brown woman advocating for action, who’s been doing a lot for the disenfranchised for decades while he kept doing his cushy research job.

I'm sure, if you're still reading this, you've surmised my hopes were quashed. We get the MC shouting in anger at the brown woman who's pushing her to take bolder measures against the villain and his corporation that she has powers too and is being a coward or something, regretting it but never addressing it ever again. We get the MC repeatedly trying to go through more or less official channels to have the status quo mostly preserved until the villain gets what he wants, and even then, someone else does the thing that brings him down. And after the dust has settled, she refuses the very needed immediate help of food, electricity, etc offered by the rival another corporation (obviously with strings attached, but still, that would fall under the book's views of using the system).

And like WTF is this insistence that GP needs to survive so that the city doesn’t lose everything? Yeah obviously, the system, as it exists now is entirely propping up megacorps because the consequences of their crumbling would be most felt by the “populace” but also let’s be real, the populace is not losing more from the instant crumbling of megacorps than it is losing more invisibly from their continued remaining in power.


Random point, but what is this randomly undercurrent-y sexist crap, including from female characters? Like, I literally do not understand anything about this exchange:

“There weren’t any other women action figures, back then anyways, and you were better because you were real. I could imagine being you, or at least being strong.” Her smile freezes, like she doesn’t know what to say. “I thought girls played with dolls.”

Not ‘You know girls are supposed to play with dolls.’ Or whatever commentary.

We also get the usual "b*tch" insults from women to women who piss them off.

And then the MC’s internal though process goes on about how she wanted to taking things apart and make things, with too much of an undercurrent of “not like other girls”, that felt all but spelled out to me but maybe I’m sensitive to it.



CHARACTERS

Is the MC autistic? I think that's what the writing style is supposed to reflect? Except that it too often reads like a stereotypical trope (re)appearing when it’s convenient. And it’s fine for the first chapters but it quickly starts feeling like it’s trying too hard at stereotyping the image we have of autism as analytical and disconnected and “missing connections” (which is repeated over and over and over). Although, I appreciate that it gives our MC the upper hand in controlling her “powers”.

“You’re controlling this?” Vidette says. “How?”
“It’s a bit like not eating that last cookie.”
Abi shakes her head. “That’s real restraint.”

Not that she's completely unlikable, at least at the beginning; she cares on some level, even as she gets more and more passive in this "I'm not worthy" way as the story progresses *eyeroll*; she is brave enough to act, but again, like a man, only with gestures that will bring her “recognition” even as she doesn’t want it (e.g. she saves a stranger from a robber, she works night and day to build a suit for her LI1, while she ignores her mom and her illness – which I’d like to hope was meant to show her powerlessness in the face of her lack of money and lack of care from her government – which is to me another unaddressed commentary boiling under the surface – and her having exhausted any emotional energy for it after 10+ years, but that really doesn’t come across and instead reads like a man).

Like, she really, REALLY reads like a man:

- in the way things are stated, e.g. “I pour over the specs and diagrams, studying them in microscopic detail as I do every hill and valley of Valene” and “I feel an insatiable hunger to be closer, to be inside her, to know her as a man might know her”;
- and how she brushes off/ignores other people’s (cough*women*cough) feelings (her mom, both of her LIs, her brown woman "mentor" but not her white man mentor, even the journalist in a way that’s not just protecting herself or wtv);
- and how she suppresses her emotions and wants to control what others do “in order to protect them” in a way that reads like the stoic male action hero until he crumbles under the weight*;
- and how she’s casually condescending of others in the way she talks about her own abilities, even as she is self-deprecating about herself (whether it’s her initial cognitive abilities or her newly-acquired superpowers)…

* And then, literally 2 mins later she let's a random black guy who doesn't have powers (and who's the epitome of the good cop who got boosted out of the force, not for standing up for what's right against his hierarchy, mind you) join and help her out with the hero stuff and "the weight of city is lighter on her shoulders" or some crap. And then literally the next day, she goes on camera to reveal herself, thus putting the people she cares about in danger (cause I guess now it's fine) and basically doing what the brown woman suggested a while back, now that it's a white woman saying it... But please, do watch yourself on camera while innocents without powers get beat up and thrown around by empowered responders... And then gets all the credit for what she didn't do *eyeroll*

On that note, why is she the one in charge of making any of the decisions? Because she accidentally melted herself with an alien? What about leaking the video? Because she found it? Why isn't a veteran activist and actually everyone who's involved not allowed to have a say?


