This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

So there are some issues here: the writing can be weirdly twee leading to some tonal issues in places, there are some very strange pacing choices, a lot of backstory (particularly as it pertains to Anna's eventual boss and the whole superhero mechanism that is the Draft) gets glossed over rather than fully explained which deprives some of the climactic moments of their full impact, and the author has an odd habit - perhaps changed in the final version - of ending lines of dialogue that are clearly questions with periods. And - perhaps most significantly - there's the fact that there were so many things that could've been delved into more completely (such as: capitalism driving people to literal villainy) that you can actually feel the loss of these opportunities as gaping holes in the narrative.

And yet, despite all this, the book works. And it works because the author devotes most of the story to the singularly satisfying character arc of a run-of-the-mill data entry clerk turning into an archvillain. Not only that, but she does it in such a way that - despite the tech involved, not the mention the superpowers - it never reads as over the top. Anna's transformation into the Auditor is so logical and matter-of-fact it's brilliant. And it's honestly everything I hoped this story would be. For that reason - and also for the fact that this book is just plain entertaining - I can handwave the other issues that bothered me.

If you're looking for a fun birth of a villain story: look no further. This will definitely entertain.

Book review: Root for the villain in 'Hench'
By ASHLEY RIGGLESON FOR THE FREE LANCE–STAR Sep 26, 2020
My siblings always tease me because I am not a fan of superhero movies. Given the premise of Natalie Zina Walschots’ début novel, “Hench,” I was not sure I would enjoy this, either. But to my surprise, I loved this novel.

From the outset, Walschots turns the premise of the typical superhero narrative on its head as she tells the story of Anna Tromedlov, a woman who is, simply put, a villain. As the novel opens, readers find Anna seeking temp work as a Hench, otherwise known as a person who provides support for other bigger name super villains. She soon finds work doing data entry for an upcoming villain called Electric Eel. This is the kind of work Anna prefers. It is not dangerous, and she does not have to get her hands dirty.

As time passes, however, Electric Eel becomes increasingly interested in Anna, and she soon finds herself on the sidelines while Electric Eel tests the “Mood Ring” (a mind control device) on the mayor’s son. As with many superhero stories, the hero, Supercollider, bursts in just in the nick of time to save the child. Unfortunately, Anna is severely injured during the encounter. As she slowly and painfully recovers, Anna becomes increasingly interested in quantifying the amount of damage superheroes cause in the ordinary course of their lives. And Anna soon becomes a new type of villain, a villain for the media age.

I was not sure what to expect from a novel about a villainous data analyst, but Walschots surprised and astonished me at every turn. Although Anna is a villain, readers will find themselves truly rooting for her. She’s a delight—smart, snarky, determined and surprisingly kind. The plot is also utterly escapist and guaranteed to keep readers entertained until the last page.

Though “Hench” is set in a reality very different from our own, Walschots’ novel seems to perfectly fit our times, pulling us away from our current stresses and maintaining a perfect balance of relentless pacing and though-provoking reflections. While “Hench” is obviously concerned with themes related to disability and revenge, Walschots also engages in a pertinent discussion about how the narratives surrounding superheroes contribute to their personas and demonstrates that heroes are instrumental in creating their own villains.

This review was originally published in the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, VA..

This is a vengeful, angry book brimming over, and whatever you’re prepared for heading into this based on plot summary alone I guarantee the story is going to throw you for a loop. Anna is a self-described “hench,” someone who winds up mostly temping for lower-tier supervillains — but a devastating encounter with one of the glorified heroes leaves her licking her wounds and trying to understand how it all went wrong. Enter her predilection for data analysis combined with a personal vendetta and she’s got a formula in place for how superheroes actually do as much to hurt the world as they do to save it. Hers is a perspective we don’t often get in genre fiction — she’s more complex than a bad guy but she’s definitely not a good one either, and her wrestling attempts to reconcile her efforts to take down the heroes of the world along with the drive of own vengeance mission pair for a really satisfying read.

A side note: this book is VERY gory at times, brutal in its visual descriptions especially in terms of battle violence and sustained injuries, so if you’re particularly squeamish, that’s just something to keep in mind.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love a story that plays with tropes and this one asks you to question who is Good and who is Bad in all the best ways. This world shows us more what a world would be like with super heroes more so than other narratives ever could. This book takes you there. And then shows you that sometimes true power comes from crunching the numbers. The ending seems inevitable and yet you watch it happen with eyes wide with horror. I loved this book and would love six more. Read this if you, like me, have read thousands of hours of gritty superhero fan fiction wanting more.

Hench
By Natalie Zina Walschots

This was not my cup of tea. I do enjoy superhero movies, but I don’t read the books. That being said, this will appeal to YA audiences, readers of the genre, and especially those who root for the villains. I think the message is that not everyone is 100% good or evil.

