Advent 9

by T. Alan Horne, Paul Pederson (Illustrator), David Farland (Editor)

Once, the world had people to look up to.

The Powered protected us, inspired us, showed us new possibilities for humanity. But when the great names walked away, when the capes and boots and chest-blazoned symbols vanished, all they left behind was a single child to take up their burden.

His nightmares named him Advent 9, the flying, bullet-dodging, impossibly strong remnant of an era almost forgotten. With no memory of where he came from or why he is the only superhero left, his life is the world’s greatest mystery.

And when a new threat, Trancedragon, arrives, the boy hero finds himself unprepared for what will become our world’s darkest hour. To have a fighting chance, he must piece together the secrets hidden in his mind. The only one who can help with that is an old-guard supervillain with an axe to grind, and who might be the bigger threat when he discovers the one vulnerability Advent 9 never knew he had: autism.

452 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 19, 2022

About the author

T. Alan Horne is a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and tales of high adventure. He specializes in taking familiar genres to new places and creating characters that readers get to keep forever as souvenirs to live in their imaginations.

His first book, Advent 9, garnered high praise, and was called “Absolutely Brilliant!” by bestselling author David Farland—the writing teacher and mentor of Brandon Sanderson, Brandon Mull, Stephenie Meyer, and James Dashner.

Mr. Horne spends most of his time writing but occasionally answers fan inquiries.

Reviews

[Jessi Joachim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Advent 9 by is a captivating self-published superhero novel that offers a fresh and unique perspective on the genre. The narrative is filled with action, intrigue, and morally complex characters, making it a true page-turner. The artwork sprinkled throughout the book added a visually stunning touch that enhanced my reading experience.

The protagonist is a neurodivergent individual who brings a different perspective to the world of superheroes. I enjoyed the dynamic between Advent 9 and his arch-nemesis, Dr. Felix, as they navigated an uneasy partnership that added depth to the plot. The representation of autism in the story is thoughtfully portrayed by the author, offering a perspective that felt authentic and valuable.

While there were moments of confusion and some unanswered questions, the overall storytelling and character development more than made up for it. I highly recommend "Advent 9" to fans of superheroes and anyone looking for a well-crafted and diverse read.

Pros:

Captivating narrative with action, intrigue, and morally complex characters
Visually stunning artwork
portrayal of autism
A unique perspective on the superhero genre

Cons:

Some moments of confusion
Unanswered questions
Lack of good female characters

Overall, "Advent 9" is a well-crafted and diverse read that I highly recommend.
You can see my full review here on YouTube with more information about the Author's experiences with his own Autism diagnosis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4Zq...

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I got this audiobook from netgalley and I was excited about it because it was supposed to have an autistic superhero but this is not a traditional superhero story. For one it is bloody and gory and violent. I was unprepared for just how violent some of it would be and it should've been labeled as horror instead of this sort of made-up genre of superpunk whatever.

I think my biggest issue with this though was the narrator. I want you to imagine The opening credits of a action-packed suspense movie and the over-the-top dictated narration style because that is what the entire audiobook is. The entire thing. It eventually morphs into this over-the-top mansplaining voice character that just pissed me off. I feel like most women will know what I'm talking about when I say this because we have all had some mediocre middle-aged white man talk over us and explain something in such a dramatic way as if we are fucking stupid and that's how this narration felt for me.

I didn't like any of the characters and I really was uncomfortable with some of the autistic representation. It's not even that the representation itself was bad it was just the way that it was talked about. So in the summary it's talked about as being this character's vulnerability that his nemesis catches on to but we end up with the supposed villain referring to the superhero as broken and basically fucked up and it does kind of resolve itself at the end but not enough for me.

I also think that this lacked a lot of world building. We're thrown into this world from the POV of this superhero called Advent 9 and he doesn't really know who he is there's no way it came from All he knows is that he works to save the day and ends up fighting this like evil doctor dude. Well one day evil doctor dude said to trap for Advent 9 and turns off all the radio connections or something. Evil doctor dude has actually brought in Advent 9's alter ego from a different universe and he is everything that Advent 9 isn't.

