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League of Independent Operatives #2
Anti-Hero
Mary O'Sullivan makes her own rules now.
Her first self-assigned mission? Track down the league retirees who helped kill her family, and bring them to justice.
But Mary's crusade thrusts her deep into the shadows of vigilantism, where good and evil blur to gray. When her enemies turn the tables and start hunting her, Mary must face the darker side of heroism--or risk becoming their next victim.
With the Pearl Knife increasingly disobedient, Eloise Reyna fights to maintain control over her powers--and the fractured remains of the league. But Eloise's search leaves her struggling through the Knife's web of mysteries, and if she can't get a handle on it, the fate of the world could be at stake.
As control slips through their fingers, Mary and Eloise seek allies in an increasingly dangerous power struggle that could shatter the league, and their lives, forever.
Her first self-assigned mission? Track down the league retirees who helped kill her family, and bring them to justice.
But Mary's crusade thrusts her deep into the shadows of vigilantism, where good and evil blur to gray. When her enemies turn the tables and start hunting her, Mary must face the darker side of heroism--or risk becoming their next victim.
With the Pearl Knife increasingly disobedient, Eloise Reyna fights to maintain control over her powers--and the fractured remains of the league. But Eloise's search leaves her struggling through the Knife's web of mysteries, and if she can't get a handle on it, the fate of the world could be at stake.
As control slips through their fingers, Mary and Eloise seek allies in an increasingly dangerous power struggle that could shatter the league, and their lives, forever.
- GenresScience Fiction
322 pages, ebook
First published May 5, 2020
3 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Kate Sheeran Swed
44 books72 followersKate Sheeran Swed loves hot chocolate, plastic dinosaurs, and airplane tickets. She has trekked along the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, hiked on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier in Iceland, and climbed the ruins of Masada to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea. She holds degrees in music from the University of Maine and Ithaca College, as well as an MFA in Fiction from Pacific University. Her stories are forthcoming or have appeared in the Young Explorer's Adventure Guide Volume 5, Daily Science Fiction, Electric Spec, and Andromeda Spaceways. You can find her on Twitter @katesheeranswed.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 2, 2020
Firstly i'd like to say a big thank you to Kate for sending me an eARC of Anti-Hero; I absolutely love being part of her ARC team however all views and opinions that I share are truly my own.
One thing I absolutely love about Kate is that she releases her books close together which means that the action from the previous book is still close in my mind and it was easy to pick this one up and just slot straight back into the story with Mary and Eloise. I remembered how much I love Mary from the off and my view continues to waver on Eloise; I want to like her but I don't always trust her!! I did start to trust her more in this book, and it must be hard to have your whole world pulled out from under you so many times.
Whereas the first book was a bit more about world-building this one sunk straight into the action but also managed to develop the characters as we went and explained more about their motivations. I appreciate the fact that we get more commentary on how some of the IO's get their powers and I still find this aspect fascinating. I like that each one is unique to the person and the power that they receive, and there doesn't appear to be a specific thread linking them all together.
I continue to adore Mary and she is definitely my favourite character but I love that we also get to know more about the other characters and explore the fact that no-one is truly black or white. They all have their own motivations driving them forward and as much as they think what they're doing is right, it doesn't necessarily mean they're on the right side. I honestly still don't know who I am rooting for!! I really love this aspect of the book because I think it just keeps you guessing all the time and leaves you on tenterhooks for the next twist to shock you - Kate does love to throw a twist at you so don't get too comfortable!
This book is just full of action but it is always easy to follow and I feel it just ramped up as the book went along which really sped the pace along, especially towards the end. Also, that ending. Kate. We need to talk about you just making us suffer with cliffhangers all the time, I know you secretly love the pain it causes us! It really made me want to grab the next book and devour it... eagerly awaiting to see where it goes.
Out 5th May so definitely check it out for yourself!!
Review will be cross-posted to my blog and to amazon
One thing I absolutely love about Kate is that she releases her books close together which means that the action from the previous book is still close in my mind and it was easy to pick this one up and just slot straight back into the story with Mary and Eloise. I remembered how much I love Mary from the off and my view continues to waver on Eloise; I want to like her but I don't always trust her!! I did start to trust her more in this book, and it must be hard to have your whole world pulled out from under you so many times.
