Repercussions (Wearing the Cape) Paperback – November 16, 2019

The pacing and tone of Repercussions is very different than Harmon’s previous novels. Everything occurs at high speed with little time for the heroes to react and even less time for them to think. To add to the feeling of ever-growing frenzy, the point of view changes multiple times in most chapters and reflects a significantly larger number of character perspectives than we have been introduced to before. The civilized world is under attack and it is by no means clear if the Sentinels can save the day this time. Harmon has long flirted with post-apocalyptic settings—both in the visions of the Tea Time Anarchist and in the alternate realities of Team Ups and Crossovers. Within a very few chapters it becomes evident that this might just be the book that sees those dark ages introduced full time into the series. Starting in the United States and spreading outwards, the death count is higher than at any time since the first book in the series, and that number includes the heroes as well as the civilians. If you’ve grown to love the large cast of Wearing the Cape—brace yourself—everything is on the table this time and no one gets away unhurt.So this book is everything in a superhero novel you could desire—tons of actions, great super powers, and a gritty plot worthy of our heroic cast. That being said, I do have a small complaint that I’ve had a little difficulty articulating. I have read every book in this series at least twice and am listening to the audiobooks now. I feel like I know the action and the characters very well. Yet there were many times when Harmon made references that made me wonder if there was a short story out there that I had missed (and maybe there is) and the novel was just jammed packed with facts about supers in the rest of the planet—as if after finishing the guide books to his super hero roleplaying game, Harmon just couldn’t resist feeding us information a little bit artificially.That being said, Astra experiences a lot of changes in this novel and I found the character development well thought out and credible. I’m anxious to see what Harmon has in store for her and her friends in the books to come.

I love this series and have all eight of the main books and one of the supplements (Bite Me). Harmon does a heroic job, pun intended, of world building that is simply not just a Super Hero world, but a world, unlike the Justice League or the Avengers, where support staff and a chain of civilian command are rarely seen, that combines super powers, science, religion, mythology, belief, supernatural, criminal sciences, police procedural, and governmental authority with Tom Clancy-esque detail to plot and realism (such as it is).The problem, much like the one in The Debt to Pleasure by Lanchester, is that pulling from and wonderfully twisting up Super Heroes, Steampunk, Gearpunk, Cyberpunk, Mythology, Theology, Crime Procedurals (CSI, NCIS), and Government Procurals (West Wing, Designated Survivor, Veep) is that the character development gets, well, pushed to the side (Unlike The Debt to Pleasure) or vacated into a pocket universe (Mr. Harmon: Please have Moebius's character Major Grubert appear!!)Unlike Small Town Heroes, Young Sentinels, and Team-ups & Crossovers you are never introduced to some of the other heroes but in passing, and the strides toward Non-Astra character development takes a back seat to Shell/Shelly explaining everything. I'd say there were a dozen pages dedicated to various aspects of legality of action and governmental authority. Great, that adds a certain flavor but a certain long standing character dies and prior has more dialogue than in all the other books combined while other characters are introduced, or reappear, with little exposition (except appearance and powers) and have little contributing dialogue.My hope is that Harmon continues with taking temporal/quantum/theological/etc tropes, twisting them inside out and backwards BUT making it more character development and team interactive focused. Leave Shell/Shelly at the Dome, get Ozma, Grendel, Artemis, Crash, etc., and I guess Astra, out on a singular mission and have them go through the 'have a battle, pursue the perps, get beaten up and separated, come together, fight back' kind of thing and all the while have everyone talking to each other. Build all the Non-Astra characters (Sorry Mr. Harmon, she's getting to be quite the bore.)

Most people don't think about consequences. They don't wonder if superman has legal authority or if the Avengers need a police union card. If you have the kind of mind that wonders how superhumans are supposed to fit in a world in which inconvenient details don't solve themselves off camera, this is your kind of read.

I was unsure when I first picked up wearing the Cape, as I am not really a fan of comics and am more likely to read fantasy or sci fi than super heroes. I was pleasantly surprised, and have enjoyed this series more and more with each book.

Really like it! It’s the opening for more possibilities. Everything will not be anymore about one city with some special mission or unexpected events.I cannot wait to See how this world will evaluate with so much potential!

​Nachdem sie am Ende des letzten Bandes die Welt vor einem Killerasteroiden gerettet haben, erholen sich die Sentinels gerade - bis auf Ozma und Grendel, die sich daran machen, Oz zurück zu erobern. Für Brian a.k.a Grendel eine ziemlich irritierend Erfahrung.Derweil erholt sich Hope Corrigan a.k.a Astra mit ihrem Mann Kitsune und ihren besten Freundinnen am Strand, als Shell auf einmal vom Netz geht. Chicago - und andere Städte der USA, sowie alle großen für die Stromerzeugung wichtigen Staudämme - werden angegriffen und sowohl Superhelden-Basen, wie auch wichtige Elemente der Infrastruktur sind unter Feuer. Und auch die Polizei. Und dann tauchen auch noch schwerbewaffnete bemooste Zombies auf, die von Gefechtsdrohnen unterstützt werden, sowie verstärkte Superschurken. Nur mit Mühe und Not können die Sentinels und andere Hilfskräfte die Lage unter Kontrolle bringen, bevor sich herausstellt, dass dieser Angriff auch noch eine Biowaffen-Komponente hat: waffenfähige Tollwut, die alle Personen in den Kampfgebieten infiziert hat. Und die Impfstoffmengen sind sehr begrenzt. Und werden auch noch weiter reduziert.Und die USA sind nicht das einzige Ziel, denn nur drei Tage später trifft eine ähnliche Angriffswelle die Europäische Union. Und Astra muss einige sehr weitreichende Entscheidungen treffen.Dies ist gewissermaßen der letzte Teil der ersten Serie um Hope Corrigan, deren Name mal wieder Programm ist und deren religiöse Sozialisation hier noch einmal in ganz neuer Hinsicht zu tragen kommt.Abgesehen davon werden am Ende des Buchs die politischen und juristischen Ereignisse dargestellt, die der Gründung der Sentinels und der CAI und der verschiedenen anderen regionalen Heldenteams voran gingen, sowie auch die 'Post-Event' - Entwicklungen im Rest der Welt. Das Buch endet wieder mit einem ausführlichen Glossar, in dem Harmon auch die verschiedenen Schöpferinnen und Schöpfer der sehr unterschiedlichen Superwesen in dieser Reihe vorstellt.Ein gelungener vorläufiger Abschluß, wenn auch der Erzählfluß zwischenzeitlich kurz ein wenig stockt. Bin gespannt, wie es weitergeht

This is another really great instalment of the series. I've just reread it and it still great. Hope Marion grts around to another story arch with these characters, they are so well written.