Even though I didn’t care for it, I think many comic fans will, hence 4 stars for Hench.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the eARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Walschots' HENCH is a wild ride. She has taken the superhero story and flipped it on its head in the best way possible. If you like irreverent humor, non-binary pronouns, bad guys who are a little bit good, and action scenes where the women fight their own battles, then you will love HENCH.

Anna is an out-of-work spreadsheet guru. In her world, humans have developed superhuman powers. Those with the greatest powers become superheroes, and those heroes who don't tow the party line become villains. Anna takes up a temp job with Electric Eel, a villain with a superhuman ego. She becomes collateral damage when she is caught between the Eel and Supercollider, the most super of superheroes. Her leg is shattered, and so is her faith in superheroism. As part of her recovery, she begins to analyze what superheroes cost society. Her analysis gains a following, and soon she is offered a job by Leviathan, the scariest villain and Supercollider's arch-nemesis.

I really did love this book. Walschots obviously spent some time researching damages and costs in a societal context. She also has either personal experience with leg and head injuries, or she did some research there as well. Her writing about these physical experiences felt very real. The plot is mostly strong, with just a couple weak points that I'll get to later. The characters are funny and diverse. The pace is steady, and the fight scenes are exciting.

Just a few little missteps kept HENCH from five stars. First, as mentioned above, there were two weak areas in the storyline. First is June. Her friendship with Anna felt unfinished to me. Walschots builds up a big back story for them and then June disappears. Second is Anna's augmentations and her potential for a super ability. We never get a clear picture of what's going on there. I have a hunch that HENCH is the start of a series; if that's the case, I bet both of these holes will be filled in. And if it was just these holes, I might have given five stars, but...

The writing is a bit amateurish. Anna earns the nickname Auditor, but I really think she could have been called Adverbial. There are so. many. adverbs. To the point it became distracting. Hopefully the editor weeds out some of these before the final print.

HENCH is a solid four-star novel with aspirations to five stars. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a smart, fun fantasy read. And I will certainly be watching for news of a series.

A superhero novel? They said it couldn’t be done. They said it works better as a graphic novel, or a blockbuster film. Well folks, I’m here to tell you that not only has Natalie Zina Walschots done the impossible, she’s knocked it out of the park.
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Ever wonder about the little details behind a supervillain’s operation? Wonder no further. Hench follows Anna Tromedlov, a woman working for a temp agency taking remote data entry assignments. The catch? She’s a hench and exclusively works with supervillains. Hey, supervillains need accountants too!
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While the office setting started out a bit slow for me (the depiction of remote work is almost too accurate), it quickly picked up when the heroes and villians got into the mix. The world building is top notch: Hench expertly toes the line of showing, not telling, and putting faith in the reader. There’s lots of LGBTQ+ rep, including our bisexual main character, Anna.
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I really enjoyed reading Anna. She was witty without being overly comedic, and her journey felt extremely realistic. She and the rest of the black capes were never portrayed as caricatures, but instead were motivated by very real things. Anna grows both professionally and emotionally throughout the novel, and Walschots does an excellent job of exploring both.
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After getting injured by a superhero while on the job, Anna delves into the human cost of superheroic intervention. The numbers she comes up with are staggering, which leads us to some of the central questions this novel explores: what makes an action good, what makes it evil? Can being “good” do more harm than good? The answer, according to Anna’s spreadsheets, is yes. This novel firmly believes in gray areas, and after reading, I wholeheartedly agree. On the surface, Hench doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a superhero novel. Because of that, it’s free to be so much more. I give this gem five stars out of five! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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CW: kidnapping, graphic depictions of violence, gore, and bodily injury.
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Hench came out on September 22nd and is available now! Thank you to @williammorrowbooks for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! It reminds me of Marissa Mayer's "Renegades" Trilogy, though more adult and a bit grittier. Similar premise though - villains and their posse trying to prove that the "heroes" are not the do-gooders everyone thinks they are - in fact they mostly make things worse!

Anna is just like any other people working from temp job to temp job as a data entry specialist. So what if her employers are Evil Villains? They need clerical work done, too! Until, that it, one job goes horribly wrong, leaving Anna with a devastating injury and no job. What comes next? Well, Anna cannot sit idly by while so-called "heroes" run around risking innocent lives and livelihoods. She's going to get her revenge...

I read this as an E-galley and it did not disappoint. Just be sure to heed the trigger warnings, it gets pretty graphically viloent, especially toward the end.

4 Stars. Would recommend.

Hench is brilliant! It's so subversive and smart. I think superhero fans will really get a kick out how a "normal" person gets involved in the supervillain schemes! I cannot believe this is a debut.

This book is a strange mixture of data, superheroes, and walking that fine line of good versus evil. And I liked it.