Whereas the first book was a bit more about world-building this one sunk straight into the action but also managed to develop the characters as we went and explained more about their motivations. I appreciate the fact that we get more commentary on how some of the IO's get their powers and I still find this aspect fascinating. I like that each one is unique to the person and the power that they receive, and there doesn't appear to be a specific thread linking them all together.
I continue to adore Mary and she is definitely my favourite character but I love that we also get to know more about the other characters and explore the fact that no-one is truly black or white. They all have their own motivations driving them forward and as much as they think what they're doing is right, it doesn't necessarily mean they're on the right side. I honestly still don't know who I am rooting for!! I really love this aspect of the book because I think it just keeps you guessing all the time and leaves you on tenterhooks for the next twist to shock you - Kate does love to throw a twist at you so don't get too comfortable!
This book is just full of action but it is always easy to follow and I feel it just ramped up as the book went along which really sped the pace along, especially towards the end. Also, that ending. Kate. We need to talk about you just making us suffer with cliffhangers all the time, I know you secretly love the pain it causes us! It really made me want to grab the next book and devour it... eagerly awaiting to see where it goes.
Out 5th May so definitely check it out for yourself!!
Review will be cross-posted to my blog and to amazon
June 25, 2020
Anti-Hero is the second book in the League of Independent Operatives and I'm so happy that book 1 and 2 where released within a couple of months!
Don't read this review if you haven't read the first book, spoilers!
In Anti-Hero Mary has her own mission, she wants to track down the people who killed her parents. The problem is they are retired League members and Mary grew up with them. Not an easy task!
Eloise is still having trouble with the Pearl Knife which leads her on a quest to understand and learn what the Pearl Knife really is.
Nathan struggles with his feelings of being a member in the League and not being with Mary.
This book has all the old characters but also introduces new ones. Anti-Hero is fast-paced, has great characters and an intriguing plot. With some twist and turns during the book this makes an awesome experience! I loved reading about Mary and Eloise, I was much more interested in Eloise's story in this book then the previous one. That ending makes me so desperate for the 3rd book!
Don't read this review if you haven't read the first book, spoilers!
In Anti-Hero Mary has her own mission, she wants to track down the people who killed her parents. The problem is they are retired League members and Mary grew up with them. Not an easy task!
Eloise is still having trouble with the Pearl Knife which leads her on a quest to understand and learn what the Pearl Knife really is.
Nathan struggles with his feelings of being a member in the League and not being with Mary.
This book has all the old characters but also introduces new ones. Anti-Hero is fast-paced, has great characters and an intriguing plot. With some twist and turns during the book this makes an awesome experience! I loved reading about Mary and Eloise, I was much more interested in Eloise's story in this book then the previous one. That ending makes me so desperate for the 3rd book!
February 12, 2021
“Anti-Hero” picks up shortly after where “Alter Ego” leaves off, with Mary’s secret identity in shambles and on the run, hunting down those responsible for taking her parents away, and dismantling the lies she held as truth for most of her life. So, don’t read this review if you haven’t read Alter Ego yet (and you should read that, by the way) because there will be mild spoilers for the first book in the series in this review. But in this middle book of the trilogy, Swed does a wonderful job of both answering lingering questions, giving more background on the vigilantes now that the world building is done, while still surprising the reader with new characters, new revelations, and one hell of a twist at the end.
The thing I always love about Swed’s writing is how crisp it is. Even when things are going crazy, the author is able to write in such a way as to clearly lay out all the action, where characters are, or what they are doing without unnecessary fluff. This comes particularly handy with the multiple POV’s this book has, including a new character we meet and get the POV of occasionally. That style of writing really helped the book’s flow and kept the plot moving, even though I had a bit of a hard time getting into the story at the start. It could have been because there is no recap and so I had to pause and try to remember things from the previous book, or the fact that this new character felt too far removed from the main cast and story for much of the book for me to care much for the POV, but I wasn’t as immediately swept away by “Anti-Hero” as I was with “Alter Ego.” But all that changed come about the half way mark of this beauty.
Swed teases how unhinged Mary has become, how out of character this unfamiliar feeling of utter betrayal forces Mary to act and how desperate that makes her. The author also does more justice to Eloise’s character, her own struggles, and giving us more about the incredible Pearl Knife that Eloise wields. We also get more of Nathan and his complex relationship with his family (even if I felt like Chloe could have used a bit more building to her to make her feel fully fleshed out). But the thing that really blew me away and had me binge reading late into the night was seeing the old guard of LIO come back into play. Those characters further muddy the waters around “good and evil” “black and white” and highlight the true message of Swed’s series: there is only grey. I loved getting more explanation about some of the enhanced characters’ abilities and watching an unenhanced person still go toe to toe against incredible odds. And while Mary does a fair amount of growing in this story, Eloise’s character arc was by far my favorite and my heart just broke along side of hers with that cliff hanger of an ending!