Evil doctor dude quickly realizes that he has created an even bigger monster and he and Advent 9 have to kind of team up to fight against the alter ego. Alter ego goes off and just starts murdering people for funsies. Evil doctor dude and Advent 9 end up in this like catacomb kind of deal where they have to like fight these weird monsters that you don't really know who they are or why they're there all well Advent 9 is talking to these random hybrid creature things that no one else can see that turn out to be his emotions. If you're confused by my summary just imagine what the book is like. The world building is non-existent and you do not understand any of the setting that they're in. None of it makes sense.

My last issue is that there is a single woman/girl character in this and she is a gullible fan girl so obsessed with Advent 9 that she thinks that his alter ego is him and instantly falls in love and then ends up dead. For real? That's what you give us.

Honestly this whole entire book was a disappointment. Would not recommend.

[Kenneth Geary (KagedBooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this superhero story. I know there are plenty outside of the DC/Marvel arena but I haven’t read a lot of them and it was cool to be in a world that doesn’t belong to them
The audio is narrated by Michael Kramer, who has been the voice of Fantasy in my ear for year, so it was interesting hearing his voice in a new genre. As always he gave a fantastic performance. 1.5x is my baseline for his narration.

The plot of this story is not doing anything groundbreaking as far as the superhero genre, but the characters are rich and engaging. They kept me invested in the plot and wanting to hear the rest of the story. I think that is kind of the core of superhero stories at this point anyway, to give us a familiar framework and deliver a character driven story.

There are a few over the top moments, and some major questions that went unresolved, but if you go in not expecting anything but a fun superhero story, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
I look forward to see what some members of the autism community think of this, as an outsider to that community I’m not sure how to weigh it’s portrayal within the story. I do appreciate that he never tried to “cure” it or anything like that.

All and all I had fun and would read another story in this world if written.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tristellation Media for providing a ALC of this book, in exchange for an honest review

[Jenn Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. An autistic superhero. It is everything I want in a story. There are not nearly enough. That being said, I was disappointed. First I had a lot of questions which I think was on purpose, but instead of making me want to keep reading to find out more I just got frustrated. I was also really sad to find that autism was his weakness. I am also autistic and I did get a chuckle out of the fact that emotions were his weakness. But it was less funny the longer it went on.

2 stars

Oh yeah and it called itself a new genre... it is just a comic book in novelization.

[Neville Ridley-smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I was sent this book by the author.

First thing to note about this book is it’s edited by David Farland aka Dave Wolverton, who taught at Brigham Young uni and taught, amongst others, Brandon Sanderson and Stephanie Meyer.

Thoughts while reading...

Not a good start. Some of the descriptions just make no sense.

A lot of the writing is serviceable but once every few pages there’s something that’s just odd - a person saying things that don’t sound like something people would say or a description that doesn’t make much sense. Really a lot of the dialogue between characters is the kind you get in comic books where it’s just nonsense posturing.

Also, it’s unclear who the audience is. In some respects, the writing is the kind of stuff you get in kids books like Zac Power. But then there’s swearing and some rather dark stuff, killing people and the like.

There are some ok ideas in here and the plot isn’t too bad. It’s mainly just the execution that’s flawed.

There was one little bit where I found I was enjoying myself when some characters go to a night zoo and I think the book definitely did get better as it went along. But otherwise it's just way too long and ultimately kind of boring.

Funnily enough I thought at a number of places hmm, this would make for a decent comic!

I tried, I really did and I read the whole damn thing but I can only give this 2 stars.

It’s ok Alan, Will Wight is a hugely successful author and I gave his first book 2 stars as well. And I even gave Terry Pratchett’s first book a 2. So keep on going!

