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Book Review: Serpent’s Rise

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book review serpent's rise via wit and travestyHey, writers and readers!

It’s not a good month without an indie novel or two. Today I’ll be reviewing Serpent’s Rise by Trish Heinrich, or the second novel in the Vigilante Superhero series.  Check out the review below and make sure to give your two cents in the comments section if you’ve already read the book, too!

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

As much as Alice hates to admit it, she’s out for revenge. After being left physically and emotionally broken, Alice spends her years pretending she is a crippled heiress and pretending she doesn’t care that Lionel and Marco left her when she needed them most. In the meantime, she employs the help of her friends and family to help her track Phantasm’s next move so she can exact her revenge–once and for all.

Things start to get hairy when other discovered super-powered children are being stolen from their homes or orphanages. She can’t play dumb any longer, as she comes to the conclusion that it’s once again time to don her Serpent uniform.

In Heinrich’s second novel in the Superhero Vigilante series, join Alice once again as she trains harder and smarter to meet her biggest foe once again.

What I Enjoyed:

I gave this novel 5 stars for a few reasons. I truly felt that this was Heinrich’s stronger novel so far in the series, and I can’t wait to watch her out-do herself and grow with Alice and her other characters.

Heinrich really brought a new dimension to this novel with the female characters. I love Rose especially. While she plays the part of the brilliant scientist and weapons inventor, she has a spark of her own. She’s got her own “missions” to undertake, as she chooses to participate in rallies and protests that mirror the Civil Rights movement. I was worried that she would be held back, but her character arc shone at the right times and added more than I imagined to the story.

Miss Jones is another delightful addition to the team. She’s the level-headed secretary and double that Alice needs to succeed. Imagine if Batman’s Alfred was just as involved in missions as Batman was. She helps Alice transition into her role as Mrs. Frost’s heir and gets Alice’s head in the game quite frequently in the novel. It’s nice to see women of different ages and abilities kick ass in this novel.

The emotion in this novel was also well done. You can’t really have a superhero novel without some high stakes and some heavy-duty knife-twisting in the back. It feels like a hallmark of superheroes that grace our comic books. Woof. And this novel is no exception. Alice goes through a lot of ups and downs in this novel, and Heinrich kept me wanting to read more. Her depictions of physical and emotional pain were spot on.

As always, the fight scenes do not disappoint. You get an account of what’s going on blow for blow which I admire a lot. As a writer, this isn’t my strong suit, so I bow down to the writers who can pull this off.

My Final Thoughts

I already enjoyed the first novel, Serpent’s Sacrifice, so I was prepared to thoroughly enjoy Serpent’s Rise–and I did! This novel digs deeper into every character in the cast, provides a lot of sudden plot twists, and truly rises as an excellent addition to the super hero genre. I can’t wait for her third novel to come out in January! She left me hanging on this one, and anything could happen at this point.

Definitely read Serpent’s Sacrifice first to understand what’s going on in this novel. There are some unavoidable spoilers, so do yourself a favor and read the books in order.

I hope I shared enough to pique your curiosity without giving too much away! If you’d like to learn more about Trish Heinrich and her work, you can catch up with her via social media:

Have you read this novel? How do you feel about super hero novels? Share with me in the comments! You can also see all of my other book reviews by checking our the Book Reviews tab.

Book Review: Serpent’s Sacrifice

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book review serpent's sacrifice via wit and travestyHey, writers and readers!

It’s not a good month without an indie novel or two. Today I’ll be reviewing Serpent’s Sacrifice by Trish Heinrich, which is a truly action-packed and swanky superhero novel you needed yesterday. Check out the review below and make sure to give your two cents in the comments section if you’ve already read the book, too!

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

As a kid, Alice Seymour put up with her abusive father and her tired mother. Once freed from her dysfunctional home, she quickly becomes the woman she wants to be: educated, employed, and empowered. Not something the average woman in 1960’s Jet City aspires to. When her aunt and biggest role model is killed, Alice learns more about the Serpent role and take’s on her aunt’s entrepreneurial legacy.

Alice loves using her strength and wit to be the Serpent by day and bookstore owner by day. But she soon makes one too many missteps and unleashes the wrath of her top nemesis onto the entire city. She has to rely on her two super-powered allies, her mentor, her uncle, her physician, and her weapons specialist to figure out who is spreading fear and mayhem in the city and how to put an end to it—without blowing her newfound secret identity.

