This is the sequel to Black And White
and consequently it begins with a very messy situation. More than half of the extrahumans
of New Chicago have either gone nuts or turned villain and are now busy doing what
supernutters and supervillains generally do. Mostly making a great mess of New Chicago. It
doesn’t help than security has broken down at Blackbird, the prison for
supervillains, and the infamous Dr. Hypnotic is now on the loose. All the more fun for Jet
and Iridium, once friends, then enemies, and now having to work on the same side. As I
said in my review of Black And White, the superhero novel is an
under-represented sub-genre of science fiction, and I’m glad to be able to say that
this is a worthy sequel. In fact, by half way through the novel I was having trouble
putting it down, so it’s safe to say that there’s plenty of action. It’s
quite well written as well – although the structure is at least as complex as last
time, inter-weaving past and present, and using multiple viewpoint characters, not just
Jet and Iridium. We do get to learn a bit more of the mystery of the extrahumans, but
there is still far more to be told. I would seriously have appreciated a glossary though,
ladies – so as I could keep track of who’s who, whose alias is whose, and what
power they have. |