I put this book several displays and endcaps at the library and it was still just sitting there. One day I decided I was going to take Only Superhuman home with me and at least give it one more checkout. Turns out someone before got this book lightly water-damaged so the pages had this crinkly, wrinkly feeling to them, but somehow it added to the feel of the book.
This is a speculative future where humans have expanded beyond Earth onto asteroids, Mars and even artificial habitats floating in space. Due to advances in science and robotics, some humans have been genetically modifying themselves and their offspring to be stronger, faster, more athletically inclined. Some have even designed their children to become trained assassins or enhanced diplomats. Some mods (short for modifications) are used for good, others used for evil. The old Spiderman adage "with great power comes great responsibility" is a very prevalent theme in this book (it is even one of the dedication quotes at the very beginning).
The author, Christopher Bennett, is obviously very steeped in the world of traditional superhero comic books. This novel reads like a Stan Lee creation. The super-humans in this book, especially the main character, Emerald Blair, look up to comic heroes as mentors and role models of how to best use their powers to help people.
Unfortunately, Only Superhuman, falls short for me as a female reader. The history of comic books has always been one that has over sexualized females. I'm not arguing that writers fail to create strong characters or not, but visually females usually have big boobs, skimpy costumes, and frequently rely on the male superheroes to save them when it gets really tough. This type of attitude carries over into this novel. It's really hard to read a female character written in such a chauvinistic way. Emerald, and many other women in this story, trade on their bodies to distract, entice, or openly seduce men; their intellect comes second to their physical attributes.
However, chauvinism aside, Bennett raises a lot of good social questions with this novel. Does someone have the right to preemptively stop another person from possibly doing something bad in the future? Sound confusing? Say in the next election it was clear that the favorite candidate was backed by the mob, but there was no hard proof. What if someone planted evidence that said this candidate was participating in an illegal activity in order to prevent the mob from getting into the White House? Because something could possibly be bad, does it make it right to stop it from happening? Where does access to information stop and personal privacy begin? What happens when you violate those rights?
Like comic books have always tried to do, this novel is raising a mirror to our society and making us take a good, hard look at the things that we don't necessarily want to think about. I think that Bennett left the ending of this book slightly open, possibly in order to continue this story. I'd be very interested to see how he tackles the NSA issues and other cyber crimes in another installment. I think that this is a good book for either a mature teen or adult reader, simply because of the amount of sex in this book. It's not graphic or explicit but there is ALOT. The characters are a little stereotypical but the plot is engaging, interesting, and keeps you guessing who to trust. Maybe not the best for all female readers, but definitely something unique to pick up.
*This blog is part of a grant Medfield has been awarded through the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Library and Services Technology Act administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
