Written by Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, Cody Martin and Dennis Lee, Invasion: Book One of the Secret World Chronicle is the novelization of a series of podcasts. And “being included in the Humble eBook Bundle” is about the only justification I can give for reading it.
For starters, I’m apparently not much for superheroes. In the book, Metahumans—anyone possessed of extraordinary powers which violate the known laws of physics
—form some sort of übermensch-superhero crimefighting squad. I think it’s just silly.
Secondly, the beginning was too much. A boatload of characters were introduced one by one. The next few chapters follow these characters as they get caught up in the titular alien space nazi invasion. And then, one by one, all lines tie together, and we get entire chapters that expose the grand Secret World Order Plot Points. Or something. I couldn’t be too bothered.
But mostly: superheroes and alien space nazis. I still think it’s silly.
The best part was when a not-quite-Meta got sucked in the pulp fiction clichés of Dr. Dusk, who diagnoses evil and writes prescriptions for justice. That was clever. The rest, not so much.
- Mercedes Lackey with Steve Libbey, Cody Martin and Dennis Lee — Invasion: Book One of the Secret World Chronicle
- The blue-skinned, blue-haired woman known by the callsign “Belladonna Blue” stuck her head around the corner of the oval hatch into the captain’s cubby.