Hero or Villain?

We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen

Publication Date: January 26, 2021

Summary from GoodReads:

An extraordinary and emotional adventure about unlikely friends and the power of choosing who you want to be.

Jamie woke up in an empty apartment with no memory and only a few clues to his identity, but with the ability to read and erase other people’s memories—a power he uses to hold up banks to buy coffee, cat food and books.

Zoe is also searching for her past, and using her abilities of speed and strength…to deliver fast food. And she’ll occasionally put on a cool suit and beat up bad guys, if she feels like it.

When the archrivals meet in a memory-loss support group, they realize the only way to reveal their hidden pasts might be through each other. As they uncover an ongoing threat, suddenly much more is at stake than their fragile friendship. With countless people at risk, Zoe and Jamie will have to recognize that sometimes being a hero starts with trusting someone else—and yourself.

Confession:

This was a super fun take on heroes and villains and what it means to be who you choose to be. I really enjoyed this book with its great characters, a fun and interesting science fiction plot and a wonderful cat named Normal. ( Sorry I always have to mention the cat)

The book is told from both Zoe’s and Jamie’s points of view. Usually it changes up views for whole chapters, but there are times when it changed mid chapter, which was a little bit confusing. Both have very distinctive voices though, so it wasn’t hard to keep them separate. I really enjoyed them both and enjoyed watching them grow into themselves and into their friendship.

Zoe was a great hero with her abilities of super strength and being able to fly (sort of) and other things that you would expect a superhero to have. But she was definitely the muscle of the duo. Not that she wasn’t smart, she just often acted before thinking, and often jump into situations without a plan. Jamie was the brains, but would also sometimes lean into Zoe’s impulsiveness. But he would urge planning whenever he could. I loved that his idea of the perfect life was sitting on a beach reading, with his cat. (Normal was adorable by the way)

The story was great with good pacing and enough action to keep things interesting. I liked that the relationship that developed between Zoe and Jamie was platonic which left time for other things than romance in the plot. The reasons for their powers were quite interesting and very intriguing as was the way the whole issue was solved. Loved the ending as well.

The writing is very good. This is the second book by this author that I have read and I really enjoy his style. I also like that he writes science fiction stories that are not all about space travel and aliens, but seem to be more about the characters finding themselves and accepting themselves. This will not be the last book by this author that I will read.

If you like superhero stories that are more about the characters becoming comfortable with their choices, and one with a pretty interesting way that they got their powers, than I would recommend that you give this one a try. It is a lot of fun and you have to love a cat named Normal.