Superheroes

By: Peter S. Beagle, Daryl Gregory, James Patrick Kelly, Kelly Link, Ian McDonald, Carol Emshwiller, Joseph Mallozzi, Rich Horton - editor

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Joe Barrett, Christina Delaine, Suzanne Toren

Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

Modern gods and goddesses, remote, revered - and like the pantheon of heroes and heroines of ancient myth - possessing great power tempered with flaws. Now, find within this anthology great tales by gifted and award-winning authors who move superheroes from the four-color panels of comic books to the fantastic pages of fiction, stories that will remind anyone who ever wanted to wear a cape or don a cowl of the extraordinary powers of the imagination!

©2013 Rich Horton (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Pretentious tired old concepts

Would you try another book from the authors and/or the narrators?

no

What was most disappointing about the authors’s story?

The stories were excruciatingly slow to develop and had little to nothing to do with superheroes. The Forward was a pretentious snob rambling about how great he is for putting this book together.

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

NO

What character would you cut from Superheroes?

all of them

Any additional comments?

pick up pretty much any comic book from the last 30 years and you will get better, more mature stories than these.

The book of HoooHummm superhero’s

Look there are superheroes and sorta superheroes. Most of the stories in this book are ehhh....so so sorta superhero’s. There are a few gems in the book but most of the stories are just bland.

I’m glad this was a free book from the membership collection. If I had spent a credit on it I would have returned it by now.

If your thinking about this book pass it by and look for something else.

Fun, Adventurous, and Sometimes Profound

as a comic book fan of over 20 years I can say that it's hard to find good superhero fiction when transcending media (other than the MCU and DC animated films) I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book. I certainly didn't expect to be as impressed as I am. some of the stories in this book are fun exciting or even light-hearted. others are brutal and honest, terrifying and heartbreaking, or just good fun.

Not much here

This is a bunch of short stories about mostly bad things that can go wrong with superheroes. If the publisherss summary would accurately describe the books in the preview they would better set the listeners expectations.

Snide.

Every idea or concept the writers do not agree with is belittled and insulted. The performer delivers this in a snide tone sure to infuriate anyone who disagrees with their "smarter than you poor fools" attitude. All while getting terms and named wrong in several chapters.

Mediocre Anthology With More Than a Few Problems

It had some pacing issues, even for an anthology. Some of the stories were far too short, feeling more like unfinished stubs while others went on forever. Far longer than they needed to or in one case, should have been allowed to.

The final story treats us to nearly 2.5 hours of homophobia, transphobia, and racism. The last thing I got to hear from this collection was an offensive slur for trans people while using them as disposable hench-people. Using trans people as villains is in very poor taste, and would be. Even if it hadn't already been done to death.

Superpowers are not always the answer

Having a superpower can change your life, but it doesn't change the world. these stories can show you whole new side to the world of superhuman powers.

Voice performances are fine? But stories are mostly bland

This collection of superhero stories covers angles not normally covered in other superhero stories: the people who impersonate heroes, and the people who fall for it; the societies under the rule of a supervillain ruler; the death of a hero whose body won’t let them die.

The problem is the writing itself. It’s almost too serious, too dramatic. Some of the stories were marvelous, like the one about a girl who found herself in a hotel with super heroes and dentists, looking to meet what she thought was a hero, written in the style of a confession letter. Others were so focused in their descriptions they slowdown the actual story, with the focus being more the world than the people in it.

All in all, it’s a hit-or-miss with lots of misses.

1930's feel with new age characters

I usually do not read the super hero genre, but I gave it run because of one of the writers. There were a few hits and a few misses, but overall a good read.

interesting takes on superhero genera

Fun stories over all, and some definitely interesting takes on the super theme. Writing for the most part is pretty strong, but most of the stories are kinda downers.