[Mike]

Despite the claims of its late editor Dave Farland, this book doesn't invent a new genre of "Superpunk". Supers novels have been a low-profile but prolific subgenre of SFF for years; this is only one of 52 books on my Goodreads "supers" shelf (at time of review), and certainly as far as I read - admittedly not quite halfway - it was similar enough to the others that it clearly belonged there. (And there are several large series that, for one reason or another, I haven't read.)

It's better written and better edited than most, though by itself that's faint praise; supers novels, like steampunk, seem to attract incompetent writers for some reason. Let me be clearer: It's well written, and apart from a couple of dangling modifiers, some mispunctuated dialog and a few other minor glitches, even the pre-publication version I got for review from Netgalley is clean from a copy editing perspective.

So why did I stop reading it? Simply because the blurb (at the time I picked it up) did not alert me to a key fact: as well as a supers story, this is also a horror story, featuring several psychotic mass murderers or serial killers and also battling terrifying monsters in a slimy subterranean labyrinth, and that is not something I personally enjoy reading.

[RateTheRomance · Rating 1 out of 5]

why does the cover art of this book intended for middle grade readers prominently highlights the crotch area?

[Sam B · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author took the premise of “The Incredibles” and tried to write a new adult novel about a teenage superhero with autism and no memory, and absolutely flopped. The fast pace, rather than helping to propel the story, comes across as rushed and unfinished. There is very little character depth or sense of place or time which makes it hard to orient yourself while reading. The absolute lack of creativity here is astounding - it truly just rips off “The Incredibles” and as well as superhero comics. The portrayal of autism in this story was surface level at best and deeply problematic at worst, really leaning into stereotypes and lacking any kind of critical thought.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

[BookishDramas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say just over 3.5 stars but not quite 4. When I read about this book, I connected with the fact that this is a story where the main character and protagonist is a person from the spectrum, Autism. It has been well represented in movies with the occasional blockbusters like Rainman, but has had a lesser presence in novels. As a person who works with PwDs and with families of children in the spectrum, this book was of personal interest to me. It is in the interest of the reading public to understand the facets of autism and I hoped that this book would be in that zone. So Advent 9 is the Last action hero on earth. This book is in the young adult science fiction and fantasy space with our hero who is a superpowered hero dispensing vigilante justice in the process helping people from trouble. The story at least in the initial quarter progresses slowly with the reader slowly coming to terms with Advent 9's powers and gaining not the least bit of knowledge about his spectrum issues. The story progresses with a lot of action but doesn't gain much progress in the actual arc. 9's a teenager or less with an unknown array of powers and with a fascination of radio shows. We read about something that we normally never see or read in any super hero book. All hero's have their secret HQ's, safe places, family, friends, acquaintances, etc. but 9 has none of those. He is all alone in the world with no idea about his history, no place to call home, lives out of roofs and eating out like other homeless people raiding the garbage dumps and this is a painful but wholly believable tale. The spectrum clues come in the form of his actions his lack of any friends, no history, his staying alone, a series of birds who follow him and of whom he is afraid of and calls them hummingbirds, the way he avoids contacts and never able to hold a conversation while looking at the person. These traits clue us to his case. The story thus far is very slow and the fact that the book was peddled as a superhero book is actually hurting the story. There is immense potential in the book as a case book about people in the spectrum and there is pathos and pain which should have been highlighted equally and would aid people in reading forward. The book hits zenith with a colossal fight with 9's arch nemesis Dr. Antiworld. The Dr. becomes successful in bringing in a being from another world in the multiverse who is the exact parallel of 9, Trancedragon. The idea goes south when it is apparent that Trance is not under the Dr.'s control. The duo clash and in the resulting confusion the Dr. and 9 escape into the catacombs underneath the city. This brings us to the best part of the book where two arch enemies understand their common need and start helping each other. The Dr. gets to know 9's issues with the spectrum and their relationship takes shape. Alan needs to be commended for the way he has portrayed the spectrum and the complex relationship between the Dr. and 9 and how slowly the relationship develops layers. The book has an atmosphere which moves well with the dialogues and humor it evokes. There was a need to put the world together a little better with more details on the backstory and absolute requirement for the presence of 9. The earth depicted has some unique areas and some nice characters like the Morgan's but not enough has been written about them. I would have been happier to read a little more on the whole. I would also put forward that the novel has some extreme level of killers and killings which seems a bit out of place in the context of the story and hero. Superhero stories tend to have stereotypes and this novel also has them in abundance. It could also be argued that the spectrum characteristics are somewhat stereotyped but considering that much less is actually written in these categories of novels any quantity as long as it is not frivolously untrue is acceptable. I commend the author for a decent reading which is a bit long but well in the ball park to be recommended. I thank NetGalley for providing me this copy in exchange for an honest review. Recommend this book.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Advent 9 was far from the worst book I’ve read — but far from the best, either.

