SuperNova (Heroes of Arcania, #1)

by Liz Long

[Nicole Lynn]

An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This review originally appears on my blog, PopCrunchBoom Books

3.5/5 stars

SuperNova follows Nova, a seventeen-year-old girl living in Arcania. She has always been a bit different and while her parents warned her about sharing her "special abilities" with the world, Nova was content to remain a "normal" teenage girl. However, after a tragic event early on within the novel, Nora's world shifts. She's no longer thinking about boys and prom, but about her struggles to overcome the guilt, sadness and anger she has been feeling since the event took place. Then an idea begins to form in her mind. Maybe her special powers can take town the evil person who cause so much tragedy not only in her life, but in the town of Arcania. Throw in a new cute boy who's moved into town and Nora has a whole new mission for senior year.

I loved Nora as a character. Long did a great job of balancing her "teenageness" with her "superpowers." I felt like I connected with Nora and I sympathized with her plight. And while I lent some disbelief when it came to her parents and their role in her new "hobbies," I still felt that Nora's storyline was believable and that she rang true as a character.

Long does a great job of setting up the scene in true superhero story fashion. The storyline had some cliche moments, but most superhero stories do. I was immersed in the superhero world that Long had created. Long also did a great job of creating the villain within this story. As everyone knows, a superhero needs a great villain and vice versa. With that said, I think his superhero name (and some of the other bad guys' names) was a bit cheesy. Thought to be fair, some superhero stories are like that and it could just be a throwback to superheroes stories being like that.

While, Nora's character was very well developed, I felt that Cole's character was missing something. I feel like his chapters could have been more on point and his character a bit more fleshed out. He seemed confusing at times as a character. I think moving forward he could be a really strong character.

Speaking of Cole, I really enjoyed his sister Penelope. I think she's a very intriguing character and I can't wait to find out more about her and what happens next in regards to her storyline.

Overall, the story was a quick and entertaining read. It had some hiccups for me, but I'm going to chalk it up to being an ARC copy. I'm interested to see what happens next in the sequel. If you want to give a YA female superhero story a try, then I'd definitely suggest you check out this gem!