Two years ago, Jamie woke up with no memory of who he was. His apartment was paid for and that's about it. After adopting a cat, he tried the average, everyday thing but with no reliable ID it became hard. And when he realized he had the ability to read and manipulate memories, he began to plan. And thus, Mind Robber was born!

Zoe Wong also woke up two years ago with no memories. Her apartment was also paid for. But she had a clue to her ID: a name badge that read "Zoe Wong." It didn't take long for her to discover her own powers, which include super strength and the ability to fly! But there Zoe differed from Jamie. She didn't have a plan, but she did realize that her powers could be used for good. People call her the Throwing Star.

When Zoe and Jamie finally come together, it's Zoe who convinces Jamie to help her learn more about her past. With the ability to read memories surely he can dig through the blank that Zoe faces when she tries to recall her past. It doesn't take long for them to make a discovery. It also doesn't take long for them to realize that they work well together or that there's a bigger enemy in play.

So two superpowered people with no memory find themselves forced to work together for a common goal. And it turns out they actually like each other! Which is fortunate because there is actually a big bad in their city of San Delgado.

This is a book less about superheroes and super villains and more about friendship. Which I am completely here for!

Both Zoe and Jamie are a bit broken. Zoe wants to know where she comes from and spends a lot of her time drinking away her feelings. Jamie assumes that his past is better left forgotten. With the exception of Jamie's cat, Normal, neither of them has any real connections with anyone at all. And of course they find connection and purpose with one another. Things both of them have been missing. They are incredible characters that aren't invincible or picture perfect. They're human and, therefore, easy to empathize with and love.

This book is a delight! I mean really, an unlikely friendship, super powers, a cute cat, and a plot to save the city...what more could you want?! This is a character-driven sci fi tale with a lot of heart, an absolute must read if you like your sci fi with a little (or a lot of) feel good and warmth!

My First Foray Into Superhero Books. As much as I've read scifi for literally decades, this is actually my first foray into the actual superhero fiction genre. Yes, I've read a few comic books in my day and am a big fan of most of the major franchises, but this was my very first superhero fiction novel. And y'all, I found it quite compelling - even as a 38 yo married male reading about two people closer to that Young Adult / New Adult category. While the Arrowverse inspirations for this project were quite clear in so *very* many areas, Chen still managed to create an intriguing and interesting story that could plausibly hold its own against any of those shows - and maybe even be better than some of them. This book definitely feels like a Book 1 for a potential new series, and this reader for one would be down for that. Very much recommended.

Zoe is trying to find out about herself, but in her spare time delivers fast food and beats up a occasional bad guy. Jamie uses his gifts of reading and deleting peoples memories which comes in handy when he needs things like money. They both meet in a support group and when they see a threat their friendship might be in trouble, but they need to team up to face this threat.

This was a good book on friends and how fragile a friendship can be, and how hard it can be to trust someone, but at the same time needing to put trust somewhere. The characters are wonderful and I loved the plot I hope Zoe and Jamie show up again some time soon.


his will appear on my blog on Jan.26th

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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At this point with Mike Chen, I don't bother looking at the book blurb, I just read what he publishes. But so I could decide how much to say in this post, I had to go look at the blurb. Just between you and me, I think I wouldn't have given as much away as it did, but now I feel a little freer about what to say.

JAMIE SORENSON/THE MIND ROBBER
Two years ago, Jamie Sorenson woke up in an apartment with no memory of who he was or how he got there (the name is something he picked). He's a coffee snob, has taken in a stray cat that he's named, "Normal." He reads a lot of autobiographies and memoirs from the library, because he likes hearing life stories since he doesn't have one.

Oh, and he has super-powers. He can read people's memories, and erase a little bit of them. He uses these abilities to rob banks as "The Mind Robber." He's not living an extravagant lifestyle with these funds, in fact, he lives fairly frugally. His goal is to save up enough to finance his retirement on a tropical beach—just him, Normal, coffee, and books. If he can just pull off one or two more without getting caught, he should be able to do just that.

