Book Review: Untouchable by S. A. Starcevic

Goodreads

Title: Untouchable
Author: S. A. Starcevic
Rating: 4 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

“Ethan Elliot is no stranger to secret identities. As an LGBT teen, he’s dealt with secrets all his life. Nevertheless, when his powers kick in and he’s whisked away to join a team of superheroes, he dons a mask of a different kind—one that sees him battling supervillains and testing his limits.

However, there’s more going on behind the scenes than capes and costumes. At the headquarters of the Protectorate, he makes unlikely friends with Gravity Girl and Element Boy. Except Element Boy might turn out to be more than just a friend, and Gravity Girl is battling demons of her own.

Ethan will discover what it means to be a hero, and must learn that even superheroes aren’t untouchable.”

“All kids dream of being superheroes.”

In a world where superheroes exist, that might be even truer. Except that our main character never wanted to be a hero. He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time (or perhaps in the right place, at the right time). Now faced with superpowers, Ethan must learn to be a superhero and everything that comes with it.

Ethan is the sarcastic and funny narrator of his own story. His reactions to things were hilarious sometimes. Yes, there was the odd metaphor, but we can let it go seeing that he is very young and imaginative.

His backstory was interesting and so were his reasons for participating in everything. I am sure that I, given the opportunity to be a superhero, would take that on the spot as well, even if I was terrified brainless every time I’d have to face a super villain.

I liked the tidbits we have from Ethan’s and the other superheroes’ normal lives: their family stories, reactions, interests, etc. I thought some characters could have been better developed, especially the side characters, like the doctor. However, I think that, considering the length of the novella, we could gather a lot of information about the characters already.

The action scenes were nice and read like a superhero  story.  Ethan and his superhero boyfriend were so cute, but I wanted more on their relationship. This part felt a little rushed, but again I must say: the length does not contribute much exposure to their relationship. I hope to get more on that later!

I wanted some more world build. I mean, a world where superheroes and super villains exist and have names and a fanbase? Awesome. But, where did it all come from? How did that happen? Was it always like this? I know I will be repeating myself here, but  again the length of the novella did not help here. I wanted more and that is one of my biggest complains: I need more from this world and the characters. They managed to make me very curious and even to care about them in 54 pages!

Overall, I really liked the story and the characters and I would recommend it to anyone searching for a nice, short superhero story or a nice, short LGBT story.