Strictly No Heroics

by B.L. Radley

In Strictly No Heroics, a normal teen girl must navigate crushing on her best friend, starting a new summer job, and not being squashed during the next supervillain showdown in B.L. Radley's young adult debut filled with humor and heart.

A Normie’s guide to staying alive in Sunnylake

1. Keep your head down.
2. Don’t make enemies.
3. Strictly no heroics.

The world is run by those with the Super gene, and Riley Jones doesn’t have it. She’s just a Normie, ducking her way around the hero vs. villain battles that constantly demolish Sunnylake City, working at a crappy diner to save up money for therapy, and trying to figure out how to tell her family that she’s queer. But when Riley retaliates against a handsy superhero at work, she finds herself in desperate need of employment, and the only place that will hire her is HENCH.

Yes, HENCH, as in henchmen : masked cronies who take villains' coffee orders, vacuum their secret lairs, and posture in the background while they fight. Riley's plan is to mind her own business and get paid...but that quickly devolves when she witnesses a horrible murder on the job. Caught in the thick of a gentrification plot, a unionization effort, and a developing crush on her prickly fellow henchwoman, Riley must face the possibility that even a powerless Normie can take a stand against injustice.

Genres: Young Adult, Superheroes, Science Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Contemporary, Fantasy

368 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2023

About the author

B. L. Radley wanted to be an astronaut or a penguin when they grew up. Neither worked out. Thankfully, fiction lets them live vicariously as both.

Raised in rural England alongside several tame chickens and one feral brother, Radley lives with nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine story ideas, enough books to count as a fire hazard, and the occasional Oxford Comma.

Radley is represented by Beth Marshea, at Ladderbird Literary Agency.

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Hi guys! I'm going to use this account to drop quick little 4/5-star reviews on books I personally enjoy. Peace!

Reviews

[B.L. Radley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not that I'm biased or anything

[fiona · Rating 1 out of 5]

that's enough ya

[Ben Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a spoiler-free review.

What a great book!

This is a solid YA thriller, and an interesting take on the superhero genre, focusing on those without powers who have to endure life alongside those who do. Radley's exploration of morality and duty is an interesting one, with a particular focus on class that I feel young readers would engage well with.

The characters were delightful; flawed in real ways, filled with real feelings and motivations. Radley perfectly captures the confusion of late adolescence without making it the prime focus of the novel; This is a novel about teens being teens, it's also a novel about conspiracies, superheroes, and obscene amounts of unscheduled demolition, none of these themes or subjects clash with each other, quite the opposite, the action drama is enhanced by the feelings of the protagonist, and her feelings and morality further the drama.

The plot is exciting, every development pulled me further in, and made me eager to see where it would go next. I was worried, scared, hopeful, excited, and a million other feelings as I was taken on this journey.

The worldbuilding was simple, but effective. Radley offers us a chance to explore a not-quite-USA; it's not the USA of our world, but the USA of comics and TV; the USA the USA sells to the rest of the world. I found Radley's fictional elements - namely the organisations of the superheroes and their opponents - to be entirely believable, and constructed in a way that served to further Radley's examination of class. The realistic elements were, to me, perfectly constructed; the town of the novel's setting felt entirely real and believable, the places described came to life in my mind with little effort thanks to the delightful prose.

I'm excited to see further offerings from Radley, and in the meantime I'll be shoving this book at my impressionable younger relatives and insisting they get it in their brains.

[Clarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

i saw this on a fluke from fierce reads instagram and i really enjoyed this??? it reminded me a lot of Hench, and I always wanted more from that universe so this was lovely - definitely more YA than Hench though. The family theme that ran through the book, was so good, I wanted more. I also don't think I'll get over the "boyfriend or something" "or something" scene - that had me squealing and giggling my gosh I need to get a grip Sherman and Jones were so so so cute

anyway i loved this

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

B. L. Radley's Hench is a genre classic of coming of age in a world dominated by super heroes and villains while just trying to get by as a normal person. Riley Jones just wants to spend the summer working with her best friend, and secret crush. Instead, Riley ends up losing that nice normal job after a disagreement with a Super that ends in Riley hitting him with a trashbag. Desperate for any job that will help her save money for therapy, Riley applies to Hench with their ever so appealing slogan: we hire anyone. The down side, Riley will be working for the Villains of Sunnylake City. But Hench isn't what Riley expected. Turns out henching is a little less about being helpful and a little more about damage control and then there's Sherman, a fellow hench advocating for unionization.

