Superhero Syndrome

Solstice Survivors, Book 1

By: Caryn Larrinaga

Narrated by: Ruby Hankey

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Tess McBray was dying. The solstice syndrome had no cure, and she resigned herself to an early grave. But just when she gave up on survival, all her symptoms mysteriously disappeared.

All but one symptom, anyway. Something is wrong with Tess’ hands. They absorb any material they touch, and her skin turns to wood, steel, or concrete. It doesn’t take this comic book obsessed 21-year-old long to figure out what’s going on: Somehow, she’s developed super powers. And she’s not the only one; across the country, people are coming forward and sharing their gifts with the world. In her own city, where the police are battling a human trafficking operation, a masked vigilante called The Fox is saving lives and stopping criminals.

Tess doesn’t know where she fits into this new, super-powered world. But when people around her start disappearing, she can’t just sit on the sidelines. Teaming up with The Fox to create the world’s first superhero duo might be the only way to rid her city of evil and save the people she loves most.

©2017 Caryn Larrinaga (P)2019 Caryn Larrinaga

Unique, powerful, fun

This was a very different take on the super hero genre, and a TON of fun while also giving some powerful messages.

I found the identity of The Fox a bit predictable, but as fun as this book was it was easy to ignore this.

Both the story and the performance easily sucked me in and left me wanting more. I hope the series continues and plan to check out all the future books in the series.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Fantastic Sassy Read

I absolutely loved this book! This story will tug at your heart and satisfy you desire for adventure.

Tess is such a complex and badass character. The author is a master at making you feel so strongly for ever aspect of this story. I really hope there's another book coming because I'd love to find out where these superheros are going!

Fun superhero book with a comic book lover lead

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Caryn Larrinaga. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Superhero Syndrome is a fun read/listen taking a weak and sickly main character and turning her into something quite awesome.

Tess loves comic books and superheroes, but she is very ill and knows she will not be around much longer. Until something happens and mysteriously her fever goes away and she's found some new powers! This comic book obsessed girl accepts her superpowers but tries to hide them. 

Until, someone she loves is in danger. I enjoyed how dark and interwoven the superpowers were with the evil doings of the villains. The story got dark quickly with the missing girls and finally, the disappearance hits close to home. Tess has to learn to be brave and use her powers to help save the missing girls.

I gotta say though the comic-book obsessed girl should have been a little faster to figure out who The Fox is. I have read enough of these type of books to know who the secret identity was going to be, so Tess should have guessed too. But otherwise, the book was great.

I enjoyed the audio narration quite a bit. The voice was pleasant and I would definitely want to listen to her again.  

Highly entertaining and addictive!

Tess is terribly ill. Like many other people, she has caught what the press began to call the solstice syndrome. Many are dying, and Tess is almost terminal, but on a night during a meteor shower, not only she gets cured but she also gains superpowers. After learning to master her new skills, she joins forces with the Fox, in an attempt to end a human trafficking network that has kidnapped her sister.

This was an excellent YA superhero novel! Written in first person, I quickly connected with Tess, and although her situation was something new to me, and I did not understand all her actions, it was easy enough to relate to her. I embarked on this adventure without any preconception or prejudice, and I have to to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are several twists and surprises along the way, and I just wanted to fight with the cool kids: Tess and the Fox.

Tess is the most developed of all the characters, but as this is the first book in a row series, I believe we will get the backstories of secondary characters soon enough.

Ruby Hankey did an excellent job voicing Tess and the rest of the characters. Her interpretation skills and compelling tone kept my attention at all times. There were subtle differences in voices and styles, which made following dialogs a breeze. Her male voices were subtle and credible.

It was an easy listen, very entertaining and addictive. I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Carryn Larrinaga. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Excellent narration!

I loved this very inventive story but I must start with the narration. Hankey has an incredible voice with incredible delivery and she made this story come alive! I was hooked from the first intonation.

The story had a slow build-up to the superhero part but I was okay with that. (Again, great narration.) Tess is the main character and instead of dying from an incurable disease, she was exposed to a meteor and life began. Her superpower was one I had not seen before and listening to her struggle with her discovery and then how to control it was well-written and performed. I must confess that Tess was a bit hard to take at times but again, narration.

The bad guys got dealt with and all ended well. The next book will be next level!