What I Enjoyed

Heinrich does not shy away from action and pain, lemme tell ya. I almost thought this book was written by a doctor because each kick, punch, throw, or slam felt real. She sustained not only good action descriptions to help you follow what’s happening, but she honors the damage each character sustains. There’s no Mary Sue-ing going on, even with the superheroes involved. I appreciated this because it gives into the authenticity she’s going for with the superhero/1960’s/Glory Days vibe. Maybe she’s also a vigilante, but each character carries the weight of their injuries—physical and mental—that is believable and sustained. We don’t have of this “walk it off” nonsense here.

Okay, so I’m a sucker for feminism, so I’ll bite. There’s a lot of female empowerment in this book. I wouldn’t say it’s “perfect” feminism, but who really pulls it off every time? I’d like to this of this novel as the femme version of Batman where you’ve got a female protagonist, a few female role models, a female tech specialist, and a slew of male characters that know how to work with women to get the job done. No one’s really portrayed as better or stronger than the other, which is nice. We’ve also got some pivotal characters that aren’t white! Huzzah! I could gush more about the feminist elements that I love, but that might give too much away.

What I Didn’t Enjoy

There was this sort of redundancy that happens throughout the novel that was somewhat frustrating—the martyr trope. There is at least one scene where Alice/Serpent, Lionel, or Marco tell the other two to get out and they would stall or fight. Everyone takes turns doing this, and the other two always insist on staying and fighting as a whole team. I understand the need for this every once and a while, but it felt like it happened every fight. It got tiring after a while and it didn’t show as much individual or team growth as I’d like.

I also cringed a bit at the amount of mixed signals Alice gives both of the men. It’s obvious early on that she looks up to, trusts, and likes both of them. She admires both of their bodies and personalities. And you can tell they both really like her back—Lionel is an exceptionally open book. It was cringey how obvious it was that they both liked her, and yet she would almost kiss or insist on being embraced for comfort, giving private and public mixed signals. I’m already not a fan of love triangles because they are often so tropey (noteably in YA fiction), and so this might’ve worked for other readers, but I wanted Alice to pick one and be clear about it. You’ll have to read the novel to see where the love triangle takes them.

My Final Thoughts

If you like The Incredibles, Batman, Black Widow, or feminism, you’ll love this novel cocktail version. Heinrich does not shy away from some serious topics like violence, trauma, physical abuse, racism, sexism, and more. She doesn’t get preachy, which I like, but you do see that tension between the way things are and the way we’d like things to be.

You better read this novel ASAP—her next novel, Serpent’s Rise will already come out in early November! I’ll be reviewing that one, too—no worries.

I hope I shared enough to pique your curiosity without giving too much away! If you’d like to learn more about Trish Heinrich and her work, you can catch up with her via social media:

Have you read this novel? Do you have your own thoughts about it? Share with me in the comments! You can also see all of my other book reviews by checking our the Book Reviews tab.

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Suit Up: Our Top 5 Comic Runs

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our top 5 comic runs via wit and travesty

We spend a lot of time on prose, so we thought we’d take a little break to look at another awesome medium storytelling: comics. If you’re looking for a few of our beloved favorites, then check out our top picks below! Don’t forget to tell us about your top favorites in the comment section or via social media!

Travis’s Picks

Fair warning: the Star Wars nerd is going to give you a list of Star Wars comics. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Star Wars Might as well begin with the beginning. Well, not technically; Star Wars comics have been around for decades. This series, begun in 2015, marked the beginning of the “new canon” of Star Wars comic stories following the purchase of the franchise by Disney. The great thing about this on-going series is that it highlights just about all the fans’ favorite characters from the original trilogy, and does in exciting adventures that take place between the movies.

2. Obi-Wan & Anakin One of the common qualms Star Wars fans had with the prequel trilogy was the underdevelopment of the relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. This short run does an amazing job depicting the kind of teacher Obi-Wan was, reinforces the kind of student Anakin was, and also beautifully lays the groundwork for the ultimate conflict in their relationship.