He was almost caught once, and he's pretty sure he won't be able to evade capture too easily next time. He was almost caught by:

ZOE WONG/THE THROWING STAR
She, too, woke up without memories in an apartment two years ago. She had a name tag, so at least she didn't have to come up with a name. She spends her time watching horror movies on an app on her phone and drinking so much I think I might have liver damage from reading about it. She makes ends meet by working for a food delivery service.

She doesn't drive for one, though, she has super-powers, too. Including speed—not Flash or Quicksilver fast, but she's fast. So fast that she can deliver food fast enough to maintain a 5-Star rating, even though she'll take quick detours to beat up criminals. She's also super-strong (not quite Superman-level, but more than Captain America) and has a couple of other tricks up her sleeve.

She's assembled enough of a uniform to stand up to the punishment her speed puts on normal clothing and to protect her identity, and was dubbed "The Throwing Star" by the press. Although, she'd prefer Shuriken, not that anyone asked. Besides, she's pretty sure she's of Chinese descent, not Japanese, so both names are problematic.

THE TEAM UP
Jamie regularly attends a support group for people with Dementia or other memory problems. No one's treating them there, it's just a place for emotional support. One day, not long after he's almost captured by The Throwing Star, Zoe walks in. Afterward, the two have a quick conversation by the coffee pot and (thanks to their abilities) recognize each other. For the sake of the group, they don't start battling each other, instead, they talk.

A few things happen, and then Zoe decides to ask Jamie to help her with her memory—surely, he can use his powers for something other than crime, right? They strike a little quid pro quo deal and get to work.

From this point, two things happen, one harder to believe than the other. First, they start to uncover things about Zoe's past (and Jamie's, although he's really not that interested at first) that lead them to a therapeutic organization that seems to have something else going on. And, the two begin to become friends.

It's that "something else," naturally, that gets their attention. It's not long before they discover that not only does this organization (or maybe just what it's a front for) hold the key to their pasts but has a secret plan to change to the world as we know it. To combat it, this thief and this vigilante might have to be something more, they might have to be heroes.

THE MAD SCIENTIST
A mad scientist at work is a mainstay of Super-Hero Fiction and Chen delivers that well. Not just a mad scientist, but one who doesn't see herself in that way. Indeed, she's going to save humanity from itself and the world from humanity while she's at it. And sure, she's doing this on her own, without consulting the countless lives that she's going to radically alter, because when you're a super-genius with a messianic-complex (among other psychiatric problems) playing with unimaginable technology, who cares what anyone else might think?

That sounds almost dismissive, and I don't mean it to be. She's a well-drawn character, absolutely convinced she's doing the right thing, and is pretty convincing about it. Don't get me wrong, I love a super-villain who's just out to watch the world burn, or driven by pure avarice. I was raised on that stuff. But a super-villain convinced they're the city's/nation's/world's savior? There's something more compelling about them, and that's what we have here.

EXTRAORDINARIES
One challenge that non-Marvel/DC Super-Hero Fiction has it coming up with what they're going to call their costumed, super-powered crime-fighters. Most of the time, I note the term and move on, while it's usually a serviceable term, it's a challenge to come up with something that really clicks on this front.

Chen's world uses the term, "Extraordinaries." That's catchy, a little quirky, and it sticks with you. Sure, this is a minor point, but you add up enough of these minor points, and you elevate a good book into something more.

THE MIKE CHEN FACTOR
The something more...does this have it? Readers of this blog know that I'm always game for a Super-Hero novel, and from early on, it was clear that this was a good one. And that'd be enough for me to recommend it, maybe even highly recommend it. But Here and Now and Then and A Beginning At The End have taught me that I should expect something more than just a good Time Travel/Dystopian/Super-Hero novel from him. The Mike Chen Factor.

And while I didn't go looking for it—that would distract me from this entertaining story—I did keep wondering when it'd crop up (and if I'd recognize it right away). I think it popped up in a couple of different places and while I espied one instantly (or pretty quickly) the other slipped by me until it was in full bloom—making it my favorite.