Great Opener for New Super Heros

Intro to getting a feel for new characters is important and achieved.
Looking forward to new adventures and evolution of stories that hold us to it's narration. Ruby Hankey is perfect.

Not what I was expecting.

I believe the story was well written, though I did feel like a few things were not adequately explained. I assume we will learn about those later as the series progresses. The book took a couple of turns I was not expecting, diving into topics that I don’t often see written about in this genre. I feel like it did a good job of describing those, and all of the characters actions seemed logical.
Narration was done well, and though at times volume would peak it was not too distracting. It only happened three or four times during the novel, Maybe something to do with compression.
I received this audiobook at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this review. That being said, I’m not certain if I will continue the series. however I do feel like this was a worthwhile read! If the foreshadowing is doing what I think it is, the series may turn into something I would deeply enjoy!

Old subject, new dressing

This was a pretty cool read, and I liked that Tess's superpower wasn't something I had expected. A sequel would be nice!

Fun and more fun!

This was plenty of fun! I do love my superhero stories and this one is worthy. The story starts off with a world-wide illness that strikes some and passes over the majority of the population. Those that survive the illness are dubbed Solstice Survivors, and they are forever changed. A wide variety of superpowers afflicts (or graces) these new-fledged superheroes and supervillains. The premise is a little reminiscent of the Wild Cards series, but the story itself veers away from the grittiness that series is known for.

Tess is a very likable character. She’s not perfect, enjoys comic books, and does her best to watch out for her sister Bethany (who’s in an abusive marriage to Bruce, her highschool sweetheart). Tess spent several years in New York, being a little estranged from her family, but now that she’s back in her hometown Weyland, she wants to reconnect with Bethany (her older sister). But her latest worry (developing freaky powers) has her lying to Bethany, which isn’t helping their relationship.

In walks the Fox. He’s super agile and very quick and has fantastic fashion sense. Who doesn’t want to put on some fox ears and join his fan club, right? So far, he’s a positive vigilante, taking out drug dealers and more. The police aren’t too thrilled, but they are also up against forces that they aren’t equipped to fight.

I did think it was a little silly with the dating app & Bethany trying to set her sister up on a date. Tess already had enough on her plate and is an interesting character in her own right. I don’t need her man hunting in order to make her appealing. That said, she does bump into Reed more than once. He’s a hospital radiology tech and there’s potential there. Then there’s her old friend from grade school who is now the head of the local Fox fan club. He obviously still has a fondness for Tess and there may or may not be anything there. I really hope this series doesn’t head into a love triangle as the series continues. So much works quite well about this story that angsty love would just drag it down.

Just as Tess grasps the basics of her new powers, her sister and her husband both go missing. Of course, Tess is convinced the worst finally happened and she’s ready to smash Bruce to pieces, if she can find him. So she starts by going by his work and the mystery moves forward from there. She miscalculates but luckily a local superhero steps in to lend a hand. I loved the give and take between the Fox and Tess. They have to figure out their working dynamic quickly so that they can solve this mystery and hopefully save Bethany.

The story gave me a much unexpected twist in the last quarter – and it took the story to the next level. Things aren’t all as they appear. The tale ends with things neatly wrapped up yet with enough big ideas left open for the rest of the series. I look forward to Book 2! 4.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Ruby Hankey had a great voice for this series. She was a perfect fit for Tess and I liked her sisterly voice for Bethany. Hankey’s male character voices are believable and she had distinct voices for all the characters. I loved her villain voices too, especially for bully Bruce and his wicked, conniving boss. The pacing was perfect & there were no tech issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Caryn Larrinaga. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

The best supers origin story so far

This is the best first book in a supers series I have read to so far. The main character is kind of a jerk in her own head, but she seems to know it.

Her introspection seems pretty real and her coming to grips with her powers is well done.

Though I think if someone who is so well versed in comics suddenly gets powers, they'd probably be more proactive in trying to figure out their powers and limits.

The overall shape of the narrative feels pretty genuine there, for the most part the characters are just living their lives and have real people problems, medical bills, jobs, family problems, crime and safety. Adding powers adds more tools to deal with some of those issues but also more complications.

The narration is excellent, some top notch work. The narrator's natural voice is very pleasant and her character accents are distinct and easy to follow.

** I received a free copy of this book for review purposes at my request. **