 | Title: After the Golden Age
 Kissing. References to sex My Rating:
Okay – Somewhat disappointing with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Description
Can an accountant defeat a supervillain? Celia West, only daughter of the heroic leaders of the superpowered Olympiad, has spent the past few years estranged from her parents and their high-powered lifestyle. She’s had enough of masks and heroics, and wants only to live her own quiet life out from under the shadow of West Plaza and her rich and famous parents.
Then she is called into her boss’ office and told that as the city’s top forensic accountant, Celia is the best chance the prosecution has to catch notorious supervillain the Destructor for tax fraud. In the course of the trial, Celia’s troubled past comes to light and family secrets are revealed as the rift between Celia and her parents grows deeper. Cut off from friends and family, Celia must come to terms with the fact that she might just be Commerce City’s only hope.
This all-new and moving story of love, family, and sacrifice is an homage to Golden Age comics that no fan will want to miss.
Review
Superheroes are hotter than ever right now with two network TV shows currently airing (The Cape and No Ordinary Family) and a Wonder Woman reboot in the works, not to mention all the summer movies coming soon. Based on the cover art—which is phenomenal—and the description for AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE, I was hoping for a cool vintage like 'homage to Golden Age comics.’ And that’s exactly what I got with plot and worldbuilding, but like those two struggling TV shows, which will likely be canceled by the time this review runs, and superheroes in general, AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE has a weakness that proved lethal: Celia West.
It’s hard to enjoy the other aspects of this book when I struggled to find even one redeeming quality about the main character. She’s the most petulant, self-pitting, and miserable character I’ve read in a long time. She’s constantly bemoaning her life and wallowing in her lot as a nonsuper kid of the two most famous supers ever. She tells everyone throughout AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE just how awful it was growing up in the shadow of her parents. Every time a new character was introduced I had to steel myself for another round of ‘poor Celia.’
And if her incessant bellyaching wasn’t enough, Celia adds a whole new level of unreasonableness to her character. When she was seventeen, she defected to villain side and literally stood arm in arm with The Destroyer (her parents arch nemesis) when he tried to pull a 9/11 on the city. Yep, she was a terrorist who would have committed mass murder had her parents not shown up and thwarted the plan. Now I could potentially move past this if Celia as an adult expressed true remorse and regret over her actions, but she never did. She uses words like ‘mistake’ and ‘indiscretion’ to describe her actions. She never once apologizes, never once seeks forgiveness from her parents. On the contrary, she becomes indignant when her past is revealed and people don’t try to comfort her. Unbelievable!
The story itself was fine and the superhero angle works well in an The Incredibles/Watchmen sort of way. I really enjoyed the short story from Carrie Vaughn set in this same world that was included in the SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH anthology earlier this year, but Celia completely killed any possible enjoyment I might have taken from AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE. I found myself actually hoping at one point that the bad guys would just shoot her and put us both out of our misery. Not a good sign.
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Oh that's a disappointment. I was looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteDiana Dang - I was really looking forward to it too, but Wow did I not like the main character.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's upsetting!
ReplyDeleteI was really excited when Vaughn announced that she was going to a new publisher and writing beyond the 'Kitty Norville' series. I was excited for her first foray into YA and stand-alone novels. But I didn't like 'Voices of Dragons', or 'Discord's Apple' and this one looks to be more of the same disappointment (and with such a snappy cover too!)
Great, honest review.
Danielle - I actually liked Voices of Dragons, but Discord was a dissapointment. This one is better than Discord, if that helps.
ReplyDelete