If you aren’t a fan of cliff hanger endings, don’t worry, the next book in this trilogy is out now so you can immediately move on to the next book, and, trust me, you’ll want to because I know I do! My minor qualms with the first book, with wanting more explanation of the abilities certain characters have, as well as the origins of the conflict between LIO and Wave, do get addressed in this book, and I appreciated that quite a bit. So, the only reason I’m giving this book 4 stars again is because it took me a bit to feel like I was IN the story. But this book in the series definitely leans more into the Marvel Civil War vibes, so if that’s your thing, you need to read this book and this series ASAP!
The thing I always love about Swed’s writing is how crisp it is. Even when things are going crazy, the author is able to write in such a way as to clearly lay out all the action, where characters are, or what they are doing without unnecessary fluff. This comes particularly handy with the multiple POV’s this book has, including a new character we meet and get the POV of occasionally. That style of writing really helped the book’s flow and kept the plot moving, even though I had a bit of a hard time getting into the story at the start. It could have been because there is no recap and so I had to pause and try to remember things from the previous book, or the fact that this new character felt too far removed from the main cast and story for much of the book for me to care much for the POV, but I wasn’t as immediately swept away by “Anti-Hero” as I was with “Alter Ego.” But all that changed come about the half way mark of this beauty.
Swed teases how unhinged Mary has become, how out of character this unfamiliar feeling of utter betrayal forces Mary to act and how desperate that makes her. The author also does more justice to Eloise’s character, her own struggles, and giving us more about the incredible Pearl Knife that Eloise wields. We also get more of Nathan and his complex relationship with his family (even if I felt like Chloe could have used a bit more building to her to make her feel fully fleshed out). But the thing that really blew me away and had me binge reading late into the night was seeing the old guard of LIO come back into play. Those characters further muddy the waters around “good and evil” “black and white” and highlight the true message of Swed’s series: there is only grey. I loved getting more explanation about some of the enhanced characters’ abilities and watching an unenhanced person still go toe to toe against incredible odds. And while Mary does a fair amount of growing in this story, Eloise’s character arc was by far my favorite and my heart just broke along side of hers with that cliff hanger of an ending!
If you aren’t a fan of cliff hanger endings, don’t worry, the next book in this trilogy is out now so you can immediately move on to the next book, and, trust me, you’ll want to because I know I do! My minor qualms with the first book, with wanting more explanation of the abilities certain characters have, as well as the origins of the conflict between LIO and Wave, do get addressed in this book, and I appreciated that quite a bit. So, the only reason I’m giving this book 4 stars again is because it took me a bit to feel like I was IN the story. But this book in the series definitely leans more into the Marvel Civil War vibes, so if that’s your thing, you need to read this book and this series ASAP!
January 11, 2021
I am grateful to Kate Sheeran Swed for sending me an ARC of this book. Here is my review of the first on in the series.
Anti-Hero is the second instalment of the League of Independent Operatives story and picks up the story fluidly from the previous book. It's still told from multiple perspectives, mainly Mary, Eloise and Nathan, a technique the author has demonstrated flawlessly. Each scene flows seamlessly into the next and allows the reader deeper insight to each character and the story as a whole.
Reeling from the socking reveal at the end of the last book, Mary is angry, hurt and out for revenge on the LIO retired operatives. Heart-broken from Nathan's decision to choose the league over her, she is on her own to find, capture and bring them to justice. With her secret identity now out, everyone knows who she is, but no one wants to know her or help her. Until she meets Dawn, a reporter with a secret of her own, who will help her in exchange for her story, who turns out to be a great asset in the final show-down.
The league is now under scrutiny from both the government and the general public (and anyone with a smart phone). Now that LIO have Mange's power supressing serum they can contain their prisoner and their powers, until Nathan begins to question if this is the right thing to do. Eloise continues to struggle to hold the league together and figure out the mysterious pearl knife and it's powers. Until someone from her past makes a reappearance and she beings to question what she knows about her mother, the knife and what it can do and what that means for her.
