Author Daniel Sayre launches an uncertain hero into a supercharged new world with Becoming Glitch, an artfully entertaining and wise-cracking adventure.
Following a doozy of a cold, the unassuming Andy realizes that his healing process may have gone a bit too far to the point of developing apparent powers of teleportation. It doesn’t take long for Andy to encounter others with new enhancements, all of whom began developing unusual abilities after falling ill around the same time.
Glitch (Andy) and Cast Iron Giant (Bruce) are soon joined by Dreamstress (Kelly) and other unique superheroes with nascent powers; the informal vigilante team is not only fighting crime and sharpening their powers, but also gathering information on their abilities.
What supernatural illness had affected them, how many others had been given powers, and most importantly, did that same mysterious illness create any supervillains? A dozen or so chapters in, readers learn that there is another crew of enhanced individuals being formed, led by a sinister hooded figure who uses manipulation and threats as his primary tool of recruitment.
In our modern age of cyber-security, app-tracking, social media, and viral videos, being a superhero comes with even more pitfalls than it did in the past, and Sayre delicately plays with this contemporary theme. Weighing the need for anonymity and secrecy against the onus to use their powers for good, each of these freshly forged heroes struggles to find their work-life-hero balance in entertaining and oddly relatable ways.
This is a decidedly character and dialogue-driven read, and Sayre expertly captures the complex personalities of his core crew. More notably, he taps into the social awkwardness and humanity of his characters, acknowledging truths that many writers overlook – the challenge of making new friends, modern-day mistrust, technophobias, generational gaps, and more. Like any superhero story worth its salt, there are some chapters and sections that feel like a montage – early mishaps and sloppy missions, training sessions, obstacles overcome and small victories gained. As the team grows, the richness of each scene seems to swell; the author doesn’t mind slowing the pace of plot progression for the sake of greater character depth.
The story could be trimmed to some degree, as some of the group’s heroic activities – stopping thugs and muggers, putting out fires, etc. – begin to feel a bit redundant, and there are occasional stumbling sentences, often due to missed prepositions or oddly ordered phrases. While there are those occasional riffs that could be tightened up or minimized, Sayre is a sardonically sharp writer, with countless jabs and jokes buried in his narration. Readers who appreciate subtle wit and sly humor will find themselves savoring even seemingly innocuous passages. The moments of slower exposition are more than made up for with creative descriptive flourishes, well-visualized action sequences, and impressively crafted tension as the full scope of the story is revealed.
As a whole, Becoming Glitch is a wildly original novel that transcends the superhero sci-fi genre – an action-rich story that can also be savored for its innovative collection of characters.
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