I didn’t think I would
like it. Bought the audio book on a
whim. Amazingly found it pretty funny
and enjoyed it not a little.
There is one element that I find repellant and will describe that late in this review.
The basic premise is that the world is dominated by super
heroes and villains (with little
separating them). Our hero (Felix
Campbell) is not much of one. The only “power”
he has is the ability to improve the things that he owns. Unfortunately for him he does not have enough
points to do anything with and these points reset every day. He has saved up money to buy some metal in
hopes to slowly convert it to gold but instead gets a mostly dead super
hero. He decides to keep the super hero
and finds out since he “owns” it as a “slave” he gets to use their super hero
points which are much higher than his. He gets the opportunity to buy two
others that are equally damaged and uses their points to repair them. Once this is done he goes on a hero / villain
buying spree and develops an organization based on using his points and the
powers of the group to create money and upgrade the “slaves” as rewards for
services. This group -
incorporated “We are Legion” (see
“We are Bob”) - is on constant active
from the Legion of Heroes. Finally with
his back against the wall Felix must his enemies himself to preserve his slaves
and his way of life.
Lots of fun in here - Andrea
– who can multiply herself, is part wolf, and loves pancakes, Lily – the soul
eating demon, and Kit – the mind reader are his chief companions and
consultants in this venture.
My big problem with this book is the picture of the
big-hearted slave owner. I do not think
they exist. It trivializes the whole
American nightmare that slave-holding brought over us. I wish Aurand had found another conveyance such
as indentured servant – which he does use.
Of course, Felix is ultimately a
villain (has the souls ripped out of his enemies before they are sent (still
alive) to the sausage machine. His
slaves then eat the sausage to get increased power. Sounds like a villain to
me. As long as the villains eventually loose or are sanctified and reborn.