Nathan is on a journey of his own, he throws himself into training with the new recruits, despite his lack of special abilities, and trying to distract himself from Mary's absence. Nathan's sister Chloe has an agenda of her own and tries to lean on Nathan for information. Forming the EAEA, Enhanced Ability Enforcement Association, she wants all people with special abilities to register and join with the league, regardless if they want to or not.
This book (and series) is wonderful! Strong, interesting, well fleshed out characters, fast-paced, engaging plot, Superpowers, vigilantes, revenge.
It took me until after I finished the book to get the clever double entendre title reference.
I seriously adore this series, it was one of the highlights of 2020, a fairly awful year. Thank-you Ms. Sheeran Swed for your awesome work. I recommend this to all I mean really it's amazing.
Anti-Hero is the second instalment of the League of Independent Operatives story and picks up the story fluidly from the previous book. It's still told from multiple perspectives, mainly Mary, Eloise and Nathan, a technique the author has demonstrated flawlessly. Each scene flows seamlessly into the next and allows the reader deeper insight to each character and the story as a whole.
Reeling from the socking reveal at the end of the last book, Mary is angry, hurt and out for revenge on the LIO retired operatives. Heart-broken from Nathan's decision to choose the league over her, she is on her own to find, capture and bring them to justice. With her secret identity now out, everyone knows who she is, but no one wants to know her or help her. Until she meets Dawn, a reporter with a secret of her own, who will help her in exchange for her story, who turns out to be a great asset in the final show-down.
The league is now under scrutiny from both the government and the general public (and anyone with a smart phone). Now that LIO have Mange's power supressing serum they can contain their prisoner and their powers, until Nathan begins to question if this is the right thing to do. Eloise continues to struggle to hold the league together and figure out the mysterious pearl knife and it's powers. Until someone from her past makes a reappearance and she beings to question what she knows about her mother, the knife and what it can do and what that means for her.
Nathan is on a journey of his own, he throws himself into training with the new recruits, despite his lack of special abilities, and trying to distract himself from Mary's absence. Nathan's sister Chloe has an agenda of her own and tries to lean on Nathan for information. Forming the EAEA, Enhanced Ability Enforcement Association, she wants all people with special abilities to register and join with the league, regardless if they want to or not.
This book (and series) is wonderful! Strong, interesting, well fleshed out characters, fast-paced, engaging plot, Superpowers, vigilantes, revenge.
It took me until after I finished the book to get the clever double entendre title reference.
I seriously adore this series, it was one of the highlights of 2020, a fairly awful year. Thank-you Ms. Sheeran Swed for your awesome work. I recommend this to all I mean really it's amazing.
May 12, 2020
This is book two of the League of Independent Operatives (LIO) series and sees Mary, code name Coral, taking her own form of justice against those possibly responsible for the death of her parents in an exploding plane when she was a young teen. Mary is only a human, from a famous Hollywood couple, but was raised amongst all of the LIO’s, as part of their family. But, now she has found out that the LIO were responsible for her parent’s death and not those of the Wave, the supposed evil group of superhumans. The older operatives have all fled the LIO HQ and gone into hiding, after the death of Eloise’s father and all the secrets coming out, except for Eloise’s mother Molly, the former holder of the Pearl Blade! Mary has made it her mission to hunt down all of these retired and hiding operatives and get justice for her parent’s deaths.
Mary was also upset with Nathan’s decision to stay with the LIO, especially after his own childhood exploitation. He is also a human, now involved with a new training regime with Ire in a warehouse, training up some new enhanced recruits, for Mary’s new version of the LIO organisation. But what Mary is doing, could soon go too far. She has already imprisoned three of the old league enhanced heroes and is now after more. She hasn’t interacted with them much as such, keeping them in her new hideaway. But, the other retirees have realised that someone is after them and are about to turn the attack back on her. Meanwhile Eloise is having her own problems with the world now knowing all about the enhanced operatives and an agreement having been made with the American government about their existence and onward co-operation. She is also having a lot of problems with the Blade, it is disobeying her and she can’t work out how to get it to work better with her.
There is an additional issue with an outer space contingent operating alongside this story and it may seem a bit odd, until you get to the end of the book and everything will make sense. It is a group of space criminals that have been forced to try and steal a huge amount from a space casino, failing brilliantly and then being forced to make a different path of action. This will bring them into the sphere of action around Eloise and the new LIO. Eloise’s close friend and scientific expert Agnes has gone off with WAVE, taking her wife and child with her. They have a hidden HQ under the ocean and she is happy working in their labs, creating new superpowers. But she will soon have to go back on a promise to her wife, as she is asked by the head of WAVE to go out on a mission. It seems the LIO are too busy with their own problems to go out and stop any rogue enhanced humans.