I enjoyed a lot of Hench, but I wanted so much to enjoy all of it more. Instead a lot of it fell flat for me which was mostly due to who the audience is for this book. The book at times felt more introductory and simplified which if your audience is not meant to be well versed that makes sense. If the goal is offer readers a glance at some basics of unionizing and class politics, the book does a more than passable job. Radley works to create nuance and to deliver a message of solidarity and action and does so well enough. There was just a little piece of me that kept feeling something wasn't quiet landing. The knowledge that Radley was writing about the United States, on issues so deeply entrenched in the culture and history of the country, having never lived in made a lot of that feeling make more sense.

[Starr ❇✌❇ · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book of 2023 🥳

*Review to come*

Pre-review comments below
WHY IS THIS A YA VERSION OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS?????? This is LITERALLY just Hench for teens and yet I know I'm gonna DEVOUR IT

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about superheroes and supervillains, but it is so much more: the lives of the ordinary citizens living beneath their struggles, government and corporate corruption, pollution, economics, labor and unions, love and relationships. It's as complex as it is fun.

In need of a job after refusing to put up with a hero sexually harassing her best friend, Riley responds to an ad claiming, We Hire Anyone, and before she knows it she has a job with Hench, the company that employs henchmen for the city's villains. She doesn't really want the villains to succeed, but she needs the money and it's work she can do. It doesn't take long for her to learn her co-workers are the same, and they quietly hinder the villains as much as help them.

We lug armfuls of sweaty villainous workout gear to the laundromat. We give Supremia's signature blue convertible the full wax-and-polish treatment (Turner doesn't swoon). Good timing, as it turns out. Mayor Darcy gets bundled into the trunk a few hours later, according to Sunnylake News. At least it was vacuumed and Febrezed.

We feed several cats, tidy two basement lairs, and even loom in the background while an A-class villain--a Shaper by the name of Mercury, who must airbrush his entire body silver before each gig--interrogates a hero with some inventively applied molten metal. Luckily, the Captain sneaks out and cuts the power before any red-hot steel can drip on the hero's face. Darkness falls. We all do our best impression of headless chickens, pretending we don't know how to turn the lights back on.

That work is but a small part of Riley's life, though, and most of the story centers on her relationships. Whether to support co-workers--and a crush--who want to start a Hench union. How to keep the job a secret from friends and family. What to do about the seeming conspiracy she's uncovering with converging information from her work and her best friend's journalism studies--a conspiracy that might involve heroes, villains, corporations, and the government, information that might make her, a "normie," a target in a world filled with superpowers.

This is engaging, entertaining, personal, authentic, and complicated in the best way possible.

[Donna Metler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is based on an ARC. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review it. Riley just wants to earn money so she can pay for therapy for her PTSD, following the accident that killed her mother and permanently disabled her younger sister. Getting to hang out with her best friend and crush is a bonus. Except that when she stands up to one of the neighborhood superheroes in training after he sexually harrasses and gropes her friend, she gets fired. After responding to a job flyer at 7-11, she joins "Hench", the group of "normies" who provide back up and support for the supervillains (and try to keep the bystander down during the inevitable conflicts between heroes and villains). While doing so, she discovers environmental contamination, government conspiracies, labor relations, and, basically, a whole world that needs to be changed.

This book is a nice look at the superhero genre from a new point of view. It would work very well on screen and would appeal to teens who enjoy the superhero genre. It is one of the most realistic demonstrations of long term PTSD I've seen, I hope the author revisits this world down the road so I can see what happens next.

Please note that this book has a content warning for a reason, I would not recommend shelving it in the library for students below high school age, although some middle schoolers may be able to handle the content. It's not more graphic than, say, "Arrow", but it is more "The Dark Knight" than Lego Batman.

[R.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the premise (it's going to get compared to Hench, but this is distinctly more YA and about 1000% more queer, neither of which are dings against it), of a superpowered world but focusing on the unpowered people. The semi-serious take on the actual psychological and political consequences of a superpowered world was fun and interesting all the way through.

