A Book of Review of Failstate by John W. Otte

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Why did Robin Laughlin (a.k.a. Failstate) think being a superhero on a reality show would be a good idea? Things seemed so simple: Win the show, become an official, licensed hero. But with his brother, Ben (a.k.a. Gauntlet) stealing America's heart-and with Rob's own powers proving too unwieldy for TV-Failstate begins to wonder if he's going to live up to the failure in his name. Until one of his friends and fellow competitors is murdered. Robin vows to find the killer, and he sets out on a very real quest to unmask the hidden villain. Can Failstate find justice? Or will his lunk of a big brother ruin everything-including taking the girl who has stolen Rob's heart? Very soon, Failstate and Gauntlet will come to blows. Which has been the villain's plan all along.

Series: Failstate
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Marcher Lord Press (April 1, 2012)
Page Count: 426

What I liked: This book is really suspenseful, interesting and real. I like the characters and you root for the main character from chapter one. As a Christian, it's really cool to have a superhero book that has a Christian perspective and includes church, but church like what church is actually like. In a lot of modern media, I see church portrayed inaccurately and it was nice to see someone write it correctly.

The abilities are really cool and I like how he keeps them unique. I'm very interested about how exactly these people received their abilities, and how the VOC (Vigilante Oversight Committee) was established. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

What I didn't like: A few things did annoy me a little. For starters, there were an unusual amount of typos through out the book which distracted me at times.

Another thing is that a certain object that was the key to the mystery was foreshadowed early on and I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for the character to remember, but it took him so long while I still remembered it. Maybe that's what the author intended, but it slightly irritated me. I was getting a little worried that he forgot about and that a plot hole had formed.

I also felt that Veritas could have been made a little more unique as a character. It's difficult for me to pinpoint his exact personality.

Over all I give this book four stars. :)

About the Author:

John W. Otte leads a double life. By day, he's a Lutheran minister. He graduated from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a theatre major and then from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. By night, he writes weird stories. He lives in South St. Paul, MN, with his wife and two sons. Find him on his website, Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter!

I hope you all enjoyed this review of Failstate! I will be doing reviews on Steven James' Placebo and Veronica Roth's Divergent in the near future and another character interview will be up soon with one of the villains of my science-fiction novel's sequel. :)