Straight Reading at the Library: Project Northwoods by Jonathan Charles Bruce

Project Northwoods was provided to The Library as part of Jonathan Charles Bruce's virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jonathan will be awarding a $10 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. You can see the rest of the tour stops here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/03/virtual-nbtm-review-tour-project.html.

READ THE BLURB

In a world where heroism and villainy are 9-to-5 gigs, Arthur Lovelass’s life has reached critical mass. Every attempt he’s made to humiliate his popular and heroic father has failed, his girlfriend has left him, his sister won’t talk to him, and he’s jobless. As if that weren’t bad enough, his roommate is threatening to kick him out of the apartment after he causes an embarrassing accident which leaves her just as unemployed.

Things get worse when Arthur guilts his best friend Tim into accompanying him on a prank at the Heroes’ Guild. Instead of petty vandalism, the two stumble on a conspiracy which leaves four dead and the ‘Lord of Justice’ Arbiter on a campaign of revenge which threatens the very world Arthur longs to be a part of.

READ THE REVIEW

Growing up on Superman, Batman, the Fantastic Four, and other heroes of the world, I was very interested to read about a world where both superheroes and villains are the norm, rather than the exception. Ever since a major battle took place several decades ago, there has been an alliance of sorts between the villains and heroes--to the point where everyone is classified as hero, villain, or neutral. And there are strict rules that must be followed.

The main thrust of the story centers around Arthur Lovelass, whose father is a very popular hero. Author is a genius inventor nerd-type and wants to be a villain in the worse sort of way, but his every attempt to join the villain's league is voted down--he's just too good. There's no way he could be defeated.

There are many other characters involved in this book and the author does a great job at investing the reader in their lives. Even though on one level they are "comic book characters", there's a lot more to them than that.

One caveat: this is not a book you want to pick up for a light hour of reading. This book is long, but don't let that put you off from picking it up. Just allow yourself plenty of time to read it. I think you will be glad you did.

I am looking forward to Mr. Bruce's next book. I definitely hope it is set in this same universe. It's somewhere I want to visit again. 4 stars!


MEET THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Charles Bruce began writing terrible fiction when he was four. Although the original manuscripts are lost (or perhaps destroyed), we can rest assured that his prose has improved significantly since then.

He has a Master's Degree in history and enjoys dissecting the pop culture of the 20th century and reading books of a non-historical nature. He maintains a presence on the Internet at his imaginatively titled website, jonathancharlesbruce.com. He also provides work for Twenty Four Pages a Second, a pretty keen website you should totally check out. Facebook. Buy the book at Amazon.