It really felt slow in the middle, though. Which was odd, given how many plot lines were in the book. I think that part of it was because Riley's crush took up a lot of air, and that was the least interesting thread to me. I wanted more plotty action. More henching! More investigation into the gentrification plot! More unionization discussions! And instead, after the first chapter where she beans the superhero, Riley was often just there in the background for those things, just reacting, while other people were driving forces or put things together. Also, by the end I feel like the book couldn't quite figure out how seriously to take its premise - it did a great job of making the superpowered people chillingly dangerous both in their powers and in the power given to them, but then after aligning all the powers against the protagonists, everything in the end seemed like it was resolved too easily.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise was really good...something different. Some people gain abilities when they turn 13, some do not. Of those that do, there are different levels of said abilities. The ones who are strong become "superheroes". Those who are not so strong become sidekicks. That leaves the "normies" who are just struggling to survive the chaos between the superheroes and the villains. When Riley quits her job at the local Vegan Burger Shack, she is desperate to find something else to help support her and her family. That something becomes Hench, as in the henchman that help the villains...or do they really? Are the good guys really the good guys? Is there something bigger behind all of the chaos?

Throw in a little bit of lesbian, teenage angst, it should have been enough to make it really good.

I'm not truly sure why I had such trouble getting into the story. Maybe it was the fact that the good guys weren't always good. Maybe the writing didn't catch me. I didn't find myself really caring about the main characters in the book. By halfway through the book, I had invested enough time to want to know how it all ends. Maybe it was just me.

I do think that some people will enjoy the book more than I do, and it isn't a hard or really long read. I just kind of ended up middle of the road with this one.

[emily ☁️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first sci-fi book. I have nothing to compare it to.
I'm also not entirely sure I'll be delving back into the sci-fi world after this book. Not because of anything that has to do with this book, simply because this genre isn't for me. While I was reading about the battles, I had a hard time keeping up and figuring out what exactly was happening. When Riley was discussing something that had to do with the world of the Normies vs Heroes, I didn't fully understand exactly what she was saying.
Also, this plot felt kind of basic and done before. I like how B. L. Radley but their own twist on it, but it still felt basic and felt done before. I mean, I guess there is only so much you can do with the sci-fi genre without making it extremely complex, but still. I would say, I would recommend this book to someone who wants to start getting into sci-fi. It definitely is an amazing starting book and I did enjoy it. I think if it wasn't for it being a sci-fi genre with the fight scenes, I would've enjoyed it a lot more because I would've been able to understand what was going on better.
Although, if this became a movie, I'm seeing it. I would love to see a screen adaptation of this book more than any other book I've read before. I'm a sucker for action movies.
I would recommend this book to the right audience. I unfortunately wasn't one of them. However, if B. L. Radley comes out with another book soon, I'll probably try it because I did like their writing style.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I was incredibly excited to get and then simply...didn't read it. You know how it is. In any case, my excitement was justified because this book is good.

Riley was such a lively character: she seemed real and her responses to everything that would happen were understandable. The side characters were all developed enough to ensure and interesting story, written in such a way as to let us know as much about them as we would have if we had met them. The love interest was just... electric, I enjoyed her presence on the page and how her relationship with Riley developed.

I did not expect unions to be such a large part of this YA book, but it very much worked within the context of everything. It was a plot that was given a lot of attention and care to.

The worldbuilding was good, we weren't revealed everything, just enough to make us understand why and how everything happened. I enjoyed all the commentary of superpowers and how they would impact the real world. It was all vivid: characters we were meant to hate were easy to feel that way towards and vice versa.

Most of all I enjoyed the dry, humorous writing-style of the author. Although there wasn't really anything entirely unexpected in the plot, the book was funny, which I enjoyed immensely.

Overall, a great addition to the catalogue of super-themed books, fresh and enjoyable.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a BRILLIANT start to my reading year of 2024.

Full disclosure: I had the great pleasure of betaing some of Radley's as of yet unpublished novels, though not this one. So I already knew going in that I would enjoy this.

Let me tell you that they STILL managed to exceed my expectations.

I love everything about this. The characters, the character dynamics, the entire plot, the massive conspiracy and its repercussions and the way the characters uncovered it. I love the family dynamics, Riley's motivation for having a job, the call-out of fucked up power dynamics and the Captain (and his family).

This was so much fun to read and despite all the people with super powers, it didn't feel at all unlikely or fantastical. After all, there's no big difference between having super powers and having lots of money except maybe immediacy.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the recent trend in which superhero stories are told with a focus on not the superpowered protagonists themselves, but on the regular denizens of their worlds who are just trying to do their jobs and get through their day while heroes and villains duke it out. I also love stories that dare to suggest that the "good guys" might not be all that different from the "bad guys." STRICTLY NO HEROICS finds teenage Riley drawn to the "Dark Side" after an unpleasant encounter with a handsy superhero. Radley grounds this fantastical story in a realistic and vivid world, and expertly depicts daily survival in late capitalism. This engaging story with a diverse cast and cutting social commentary was a great read!