Why is she black? What is the point? To make a throwaway commentary about black vs white is now empowered vs powerless? To justify her having access to underground network of goods? To be diverse? To justify the appropriation of the “Whose streets? Our streets!” slogan? Certainly not because white people would be less empathetic to the pleas of the Derelicts’ inhabitants, since as we all know, white people’s experience is both universal and individual enough to be worthy of telling. So basically, her racial identity has literally 0.3% of incidence on anything in the story, and this third of a percent is the cliché “the white side of my family looked at me weird when I visited once in my life at age 6”. (Cool cover, though)

(And generally what's up with pairing all the brown characters with white people huh?)


As for the villain, he turns out super simplistically motivated, very unidimensionally evil. Of course, he is “known” from the very beginning, but I hoped he'd have a more complex and realistic backstory. Like, he could have been very interestingly disillusioned, especially since he's supposed to be coming from deep poverty, but no, he's just always been an egotistical asshole who would kill his family for """knowledge""" aka ego and power like the good ol' white man he is.

[Sunyi Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous literary writing, sweeping themes about how capitalist gain has replaced empathy in American society, and Darby's usual amazing dialogue. All packaged in a very modern take on the superhero genre: what happens if superheroes were privatised and salvation had a subscription fee? Nothing good, is the answer.

Also features a complex threeway love story (between three women) with all the angst and nuance you would expect from Darby's writing (check out some if his published short stories and you would see what I mean), for some quality f/f rep.

[Joseph Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a ride.

Harn writes with the style of Jack Kerouac the introspection of Henry Miller, the outsized SF action of DC Comics, with an occasional dip into Joycean stream of consciousness; all set to the ba-dumm ba-dumm rim-shot drum beat of a strip joint.

Allusions abound, literary and otherwise, side by side with great characters, and action galore.

A must read for fans of action scifi and literati alike.

[Sibil]

It is hard to write a review for this book, because on an objective level it is not bad, and there are some really good things in there, but on a personal enjoyment level, things weren’t so smooth. A lot of the things that “went bad” with me are more a case of “it’s not you, it’s me” so I’ll try to be the most objective possible and I decided to do it writing a pros/cons review!

Pros:

1)We have strong The Reckoners vibes here, so if this is your thing, you would love this book. As I am saying quite often lately, I am not a big fan of YA (and a lot of my problems with this book were tied to this, but more on that later!) and I am not a big fan of superheroes. And this book is a YA on superheroes so you see that the problem is lurking from the beginning. But the idea of this book is solid, and if you are into superheroes you should definitely try this one out!

2)A solid beginning. Even keeping in mind what I just wrote in the first point of the list, I was really drawn into the story from the beginning. When I read the first 10% of it, I was curious and I wanted to keep reading. Sure, things didn’t keep up as I was hoping, but again this is more on me than on it.

3)The originality of it. We have an interesting take on superheroes, and even if its ways of approaching them that are not 100% novelty, it is a good and original take on them all the same.

4)The pace and the writing (in part). You will find the “writing” also in the cons section of the review, but all in all, the pace was pretty good and the writing is smooth. I have some objection to that, true, but the prose is fluid and the pace is well-balanced.

5) The Romance. And, again, this point will figure also in the cons section. But the romance in this book, especially if we keep in mind that it is a YA book, was original. And on a mere rational level, I enjoyed what the author did here. It may be considered a love triangle, but not of the usual kind, and it felt real. This was a thing that I really appreciated.

6) Kit. And yep, I am boring here, but you would see her in the next part of the review too. Sorry about that! I liked that she is curious, she is intelligent, she hasn’t had it easy but she would fight for what she thinks it’s right. She cares, she really cares for people, and seeing her determination to see things through for everyone, not just for her or her loved ones, is good. And to see a character that says things like “I am me” is refreshing, and it feels all kind of good, really! I loved this thing a lot.