The first thing that makes this more than a good Super-Hero novel is that it's about the role our memories play in who we are—our identity, our personality, how we act. Two characters whose tabulas are about as rasa as you can get make excellent candidates to explore this. In the end, one character's deliberate choices in spite of natural inclinations and what we learn about their past becomes something they didn't expect. While the other character is driven by their past (especially the parts they can't remember but shaped who they are) and ends up being a better (more complete) version of what they were all along.

So, you know, if you were looking for Chen to settle a debate, I think you can skip that.

The other expression of the Mike Chen Factor was the friendship that develops between Jamie and Zoe. This was something special. Too, too, too often when we look at relationships in fiction (in whatever medium) we focus on romantic relationships, familial bonds, or even that between enemies. We don't see enough explorations of friendship. I wish we had more of them—Rick and Louis aren't the only one's with a beautiful friendship, a well-written one is a great thing.

And Jamie and Zoe's friendship promises to be a beautiful friendship, it's off to a great start, anyway. I think the reader sees it before either of them do, which is an added layer of fun. But before they realize it their mutual aid pact starts to carry shades of something else. They banter, they tease each other (including in that almost-cruel way that only good friends can), they look out for each other beyond what's needed for their project and care about each other. Eventually, they're inspiring each other to be more than they think they are.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT WE COULD BE HEROES?
This was great. It was a good Super-Hero Story that had a lot of other things going on. Like Chen's other work, it could probably spawn a sequel or two—but probably won't.

Can you enjoy this without spending time thinking about what he's exploring in terms of identity, memory, and friendship? Sure—I don't know why you'd want to, but if you're just looking for a compelling story featuring people in outlandish dress flexing super-abilities, this would absolutely fill that need. On the flip side, if you prefer to focus on the other material? This would work, but you'd have to put up with the Super-Hero stuff, and that might be harder for you. If you're a Greedy Gus like me and want it all? You're definitely in for a treat.

There's a little something for everyone here, get to it.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Harlequin Trade Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4,5* rounded to 5
First thing first: this book was a lot of fun to read, a mix of techno thriller and sci-fi featuring two super heroes/antiheroes. A gripping and highly entertaining story that I couldn’t put down.
Jamie and Zoe are two interesting and well thought characters, I rooted for them and loved their evolution.
Their friendship is a strange one as they are the very different: Jamie is well organized and methodic, Zoe act according to the moment. But their difference are what makes them a great couple that can achieved what they want: to learn who they were and what was done to them.
Another great character is Normal the cat, she reminded me of my cat and it’s a very realistic depiction of a cat.
The characters are well thought, the villiain is an uber villiain even if a bit unbelievable at times.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it flows and keeps you hooked but there’s a quite slow part that made me struggle a bit. The last part is great: humorous, fast paced and very funny.
It would be great to meet again Jamie and Zoe in another story as I loved them.
This book is recommended.
Many thanks to Harlequin/MIRA and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I love imagining what it would be like to have a superpower - maybe flying, super strength, or invisibility. Imagining all the things I could see or do with that power inspires the imagination and alleviates my very human feeling of being just ordinary and powerless in a world filled with evils.

In We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen, two characters wake up one morning to discover that they can't remember anything until that point and that they are now extraordinaries. Jamie can manipulate people's brains, and Zoe can fly, run very fast, and enjoys super strength. In the two years before the story takes place, their powers have developed, and their paths are chosen. One is a superhero, and the other is a supervillain until they just happen to meet during a support group for people with memory loss. This meeting will change the course of their lives forever and teach them the true meaning of extraordinary.

The theme of what it means to be extraordinary is an unexpected layer in this fun superhero story. It provides insight into our minds and why we are fascinated by superhero stories. I loved the reaffirming exploration of the qualities that make someone unique and worthwhile.

