Potential lost. [Superworld by Benjamin Keyworth]

Two teenagers fight for their place in a world where everybody has powers—and the fate of humanity may be in their hands—in this original superhero series.

On July 6, 1963, human history was forever altered. From the depths of space, a golden wave of light bathed everyone on Earth in rays that rendered them unconscious. Six days later, five billion people awakened with superpowers. For thirty-seven years now, superhumanity has managed to keep the peace. With some exceptions . . .

Matt Callaghan is a clairvoyant. Unfortunately, his uncanny talent for predicting the future has more to do with observation and psychology (read: lying) than actual superpowers. About to graduate from Northridge High, he still hasn’t developed any special abilities. And if the authorities discover the truth, Matt can safely predict he’ll be locked up as a scientific curiosity.

Jane Walker is an Empath, feared and hated for her ability to assume other people’s powers by touching them. Expelled from various high schools for fighting bullies with a dazzling array of formidable abilities of their own, she’s determined to prove her worth and join the legendary Legion of Heroes.

Tasked with employing his “clairvoyance” to monitor his new classmate, Matt must juggle protecting his secret inability and keeping Jane and his friends from killing each other. And when the Legion of Heroes offers Matt a place in their academy, his attempt to play off the organization’s history backfires into Jane getting accepted as well.  

As Matt bluffs his way through evaluation and Jane battles for her very life, the pair will soon learn the Legion’s true agenda is far from altruistic—and even farther from heroic . . .

The first volume of the hit alternate-history series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible! 

From the onset I was into the story. I'm generally into stories that take places in societies where superpowers are the norm. Over the last two decades or so, the cultural shift has been to superhero stories, for a number of reasons. In Benjamin Keyworth's Superworld we see another fun related trope, the rare powerless (see "Badass Normal"). Where My Hero Academia, an example of a popular work of media that does the same, initially sees the powerless protagonist hope against all hope to become powered only to be magically bestowed with powers (as opposed to come to terms and work around his faults, he is granted serendipitously a magical fix-it so he can play with the other kids - one of many reasons I've fallen off with the show), Superworld has our male protagonist Matt instead lie and fake his way through life to fit in. Unpowered but socially skilled, he pairs with Jane, a physically overpowered empath who because of her power has been ostracized to severe isolation and social ineptitude. Hijinks and high school senior trials aside, they both make it into an elite training school for powered individuals. 

What follows are the foundations of a really interesting story, one implying world-changing conspiracy. And on the way to reach those implications I was really hopeful with the story. Until we started describing non-White characters. A group of African students, very early on, are made into muscled and murderous bullies. Later on another Black characters' skin is described in tone only to be contrasted to his very white teeth. Did I need to know that one character was Eurasian? I couldn't have had shapes of features instead? An another, later prominent, character is described as a "Black behemoth." 

All that to say I did enjoy it a lot, but the physical characterization of minor and side characters overshadowed personality and backstory. For example, the Eurasian character, the most prominent Asian character, borders on manic pixie girl. It read like that trope in movies where the Asian female  always get a color streak in their hair to signify their edginess. And I don't know what to do with that.

But I'd been lying if I didn't admit to rushing to see if the sequel book was already available. Am I happy that the pacing was such that this book didn't really have a conclusion, more an open-ended curtain close to lay the foundation for future stories? Absolutely not, but I understand it. And yes, the weird characterization of melanated characters half has me wanting to give this a 3.5 stars, but I know I liked it more than that. So 4 stars for Superworld. Could have been 5 stars, but it's not. Interested to see where the story goes next.

Superworld (ISBN:9781039413115) was due for publication August 9, 2022.