After the Golden Age

Pros: interesting take on the superhero lifestyle, protagonist has a fascinating back story and bitter streak, quick read

Cons: climax was a let down, predictable

Celia West is the daughter of two of Commerce City's quartet of superpowered defenders, Captain Olympus and Spark. Having grown up a disappointment to them, her only power is being kidnapped by every two-bit criminal who wants to avoid her parents' interference in their affairs. Starting with Simon Sito, the Destructor, the man who exposed her parents' secret identities.

Sito is now on trial for crimes against the city and Celia's on the prosecution's team, digging up accounting records that can help put him away for good. But the trial brings up a youthful indiscretion that proves you can't escape your past and no amount of clean living can erase a stupid decision - if your parents are famous enough.

This is a fun novel if you're a fan of comic books. The West Plaza and 4 member team reminding me a lot of the Fantastic Four (but only in a general way).

Celia's a sympathetic protagonist. While everyone she meets is in awe of her parents and can't understand why she's at odds with them, through the plot and flashbacks it's easy to see where she's coming from. She's bitter about a lot of things and comes off snarky at times, while trying to stay out from under her parents' shadows. And she makes for a mostly intelligent hostage.

My only complaint is that there weren't many twists to the story. The main bad guy's pretty easy to figure out (to the point that I started second guessing myself thinking it couldn't be that easy). The climax was a bit of a let down, though the denouement made up for it.

It's a fun romp and a quick read.

(really 4.5 stars, if that were possible)This should make up for my less than glowing review of Vaughn's last book (the fun [b:Steel 8220745 Steel Carrie Vaughn http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qHzgodSDL.SL75.jpg 13067963]). This is the best novel [a:Carrie Vaughn 8988 Carrie Vaughn http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1231952277p2/8988.jpg] has published–and that's saying something.Beyond paraphrasing the book description, or spoiling the whole thing, I can't think of anything else to say. Just read it.

I picked this book out for the weekend and ended up reading it in two days; I just could not put it down. I love this particular sub-genre of sci-fi & fantasy, the superhero novel, but I like them to have some depth of character and to treat the subject matter with the type of respect and honesty that any other novel would treat normal human characters. After the Golden Age fit that bill perfectly. My only issue is the propensity of “wry” smiles going on in the book. This is probably something I saw because I couldn't put the book down, but it got to the point where I would start wondering who would smile wryly next. But that's a minor, small, middling concern that shouldn't keep anyone from picking this book up and enjoying it.

Big picture: it's a superhero book about family and it's fantastic. Don't miss this book.