Jamie and Zoe are well-crafted characters perfectly embodying people who don't have a past to scar them and give them dimension. Yet, they are complex personalities that combine the ordinary with the extraordinary, and end to which they are more alike than different. Jamie just wants to live out his life on a tropical island filled with peace and quiet, and Zoe just wants to know who she is and where she came from. They both end up doing more harm than good with their powers and are forced to deal with their actions' real consequences.

I loved the constant action that kept the pace very quick from the first to the last page. The words flow naturally and smoothly, explaining scientific concepts that can be hard to understand. And the third person focused narration that alternates between Zoe and Jamie all work together to tell a character-driven superhero story that will have you looking deeper into yourself and how you define yourself in this world gone wrong.

If you love superhero stories, as I do, you will enjoy this unique look at what it means to be extraordinary.

What if you woke up one day, couldn't remember who you were, but also had amazing super-powers? How would you react? Would your natural inclination be to use your new- found powers for your own enrichment, or for the greater good? That's the intriguing premise of We Could Be Heroes, by Mike Chen. This novel has so much going for it: Complicated characters, an action-packed plot, and a fun premise. I really enjoyed this book.

We Could Be Heroes is a new YA science fiction fantasy with strong comics book vibes.
It tells the story of two people who both wake up without their memories and some not so human abilities. From there our lead characters take different paths for their lives. Jamie uses his new ability to read people memories to rob banks and to set him and his cat up for the future. Zoe wakes up with super speed and strength and uses her new abilities in a more productive manner. She becomes a vigilante in between delivering fast food orders. When our hero and villain realize they have similar beginnings they team up to find out the truth about their pasts and what really happened to them. They form an unlikely friendship and use it to stop a threat to their city bigger than the two of them.

A big theme in We Could Be Heroes is friendship and trust. Jamie and Zoe are both so different from each other and both dealt with their comic book like abilities in opposite ways. One is a bit of a mess and reckless while the other is detail oriented and a planner. Yet it doesn't matter their differences they both have human decency and care. It might take Zoe longer to think outside of her own personal reasons for taking down the threat but in the end she makes the right decisions for the greater good.

We Could Be Heroes is a solid ya sci-fi adventure story. With strong lead characters and a great mix of action and emotion it's an entertaining read.

Fair warning, I did receive this eARC from Netgalley for free and I’m about to rave about this intriguing, genre-bending superhero novel, so take my ravings with the usual grain of salt. That being communicated, I will commence to raving with gusto.
We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen (I was hooked with just the title, after all, the song is amazing) starts out with two characters who couldn’t be more dissimilar. One apologizes to strangers, owns a cat called – of all things – Normal, has a rather extensive coffee habit, and reads books for fun (he might also rob banks on the side but don’t let you dissuade you from loving this character). The other drinks a bit too much, delivers fast food for a living, has a real live detective board, and binge watches horror movies online (she might also be the city’s one and only vigilante, but that does not mean she doesn’t have her own problems).
So, what brings these polar opposites together to save the city from certain doom? I won’t spoil it for you, but I will promise that it is truly epic and involves a support group for amnesiacs and a rather spectacular inferno.
Well written, with well-developed characters and a plot line that will suck you in for the ride, Mike Chen’s new novel about fitting in, standing out, and saving the world every now and then (even when you would much rather be drinking coffee on a beach somewhere) is the perfect read for anyone who wants more out of their super powered characters. Seriously, go try it out for yourself!
P.S. Is it maybe a bad sign that I identified more with the bank robber than the superhero?

The premise for this book is excellent, but the execution did not live up to my expectations. The pace of both the plot and the character development was really slow for a book, so by the halfway mark I felt little investment and didn't care how it ended. I was bored and it was work finishing this.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

I'm afraid I found the writing in this book to be lacking. I simply didn't believe the ways in which the two main characters reacted to the events around them. I also felt that the author glossed over many problems that would occur to someone whose memories of their past has been wiped from their mind. The premise of the book was interesting enough, and there were a number of interesting and sometimes humorous scenes.

