It seems like the superhero genre is dominating every medium but (non-comic) books. I read Terry Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible and it was pretty solid. I read Fantastic Four: to Free Atlantis and it was unsurprisingly bad. As such a pop cultural phenomenon, I'm surprised I haven't heard of more in the sub-genre besides hilarious novelizations of the movies.
Are there any superhero novels that are actually good or toy with the tropes of the genre or are just fun to read?
by Ibunas
4 Comments
My son really liked The Reckoners (first book: Steelheart) by Brandon Sanderson. I haven’t read them yet, but Sanderson writes fun novels in general.
Worm by Wildbow is a web serial about superheroes that’s very long, very dark, and overall pretty good. It plays with the tropes of the genre a lot, especially regarding the real practical applications of powers.
Drew Hayes has two good series.
First [Super Powered](https://www.goodreads.com/series/115317-super-powereds)*.* Super hero is a government job and there is a college course required. This is about the school. It’s gets kind of dark, and extremely brutal. The first book was a little slow, but the meta story of the series kept there. I was very glad I stuck with it. Really good series.
Second: [The Villains Code](https://www.goodreads.com/series/196608-villains-code)*.* This is obviously about the bad guys. It’s not set in the same universe. it’s about a villainous organization. I liked it better then Super Powered, and that’s saying a lot for me. The audiobook is also fantastic.
If villains are ok, [Confessions of a D-List Supervillain](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11334430-confessions-of-a-d-list-supervillain). It’s about a villain who turns hero more out of circumstance then wanting to be a hero.
More Villains: [Dr. Anarchy’s Rules for World Domination: Or How I Became God-Emperor of Rhode Island](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30314861-dr-anarchy-s-rules-for-world-domination) If you liked Soon I Will Be Invincible, you will probably like this. I read both and enjoyed this a lot more.
Last one villain lead story, [Vicious](https://www.goodreads.com/series/120477-villains), there are no heroes in this. Two sociopaths, one just slightly less then the other. It’s dark and twisted, but it was really good. There are 2, and I just read a third coming.
Last I have [So Not a Hero](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25571183-so-not-a-hero), it’s fun and a easy read. I liked the characters, sometimes heroes can be dicks.
try the Wild Card series by George RR Martin and several others, its a great series