Super Powereds: Year 1

Super Powereds, Book 1

By: Drew Hayes

Narrated by: Kyle McCarley

Knowledge is power. That would be the motto of Lander University, had it not been snatched up and used to death by others long before the school was founded. For while Lander offers a full range of courses to nearly all students, it also offers a small number of specialty classes to a very select few. Lander is home to the Hero Certification Program, a curriculum designed to develop students with superhuman capabilities, commonly known as Supers, into official Heroes. Five of this year's freshmen are extra special. They have a secret aside from their abilities - one that they must guard from even their classmates.

For every one person in the world with abilities they can control, there are three who lack such skill. These lesser super beings - Powereds, as they are called - have always been treated as burdens and second-class citizens. Though there has been ample research in the area, no one has ever succeeded in turning a Powered into a regular human, let alone a Super.

That is, until now....

©2012 Andrew Hayes (P)2016 Tantor

"[NAME] SAID" almost ruined it

This was a pretty good book to let play in the background, entertaining but you don't miss much if you space on it for a while.

Good:
- Strong characters I thought - well conceived with complex-ish back stories.
- Good heroes journey. Author takes you along with their development where as other (shorter though) books do the literary version of a training montage.
- Super powers were acknowledged to have some science and not absolutely ridiculous. So often now there isn't a set of "rules" for super powers and they end up controlling monsters from other dimensions and breaking the laws of physics. It wasn't organized like Mistborn or anything, but there was some order, a nod to that they are still understanding them, and nothing was absolutely over the top or unbeatable Superman type.

Not Good:
- No story really. This book just kinda of wanders through like its a season of Real World following super powered college kids. Which is fine but I like story arcs and the feeling that if I'm reading something I know it is driving the plot/story forward. Stuff happened and there was a climax, but it wasn't together feeling.
- The plot was moved forward often by the author telling you something was happening but offering absolutely no details about, like two characters discussing what is coming but with saying one specific about it. Which is fine in small doses but it was the main mechanism used and just isn't very nuanced.
- The narrator. I thought the voices were good but almost quit listening several times because of the "[name] said" or "[name] replied" were so frequent and off putting. At first I thought the author abused the use of it (too frequent) but the more I listened the more is was the way the narrator delivered it: flat, loud, and hard... even if was the character whispering. It honestly sounds like they recorded him saying every characters name and every speaking verb, and just spliced them in during post production where needed. It was really incongruous and off-putting.

I realize my negatives are longer than my positives but short of the 5000 times i heard the dead pan "VINCE SAID" it was an enjoyable listen.

***EDIT: I've listened to the whole series and glad I did so adding a star to the overall. Also, thanks to another review relistened at a slightly faster speed (which is fine since its 40 hours) and the issue with "[NAME] SAID" wasn't nearly as noticeable.

Fun, but in a YA way

I think that this book needs to be marked more clearly as a YA book. The whole college scene is in full glory with emphasis on drinking, dating, parties and clubs, etc. Personally, I am 100% not interested.

Barely visible between the stereotypical college activities is a world of ENORMOUS potential. The social interactions of supers vs. powers, the economic implications, the political players (who do Mr. Numbers and Mr. Transport work for anyway?), the nature of the superpowers in general... But these topics are barely touched upon. Instead, we have beer pong.

The narrator was mediocre, and I wasn't planning on continuing the series after this book... until the last 30 minutes. It finally got interesting. REALLY interesting. All that potential came flooding out and hooked me into giving the next book a try (although I may wait for it to go on sale).

All in all, if you've already read Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners and Rachel Aaron's Heartstrikers (two phenomenal YA series), and you're looking for something light and fun (maybe you want to relive your college years?), then go ahead and give this a shot.

SuperHeros!!!

This story "Totally Rocks"!!! Eagerly awaiting next book by Drew Hayes!! I love all of his different series.

Second Time Through.

I've listened to this book two times now, and I've only enjoyed it more. It seems that when you listen to books multiple times, you catch onto bits you may have missed before. As a truck driver, I must say that the length of these books, along with staying interesting throughout, makes the days roll by. can't wait for year 4!

Is excellent writing a super power?

Where does Super Powereds: Year 1 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I will keep this in line with Drew Hayes books. The same character development that is present in the Spells, Swords, and Stealth series is here and it is fantastic. There is a lot of mystery in the characters that slowly gets told by the story, narrator, and the characters themselves but not too quickly. When a character is close to becoming stale, Hayes throws in a new development or revelation that makes them new again.
Looking at Drew Hayes' website, this seems to be his passion project and it shows in the writing. It is well thought out, well executed, and engaging. Perhaps he is as observant as Nick Campbell or a mind reader that can read my mind and knows exactly what I want to read. This is a fun read.

What other book might you compare Super Powereds: Year 1 to and why?

Besides his other work, the S,S&S series, I would compare this to the Harry Potter series in the amount that it keeps the reader's attention and makes the reader want to go one more chapter.

What about Kyle McCarley’s performance did you like?

He has a lot of different voices which are pretty distinct, even the ones which are very similar (if that makes sense.) He has displayed at least 30 different voices, accents, and inflections thus far and I doubt that is his limit. It makes the story very easy to follow.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I'd love to but I have to work and sleep sometimes too. The length is monumental but it is a mountain worth climbing.

Any additional comments?

I have to wonder how he gets so many books written and so many different worlds straight. He must be a Super, if not, then at least a powered who is totally out of control of his ability not to write.

A bit annoying to listen to, but still great

Holy crap that was a lot of he said she said. About every fourth sentence. Probably not a bother when reading the book, but when listening it really does start to get to you. I also wasn't a fan of the reader - a harsher voice than I like. That said, I'm still glad I purchased and read. Great story! Lots of fun.

super hero school sign me up

oh man if I could have gone to super school. man it was crazy neck and neck with Hogwarts

Avengers meets Harry Potter

I have to say I was shocked how good this was. Even if I saw my own tagline I would roll my eyes and keep looking, but this is exactly that, Avengers meets Harry Potter. THe cover makes it look like some cheap children's book (sorry), but this is a case of what's inside that counts. Incredible action, great characters and character development, and plenty of life lessons about fitting in and true to yourself and friends. If you're truly nerdy there are several hidden parts that will make you laugh out loud, but more than anything, I feel like I could be good friends with any of the characters.

Just Amazing

This story is completely amazing. The character development is on point as well as how the story progresses. It doesn't move too fast nor too slow. It's almost like a slice of life novel, but not. It's an amazing blend of story and reality.

Great Start to a Fantastic Series

I really enjoyed this entire series so wanted to encourage anyone considering starting this series to dive right in!