A coming together of WAVE and LIO operatives, all come to take down some enhanced rogue criminals, leads to some hidden secrets being revealed and an emergence of a new enemy, closely linked to Nathan! Voices are now being raised against the freedom of those enhanced people. Foes that don’t trust any of the enhanced, who want new laws put in place against their freedom. A bit reminiscent of the mutants in X-Men and how they tried to stay underground, but once revealed, governments tried to use them for their own purposes and those that didn’t fall in line, were hunted down! There will always be those that use an advantage for good and those that will use it for evil. Some want power, no matter the cost to those around them and will do all they can to achieve it. People will also fear that which is different to them or that they cannot understand.
A powerful follow-up to the first book in the series, with some other worldly suspects in the mix. The whole idea of who are the heroes and who are the criminals in this situation is becoming blurred, and old and new allegiances are being put under tremendous pressure. The roles of those in charge are changing and they will have to adapt to a new norm. Matters have gone on at a great pace and I can’t wait now to see what is going to happen next. This book has so much more action than the first, as we also learn more about the younger generation and what they have gone through to get to where they are now. The actions of the older generation operatives and the influence Molly may have had on these actions, are developed so much more. A great addition and I look forward to the next one. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
Mary was also upset with Nathan’s decision to stay with the LIO, especially after his own childhood exploitation. He is also a human, now involved with a new training regime with Ire in a warehouse, training up some new enhanced recruits, for Mary’s new version of the LIO organisation. But what Mary is doing, could soon go too far. She has already imprisoned three of the old league enhanced heroes and is now after more. She hasn’t interacted with them much as such, keeping them in her new hideaway. But, the other retirees have realised that someone is after them and are about to turn the attack back on her. Meanwhile Eloise is having her own problems with the world now knowing all about the enhanced operatives and an agreement having been made with the American government about their existence and onward co-operation. She is also having a lot of problems with the Blade, it is disobeying her and she can’t work out how to get it to work better with her.
There is an additional issue with an outer space contingent operating alongside this story and it may seem a bit odd, until you get to the end of the book and everything will make sense. It is a group of space criminals that have been forced to try and steal a huge amount from a space casino, failing brilliantly and then being forced to make a different path of action. This will bring them into the sphere of action around Eloise and the new LIO. Eloise’s close friend and scientific expert Agnes has gone off with WAVE, taking her wife and child with her. They have a hidden HQ under the ocean and she is happy working in their labs, creating new superpowers. But she will soon have to go back on a promise to her wife, as she is asked by the head of WAVE to go out on a mission. It seems the LIO are too busy with their own problems to go out and stop any rogue enhanced humans.
A coming together of WAVE and LIO operatives, all come to take down some enhanced rogue criminals, leads to some hidden secrets being revealed and an emergence of a new enemy, closely linked to Nathan! Voices are now being raised against the freedom of those enhanced people. Foes that don’t trust any of the enhanced, who want new laws put in place against their freedom. A bit reminiscent of the mutants in X-Men and how they tried to stay underground, but once revealed, governments tried to use them for their own purposes and those that didn’t fall in line, were hunted down! There will always be those that use an advantage for good and those that will use it for evil. Some want power, no matter the cost to those around them and will do all they can to achieve it. People will also fear that which is different to them or that they cannot understand.
A powerful follow-up to the first book in the series, with some other worldly suspects in the mix. The whole idea of who are the heroes and who are the criminals in this situation is becoming blurred, and old and new allegiances are being put under tremendous pressure. The roles of those in charge are changing and they will have to adapt to a new norm. Matters have gone on at a great pace and I can’t wait now to see what is going to happen next. This book has so much more action than the first, as we also learn more about the younger generation and what they have gone through to get to where they are now. The actions of the older generation operatives and the influence Molly may have had on these actions, are developed so much more. A great addition and I look forward to the next one. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
August 14, 2022
After the revelations of Alter Ego, Mary has left the League of Independent Operatives, and her budding romance with Nathan Pearce, behind and is dedicating her life to finding and capturing the "retired" members of the League, who she blames for her parents' death. I found Mary much more difficult to like this time round. She's closed in on herself, is completely on her own and is making worse and worse decisions. Like the decision to go rogue and hunt down the superpowered retirees wasn't a bad one to start with. Even her AI assistant disapproves of how she's capturing and imprisoning them without trial.