First of all, I highly enjoyed the author’s writing style. Horne writes very descriptively, allowing the reader to immerse themself in the story. The book also explored many interesting ideas; many elements of the story go directly against long-established superhero tropes. The characters were written very well; they are all very clearly human, and as the plot progresses, the reader gets to watch how their goals and motivations change (or don’t).

However, I definitely had to suspend my disbelief while reading this book. Many characters seem altogether too powerful, too smart, or even in one case too unrealistically in love. While superhero stories always tend toward the extreme, it’s a little bit difficult to believe in certain characters’ skills, especially with how little background is given. And speaking of background, it was admittedly somewhat frustrating to be left in the dark about so many things. The author may understandably wish to reveal some things in time, or even in another book, but there are many details that come out of nowhere, seem like they’re supposed to be significant, then proceed to disappear. While some questions are eventually answered by the end of the book, there are still quite a few loose strings, which is frustrating, even if they might come up in a sequel (which the ending pretty clearly sets up for!).

[Meg Eden · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

I picked this up because I was told by a well-meaning person that I'd like this because of the "autism rep." I will use that term very loosely, as I see no evidence that Horne is autistic himself.

Advent 9 is a surprising superhero and at times fun to follow. I enjoyed and related to his exhaustion and the literalness of his view of being a super hero. That said, some of the descriptions began to make me wonder if a neurotypical wrote this. E.g., the “he appeared less than human," "he wondered if the boy ever felt anything" and robot imagery is really problematic, even if it comes from the villain. Autistic folks hear these sort of stereotypes every day and so to hear them reinforced relentlessly in a fiction book is not edifying or helpful.

I wanted to be hopeful about this book, that it might show the challenges but also the joys of autism, but seems to just focus on the negative. I checked other reviews, and decided based on my misgivings from what I've read so far, I'm likely to be disappointed if I keep going. I think I'll pass, and instead spend my time reading books by actually autistic authors.

Publishing, PLEASE publish more autistic voices! Please stop publishing neurotypicals writing autistic POVs!

[Ryan Holstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one caught me by surprise.
It's not the easiest thing to admit, but I kind of have a hard time reading books that aren't 100% happy. I do not like the depressing stuff. Even when everyone says its so interesting or thought provoking or whatever. I just want my stories to be happy.

So when a firend said "You HAVE to read Advent 9" and I asked him what was so great about it, I didn't think it was for me. Scary monsters, a serial killer, and a main character who has to learn to live with a disability. That sounds like all the books I've done my best to avoid my entire life.
But when he finally convinced me to read it, I was surprised. Not to say it didn't get really sad at times. This book really makes you wonder if the heroes are even going to win. It is down to the wire all the way to the end.

But the way it pulled the ending off is "chef's kiss". Even though lots of bad things happened to the characters, and I would hardly call it a sweet ending where all is set right, I felt so happy to see the main character overcome his limitations and end the story on such a hopeful note. This book is a 10/10 for me. If someone made a movie of it, I would take everyone I know to see it. The story is that good.

