Book Review: Generation Wonder edited by Barry Lyga
This young adult superhero anthology has the mission of creating characters across a spectrum of diversity and not being derived from previous properties. There’s thirteen stories ranging acrpss multiple subgenres, comedic, science fiction, fantasy… Let’s see how they did!
“Love to Hate” by Lamar Giles starts us off with Ty Revell, a hot young basketball prospect. He’s the star of his high school team, and being scouted by multiple colleges–or maybe he’ll just turn pro! But Ty has a secret; he’s got preternatural abilities, stronger and faster than a normal human, and able to read auras to detect people’s emotions and predict how they’ll move. He’s been deliberately playing at less than his full capacity, as preternatural abilities are banned in high school and most professional sports.
But then there’s an attempted shooting at one of his games, and Ty is forced to blow his cover to save a life. Now instead of being the GOAT, he’s the goat, and everyone hates him. His team won’t be in the championship, his parents were counting on that sweet under the table money, and even the person he saved is ungrateful! A mysterious girl offers Ty a do-over, but will that be enough to salvage his future?
“Fire That Lasts” by Sarah MacLean takes place in a dystopian future where strong emotions are outlawed due to them supposedly having caused disaster in the past. Ember discovers that she has the ability to draw strong emotions out of people with her touch, which gets her targeted by the government. The turnaround comes when she learns she’s misunderstood how her powers work.
“Ordinary Kid” by Joseph Bruchac is about Leonard Skye, a Native American boy at a mostly white school in a dying town. A crow spirit has attached itself to him, and now he has seemingly mystical powers, such as telekinesis and an ability to go unseen. So far, he’s just used his powers on bullies, but there are worse people in this town. Content note: racism, bullying, human trafficking.
“Fly, Lions, Fly” by Morgan Baden features Cece, an aspirant to the Pinewood Lions cheer team. She has made the tryouts, but now comes the hard work of getting accepted. Meanwhile, superheroes and supervillains have supposedly gone away, but there are strange things happening in the city that the adults don’t want to think about too hard. Should the Lions really be Cece’s top priority?
“My Life as a Houseplant” by Matthew Phillion stars Jamie, a grocery store worker who is nearly killed by a meteorite that crashes into his place of employment. When Jamie starts sprouting leaves that night, his friend Ash suggests going back to the now-closed store to investigate. Sure enough, Jamie isn’t the only being to have been affected by the meteorite’s strange influence. A bit silly.
“Aubrey Vs. the Ninth Circle of Hell (aka Prom)” by Elizabeth Eulberg takes place at an exclusive school for the kids of the rich and famous–and a couple of scholarship students. Aubrey is one of the former, though she knows and trades verbal jabs with one of the latter. She is, however, adopted, and her virulently anti-superhuman father has been using her orphan status for propaganda for years. But now, it seems, he’s had just about enough of her–and he’s not too picky about collateral damage. Prom Night is about to reach Carrie levels of unforgettableness.
“Something Borrowed, or the Costume” by Danielle Paige is about Maggie Means, a superhero suit designer in the city of Alcon. She’s trying on the suit she designed for Gamine Girl (they’re roughly the same size, and it’s important to make sure all the accessories work) when the lab she works in explodes. Surviving thanks to the armored suit, Mags heads to the secret headquarters of Heartstopper, a hero she has a good relationship with. She discovers that someone’s been tampering with superhero costumes, knocking most of them out of the game. Heartstopper’s costume is down too, but his power isn’t actually “super”, just hard training. Can he and Mags save the day?
“The Knight’s Gambit” by Varian Johnson is a less pleasant origin story. Raymond is the son of Knight Justice, the city’s only superhero. Powers run in their family, and in theory, Raymond should have inherited them, but he hasn’t manifested them. His father believes that getting Raymond sufficiently angry will do the trick, as it has since Knight Justice’s grandfather reacted to those government experiments. So he’s been resorting to emotional and physical abuse. Raymond’s knife wound still hurts. However, since the city relies on Knight Justice to save it, the police and media have been covering up for his misdeeds.
Knight Justice is determined to make one final push, but he may end up regretting it. Content note: mental and physical abuse, premarital sex.
“The Night I Caught a Bullet” by Sterling Gates. Casey and Nessa Dodson are still mourning their father’s death when a legacy arrives for them. Silver bracelets with curious hourglass-like symbols engraved on them. The “lawyer” insists they will know what to do when the time comes. But will the sisters use the bracelets’ power for good or ill?
“Mecha Girl” by Axie Oh takes place in another school for the kids of the rich and famous, this time in the future. Aurelia Eun-kyung is the sister of a missing scientist, rumored to have turned traitor. This does little for Aurelia’s popularity, but it turns out her sister left behind a suit of power armor that might help.
“Queeroes and Villains” by Anna-Maria McLemore follows a Latina girl (name never actually said) who is a lesbian in a near-future world where LGBTQ+ people are still not fully accepted. Her parents have gotten her into a trial for a medication that’s supposed to make her “straight” or at least able to pass. It turns out some of the side effects are a little extreme, and she’s never ever going to pass as normal now. Despite the title, there’s not really any villains in this story.
“Power Baby Blue Grows Up” by Barry Lyga is about Tyler, who used to be part of a quartet of superpowered babies. He’s still got the binky that gives him superhuman abilities, but it looks kind of ridiculous on an almost grown man. Plus his parents exploited him and stole the endorsement money, and he’s still dealing with the trauma from certain events during his youthful career. Maybe it’s time to move on, but how can he? Mostly depressing.
“Bumped!” by Paul Levitz is actually the first prose story sale for the venerable superhero author. Another dystopian future has most of the population going blind from pollution. The rich can afford new eyes and other improvements, but most people are barely scraping by. Garrett discovers that the one place that will employ a teenager is the military, and it comes with “bumps” to make him a better soldier. But Garrett’s basic sense of decency may be his biggest asset.
The illustrations by Colleen Doran, creator of A Distant Soil, are clear and appropriate for the characters, perhaps a bit staid.
They’re all serviceable stories. Some may even get sequels someday, or an entire novel devoted to them. Maggie Means is the one I’d most like to see more adventures of.
Recommended primarily to superhero-loving teens, both those who’d like to see “someone like me” in the hero role, and those who’d like to see “someone who’s different.”