Cons:

1)Kit. On one hand, she is a great MC, but to me, she was so whiny! Around 80% of the book, I was quite tempted to just drop it and let it go because I was just so disinvested in her. And she is quite obsessive. She is like a dog with a bone, and she won’t let go. And if on one hand, it can be endearing, and it can be a good thing, on the other it became so annoying to me while I was reading. It made me frustrated. And I really had no patience left with her.

2)The Romance. All I said before it’s true and valid, but I didn’t enjoy it. At all.

3)The writing. I think a good editing job would be in order because there are just some things that are repeated too frequently (and I mean too too frequently!). It was just annoying. You could make a drinking game out of it, and this is always a bad thing. Or it is quite good if you are planning to get wasted. Your choice here!

4)Back to the editing job, there is a plot line that is not really forgotten because it is addressed in the end, but that is just dropped out for a bit, and it does not really sit right with me, even if in the end it is addressed, I had the feeling that it was just forgotten for a bit, and it gives an unbalanced feeling to the plot.

All things considered, the pros are more than the cons, and it is not a bad book, but to me, the cons are heavier, and my enjoyment of the book wasn’t really so high. But again, if you are more tolerant of YA, or if you enjoy them in general, and if you like superhero stories then you should give this one a try! I didn’t fall in love with this one, but I am looking forward to reading the other quarterfinalists and seeing what we’ll get out of them!

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are you a fan of the “gays in space” YA genre? Do you enjoy “superheroes might be a bad idea actually” shows like Invincible? Then you might enjoy Ever the Hero!

I liked a lot of things about this book. The worldbuilding is fun and a lot of info about the world gets frontloaded in a way that piqued my interest right away. I dig the anti-capitalist angle and exploration of how discrimination against non-Empowered might intersect with other prejudices like sexism and classism.

Unfortunately, though, the human elements of Ever the Hero weren’t as strong as the worldbuilding. Kit is a bit of a frustrating character to read. There’s a lot of telling-not-showing about her personality and a lot of the telling is contradictory. She doesn’t feel fear … except when she does. She always says the wrong thing … but her dialogue doesn’t come off especially socially awkward. She struggled with internalized homophobia/biphobia as a teen … but anti-LGBTQ sentiment literally never comes up outside of one or two sentences of exposition. Toward the beginning of the book, I suspected Kit might be autistic-coded (which would have been exciting to see!), but that’s never really made explicit. I never really got a handle on Kit’s personality.

The telling-not-showing problem also extends to Kit’s relationship with Valene. Kit’s actions are driven by this profound love for Valene for the majority of the book, but as a reader I didn’t get to really see this love develop. Kit and Valene get together quickly toward the beginning of the book, then there’s a time jump, and then they spend most of the book physically separated and unable to communicate with one another. I wish there’d been more energy put into showing the reader how their relationship developed. As it was, I finished the book feeling like I didn’t understand what they saw in each other.

Despite these bumps, I liked the book overall and am looking forward to reading the sequel!

—

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[MGB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started slow, picked up, then got weird and hard to follow. Finally just gave up.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superheroes and an alien threat within a dystopian society – all these individually, and seemingly endlessly, fascinating things are combined in Darby Harn’s Ever the Hero.

To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.

The protection of citizens by superheros has been commercialized after an alien ship crashed into the city in 1968, but not everyone can afford to be rescued from danger. In Break Pointe, Kit Baldwin is one of those people. She and her mother, whom she looks after, struggle to make ends meet, even with Kit’s scavenging for valuable alien tech in the ruins. One of her finds is so remarkable she catches the attention of her favorite Empowered hero, Valene, who can hear everything and just happens to be the daughter of the Great Power leader. As Valene’s ability causes her increasing amounts of distress and suffering, Kit thinks that she can help Valene become insulated from the endless noise, which would allow her to remain with her and their budding relationship. But when events transpire that speed up Valene’s departure to orbiting in the quiet of space, Kit’s desperation unleashes the unknowable power of the alien salvage, turning her into an immensely powerful entity who just might be able to change the city for everyone.