[Chris G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don’t manifest the power of the Superhero gene when you turn thirteen, like Riley you’ll live as a Normie, trying to keep out of the way of the constant battles between Superheroes and Supervillains. There are some pretty spectacular jerks in both groups, so when Riley loses her job after protesting a Superhero who groped her crush and best friend Jav, she takes a job as a Henchman, sort of support staff for Supevillains. Life as a Hench discloses the broken economic and justice systems that profit all kinds of Super-beings. A thoughtful look at some current themes wrapped up in gay romance and funny dialogue. EARC from Edelweiss.

[Thistle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ever feel like a book just wasn't written for you? This one was exactly that. While I liked the story (in a world with superheroes, a girl from a bad neighborhood had to become a henchman to make money for her family), it was full of modern day slang (swole, sus), modern references (Twitter, Tumblr, Drake, and other singers), and seemed to be written for the typical Tumblr user: Do you believe every single character in a book must be a POC, LGBTQ, disabled, or if possible all of the three? Do you use "late-stage capitalism" unironically? Then you'll probably really like this book.

The author gave her own book 5 stars on Goodreads, which also highly annoys me.

DNF

[Brianna M · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite superhero stories to date!

The worldbuilding was easy to follow, but also spread out slowly. No immediately worddumping exposition.

The characters were fun. Likeable when they were meant to be, but also flawed in a way that made them feel very human. I remained cheering for our protag at all times, however.

The romance was neat, but personally my favourite part was the family and platonic relationships. Sisterhood and adoptive parents and your job objectively kind of sucks but the co-workers are good enough to make you enjoy heading there. It's a very relatable feeling and I loved the whole thing.

[Ally Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the immense pleasure of beta reading this a while back. I can barely fathom that it’s a whole ass book now! GAHH! I love this book so much. It’s wickedly funny, and aching heartfelt. A nice little f-u to the status quo. Also sapphic badassery and sweetness:):):):):):). I’ll go to my grave claiming that frank and bill have nothing in Aaron and the Captain. (And they’re just the background art here). There’s henchmen who unionize. What’s not to love about this book?? Radley is a stunning author and this is a story I’m going to carry with me for a very long time.

[Shannon Luchies · Rating 3 out of 5]

After losing her job, Riley Jones applies to work at Hench, as a villainous hench person. There she meets Sherman, and along with Riley's other friend, Jav, realizes the heroes and villains are deliberately wrecking the bad part of town to pave the way for gentrification. When they o to the authorities, things go south FAST.

Good read, tho it's weird that other than one or two cases there are NO good superhumans. They all seem awful.

[Kate Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strictly No Hero’s was a hilarious take on the saying “anything that can go wrong will”

Raised by an abusive drunk Riley seems to always be down on her luck, living in a city where superhero’s and villains battle it out. This book reminded me of a more tame take on “The Boys” on Amazon Prime.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Forever Young Adult]

Graded By: Mandy C.
Cover Story: Nope
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
Talky Talk: Grows on You
Bonus Factor: “Normies”
Factor: Mental Health
Relationship Status: I’ll Be Over There

Read the full book report here.

[Dahl O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Radley’s writing is compelling and witty, and I adore it with my whole heart. They craft characters that feel so real and present. I was honored to be a beta reader for this story in its early stages and I’m honored to hold a copy of it now. I can’t wait to see all the fun projects Radley will share!

[Briana Miano]

Incredibly funny and full of voice. I loved the sound of this book from the moment I heard the premise and enjoyed getting to read all of hijinks, mishaps, and queer panic. Strictly No Heroics is a fun look at the superhero genre through a side that isn’t often told. I wish there was more of it!

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this story, but in the end it was a fun ride.

Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.

[Renata Rosu · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fun and fast read, ideal for my commute. A little all over the place and the humor didn't always work for me but the main character and her love interest(s) were interesting to follow along. The concept of superheroes abusing their power was also neat :^)

[Bob Ottaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been a decent read for the most part, and it's a concept I enjoy. It can lag here and there with the plot, but the characters, particularly the main, feel believable within their scenario.

[Ahmad · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the concept of Normies in a Superhero / Villan world! Would love to see a sequel that delves more into the characters and world.

[Jessica Shubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A smooth and satisfying read from start to finish!

[Megan Musick · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 46% - everything about it was fine, but I have so many other better books I want to read! The writing style was my favorite part.