This book also introduces us to Nathan's dysfunctional family (honestly, this lot should really have had family therapy after the whole tricked-into-delivering-a-bomb thing. But since they didn't, it feels like Nathan's sister, Chloe, is well on her way to being the next big bad for the series). We also get to see more of Eloise and her inability to control the Pearl Knife, leading to a doozy of a revelation.
Also, there were several chapters that seemed to be from a different book. Those were labelled "Sloane" and were somewhere in the Parse Galaxy. Since I know the author has written other books in that setting, I initially wondered if some chapters had ended up in the wrong book. But it comes together at the end. Although the snippets we get to see of Sloane and her crew don't exactly enthuse me for the Parse Galaxy books, which seem to feature the same characters.
I wanted to throw the book across the room a couple of times here, usually at Mary doing something stupid or stubborn. I honestly don't understand why she tried to attack Nathan after the encounter with The Trap. And her later change of heart. It didn't really seem to fit to me.
It was interesting to see some of the "retirees" from LIO though, and their powers. Nothing particularly unique, but interesting nonetheless. We don't really get much characterisation for any of them, other than The Trap, but it contrasts well with Nathan's visits to LIO's prison and getting to know some of the prisoners there, and showing their humanity.
This one doesn't even pretend to conclude anything and ends on a massive cliffhanger. I'm intrigued enough to read the next in series though.
This book also introduces us to Nathan's dysfunctional family (honestly, this lot should really have had family therapy after the whole tricked-into-delivering-a-bomb thing. But since they didn't, it feels like Nathan's sister, Chloe, is well on her way to being the next big bad for the series). We also get to see more of Eloise and her inability to control the Pearl Knife, leading to a doozy of a revelation.
Also, there were several chapters that seemed to be from a different book. Those were labelled "Sloane" and were somewhere in the Parse Galaxy. Since I know the author has written other books in that setting, I initially wondered if some chapters had ended up in the wrong book. But it comes together at the end. Although the snippets we get to see of Sloane and her crew don't exactly enthuse me for the Parse Galaxy books, which seem to feature the same characters.
I wanted to throw the book across the room a couple of times here, usually at Mary doing something stupid or stubborn. I honestly don't understand why she tried to attack Nathan after the encounter with The Trap. And her later change of heart. It didn't really seem to fit to me.
It was interesting to see some of the "retirees" from LIO though, and their powers. Nothing particularly unique, but interesting nonetheless. We don't really get much characterisation for any of them, other than The Trap, but it contrasts well with Nathan's visits to LIO's prison and getting to know some of the prisoners there, and showing their humanity.
This one doesn't even pretend to conclude anything and ends on a massive cliffhanger. I'm intrigued enough to read the next in series though.
March 21, 2022
Ce second tome est tout aussi intéressant et divertissant que le premier. L’intrigue reprend peu après la fin du premier tome, ce qui m’a permis de replonger dans l’univers très rapidement. L’auteure développe progressivement son univers, il s’étoffe peu à peu et s’entoure d’un voile de mystères qui me plait énormément. En plus, il y a davantage de rebondissements et de scènes d’action dans ce tome, je n’ai pas eu le temps de m’ennuyer. À vrai dire, en lisant ce second tome, j’ai eu le sentiment de remettre les pieds dans un univers que je connaissais depuis longtemps. C’est un sentiment auquel je ne m’attendais pas mais qui, finalement, ne me surprend pas tant que ça.
D’ailleurs, j’ai eu l’impression de retrouver de vieilles connaissances. J’ai beaucoup apprécié Mary dans ce tome, qui est un personnage profondément humain. Elle fait des erreurs, mais fait tout pour obtenir ce qu’elle veut, et accepte difficilement l’aide des autres — ce qui est parfaitement compréhensible vu son histoire. J’ai aussi apprécié Nathan, sûrement un peu plus que dans le premier tome. J’ai aimé ses remises en questions et ses doutes. En revanche, il y a toujours un petit quelque chose entre Eloise et moi. De la méfiance, peut-être. Mais tous les personnages sont très intéressants, parce qu’ils sont tous capables du meilleur comme du pire. Il n’y a pas de bien ou de mal, de héros ou de villain. Tout le monde se trouve dans un entre-deux passionnant.
