A Closer Look at The New Heroes

I mentioned Michael Carrolls Super Human trilogy in my post about superhero fiction, and since then Ive also read the earlier Quantum Prophecy trilogy. The Super Human books are prequels but were published later but I happened to start with them, which makes for an interesting perspective on things. Having all six books under my belt, I thought Id dig a little deeper into the stories; be warned, though, that this may involve some spoilers.

(Note: The Quantum Prophecy trilogy was first published in the UK as The New Heroes with different subtitles: The Quantum Prophecy, Sakkara, and Absolute Power.)

The Quantum Prophecy trilogy is set in a time mostly about a decade after Mystery Day, the day a huge battle took place between many of the worlds superheroes and a supervillain named Ragnarok. After Ragnaroks battle tank was destroyed in an enormous explosion, nearly all of the superhumans vanished. A few remained, but they had lost their powers, and nobody had an explanation for what happened at the battle or where they all went.

Ten years later, though, a few teenagers are discovering that they have powers, and things quickly get interesting.

Heres a brief rundown of the first trilogy:

The first book, The Awakening, gives a brief prologue about the battle with Ragnarok, and then jumps to the present, in which a couple of British kids, Colin and Danny, start to realize they have super abilities. Almost immediately, theyre swept up into a larger chain of events. One of those ever-present shadowy organizations (you know, the ones that have unlimited resources and incredible amounts of information yet nobody knows it exists) captures the kids and whisks them away to America. Colin manages to get away from his captors, but then hes in Florida a twelve-year-old on his own in a foreign country, with no contacts and no money. The story jumps back and forth between Colin and Danny, as Colin tries to track down the kidnappers and Danny learns more about what they have in store.

At the heart of the trilogy is the so-called Quantum Prophecy, a series of visions that the super-fast Quantum had back before Mystery Day about a coming war. The organization is trying to prevent that war, but in doing so theyve condemned these superhuman kids before theyve actually done anything.

Book Two, The Gathering, introduces a new wrinkle: the Trutopians. Theyre a collection of communities around the world that are based on truth and utopia, welcoming anyone who wants to join but with very strict rules about crime and lawlessness. Theyre working hard to recruit these teenage superheroes while also working to discredit the organization that now shelters them. Meanwhile, Danny and Colin (and a few new kids) find themselves in a hidden fortress (in Kansas, of all places) to be given training by the military and some former superhumans. But throughout this, they still dont know who to trust, and the prophecy still looms over everyone. At the end of the book, Colin is forced to make a very tough decision, and parts ways with the other New Heroes.

The final book, The Reckoning, ramps everything up a notch. Wed already found out more about the Trutopians and their leader in the second book, but Book Three is when their plans start to kick into gear. Things get particularly heated when Colin faces off against the rest of the New Heroes, and a war begins. I wont say much more about this one, but the superhumans have their abilities pushed to their limits, and even the happy ending leaves some more room for future crises.

Link:
A Closer Look at The New Heroes