All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault

The title of the book does a great job of setting a tone for the story, which is a fun mix of superheroics and fantasy storytelling with vampires, werewolves, and other monsters. Gardner clearly has a love of superhero storytelling, and this lighthearted story pokes gentle fun at a lot of the common tropes while still telling an engaging and fun story.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—

...paranoia is our friend. Paranoia is our sunscreen, our condom, our duct tape. Paranoia tells the truth nine times out of ten, and the tenth time is when you weren't paranoid enough. We will never correctly anticipate what flavor of shit will hit the fan, but we can calculate the trajectory and attempt to avoid the splatter.

THE

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

All Those Explosions is the first book published under Tor by Canadian author James Alan Gardner.

I wanna start by saying this book is bizarre, but in the best possible way. It takes place on an alternate earth where superheros or “Sparks” are possible, and the rich can sell their souls to be super-powered demons and ghouls and were-beasts known as Darklings.

The book takes place in Waterloo around the University of Waterloo campus and some other familiar locations in the region. It's very unusual for a book to take place here and was very surreal to read considering I live in Waterloo. It's like seeing a movie that was filmed in your city except it also takes place in your city, and it's filled with demons and superheroes and destruction. 

The way the book is formatted is super (no pun intended) unique and really gives it a comic book feel while still remaining a fun novel.

ATEWSEF follows a very diverse and well represented group of 4 UW students who accidentally become sparks and set out to protect Waterloo Region. Which by itself is hilarious to type. This is a hell of an origin story.

I really enjoyed the book, it's totally worth a read, and I can't wait to hear what other people have to say about it.