J’ai hâte de continuer mon voyage avec ces personnages et cet univers, d’autant plus que la fin me donne vraiment envie de me lancer dans le tome suivant.
D’ailleurs, j’ai eu l’impression de retrouver de vieilles connaissances. J’ai beaucoup apprécié Mary dans ce tome, qui est un personnage profondément humain. Elle fait des erreurs, mais fait tout pour obtenir ce qu’elle veut, et accepte difficilement l’aide des autres — ce qui est parfaitement compréhensible vu son histoire. J’ai aussi apprécié Nathan, sûrement un peu plus que dans le premier tome. J’ai aimé ses remises en questions et ses doutes. En revanche, il y a toujours un petit quelque chose entre Eloise et moi. De la méfiance, peut-être. Mais tous les personnages sont très intéressants, parce qu’ils sont tous capables du meilleur comme du pire. Il n’y a pas de bien ou de mal, de héros ou de villain. Tout le monde se trouve dans un entre-deux passionnant.
J’ai hâte de continuer mon voyage avec ces personnages et cet univers, d’autant plus que la fin me donne vraiment envie de me lancer dans le tome suivant.
January 11, 2021
I could not put this one down! It was just incredible and I read it in one day! I was so happy to be back with Mary - I just love her so much and seeing how she deals with hitting pretty much rock bottom makes for very exciting reading.
I love the new characters we are introduced to in this one, and I also really hate some of the villains too. I am a sucker for a well written anti hero and a well written villain and we really do get them in Anti-Hero. I love the exploration of good verses evil in this one, and also all of the shades of grey that exist between the two.
It is really interesting to see how Mary, Nathan and Eloise grow over the course of this book, how they deal with the awful things that are thrown at them and how they develop as characters and how they come to view the choices they have made.
I loved the first book, but I have to say, I love this one even more and I am very very excited for book 3 especially with that ending.
The plot and pacing are perfect in Anti-Hero - like I have said, I could not put it down yet nothing felt rushed. There was tension but the balance was perfect.
I would definitely recommend this series!
I love the new characters we are introduced to in this one, and I also really hate some of the villains too. I am a sucker for a well written anti hero and a well written villain and we really do get them in Anti-Hero. I love the exploration of good verses evil in this one, and also all of the shades of grey that exist between the two.
It is really interesting to see how Mary, Nathan and Eloise grow over the course of this book, how they deal with the awful things that are thrown at them and how they develop as characters and how they come to view the choices they have made.
I loved the first book, but I have to say, I love this one even more and I am very very excited for book 3 especially with that ending.
The plot and pacing are perfect in Anti-Hero - like I have said, I could not put it down yet nothing felt rushed. There was tension but the balance was perfect.
I would definitely recommend this series!
July 15, 2020
Ooh, it's going to be hard to write a good review without spoilers! Eek!
I will just say that this book is as fun, exciting, and gripping as the first. Mary and Eloise are more desperate. The stakes are higher for everyone. We have new heroes, new villains, and plenty of thin lines that make people both. Also really exciting? New characters from another galaxy. And that cliffhanger ending! I can't *WAIT* for the next installment!
With enhanced humans and space travel, I don't know if this is sci-fi or sci-fantasy, but I do know that I loved it. Treat yourself to this fun superhero read today!
I will just say that this book is as fun, exciting, and gripping as the first. Mary and Eloise are more desperate. The stakes are higher for everyone. We have new heroes, new villains, and plenty of thin lines that make people both. Also really exciting? New characters from another galaxy. And that cliffhanger ending! I can't *WAIT* for the next installment!
With enhanced humans and space travel, I don't know if this is sci-fi or sci-fantasy, but I do know that I loved it. Treat yourself to this fun superhero read today!
January 11, 2021
I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. I'm not sure if it was the back-and-forth chapters to new, unexplained characters or the fact that Mary was acting WAY out of character, or maybe a little of both. But really, this feeling of the unknown is what a lot of this book is about, as Mary is becoming more and more desperate, trying to get vengeance for her parents' deaths.
Soon after the halfway mark, this book got really good. Everything started coming together and I refused to put the book down. Instead, I stayed up until 1:30 AM to finish it, and then I hit that HUGE cliffhanger ending. It's taking all I have to not just pull an all-nighter and start Mastermind now.
