After the Golden AgeCarrie Vaughn
Tor Books, April 2011
ISBN: 978-0765325556
This all-new and moving story of love, family, and sacrifice is an homage to Golden Age comics that no fan will want to miss.
Celia West is the powerless daughter of Commerce City's two most famous superheros--Captain Olympus and Spark, the founding members of the Olympiad. As After the Golden Age opens, Celia is working as a forensic accountant in a firm that consults for the DA. After her most recent kidnapping attempt, the DA asks specifically for her to be assigned to what may be the case of the century--a tax fraud prosecution of the Destructor, a notorious villain and her parents' arch nemesis.
When his case comes to court, her relationship to the alleged felon is exposed, which costs her the job and her friends while widening the rift with her parents. As a crime wave hits the city and with too much idle time on her hands, Celia sees a pattern that ties all the felonious activity to one person. As Celia digs into the case, her complicated history resurfaces in such a way to cast doubt on her reliability. Celia cannot bear the thought of being judged for her prior acts, and she digs deeper into the Destructor case to prove her worth. Most of the book is about the trial - where she gets outed as once having helped the Destructor, the aging supervillian. From there, Celia's life gets turned upside-down, and she has to find it within herself to fix things.
After the Golden Age is a fantasic book. The characters are likable and easy to relate too. Celia is very down to earth, yet determined to do what's right. I was impressed with her determination and steadfastness. The side characters in the book are well done, if not exceptional, and make for a good story. The plot of the book was well done and has some great twists in it. This ends up being more of a mystery than anything. I did like how the plot has some focus around what happens to super heroes as they decline and I liked how there was also focus around how you can be a super hero without powers. If you like super heroes, or like reading about a normal person struggling in a world of powerful people this is the book for you. I will definitely be reading Vaughn's future books.
CARRIE VAUGHN had the nomadic childhood of the typical Air Force brat, with stops across the country from California to Florida. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the Kitty Norville books, and she lives in Boulder, Colorado.
