by Carrie Vaughn, 304 pages
Celia West has done her best to escape her upbringing as the only daughter of superhero parents. Unfortunately, her high-profile past catches up to her when her accounting firm needs her help in prosecuting the Destructor, one of the worst villains Commerce City's ever known. As tensions rise, secrets that Celia would prefer remain buried come out into the open and the quiet life she's built for herself will never be the same.
Carrie Vaughn has a knack for creating characters that I'm invested in by page 2. The book starts off with Celia being kidnapped, an event that we're told happens pretty frequently. The bad guys expect her famous parents to bust in and save the day, and Celia is the perfect tool for entrapment. I expected Celia to turn around and kick some butt, because that's what heroines do when they're kidnapped... but Celia's not that kind of heroine and this isn't that kind of superhero story. "After the Golden Age" is a compelling tale about a young woman who thinks she's found her place in the world, only to realize that she's done little more than run away from her past. She doesn't have powers, but she's smart and has a strange type of courage which is all the more impressive for its subtlety.
Ooh, sounds neat. I might have to read it. Thanks!
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