Review: Strike: The Hero From The Sky by Charlie Wood

Summary-

Book One of the STRIKE Trilogy
Tobin Lloyd's life is perfect: he's a senior at Bridgton High, he's one of the funniest kids in school, and his only worry is whether or not his latest prank is going to result in yet another detention.
But when he wakes up in the world of Capricious, a place where superheroes are real and attacks by super-villains are just another hassle of living in the city, all of that changes. Suddenly, Tobin's last year of high school is not going as he expected.
Far from home and pretty sure he's gone insane, Tobin must join a strange group of companions (including a beer-drinking dog and a genius, three-foot-tall robot) as he desperately tries to find a way back to Earth. However, that may be even harder than Tobin knows: a mysterious super-villain named Vincent Harris has big plans for the planet Earth...and Tobin is the only person standing in his way.
A carefree, C-student class clown is the world's last hope? Yikes.

 

Review-

        Seventeen year old Tobin is a goofball, a blow-off who has no immediate thoughts about the future. He does have two best friends, a single mom, and a boring job stocking shelves at the local grocery store. Although it's the beginning of Senior year, Tobin's thoughts aren't focused on college, like his besties, Jennifer and Chad. Instead, he's thinking up lunchroom pranks and getting detentions. One fateful night, though, a stranger comes to town and changes everything. The typically laid-back and reckless teen is forced to step up when a six foot man/bat threatens one of the citizens of Tobin's town. Tobin's actions in protecting the innocent and helpless woman alter the formerly useless course of his life and send him careening towards destiny. With a flash of blue and an unplanned bit of planet-hopping, Tobin begins to learn that there are more things out in the cosmos than one can possibly imagine.

After the fight with the man/bat, Tobin unexpectedly finds himself transported to Capricious, his father's home planet. Befriended there by a walking, talking, beer-guzzling, blue-furred husky, an adorable and transformer-like robot boy and a secretive man who claims to have known his dead father, Tobin manages to absorb the uniqueness of planet Capricious and its denizens while learning to master super powers that he hadn't known he possessed. This book was highly entertaining with interesting characters scattered throughout the pages and unanticipated escapades keeping the reader captivated. However, this book can't be termed a young adult book. Charlie Wood is an excellent story-teller with a mind for the unusual but he writes in a manner more befitting tweens, tween boys in particular. There is no teen jargon, teen angst, romance, or contemplation of the deepest importance. Strike reads more like a comic book with colorful, bigger-than-life heroes and non-stop adventure but little introspection or soul-searching. Four stars though for a delightful and easy read. 

 

Publisher-Createspace

Reviewers Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewed by~Cindi

Thank you to the auntor for donating this book to the Read for your future book program in exchange for a honest review!