I love a good superhero story. I grew up on the Superfriends (Wondertwins rule!) and I enjoy comics, but I especially love a great prose superhero story. A good one just hits me square in my reading happy spot. My favorites are the Velveteen Vs. series by Seanan McGuire and Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman. Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots, is another new favorite. So when I read the description of We Could Be Heroes, about a superhero and a supervillain who don’t remember their backstories, I thought, cool, sign me up. When I got the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I tried to get into it, I really did. It’s not bad, but I just kind of bounced off it. The book seemed like it didn’t know what it wanted to be. It kept switching from an intimate character piece on memory loss to a superhero mystery to a heist novel to an action story, and it didn’t do any of it very well. The two main characters had no depth and felt like cyphers all the way through, even as they learned more about themselves and their lost memories. The villain’s plan was rather nonsensical and the entire final third of the book was a long slog. In the acknowledgments, the author explained that the novel started out as a short story idea. I think that’s where it should’ve stayed. There just isn’t enough meat on these bones.

I was on the fence about requesting this book, but how can you not like a guy who robs banks (they’re insured!) to pay for cat food, books, and coffee? I also enjoyed Chen’s character-driven, postapocalyptic book, A Beginning at the End.

Some Twitter talk gave me the impression this book was more humorous than it actually is – in the majority of it, anyway. I chuckled a few times in the first couple chapters – then it takes a more serious tone – but the last thirty percent upped my rating to four stars. That’s when I really fell for these characters and their ride or die friendship (which started out nowhere close to that level).

Both Jamie and Zoe possess superhero powers, their origin a mystery. They have big blanks in their memories, and each of them awoke two years ago in separate strange rooms with no idea of who they were or how they got there. Taking on hero and villain personas, they only know each other as Throwing Star and Mind Robber, although Zoe isn’t your typical hero and Jamie certainly isn’t a supervillain. Both are wonderfully flawed and their lives are messy. Once they decide working together will get them more answers about their pasts, much of the story is spent on that quest.

Don’t expect any jaw-dropping revelations to fall from the sky. It’s relatively easy to figure out what’s going on before the characters do. At around the seventy percent mark, the story takes an unexpected turn and, for me anyway, that’s when it becomes somewhat humorous. The overall message is that anyone can be a hero or a villain – it’s how you choose to use your powers and live your life that makes a difference in the world. With some fun action scenes, impressive character growth, and a strong theme of friendship, We Could Be Heroes is a satisfying read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

2.5

Not really my cup of tea.

The plot was intriguing initially. The characters and story held my attention well enough. Fans of superheroes and morally gray characters might like this. I can see the appeal of this book, but the execution just wasn’t for me.

Here a few things that I wasn’t so fond of:
- for a superhero story, it’s severely lacking in action
- it’s written very much like a YA, but the characters are in their mid-to-late twenties
- confusing plotline later in the book (to the point where I would set the book down, come back later to read, and was completely lost for a few pages)
- not my favorite writing style, either, but no specific complaints there

Overall a really interesting idea and interested readers should probably form their own opinions and not just take my word for it.

We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen is an enthralling and diverse superhero sci-fi novel. I was hooked right from the beginning and it was very easy to speed right through it. I'm really glad I took a chance on this because I've been pretty impressed by his two previous novels and I really appreciated his style when it comes to the superhero genre. His world-building skills are as always top-notch and I also found myself quite invested in his characters, especially Zoe and Jamie. I particularly enjoyed getting to watch them figure their lives and their futures out. Whether they're going to be the hero or the villain is entirely up to them. The action and the story overall are quite cinematic and I would enjoy seeing it adapted to the screen. Overall, I highly recommend it especially if you're a fan of superheroes and Chen's brand. I can't wait to see what Chen's going to come up with next.

I initially struggled with what I should say about We Could Be Heroes. I wanted so much to like it as much as I liked the premise, but the book was not for me. While the story was interesting , it did not pull me in. The pacing of the story felt off, particularly for the subject matter. Shouldn't superheroes and discovering secrets be fast paced? Although there were moments of action, in its entirety We Could Be Heroes was slow. I struggled to finish because my interest waned.  

