Vanguard: Heroes Forged

By: Percival Constantine

Narrated by: Robert W. Wilson III

What would you do if you woke up with superpowers?

One day, the world was normal. The next, people all over the world suddenly developed unexplained superhuman abilities. Now, the world is a more dangerous place because of these new beings, called specials. There is international concern about how to balance civil rights with the unpredictable nature of their powers.

Enter Vanguard. A team of specials secretly formed by the US government and tasked with keeping their brethren in line. But while they contend with rogue specials, a mysterious warlord and his terrorist network wait in the shadows, planning to use superhumans to bring about a global revolution!

Fans of X-Men and The Avengers do not want to miss this explosive first season of an all-new superhero prose series!

©2015 Percival Constantine Pollard (P)2016 Percival Constantine Pollard

Severe disappointment

I listen to audiobooks regularly while working and am willing to tolerate a lot, but I just can’t listen to this one. The prose is stiff and simplistic and difficult to listen to and the voice actor is completely wrong for this story. Most voice actors fade into the background as the story takes over, this casting was so jarring that I kept being pulled from the story to wince at the voice.

Serious superhero fun in Season One!

Welcome back to the Bronze Age of Comics, a time from the mid seventies to the mid nineties, a time for great stories, amazing series, and unparalelled storylines. This is the era of the original Secret Wars and Crisis on Infinite Earths. Vanguard: Season One takes us back to that era with a new set of Supers to cheer for and villains to admire as they scheme their ways into our hearts. Honestly, who doesn't have a favorite villain?

Constantine creates some great characters for you to follow as they try to turn the tide against evil machinations, mutants, monsters, and alien menaces. The book is composed of short stories that all have a unifying theme that gets tied up in the big explosive blowout in the final chapter. I really liked this aspect. Superheroes work well on screen, and most certainly in comics, but long prose books rarely work. By following this format Constantine was able to focus on one, sometimes two or more heroes at a time while still carrying forth the overall story.

The characters will most likely seem a little similar or familiar, and that is fine. It gives us a chance to see something different from familiar characters. You get the alien, and the armored character, and more. The writing is properly punchy and packs a whallop in all the right spots, it is flush with action, drama, honor and deciet. The story is gripping, and you will want to continue flipping the pages of the comic in your mind as Wilson reads along.

WIlson does a great job playing honorable and heroic, as well as dastardly evil. He does both with aplomb, and his voice goes from soothing to explosive in an instant. He knows how to pace the story and fills it with emotion and drama in all the right places. I wasn't familiar with him before, but I'll certainly be on the look out for more of his work.

I wish Constantine had gotten the cover done in proper comic format, giving it even more of an air of authenticity. As it stands, it looks like the cover of one of the old Superhero MMORPGs, like City of Heroes. So, I can give it a pass. It was enough to draw me in and grabbed my attention. So, it did its job.

There is another book in the series after this, and having gotten Season One there is no way I will miss out on that one. You will not, if you love superheroes, fast action, great battle scenes, and unmatched villainy want to miss this book! Get it now! You will love it.