Powerful (if you’ll forgive the pun) messages are conveyed through the story told within these action- and intrigue-filled pages – explorations of a sense of self and identity, relationship dynamics, and societal and economic disparities to name a few. Kit is a very determined and dedicated character, unapologetic for simply being who she is, which was pleasant to read and made it easy to related to and root for her to be successful in her efforts to help those around her. The text could be a little challenging to follow during the more mercurial moments when Kit experiences different lives that were absorbed in the Ever and there’s a sense of being held at arm’s length mirroring how Kit behaves with the people in her life, though that does provide an experiential depiction for readers about how Kit experiences and interacts with the world around her, especially in the wake of her tremendous transformation.

Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Kristy Dong · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took a lot in me to pick up the book and finish. The world building I couldn’t process or visualize in my head of what’s going. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the main character’s personality and I seem to have not connected with them as much as I wanted which then turns into me pushing myself to get through the story and what they go through. Not to mention it’s the self sacrifice for one person the mc didn’t even need to do, their relationship felt rushed and I could tell from the beginning once I started learning. The other side character who was her love interest took me a bit to like but she seemed like she was a much better choice.. so every time the mc mentioned their first lover’s name I would just roll my eyes.. I wasn’t sure what they had going on when the mc’s first love felt like a soul flame that was going to burn out vs the current one who she might just have a casual relationship or some sort of thing going on between them but nothing serious? Besides even if it was casual she was very encouraging and that was one of the one traits I liked that would’ve suited her better with the mc.

Now it’s hard to put into words what I read when it came down to the main story cause a part of me skimmed the rest of the chapters as I was finishing and that’s how you know when I just want to finish it. I was bored.. it was hard to process everything that went down. The other side characters could’ve been fleshed out I didn’t really connect with the others as much either. I would say something about the villain but he’s ok. I’m just overall sad that I couldn’t really enjoy this book as much as I thought.

[J.D. Cunegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever the Hero represents the very best of the superhero genre. Technically a mash-up of superheroes and science fiction (and a pleasantly surprising amount of political reality), this book might take a little while to get going, but that foundation is critical once things really heat up in the second half of the book and when fists really start flying (among other things).

For a story about aliens and spaceships and glowing, flying superheroes, Ever the Hero is remarkably grounded. This is where the relatively slow-paced opening half is so critical, showing us who Kit is, what makes her her. We love all the best superheroes because of who they are beyond their heroics. We can't love Superman if we don't love Clark Kent, and Darby Harn gets that.

For all Kit's many strengths once she has powers, it's who she is independent of them that makes her so easy to root for and invest in.

This book is equal parts epic and tragic and frustrating in how plausible and realistic certain parts of it are. Ever the Hero is an absolute must-read for anyone who is even remotely interested in superheroes, and if this genre is to continue to grow in the literary world, books like this are a big reason why.

[Wayne Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kit Baldwin scrapes out a living as a scavenger in the ruins of a city that played host to an unsuccessful alien invasion in the 1960s. Now the perimeter of the invasion is half scrapyard, half alien treasure trove and the city is under the protection of superheroes. Or it would be, if the municipal government paid its bills.

There's a lot going on in Ever The Hero. On one level, it's a brutal look at what people gifted with superpowers and a lot of political power would actually do with that responsibility. On another level it's about what people do to cope, and how much we invest in hopes, dreams and other people, even if maybe we shouldn't. And on another level, it's about people that can fly so fast they break the sound barrier, guys who punch so hard they crater the landscape and the most powerful woman in the world who still doesn't get a decent action figure for toy collections.

If you want a gritty approach to super heroes with a literary twist that still levels buildings, has aliens, and government conspiracies, don't sleep on this.

[Helgaleena Healingline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story of future post-contact USA is all about scientific and technological monopolies on the forces brought Earthside by the erstwhile invaders. Little did they know that the mutations to humanity would lead to defeat. Still, the new 'super race' that came forth has bottled up the 'resource' of the crashed ship, including the life forces still within.

Kit, from the out-of-bounds area where the wreck is, belongs to the underclass of invisible, un- 'supers' who can't get jobs elsewhere-- until she catches the favor of the new head scientist's 'super' daughter, Valene. She's the sole support of her damaged mother, and she breaks a lot of rules, including ones about who you're supposed to love.

Exposure to the wreck's heart turns her into something new under the sky-- a 'super' with heart. It's a gripping and nearly psychedelic journey to the limits of the physics of corporeal existence, all for the sake of those she cares about-- which means the whole city.

