“CAPES: RISING TIDES” Review

Rising Tides is the story of a new hero, Killjoy. The triggering event that makes him a breakthrough happens during the Chicago Attack that opened Repercussions and the reader gets a street-level view of the attack and its aftermath. Killjoy is not your typical superhero; his breakthrough power is teleportation, jumping, and Kingston James Parks, has zero interest in becoming a cape. He’s on the short and slight side, not a physically brave person, and his primary goal, initially, is to find a decent-paying job (not using his power) and . . . that’s really about it. Especially since his best friend since college and current housemate is a Firster. That’s right, his bestie is a member of Humanity First, the anti-superhuman group. She’s also a photojournalist who makes a career of photographing the aftermath of superhuman battles (events keep her busy).

This is the first in a new series set in the same universe as the “Wearing The Cape” series that I blew through all ten of in about a month. Luckily for my wallet, they’re all on Kindle Unlimited, so there’s an amazingly cheap barrier to entry to this story. There’s no real need to read the other books in the series to enjoy this one, but they’re so good I’d still recommend reading them either before or after this one. The author Marion Harmon has mentioned that his goal was to write a story that didn’t have the usual tropes of superheroes with dead parents or girlfriends being the sole motivators and for the most part he’s accomplished that goal, there’s a fair bit of damsel in distress parts in the final chapter or two, but they work out well enough that it’s less of a crutch and more of a story element that works out.

The main character here, eyerollingly named Killjoy, has the same basic power set as the jumpers from the Jumper movie and book series and Harmon explores the different types of Jumpers in this universe and how Killjoy’s specific implementation of the power set is augmented by some in-universe familiar character types that all make sense.

If you’re a fan of superhero stories, this is good one to read, and if you want to read something from the best writers in the genre, this is where you should start. Or with “Wearing The Cape”, both are fantastic first entries.

Buy On Amazon!

You may also like...

Leave a Reply