[Critter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Tristellation Media and Netgalley for providing me with an audio ARC.

I don't dislike this book, but I also don't love it either. It was just okay for me. It is a bit darker than the description would suggest, but I was fine with that. I also thought the narrator was just fine. The characters are interesting as is the setting. I do wish some of it had been a bit more developed. I would have liked to see some of the relationships between the characters more developed. I cannot comment on the autistic representation.

[Libros del mes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Advent 9 A Superpunk Novel by T. Alan Horne. In this fantasy novel, the current superhero unexpectedly teams up with the usual suspect of being a supervillain to prevent the impending apocalypse. Additionally, it is discovered that the superhero has undiagnosed autism. These innovations change the traditional image of the last hero of the universes and show that not everyone is a saint, even superheroes.

More on https://www.librosdelmes.com/

[Cap · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was kinda pumped when I got this audiobook from NetGalley. I mean who doesn’t love a superhero story?

This one had a lot of moments that I definitely liked, but I felt like it dragged on a lot. Some things got explained way too much, and it took away from the interesting aspects of the story.

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about a superhero story where autism is kinda both the character's strength and weakness. Decent read though, and overall not bad. Didn't like that the last chapter was basically a sequel hook for a sequel that may never be. I feel like the book told the story it needed to tell.

[Aravind Mahipani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has a real structure to it but gets pretty long and keeps on extending out of bounds to maintain the thirll. Not for everyone.

[Drunk Snape · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad that the boy and girl didn't have a happily ever after. Really sad.
Though I kind of like it better the way it did end. Theres such a thing as a beautiful disaster.

[Mason · Rating 1 out of 5]

This writer is an abusive bigot who harasses people online & is especially sexist to women.

[Rigel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited at the premise of this book, but I felt it was poorly executed. At 65% in nothing of substance had really happening. I was most intrigued by the developing father-son relationship between villain and hero, but even that flatlined... if you're going to create a world of superheroes and supervillains, it best be exciting. This world, unfortunately, was not.

[Hepcat Dandylion · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant book! It has it all: great storyline, neat characters, well-done character development, clever dialogue, and vivid descriptions. It's also one of the very few stories I have read that has a main character on the autism spectrum. Advent 9 the hero was written thoughtfully and his experiences were explained with the knowledge of one who either had done extensive research on autistic people or was on the spectrum themselves.

Speaking as one who is on the high-functioning end of the spectrum, I've been largely dissatisfied with most of the autistic representation portrayed in media. It's pretty obvious when a non-autistic person writes an "autistic" character, because they stereotype the hell out of the character without trying to make him or her actually understandable. With Advent 9, you got to see his unique thought process and worldview without the descriptions being patronizing or overly stereotypical. I felt connected to this character on a deeply personal level, which rarely happens for me.

If you're looking for something fresh, original, and filled with plot twists, I highly recommend Advent 9!

[Patrick Yim · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I really was enjoying the mystery in the book, but it quickly took a darker turn. This turn was something I was not expecting or prepared for. Had I known it was going to be as intense and dark as it was, I most likely would not have picked it up, Several parts also became very confusing to keep track of.

This title severely needs content and trigger warnings.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The book follows a young superhero named Advent 9 as he fights to save the city around him. His nemesis, tired of losing, brings an opposite version of him from a different universe to help defeat Advent 9. This plan backfires and the Doctor and Advent 9 must work together.
The story was interesting enough. It plays out as a typical superhero story in novel form. One interesting element is that Advent 9 is autistic, however, the way this is treated is not the best. His autism is treated as his biggest weakness and the way the Doctor discusses it is not great.
If you are a fan of superhero stories, this would be a good story for you.

[Charoi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unique and creative twist on a super hero story. It wasn’t really what I was expecting but the character exploration gripped me and the plot kept me on my toes – a really good time!