Book Review: Unmasking: Lemon’s Thesis

Title: Unmasking: Lemon’s Thesis
Author: Gloria Weber
Genre: Urban fantasy (superheroes)
Date Read: 11/02/2016
Rating: ★★★★

It’s been a good while since I read anything with superheroes in it, and the last one wasn’t that great. Thankfully, Gloria Weber has set up both an interesting setting and well-developed characters, which meant my Friday evening spent reading this was time well spent.

Lemon “Em” Law is a super-genius living in Trowbridge City, a city heavily populated with superheroes and villains. As the daughter of one of the city’s most infamous supervillains, Em is pretty used to being vilified by everyone around her, She tries to ignore the negative treatment and instead work on her thesis. Unfortunately, the connections she makes during her research mean that her identity puts even more people in danger…

Trowbridge City is really well developed, and the world-building is nicely woven into the plot. I didn’t notice any info-dumps, but little details like a news program specifically designed to follow super news gave us the information we needed when we needed it. The fact that Em is also attending college throughout the book allows for professors to throw in tid-bits of information, and flashbacks from other characters’ POVs filled in the gaps where necessary.

Em is a really well-drawn character; I really felt for her as time after time, people sneered at her or whispered behind her back. Other characters, from the university’s Dean Chambers, to Yellow Fellow himself, and other heroes and villains who made appearances, all felt distinct and unique. The bonus chapter at the end also drew a really good picture of Em’s mother, and how a person could get to the point where they would end up in a relationship with someone like Yellow Fellow.

The book is quite short, and I did feel a bit “What? Is that all?!” when I got to the end, but I am definitely keen to see where the series continues to go, and to spend more time with Em in Trowbridge City.

(Thanks to Gloria Weber for a free copy of this book)

Advertisement