Brave Men Run - A Novel Of The Sovereign Era

I had a feeling I would like this book, because I'm a big fan of 80s X-Men comics (including the New Mutants stuff), as well as 80s teen movies, and from what I was reading about it online before I read it, it seemed like this would be in kind of the same vein.

It was, which was good, but at the same time, every time I thought one thing was going to happen in the novel, Selznick went in a completely different direction, one that was often more satisfying than what I'd been expecting.

So on the surface this was the story of Nate Charters, a teen living in the early 1980s who just may have superpowers - and, since a man named William Donner has just announced the existence of superpowers and declared that those that have them are Sovereign individuals in whatever nations they live in.

So, that's big news, right? For Nate it is, at least, and it changes everything - the bullies at school react to him differently, some weird science guys starting asking after him, and his relationship with his mother changes fundamentally. But, at the same time, his girlfriend is still really into him, and his friends are still the same people they were before the Donner Declaration, so everything should still be cool.

That's the thing about this (podio)book. It's not really about superheroes at all - it's about a kid meeting a girl and falling in love, and learning about who he is as an individual in relation to his parents. The superhero stuff happens, but it's in no way what the story's ABOUT.