I loved it.

[Carolyn Overcash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just completed Ever the Hero. The book ends at a good point, but the story has more to come.
Our heroine lives in the slums in the future. An alien ship has crashed in her city. Exposure to the alien vessel has caused people to get sick or develop superpowers.

This tale shows how our heroine copes with having nothing while living in a slum area with her sick mother in the future. Constant exposure to the alien vessel causes physical changes to the heroine. Therein lies the storyline.

Private enterprise, the government, and physical superpower changes to the heroine, and how she copes with it all are the gist of the tale. There are lots of sci-fi references and many scientific explanations those so inclined will enjoy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this ARC copy of the tale!

[Nick B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting but a bit of a mess. The set-up and the ideas are fascinating, but there are too many times when the author's focus doesn't tell the story. A major development between two characters at the start gets glided over and we end up getting told a lot about the importance of their relationship, but it never feels like we've been shown it. Some parts when the narrative jumps around are part of a literary device and the stream-of-consciousness nature of the storytelling, but others feel like the author not checking on themselves. There are quite a few parts in this that feel like they really needed a good editing and proofreading before publication. The heart of the story and the key ideas are good, but the execution doesn't deliver on that promise.

[Roy Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kit Baldwin is a self-admitted mess inside her own head so the tale she shares might seem to be a bit of a messy read too but it is worth your time.
From the outset Kit demonstrates that she's a true hero by doing the right thing to help others despite being "just a regular non-Empowered person" while some Empowered folks do nothing because her city is behind on their payments for protection.
From that opening begins an adventure of discovery and growth for Kit that isn't an easy path but I'm glad to have taken it with her.

[Barrie Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confusing.

This was a really difficult read for me, the storyline is all over the place with very little fluidity and no cohesive points to hold onto, the only reason I read to the end was to discover the fate of the main character Kit and weather she or the Mega Corp GP survived the influence of the crashed alien ship, Baz.

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a bit difficult to go through, but it was worth it. Sometimes it felt a bit bloated and sometimes it was just right.

I loved the characters, the plot was quite interesting and it got real at the end. It succeeded in making me feel, both the love and the hurt.

I think this book gets superheroes.

[Shelly Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kit has a hard time making connections, but Darby does a superb job connecting us to her and the crumbling world around her. This was a fascinating, fast-paced, yet lyrical read about what commercialized super heroism might look like. Loved it and highly recommend!

[Cameo Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frustration

I don’t even know how to really describe this book. Kit is both super annoying, yet trying to do the right thing. She wants to help people, but often gets lost in what that means. I love Abi and what she tries to do, also who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies.

[Maurice Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully descriptive and passionate...One good read.

[Sugu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this book. Good narrative structure and poignant story. A few parts were a little too "on-the-nose", but it fit the overall story. Well written.

[J.W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kit finds an alien artifact as she’s scavenging through the ruins of her city for something to sell. When she goes to swap it, she gets caught up in the tragic story of Valene, a super-powered woman who can hear everything, everywhere, all the time. Her suffering from this power is great, and Kit finds herself trying to manipulate the artifact to help the ailing super.

In Ever the Hero, Harn tells a superhero tale that has several twists on genre tropes. Most of these twists can be found elsewhere (like existing non-powered in a super-powered society; having superheroes be… less than heroic, etc.), but the combination Harn weaves is enough to make it all feel fresh and new.

I was especially taken by the relationship between Kit and Valene, which has enough wrinkles in it to be raw and exciting by turns. Are they going to survive? Do they love each other? Can they? And, of course, what of the aliens and the mysterious artifacts they’ve left behind that seem to grant super powers to some individuals and not others? There are many questions of this type raised throughout the novel, and while some answers are given, others are left for later in the series.

Ever the Hero tells fantastic superhero story. It has enough twists to keep even this comic book fan interested in seeing what’s going to happen next. I highly recommend it.

[Jennifer Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK! This is the book that proved to me that superheroes aren't all cut from the same boring cloth. Kit goes through real human experiences trying to save herself and her mom in a ravaged city. Her humanity makes her the superhero only she could be. This is one you'll want on your shelf!