3. Lando When I first heard about this series, I was a little disappointed. Lando had never interested me much, and I’d wished they had used that slot to tell a story about someone else. But it was a short run, so I figured I didn’t have much to lose by giving it a shot, and it paid off in a big way. Lando highlights whats familiar about the character, while revealing some compelling background and depth of character, and plotting his course towards his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. The colorful cast of characters around him also make for rich additions to the universe of their own.

4. Han Solo I was only marginally more interested in Han than Lando growing up, but as it happens, I came to appreciate both more with as I accompanied the emerging new canon. This short series expands on a some interesting kernels of background left by the novel Bloodline, dealing with Han Solo’s legacy on the interstellar racing circuit. I was surprised by how strongly some of the character moments, both tense and heartfelt, were delivered in comic form.

5. Darth Vader It’s no surprise that one of the most iconic villains in cinema history was granted a series of his own. Kieron Gillen does a marvelous job at writing nuance into a character that didn’t have much in his first film appearance, in a series that makes a fantastic addition to the history of the Star Wars universe.

Whitney’s Picks

I’m hopping into this post to share five favorites, too! If you like girl power kinds of comics, you’ll love my picks:

1. Ms. Marvel This series is the reason why I started reading comics. Kamala Khan is a young Muslim teen in the big city with a big brain and a big heart. She discovers that she suddenly has the ability to stretch her own size to fit under doors or tower over skyscrapers. After fangirling over the opportunity to work alongside various Avengers, she decides that she should use her powers to help others—despite living in a strict, religious household. Do yourself a favor and start reading this series.

2. Wonder Woman (Rebirth series) If you are a huge fan of the recent Wonder Woman movie, then here is a good series to enjoy! This series was referred to me by a hardcore comics fan. Diana’s backstory has been rehashed so many times, but this version is a more modernized version of that story. Just FYI, the art is gorgeous.

3. Lumberjanes The Lumberjanes comics follows five friends who attend Miss Qiunzilla Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle C’umpet’s camp for girls. Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley exude much girl power and empowerment as they gather their camp badges while confronting magical creatures and exciting quests. This series is LGBT-friendly.

4. Spider-Gwen What would’ve happened if Gwen Stacy got spider powers instead of Peter Parker? In this Spidey-universe, you get to explore just that. Gwen is a drummer in the band, The Mary J’s while eluding her dad, a cop. He’s certain this Spider Woman was responsible for Peter Parker’s murder. You get to follow Gwen as she tries to balance life’s responsibilities and the emotions tied to being a vigilante.

5. Lady Thor In this comic series, we meet the first female Thor. That’s right, Thor, the son of Odin loses his worthiness to wield the hammer and there is a new goddess around instead. As you can imagine, Odin is furious and sexist, while Thor is obsessed over unmasking this Lady Thor. This series is sort of confusing, since her story has its own printed volumes (a collection of 5 issues or so), but her story continues on in other series. It’s still beautifully illustrated and the story is awesome, so I have to recommend it, regardless.

TESTIMONIALS

Whitney and I worked together in a writing feedback group some years ago and have remained in touch since then. From the beginning, I was struck by her absolute responsibility as an editor. Even in the capacity of a group member, not even being employed or contracted by me to edit my work, Whitney was unerringly punctual, thorough, and accurate with her feedback. Her advice is genuinely insightful and I believe the marketability of my work was noticeably increased due to her guidance. I so value her skills that I still turn to her as a resource after three years of working with her in-person have passed.
Jonathan Baker
Whitney McGruder has created a vast and imaginative world in Destiny Seeker with surprises to delight the reader at every turn. Readers can settle in to devour the diverse and ingenious magic Destiny Seeker has to offer. I highly recommend it.
Jessica Frazier
Whitney helped me with two short projects written for children, and she was very pleasant to work with. She has an eye for detail, helping me with small grammar errors as well as insights about adding scenes that would enhance my story. Her turnaround time was extremely quick, which I really appreciated when on a deadline!
Brittany Olsen
I won a contest via Wit & Travesty in the summer of 2017. The prize was a professional edit of the first 100 pages of a WIP. My middle grade fantasy was only 90 pages, so she read the entire manuscript. She was communicative and positive about the project. Her edits markedly polished up my manuscript and were easy to understand.
Rachel Barnard
Whitney did a copy-edit on my third novel, Checkmate. She was a pleasure to work with, and helped me give my novel that final polish that it needed before publication. Put her on your list for editors that help your work shine!
Angelika Offenwanger
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