Wednesday, October 28, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots


I get a lot of my book choices from the tweets and promotions by other authors, particularly authors whose work I enjoy a lot.  Usually the authors I pay attention to have very similar recommendations, so if one author promotes a book, I'll soon see others doing the same.  Hench was actually different - promoted by one author (Seanan McGuire, who blurbed it) I enjoy but not seemingly promoted much elsewhere.  McGuire's suggestions have led to some of my favorite books (In Other Lands for example) and some I haven't really loved, but Hench had a plot summary that seemed really interesting - henchwoman gets injured by a hero and decides to do something about it! - so it's been on multiple hold lists at my libraries for a while.

And Hench was totally worth it - taking an interesting spin on a premise that's been done a few times (focusing on villains, arguing that heroes cause more damage than they're worth) and marrying it to a really great protagonist, an excellent side cast, and a really modern world.  Add in excellent dialogue and really strong plotting, leading all the way to a satisfying, if a little depressing, ending?  Yeah, Hench is a winner, and I really hope it does get a follow-up, even if it doesn't actually need one. 


---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
Anna's life is simple and boring - even if she does work for supervillains.  She gets her jobs through a temp agency that matches temporary henchs to villains who need them, and Anna's brand of henching in particular is nothing more than performing data analysis - the type of work she can do from home.  But when Anna decides for once to take the opportunity to try to make her latest temp work more permanent, complete with working in person for a low level supervillain, she finds herself on the wrong end of a conflict between the villain and the world's greatest superhero - Supercollider.  And without anyone seemingly carried, she finds herself badly injured, forced into months of rehab, and her villain boss dumping her with a fruit basket.

But as Anna's body convalesces, her mind is active, calculating the costs of super "heroics" everyday - not just to her but to others around the world.  And soon she realizes that the costs of heroism may be far greater than the benefits, a story she decides to share with the world.  A story that gets the attention of the world's most powerful supervillain, who decides to see what Anna can do with his resources about the great threat that is heroism.  It's a job far different than any Anna has imagined before, and will put her in situations both social and professional she could never have anticipated, that will take her again to the front lines of the battle between "heroes" and villains.....
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Hench is a book that isn't very long - Amazon lists it as 416 pages, but it show in my Libby app as something I'd estimate is closer to 300 - but it contains a substantial amount of plot developments that happen.  That combination is something that can often lead to a book that feels too short or abbreviated, with character developments and/or plot developments often feeling underbaked and not really meaningful.  That is not the case with Hench, which uses Anna's first person viewpoint extremely well to build both a world and characters with depth and a plot that kept me interested from beginning to end, even in the early parts where you're waiting for the major parts of the plot to begin happening. 

It helps that Anna is such a great lead for this book.  In our own world there are many people between menial jobs who struggle for temp appointments, and data analysts and excel junkies are exceedingly common.  So Anna is that person - except in this world there are superheroes and supervillains, and the villains need data analysts just like anyone else.  But Anna of course - like people in real life - wants more....and finds herself burned for it, just like people in real life....except her suffering is caused by a superhero, someone who is celebrated for that.  And when the cops come to take her story they're only thought is to pin her pain on the villain, with them losing interest the moment it becomes clear that she blames a hero instead.  And it fuels her rage and anger at the whole situation.

But while Anna may start the book as one of a dime or dozen data analysts, she's an exceptionally good one, and that rage motivates her to take it to another level.  And when given the access to greater sources of data, she channels that rage into trying to put the shoe on the other foot.  She's no supervillain really - or she doesn't think she is, after all she has no powers!  She's just exposing the ridiculousness of the situation for what it is because someone should do it by now. 

But of course this comes with costs.  The closer Anna gets to villainy, the farther she gets from her best friend, who is basically her support system - a woman named June who is an excellent secondary character.  The higher up she gets, the farther she gets from the work team she joins who feels like a second family, isolating her more.  And of course the higher profile she is, the more likely she is to come to the attention to the superheroes, who just like anyone powerful have a strong disinclination against anyone - no matter how justified - who might want to strip them of her power. 

It all leads to a plot that combines action, character work, and Anna's attempts at finding herself and something in this world that is really strong, with twists and turns that you will absolutely not predict.  Sure some of the concepts behind it all - superheroes cost more than they're worth (see The Incredibles), superheroes are human people who are dangerous to others when unbalanced, that villains might be worthy of love - have been done before, but Hench does it well with Anna's story in a way that always seems fresh.  And it comes down to an ending that is a bit depressing in some ways, but also feels inevitable and satisfying. 

Hench leaves room for a potential sequel, and there's more growth possible in Anna's character - as well as several others who I haven't really mentioned here for spoilery reasons.  And I hope that comes to pass.  But even if it doesn't, it's still a hell of a novel, and well worth your time.
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