I thought Mike Chen's writing was okay but nothing special. At times, I did find the book hard to follow, especially during conversations. This could partially be because the formatting was off in my e-ARC version. The characters were also very one-dimensional. They did not seem full-fleshed out and relatable.

Overall, I thought the book was just okay. That being said, I am unlikely to recommend it to people in general since there are so many great books out there to read to waste time on one that leaves you feeling meh.

Wow this one was so full of hope and friendships that I just couldn't stop reading. I really loved how the science fiction aspects were added and weaved into the story. I would love to see this one as a movie or tv show. The characters were amazing and the story was even better. I will say that I think that to start it was a little choppy but as it found its footing it only got better as I turned the pages.

Superheroes novels are fairly common these days, so it takes effort to stand out. Enter Mike Chen's novel, We Could Be Heroes. It is one of the most unexpected superhero novels to come out this year.

What would do, if you woke up one day with powers? Even if those powers came at great cost (say, all of your memories), you'd still find a use for them, right? That's what Jamie did, when he woke up sans memories, but full of the ability to read minds (and wipe them).

Then there's Zoe. She has superhuman levels of strength and speed, which she'll sometimes use to beat people up. But only sometimes. She's about to come across Jamie's path in an unexpected way, and the end result is going to be a series of memorable interactions.

“The Mind Robber has spared you...this time.”

So, I'm going to be upfront with you here: We Could Be Heroes was almost nothing like what I expected it to be. That's not a bad thing, to be clear. I actually quite like that it surprised me. Though it did make it harder to fit my mood to reading it.

I've read a lot of superhero and villain stories in my time. A lot. So when I say that We Could Be Heroes is completely different from the rest, I want that to fully sink in. This book was nothing like the other. Ironic, since as I said, it also wasn't what I expected.

There are things to love about this novel. I adore the whole misfits with power concept (seriously, who doesn't?). Likewise, the representation found in this novel was so refreshing (once again, why can't we see more super-powered LGBT characters? Pretty please?).

Also, I sincerely believe that I will never get sick of the idea of two characters meeting while in a unique support group. There's something so human yet highly charming about the whole concept of it all.

The pacing was a bit up and down at times, admittedly. The first half seemed to fly by for me, while the second half seemed to contain slower bits here and there. It didn't come to a dead stop or anything like that. More like the rhythm changed.

Ultimately, We Could Be Heroes left me torn. I'm leaning towards somewhere between three and four stars. If forced to choose (something other than three and a half), I would round up to four and feel comfortable in that, I believe.

Jamie and Zoe have extraordinary powers. Jamie can read other people’s memories – and he can also erase them. Zoe has superhuman strength and uses it to fight crime. But neither one of them can remember anything about their lives before two years ago. They have both been getting by, but then they meet at a Memory Loss Support Group, and realize that they are not alone. They are suspicious of each other at first, but they start to piece together the secrets of their past and in the process they become friends. Once they team up, they help each other try to remember their pasts and discover that there are connections between them in those pasts. They also learn that there is a sinister organization out there that may be responsible for their memory loss, and which they feel compelled to investigate and defeat.

One of the things that I liked about this book is the characters of Jamie and Zoe – they are searching for themselves, their very sense of self, and trying to understand – what are we when the memories that make up our lives are erased. It makes you think about the question of our identities and what makes us who we truly are inside.

You might like this story if you like books like Evvie Drake Starts Over, The Rosie Project, or Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Think of this like those – light, funny, with heart – but with superheroes.

This book was so much fun! A great discourse on identity with a dollop of discord and superpowers. I found the characters to be real and their struggles familiar, even as they wrestle with the responsibility of owning powers beyond their comprehension. The usual tropes abound like a hidden lab, forgotten memories, secrets and betrayal; and yet the story remains unique, enjoyable and told at a fun pace.