Soon after the halfway mark, this book got really good. Everything started coming together and I refused to put the book down. Instead, I stayed up until 1:30 AM to finish it, and then I hit that HUGE cliffhanger ending. It's taking all I have to not just pull an all-nighter and start Mastermind now.
September 17, 2020
I am SO glad I came across Kate’s Instagram account while looking for fellow superhero fiction authors because her books have been a highlight of my year. I’ve already raved about Alter Ego and it’s wonderful qualities—book two in the League of Independent Operatives series is no different.
I won’t give specifics in order to keep this spoiler free but these characters are wonderful, the story is well weaved, and I’m just so impressed with this series.
I can’t wait until the next one comes out! 🤓
I won’t give specifics in order to keep this spoiler free but these characters are wonderful, the story is well weaved, and I’m just so impressed with this series.
I can’t wait until the next one comes out! 🤓
September 13, 2020
I was so excited to get this book and I got even more excited as the book went on! I loved that both books in this series were launched so close to each other so I could still remember what happened in the last book.
This book is action-packed and there is excitement-filled to the brim. I would recommend this series to anyone looking for a great read. You will become addicted.
I wrote this voluntary review in exchange for an ARC copy.
This book is action-packed and there is excitement-filled to the brim. I would recommend this series to anyone looking for a great read. You will become addicted.
I wrote this voluntary review in exchange for an ARC copy.
June 11, 2023
3.5 stars. I enjoyed the continuation of book 1 but found the 'hints' of book 3 annoying.
The 4 random chapters (out of 44) didn't engage me enough. It might have worked better if those chapters were clustered (or left to the next book)
The 4 random chapters (out of 44) didn't engage me enough. It might have worked better if those chapters were clustered (or left to the next book)
December 8, 2020
I would first like to thank the author for generously giving me a free copy of the kindle version of this novel. However, I am writing this honest review on my own volition. After reading Alter Ego, I realized that I never read a superhero series before and that I needed to read more. Sheeran Swed continues the novel with Anti-Hero, which focuses more on character development rather than world building. I still found this novel to keep me engaged with all the action and gadgets, but it was interesting to see more of what other characters were thinking.
This review is very difficult to write without writing spoilers so I recommend you check out Alter Ego first and when you are done then you will want to find out what happens to Mary in book 2.
This review is very difficult to write without writing spoilers so I recommend you check out Alter Ego first and when you are done then you will want to find out what happens to Mary in book 2.
August 26, 2021
Superheroes, Supervillains, Enhanced Humans - who are the heroes and who are the villains? Enjoyable read that makes you realize perspective is in the eye of the beholder.
September 26, 2023
Good Read.
This book was a good one with a great storyline and it had plenty of action along with some surprises in it. Good book.
This book was a good one with a great storyline and it had plenty of action along with some surprises in it. Good book.
March 10, 2021
Alter- Ego ended on a cliffhanger that had my head spinning in disbelief. The pace doesn't let up in Anti-Hero and Mary just can't catch a break.
She's being relentlessly pursued. Her mission to balance the scales of vengeance keeps getting thwarted. She is alone and desperate, and must accept help from unlikely and distasteful allies.
Everything Eloise believed has been undermined. Her identity, the history of the LIO, her mother's role. Old friends return to the fold and the motives and character of everyone around her are thrown into question.
Nathan refuses to believe that Mary is enacting merciless revenge. He does not believe she could have changed so fundamentally, and is worried about her wellbeing. Even though his mission is to hinder her retribution, he refuses to endanger her.
As the true nature purpose and capabilities of the Pearl Knife are revealed, the cast of characters expands. Nothing is what it appears to be- and even reality is an illusion.
I cannot wait for the third installment in this amazing new sci-fi series🤩
She's being relentlessly pursued. Her mission to balance the scales of vengeance keeps getting thwarted. She is alone and desperate, and must accept help from unlikely and distasteful allies.
Everything Eloise believed has been undermined. Her identity, the history of the LIO, her mother's role. Old friends return to the fold and the motives and character of everyone around her are thrown into question.
Nathan refuses to believe that Mary is enacting merciless revenge. He does not believe she could have changed so fundamentally, and is worried about her wellbeing. Even though his mission is to hinder her retribution, he refuses to endanger her.
As the true nature purpose and capabilities of the Pearl Knife are revealed, the cast of characters expands. Nothing is what it appears to be- and even reality is an illusion.
I cannot wait for the third installment in this amazing new sci-fi series🤩
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