Hero - The Hero Rebellion Book 1,
Belinda Crawford, Hero - The Hero Rebellion Book 1, Odyssey Books, 2015, ISBN:978-1-922200-30-3 (pbk), ISBN:978-1-922200-35-8 (e-book)
On a private luxury shuttle heading toward the main city of a terra-formed planet a sulky teenager is sullenly contemplating their approach to the space port, and in the way of teenagers from forever, hating her mother and her minders. For Hero Regen is special, which as far as she is concerned is a colossal pain in the you know where. This means she has to wear a silver bio-comp bracelet that allows her mother’s doctors to monitor her every movement and she isn’t allowed to do any of the interesting things that other young people on Jørn do - like illegal street racing through the streets of Cumulus City. Hero’s specialness takes a number of forms; the ones she knows about include an uncanny ability to manipulate any and all manner of the devices that control and support everyone’s life on planet Jørn’s as well as others that her mother only hints at. It also means she must take medications to control her abilities which is the worst insult of all as the noxious green goop deadens her extraordinary senses.
As she sees it her only friend is her ruc-pard, Fink, a genetically engineered creation “… mixing a little bit of rat with a little bit of leopard and a whole lot of alien to create something big and strong and scary enough to walk the surface with impunity.”
Fortunately for her she and Fink are able to communicate telepathically, which, during the course of this first adventure in what is a promised series about Hero and the friends she makes, first at school and later in the tunnels, towers, streets and back alleys of Cumulus City, proves not only useful but frequently life-saving.
There are dangers afoot on this very odd little planet and despite the best efforts of Hero’s mother and her minders, Imogene, the Lamb, and Tybalt, bodyguard and butler, the task of saving the city and Jørn are falling squarely on Hero’s scrawny little shoulders.
Technically this is YA level fantasy that resonates with many of the same themes and wonders of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Riders of Pern. Which is totally fine with me, as, despite my …er…advanced …age, I still reread these - regularly. My love of fantasy was created early when I encountered the friendships between Lessa, F'lar, Ruth, Lord Jaxon and all the others. How often I wished for a sentient dragon to tell my troubles to and to take me flying high above the everyday problems of growing up in a boring little Massachusetts town.
Equally the Morague Academy with ordinary students, mean girls, haughty star athletes and outsiders who become Hero’s friends openly calls up the Harry Potter books - to very good effect. These are all people and situations that younger and older readers can identify with and enjoy.
This first book introduces us to some wonderful creatures and characters and sets the stage for Hero’s quest to save and make sense of her world. And while I loved much about it I was concerned that all the identified characters seem to have bright blond hair and pale skin. I would have thought that in a world where bio-engineering is so prominent a more diversified population would have been created. This also impacts on my willingness to recommend this to YA readers of colour.