Hero Paperback – May 5, 2009

I bought this book almost a year ago when Kris raved about how fabulous it was. Sadly this gem languished in the corner of my book pile for way too long but I finally sat down with the hardcover recently and got swept up into the world of heroes and villains. This telling is absolutely engaging and entertaining, so much to the point that most readers won't care about the myriad of problems that exist. Even with all the writing stumbles, plot holes, illogical leaps in knowledge, and dropped mysteries, this is a thoroughly fun and heart warming story. It has a happy ending of sorts, but not the one that most readers will root for. Either way, pick this up and indulge in the fabulous world Moore has created.The story is told in first person from Thom's point of view and relates his coming of age. He's a young man who is struggling with his own sexuality, a dysfunctional home life with an angry father and an absent mother, and coming into his own powers. Thom's life starts to change at the beginning of the book when a derogatory gay comment from a competitor at his team's basketball game paints Thom as different. This strains Thom's already distant relationship with his father and Thom's journey to acceptance of his super powers, his sexuality, and his father take up the entire book. Of course it's not just an emotional journey as the book is filled with super heroes, villains, acrobatics, and battles. Thom's ability to heal people puts him on a probationary team for the famous League and brings no end of conflict and fun to his life.The plot itself is decent but tends to get swept away with Thom's narration. Thom is still immature in a lot of ways and struggles with growing up so the book often turns self indulgent, forgetting numerous plot points. For example, there is the mystery of who is killing the heroes and who exactly attacked Thom and his group. This is never explicitly answered and in fact, completely dropped. There is a scant bit of foreshadowing to point to the real culprit but how the huge battle at the end comes about is far fetched and the story doesn't even bother trying to explain any of it. Instead the emotional angst of Thom is used to soothe over the leaps in knowledge, such as Thom's press conference comment which suddenly becomes his sexual declaration even though that's a big stretch. Furthermore, Thom himself often ignores information and action in favor of lamenting his own immaturity and relationships to others. As with any young man coming of age, Thom is inherently self involved and spends a good portion of the novel whining in his head about this while ignoring everything going on around him.The story does take a turn when Thom "gets his head out of his ass" and starts to really take an interest in others around him. The characterization of Thom stumbles with this slightly but he's definitely a sympathetic and immensely likable character. He is a sweet young man going through the growing pains of watching his father continually publically shamed for past actions while missing the presence of an equally self absorbed mother. And if struggling with super powers in the midst of all this wasn't enough, Thom is exploring his sexuality like any other teenager. So the many facets of the young man are mostly well drawn and crafted, presenting a complicated, flawed but equally wonderful hero.The characterization of the vast secondary characters is mostly well done from Thom's team of misfits to the hero League, and even the character of Goran. Each is important to the plot and to Thom's journey in different ways. The story has a few missteps here as for unknown reasons Thom doesn't heal a number of his own teammates even though he's healing everyone else, and his continued ignorance about Goran stretches reality. What shines the most though is the relationship between Thom and his father, Hal Creed. Hal is a disgraced super hero who was the only hero to possess no super powers. Even without that, Hal managed to be a very successful and beloved hero until a tragic accident forces Hal to take the brunt of public and private scorn. Hal struggles with his anger and bitterness from that life and the life he has struggled to provide for his son. A missing wife, who appears later only to highlight her own selfishness while providing closure for Thom, is a key to Hal's unhappiness. The father/son relationship is often poignant and dysfunctional. Both Hal and Thom love each other very much but can't figure out how to express that love and have the close relationship they both want. Hal has a very real struggle with accepting Thom's sexuality but the private problems Hal experiences both help and hinder their relationship.This book is certainly not without its faults, but I'd say those don't really matter. The eternal coming of age is familiar and depicted in a manner that allows an entertaining story mixed with the maturity of its narrator. Thom emerges a changed, wiser, more mature young man at the end and his journey is a delight to read. I'd easily recommend this book to all readers and suggest that you let yourself enjoy the ride. The hero antics are interesting and the fast pace keeps the story moving almost lightening fast. More than anything, Thom is certain to charm any reader while Hal touches a poignant chord. A must read book.

