In the new book, Supra/Normal: No More Superheroes, author A.S. McDermott has shaken up the concept of superheroes. In fact, in this
amazing book, he takes the genre, throws it into a blender, and adds some
different ingredients to the mix, making for a tasty treat. It is a kick-ass
book with seemingly non-stop action, but the author takes the time to shape his
characters and make them real and believable.
Julie Jackson is one fine protagonist, coping with her
superpower in a world that wants to destroy her. She learns of her power when
she is 12 – that is around the age that most supras discover them – and uses
them to do good deeds. She lives an otherwise normal life with her younger
brothers, mother, and stepdad.
Supras are outlawed by Supreme President Stevenson – a former
supra who “cured” himself – who waged a war against all supras, led by the
greatest supra of all, and then defeated the supra forces and their leader Dr.
Simone Dalton. Dalton and many others were killed and now, a generation later, supras
are hunted and incarcerated.
What worries Julie is that she is going to get a blood
test at school. This will reveal whether or not she has supra blood. When it
seems that her blood test comes back as “normal,” Julie wonders why she has
powers (hers is super strength) and what is she if she’s not a supra?
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| Author A.S. McDermott |
All is going well enough until the night of a basketball
game. She goes to see Steve – her crush and captain of the team, of course –
and a freak accident forces her to reveal her superpower by saving Steve’s life
in front of the crowd at the game.
Forced to run without saying goodbye to her family, Julie
is out on her own until she encounters an old woman who wants to help her. This
woman turns out to be the supposedly dead Dr. Dalton, and she sets the record straight
about the war, the president, and takes her in and promises to train her to use
her powers.
Dr. Dalton takes her to a hideout, where Julie meets
other teenagers who are supras as well. There is 12-year old Penny, a tech wiz
who is a genius and already at the level of Einstein-like intelligence. Monica
is a teenage girl whom Penny calls “our pyro” because she can throw flames, and
then the oldest, Leon whose power is being able to fly.
The other "supras" all are relatable and are
portrayed in an honest way. The author gets the teenage angst angle right, and
what did anyone think would happen if you give superpowers to teens and tweens?
While this gang learns to cope with and use their
powers, they also are taught to deal with a group known as the Normalizers –
they are a vicious police group who have been engineered to capture the supras.
When they get close to supras, they lose their powers like Superman does with
Kryptonite.
They form a cohesive group, though Julie and Monica clash
sometimes. When it is discovered that Steve – the basketball star whom Julie
saved – has been declared a supra and incarcerated, the group makes it their
mission to bust him out of a high security facility. Can they rescue him before
the Normalizers come to stop them?
The rest of the way is spoiler territory, but I can
attest to the fact that reading this book is like riding a roller coaster that
you hope will never end. Along the swift-paced journey, there are moments when
characters reveal their emotions, and it is done in such a way as to respect
the characters and the reader can see how much the author cares about them.
While there is jovial thread that runs through the story –
especially in our narrator Julie, who is self-deprecating and never takes
herself or her power too seriously – there are some important areas covered as
well.
The whole concept of “normal” is dealt with in a powerful
and meaningful way. The question volleyed more than once thematically is “What
is normal?” in a world where history has been rewritten, the leader is a
homicidal maniac, and the people called Normalizers are far removed from being “normal”
people.
This is a wonderful, awesome, and emotional story that
leaves plenty of room for a sequel (fingers crossed). Watch out MCU, there is a
new breed of superhero around, and this one is ripe for a film version - I can
see Kiernan Shipka in the role of Julie. This is a great summer read for the YA
crowd but also great for readers of all ages.
I highly recommend Supra/Normal: No More Superheroes and
suggest that you add it to your summer reading list ASAP.
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