Young Sentinels

By: Marion G. Harmon

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

The reward for a job well done is another job.

After the Sentinels' takedown of the second incarnation of Villains Inc., things are relatively quiet in the great metropolis of Chicago. Astra, a.k.a. Hope Corrigan, is able to breathe a little, to hang out with her friends, and even to attend classes (where her professors are starting to think she is a myth). But Blackstone is loading more training and responsibilities on her, and converging events threaten the compromises she has made to balance her superhero career and student life and to protect her family and friends.

Worse, a new super villain has come to town, and it will take all of Chicago's capes to defeat the threat of the Green Man - if he can be defeated at all. When a new super villain group begins targeting anti-superhuman groups, it becomes apparent that even the Sentinels are going to need help.

Because one thing is certain: Chicago is going to have a very bad day.

©2013 Marion G. Harmon (P)2019 Tantor

Where are the side stories?

In the second book Jackie's adventure not being available in audio format doesn't have much impact. In this one the lack of an audio version of Omega Night is putting some people at a pronounced disadvantage. For anyone who is willing to do so I highly recommend reading at least Omega Night before listening to this one. Maybe even Jackie's adventures in the Big Easy as well, though thankfully that isn't needed to properly put things in this one into context. Really, those side stories are just as much a part of the series as the main books, and there are a lot of references between them.

Wondering read! Er, listen.

I already love the story from when I read it. And I have long wished for an audiobook version. But, it was worth the wait. Miss Kelly is the perfect voice for Astra, and does a great job of bringing all the characters to life. So, a great book was made even better.

Another Great Volume in This Series

One of the many things Marion Harmon does very well is develop ultra-powerful super villain threats. This time the book opens with the Green Man—a super-powered eco-terrorist with the ability to make plant life grow and spread at remarkable speed. So new trees essentially “charge” across the parks, break up roads, grab and kill anyone in their paths, wreck property, overturn cars and basically try and turn Chicago into a forest. Stopping the growth across a front more than a mile wide and rescuing all the people involved would tax the abilities of the Justice League or the Avengers and it’s a great challenge for Harmon’s Sentinels. But it’s not the only difficulty they face in this story.

The Wreckers, a new group of super villains, has come to Chicago where they are targeting for execution known members of the Paladins—an anti-supers extremist group. The Wreckers powers are top-notch and dangerous and they’re not afraid of causing a lot of collateral damage in their attacks. To make matters worse, their appears to be a connection between the Wreckers and the mysterious mass murderer called the Ascendant, further complicating the Sentinels’ problems.

While all of this is happening, Blackstone decides to increase the fire power of the main team by recruiting a group of trainee heroes to be led by Astra. Technically, these new heroes-in-training will be blocked from most combat operations, but in the insanity that has become Chicago that is often impossible. With the city in constant danger the Sentinels are going to need all the help they can get to win this face off.

Enriching all the action is the growing cast of very strong characters and intriguing personal relationships that are Harmon’s bread and butter. One of the young Sentinels is a Merlin-type super who believes she is Ozma of Oz. Grendel is a shape changer who gained his powers the day he lost his family in the Ascendant’s first mass homicide. Megaton’s family has deserted him because they’re afraid of his new superpowers. These backdrops create intriguing problems for Astra to deal with that can’t be simply punched and kicked into submission.

Finally, in my review of Villain’s Inc I expressed some unhappiness with the change in narrator from K. F. Lim to Caitlin Kelly. I still like Lim’s excellent narration of Wearing the Cape, but Kelly has found her groove in the series and I was completely comfortable with her storyteller’s voice. She shows a lot of talent in bringing the large cast to life and I look forward to hearing her read the next book in the series.