Ex-Heroes

There are not more no super villains for these Crusaders for justice but a zombie apocalypse has given them a new challenge. Hulled up in a film studio-turned-fortress, the Mount, these heroes do their best just to survive in a world overwhelmed but these hungry corpses. While the ex-humans walk the streets night and day these superheroes can no longer call themselves heroes, they are fighting to survive like everyone else; they are Ex-Heroes.

This book has been a little bit of a success story as of late, Peter Clines published the first two books of this trilogy with a tiny little publisher known as Permuted Press. But it was not until one of the editors of Ready Player One got sick of Goodreads recommending him this series did things change. After finally caving and reading Ex-Heroes this editor loved the book so much that he went out and acquired the series for Crown Publishing group. Now this book seems to pop up everywhere, and the new buzz has really brought new life into this book.

I really like the concept of superheroes in a zombie apocalypse; they are no longer heroes, they have to fight for survival just like everyone else. Yet there is a part of them that wants to still protect the innocent and they do try. There is this whole inner turmoil coming out in these ex-heroes that I love, this is the end of the world and while they want to be heroes again they need to think about their own lives as well. The conflict within themselves is what drew me to this novel the most.

Sure, there are other wonderful zombie apocalypse elements within the book, it is jammed pack with action and yet there is a story arc that feels very much like a super villain’s rise to power which I think will develop over the next few books too. Also you will find a heap of nerd references in Ex-Heroes; not really to the same extent to Ready Player One but they are there and for a nerd like me they are always fun to discover.

Ex-Heroes feels like an attempt to try something new in the Zombie Apocalypse genre. Blending his love for Superheroes and Zombies, Peter Clines has produced this wonderful action-packed adventure that is worth checking out. I’m interested to see where the next couple of books take us and wish Clines best of luck for the future success of this series.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2013/04/18/book-reviews-ex-heroes/

While superheroes vs zombies seems like some sort of satirical sendup of Hollywood, the concept does capture something in the zeitgeist of the 21st century. In fact I’m somewhat surprised that we haven’t seen a series of movies on SyFy featuring this theme.

In Peter Clines’ debut novel, he goes all in on the genre tropes. The story takes place after the zombie apocalypse. A small group of superheroes and a larger group of normal humans have taken shelter on a converted movie studio lot in Los Angeles. They’re trying to survive, but in addition to the millions of swarming “exes” (Clines word of choice instead of zombie), they are also menaced by the remnants of a street gang who want the weaponry the superheroes have access to.

The strength of Ex-Heroes lies in the pacing and action sequences. With so many constant threats to survival, there are plenty of opportunities for heroics. Zombies to kill, humans to rescue, evil gangbangers to overcome. Clines does a good job of taking a story that seems to fit more naturally into a comic format & convert it into a novel.

The weakness of the novel lies in the characterizations. Clines chooses to basically simply file the serial numbers off several famous superheroes. This approach is fine, but even the flashbacks used to establish the heroes identity before the outbreak are not enough to make me really care about any of the characters. This diminishes the stakes significantly.

In short, while a quick & fun read, Ex-Heroes was on the whole disappointing. I wish I’d read the graphic novel instead.