Team-Ups & Crossovers

Wearing the Cape Series, Book 6

By: Marion G. Harmon

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly

Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Astra was done traveling, or so she thought. Benched for physical rehab and retraining, she's in LA dating movie stars (not as fun as you might think) when the Department of Superhuman Affairs asks for help catching a superhuman serial killer.

When what should be a simple job develops...complications, she finds herself catapulted into another reality - one with its own history and superheroes! As her teammates scramble to find out where she's gone and what's become of her, Astra embarks on a cross-world journey in search of a way home. It's going to be a long trip.

©2016 Marion G. Harmon (P)2019 Tantor

Solid collection of short stories

This was a fairly fun collection of short stories that deals with the popular super hero trope I actually hate, alternate realities. It does this trope very well, using it to set up a series of "What If?" questions that end up being fun. There is not a ton of long term plot or character development, so this book ends up feeling more like a side novel than a main story, but is still an enjoyable read.

hope rules!

loved it! loved the different stories in different locales! even some Shakespeare, for goodness sake!

Proof that Good Narration Really Enhances a Story

One of the hallmarks of the great super hero series is the team up with other heroes and another is the cross over either into other superhero universes or into alternate versions of the hero’s reality. In Team Ups and Cross Overs, Harmon gives us a lot of each. These are quick short stories that not only give Astra the chance to rub shoulders with heroes from other authors’ imaginations but to learn just how important her efforts have been by showing her what would have happened if she’d died back in the beginning of the series.

I wasn’t familiar with any of the other authors’ superhero worlds, but they were self-explanatory enough that I had no problem jumping into the action. Probably the best short story in the collection was Grimworld in which Astra discovers a reality in which she died at the Whittier Base Attack and so wasn’t around to stop the EMP attack that was the focus of the Omega Night short story. That future is bleak and it was fascinating to watch Astra deal with the tragedy that had become the planet.

While I encourage every fan of the series to read this book, I also note that it is the weakest of the series. In my second reading of the collection, I found that many of the short stories no longer interested me at all. Obviously, that’s not good. And it’s not something I’ve found with the other novels. Yet, I am still glad Harmon experimented with this multiple realities event and I think you will be too.

I have been working my way through the audio book versions of this series and found that a good narrator improved my enjoyment of this volume immensely. If you’re going to read it, think about trying the audiobook version.

good

I found this series via the comic "Grrl Power", as one of the crossovers occurs in that setting. There was at least one minor "error" that could be explained away as an alternate reality, but otherwise it was good.

Meh

Love this series, but really struggled to get through this one. All of the universe hopping made it hard to keep track of who and what was going on.