'Hero High: Figure in the Flames' Book Review

Book: Hero High: Figure in the Flames
Author: Mina Chara
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Mystery.

Hero High: Figure in the Flames

Book Review

I was given the opportunity to read this book after being sent a copy by the author (which was pretty exciting as that’s never happened to me before!) The book was described as being similar to The Selection Series (which happens to be my all-time favourite) so I was all over this. I even took notes whilst I was reading it!

The book follows our main protagonist Friday or ‘Fitz’ as she’s sometimes referred to who lives in a world where superheroes exist (and go to school) as do the villains. The concept was incredibly intriguing and original. As well as our main character having a super power and therefore attending Hero High i.e. the school where superheroes learn and train, it’s also a reality show. Along with The Selection similarities, I definitely felt reminded of the building stages within The Hunger Games before the main characters enter the games and are dealing with all the showbiz and glitz and glamour.

Friday also attends the same school with her lifelong friend Jake (someone who I disliked from about chapter two; I didn’t understand why Friday was friends with him. He was rude, unsupportive and frankly barely interested in their friendship.) Jake doesn’t have any superpowers but he does play a role in Friday’s superhero career; he’s her handler which is like a team member from behind the scenes.

The book begins with the characters making their way to the school and so we are thrust into the world of Hero High from the get go and I have to say, the author does a fantastic job of bringing a sense of reality to an otherwise make believe and fantastical world. This is a world where the superheroes are our celebrities if you will, and it shows. The superheroes are followed around with endorsement deals galore; lunchboxes, action figures, perfumes; you name it. I was reading this, thinking it was completely insane (these guys are meant to save people’s lives and yet it’s all about money and merchandise) and yet completely appropriate and most likely accurate. Let’s face it, if this was real and superheroes really did exist, we’d see their signed photograph going for thousands on eBay. I loved that whole aspect as wrong as it probably is.  

I was unsure about Friday as our main character, I found her rash and over the top; continuously reacting without thinking and behaving obnoxiously at times. However, the more I thought about this; the more I actually found it refreshing and she really grew on me in the last third of the book. She wasn’t perfect by no means, in fact it’s more common in books these days to not have an all-around perfect; forever mucking things up but there’s all those characters and then there’s Friday. She’s a whole notch above them and I kind of like that as irritating as her actions could be at times. She is impulsive, reckless and does have one hell of a temper but she is also selfless and brave and honest – what else would you want in a protagonist?

There are an abundance of characters in this book to the point where I was like which one is he again? But they all manage to slot in one way or another seamlessly. I’ve already talked about Jake, her bestie (which the less said about him the better; I really didn’t take to him), Veronica (A.K.A the showbiz bitch who is all about the drama and getting it on film), her team mates (who were lovely but I would have liked to have seen more of) and Ashley. Oh Ashley, my eyes go dreamy just at the mention. I loved him, mainly because he wasn’t afraid to put Friday in her place and tell her what’s what. They had this hate/love/more hate situation going on which I am a sucker for, admittedly.

Then we have our already established superheroes; Captain Fantastic has been around saving the lives of innocents for years. He also serves as the head of the school and looked up to by all the students. One of my few issues with this story was the relationship between Captain Fantastic and Friday, it starts out as essentially hero worship; Friday admires him greatly and then the relationship between the two turns into a friendship of confidence. Captain Fantastic seems to confide in her about issues within the superhero vs villain world and I wasn’t entirely sure why. I was questioning why he was telling Friday – what made her so special to warrant this information? Besides being our main character and Friday gaining attention via fighting with another student; I’m not entirely sure the Captain would have noticed her. Despite my issues with this, the relationship between the two characters is one of my favourite parts of the story especially considering Friday and her own background regarding her family.

My only other issue within the story comes from another already established superhero Lisa ‘Sense’ who is Friday’s mentor. Lisa as a character is great, she’s nurturing and supportive of Friday as a person and a budding superhero but I had doubts regarding Friday and her adventures. One of Friday’s first real experiences of being a superhero has her running around with her mentor and her partner defusing a bomb – I just failed to believe that a first year student (who hadn’t been there particularly long) was allowed to go out chasing villains and stopping bombs. It seemed a little careless.

I’ve already established that the story has great characters but it also has some great villains which include some brilliant twist and turns. One of these twists I was hoping for and quite honestly anticipating (bring on the angst!) Quite possibly my favourite part (though I would have liked some more fleshing out of that situation, it was dealt with pretty quickly. I like angst, okay!?)

The last act of the book is the most action packed (though to be fair there is plenty throughout the book) and everything comes together effortlessly to finish the story off. I love that throughout the book Friday never takes herself too seriously even when her popularity begins to grow and what I also loved was that even in the crux of the final fight it was never a one woman show. Friday is front and centre but she needed her teammates and friends around her to help her in the final fight and I really liked that.

The book does a great job of giving us background information by taking a flash forward to Friday telling us, multiple times. It gives us more information about a past event or a situation without stunting the current story by overloading it which was a great detail and worked effectively. I would have liked more of a backstory as a whole though, particularly in regards to the villains of the story. How did they become villains? Is there a way that they all gather together? Are they students gone bad? I need answers to these questions! But hey – maybe in the sequel eh? Friday isn’t the only one hinting for another!

Now finally – when and where can I get my hands on a paperback version?