This easily gets five stars from me. It's an engrossing and captivating tale with great character development and growth.Most people have a coming-of-age story. Those defining moments in their life where they leave behind childhood and become the man or woman they're going to be. For Thom Creed, those moments are ones few people can relate to. Thom, you see, is the son of Hal Creed. Hal was formerly Major Might, the world's most famous and beloved superhero. Though he had no superpowers of his own, his unerring sense of right and wrong, and his dedication to helping all, made him a role model for not only other heroes, but for the entire world.Until the tragedy.As our story opens, we realize that there was a great tragedy where many people died, and everyone blames Hal. He now lives in disgrace and holds down three low-paying jobs so he can pay off his mortgage and raise his son. Thom is a great boy, but he has his own secret that he's never told anyone. He's gay, and his father has a very old-fashioned sense of morality and believes it's wrong to be gay. So Thom keeps this a secret because his father is the last person he wants to disappoint. To add even more pressure to Thom's life, he's just discovered that he has super powers and can heal people. He tries to find his place in the world by enlisting in the League under probationary status. His father now has a disdain for most superpowered heroes, so this is another thing he tries to keep hidden. He's assigned to a rag-tag team of other tryouts, led by an established sidekick who's being punished for a mistake and forced to "step down" and supervise these hero wannabes. Thom's team consists of Thom, a man who can make other people sick, a bitter pizza-delivery girl who can fly and shoot fire, and a feisty old woman who can (sometimes) see the future.The story is told in first-person perspective and covers a period of several months of Thom's life. From shortly before his powers start manifesting, to the climatic conclusion. Thom deals with feelings of inadequacy, uncertainty, and his own fears of letting down his father and those around him. Even in the League, he's given back-seat status as his power is one of healing and not very offensive. Throughout the novel, Thom must learn to face his fears and eventually realize that he can no longer hide nor run away from his own destiny.It's especially fun if you're a comic book fan as you try to match the characters in the story to their comic-book inspirations (Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, Flash, etc.). Many of the more prominent characters do have an inspiration in established characters, but Perry Moore thankfully adds enough differences to keep them from being pure carbon-copies. The story has occasional strong language and some references to sex (but never going into details), but is nothing inappropriate for someone around 16 or older. Thom's sexuality is a major plot thread throughout the story, but is never the full focus. While references are made to sex, the most Thom ever does is kiss someone. Like most kids, he's got a lot of things he gets dramatic over, and his sexuality is just one of them.At the time, the book was unavailable on Kindle, so I ordered the paperback. I'm exceptionally happy I did. It's a bittersweet story (with more sweet than bitter) that leaves a lasting impression. I will most likely purchase it again once it's in electronic format so that it can be part of my digital library. It's that good.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I wanted to read it all in one go but paced myself so I could stretch it out over 3 days, I just didn't want it to end. Perry Moore has written a thoughtful, dark, tragic and insightful book. Sadly his recent passing has meant we won't be in for a sequel which is a shame because this book was a pleasure to read. It made me laugh and made me weep buckets at the ending. Thom just happens to be a superhero who happens to be gay. He's coming to terms with this revelation and in case people of a nervous disposition think they're getting gratuitous gay sex scenes they can rest in peace because the sexual aspect of Thom takes a back seat to the story of Thom trying to gain acceptance of the other superheroes in The League. Being gay is part of who Thom is but it's not the whole story. We have friendship, loss, violence, acceptance, family relationships, love and a great deal of humour. Thom's relationships in particular with Ruth and Scarlett are a joy to read. Ruth just blows your mind! I didn't want this book to end and the ending is indeed (literally) earth shattering. It's very sad that the recent death of Perry Moore has robbed the world of a very worthy and fascination new superhero. If this is the only book Perry ever wrote then he did a marvellous job and this book is a testament to his ability as a writer to draw us into a world that I personally found fascinating.

My son is 13 and 'came out' to me about 8 months ago. I decided it would be good for my son to have some LGBTQ young adult literature because I think it's really important he reads things he can relate to and which make him feel 'normal' (I hate the use of that word!). Well this book was excellent and I'm glad I picked it first. My son loves superheroes and this was right up his street. He absolutely loves that the main character is gay, and I love that the main character of the book being gay is not the main focus of the book. I love that it is simple a young adult book, like all the others, but the main character is looking for the boy instead of the girl! I haven't read it yet myself but my son thoroughly enjoyed it and was eager for more like it!! I only gave 4 stars because there was a bit of swearing in there that I hadn't been aware of. That said, most young adult literature has a small degree of swearing in! My son simple pointed them all out to me because he is Aspergers....

Romantic comedy, action adventure, thriller, detective story, sci-fi, growing up story... and so much more. Hero by Perry More is a fantastic and engrossing story that has a lot to offer to any and all readers. I have only given it a 4 star rating because the writing style is a little simplistic but maybe I am being unfair because it suits the style of this book. I was completely engrosed by it from word go and could not put this book down. If you want some escapism then read this book and yet despite this it has a sound grounding in human emotion, thought and relationships. I hope you will love this as much as I did

i had this book recommend to me whilst on holiday and owning the kindle made it perfectly easy for me to buy the book and start reading straight away. but we all know the wonders of the kindle by now. the book is an okay piece of literature, I'm 18 myself and a huge super hero fan so the subject matter was definitely something that appealed to me and this book doesn't let you down in that respect in fact I would reccomend this book for anyone who likes the thought of a world with super-heroes. I would even go as far as to reccomend the book for any gay teens. however, if you want a well written book which is written to a high standard to rival the likes of books aimed at the same age group then i'm afraid you're looking for the wrong book i'm afraid. the books not too well written, but i think the story does help to make up for that, despite the plot holes that remain. overall i reccomend this book for a light bit of reading but stick to the classics like The Hobbit or Narnia if you want the well written masterpieces.

I am not really into reading but could not put this book down.story of Thom Creed a average teenage boy who is struggling with his sexuality and the fact that he also has super powers. The story has profound similarities to some other major Superheroes but Thom's journey is a unique story.Yes if you want to nit pick it could be worded better but honestly give it.A go!