'For Blood or Justice: Stormkind' - Book One Review

Superheroes are all the rage in comic books and on screen, so it was a refreshing change to read a novella featuring superpowered costumed characters in Chuck Regan’s For Blood or Justice, the first novella in his self-published Stormkind superhero noir series.

Chuck reached out to me for a review of his book, and since it’s right up my alley, I couldn’t resist.

What’s the story?

Stormkind is set in an alternate universe where Earth was hit by a meteor (Ghosa) that caused radiation to spread among the population in the late 1800s. Children were affected by the Wrack—some came out normal, others became Stormkind (superpowered individuals), while the rest were deformed and virtually excommunicated from society.

For Blood or Justice takes place around the 1980s, where we follow Dan Haeckel, a comic book shop employee who has recently discovered he has powers. He is desperate to become a Stormkind, but his friend Scott is making it a bit difficult for Dan to remain straight-laced.

Meanwhile, Bloodstock, a TV detective, is on the hunt for a murderer, but how is his case connected to Dan and Scott?

An Immersive World with Uninspiring Characters

Author Regan has certainly built up the world of the Stormkind series. I like that there are registered and unregistered vigilantes, alongside protesting fascists, some of whom make a valid point. The book also has its own lexicon which relies heavily on its own fictional entertainment. The fact that the Stormkind world resonates strongly with the real-world certainly adds to the reading experience.

Though I’m not usually a fan of footnotes in fiction, the notes in this book added to the flavour of the world and teased more characters and stories for the rest of the series.

Unfortunately, Dan as a protagonist is a dull character. He and Scott’s relationship reminded me too much of Wolfgang and Felix’s dynamic from Sense8, minus Max Riemelt’s charm. Dan is too much of a cliché to be enjoyable—nerdy with a hero complex, but he’s got that little something that makes him better than the rest. It didn’t help that most of Dan’s story has little substance. The only high stakes are when Scott gets into trouble, but even then, we never get a feel for how evil the bad guys are until they actually do something evil.

Even the superheroes we meet read like derivatives of mainstream comic book heroes. Spinner comes across like a Spider-Man/The Flash knock-off, while Silver Scythe is most definitely a Batman stand-in.

Where are the women and POC?

Regan had mentioned that Book One of the series features ‘the Boy's Club of superheroes.’ But it was still a surprise to find that were absolutely no women characters of significance in this book. One girl is mentioned at the start of the book as Dan’s love interest; later we hear of The Diplomat being called on a mission. The denouement features a sexy, nude female demon. There’s also a lawyer thrown in at some point, and one elderly lady who helps another browbeaten woman.

None of these women are key to the plot, and it was shocking that all the superheroes who are greatly revered are all men. Most of the characters also read as white, and no one seemed to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. Later installments in this series will feature more diverse characters prominently, but cis straight white men shouldn’t be the default in any media. They’re only one part of society, other people occupy plenty of space too. Inclusivity shouldn’t be an afterthought in 2019. Even if the protagonists are straight, white men, the story can’t live in a bubble where everyone else is practically erased from existence.

Bloodstock should have been the protagonist.

Of all the characters and aspects of the book, the one standout was Bloodstock. He has superpowers, but they’re gross and sometimes feel like a curse to him. Bloodstock is also a true crime detective, but the real cops don’t take him seriously. He has great personality and his powers were refreshingly unique.

Why Bloodstock entered the fray a third into the book is beyond me, because he is the only arresting character here. I looked forward to the chapters featuring him, and was disappointed every time we switched back to Dan. There’s also no reason Bloodstock couldn’t have been a woman or a non-binary person.

Had the chapter title not introduced Bloodstock with male pronouns, I would have read him as non-male.

For Blood or Justice ends with an action-packed third act, but the climax is disturbing. With little preamble for what to expect, the final scenes are not only jarring because of the sudden change in the point of view of the storytelling, but also in the actions of the villains.

As the first installment in the Stormkind series, For Blood or Justice lacks the substance and characterisation to grip readers. The world that Regan has built is fantastic, with an essence of the pragmatic adding to its charm. Structurally, the story is a bit all over the place. We’re left wandering this world with no map, floundering for landmarks to anchor ourselves as readers. There’s a lot of work to be done in the rest of the series to rectify the flaws in this opening installment.

For Blood or Justice: Stormkind - Book One will be available on Amazon in June, 2019.