This is the story of Anna, who is a temp henchman. She works through an agency and is farmed out to different villains. She is in data entry, so she does a lot of cataloging and moving and analyzing data. One day she starts a job under a villain called the Electric Eel and she is put into a position that has her face to face with a superhero called SuperCollider. During the face-off, she is badly injured and it leaves her crippled. Because of this, she starts down this path of analyzing superheroes and the damage they cause to both lives and property.

This whole book takes a look at what is good and what is evil. How that line is very wobbly. It reminds me a little bit of 'Vicious' by V.E. Schwab. It has some of that same undercurrent of things that it's looking at. Especially in superhero mythology. We always have this grand picture of superheroes being the one saving the day and we have these big superhero movies, but at the same time, we're seeing all this damage and chaos that is happening while these superheroes are supposedly fighting for the betterment of the people around them. What we never see is what happens to the bystanders who are innocently harmed, the cost that the city incurs because of the damages done, and how that effects the origin story of villains themselves.

It's kind of weird how analytical this story is but at the same time extremely witty. I come from a place of very much loving spreadsheets. So as Anna is falling down this path of analyzing all of these numbers and all of these stats and looking into these large chunks of data, I found myself very much in the mindset of Anna, loving every second of it. She is very good at making all of these very grandiose connections, so I liked her as a character for that. But at the same time you have this very analytical side, you have this look into relationships and how your slow rise villainy, or heroism, can leave a lot of your friends and family behind. And it also looks at the relationships between superheroes and villains.

This book was very fast-paced. Once I started getting into the story, I couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what happened next. A lot of things happen very quickly and very violently as per the superhero genre. This isn't a book for anyone who isn't a huge fan of superheroes because it still has that superhero campy feel to it even though it goes lean more towards this darker end of the spectrum. Especially since we're mostly embedded in villainy and the henchmen that are surrounding that infrastructure. So you have to go into this book expecting that standard superhero world. You're not going to get a huge flux of backstory of why people have powers, why these really over-exaggerated things happen all throughout the city that are connected to kidnappings, and murders, and hits, and politics, and the whole big shebang. Because a lot of that is already rooted in the superhero mythology that most of us have come to know and love. It doesn't establish anything new there. It just takes all of that hero vibe, that campy vibe, that over-exaggeration, the big bangs, the very adventurous situations, and it looks at it from a side of numbers and aftermath. But with this touch of wit that keeps everything very light.

So if you like superheroes, If you like that contrast of looking at it from the other side of - maybe the heroes aren't all that they're cracked up to be, you will probably really like this book.

I have a tenuous relationship with the concept of superheroes. Like many young boys in the U.S., I was exposed to them early and often through cartoons and memorabilia. Rarely did I read comic books, but sometimes they found their way into my hands, and on those occasions I did quite enjoy myself. Obviously, I grew fond of the Marvel cinematic universe, but after a while I became exhausted by what I feel is it’s constant stream of content. The DC Snyderverse did little to assuage the glut or reduce my apathy, and the only way I felt I could consume these stories was through comics and, even then, only as a form of critique. I returned to Watchmen, Swamp Thing and oddly Superman became one of my favorites even though I liked him least growing up. So now that you know my baggage with superheroes, I’m especially excited to share my review of Hench, a fantastic new perspective in an overcrowded genre and the latest book from our H2 Dark Horse list. Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots, is a revelation within the superhero genre, bringing humor, darkness, and character to the evil doers with panache while breathing life into the tropes it also examines on a deeper level.

The story follows Anna Tromedlov, a henchwoman who usually finds work through a temp agency. She’s more of a behind-the-desk type, preferring to be a data analyst for the villains of the world. When an opportunity to move into a lair and take up more field work pops up, she takes it for a little excitement. However, her first time in the field leads to disastrous results when she becomes a casualty to Supercollider, the world renowned ultimate Superhero, and is hospitalized by the encounter. Laid off, without health insurance, and about to be evicted, Anna begins a blog to track the destruction and death caused as collateral damage, earning her the ire of Supercollider, but the unexpected praise of one of the world’s top villains, Leviathan. Seeing her chance to do some good for the world while being the “bad guy,” Anna joins the villain’s ranks and begins to enact her revenge.

It would be easy to base this review on just how much a breath of fresh air Walschots’ debut novel is in the superhero genre. While she gets a lot of mileage out of focusing on the villains, she takes it much further by making the novel more than just a clever twist. The whole world is built on the premise that both Heroes and Villains need support staff, whether it’s the “Meat” who take the majority of the punishment for Villains as your standard bodyguard henches, or the interns who get to work early to make a fresh pot of coffee for the evil meetings. Walschots takes the time to build it out in a fun, brisk way that will be easily recognizable to most people even vaguely familiar with superheroes. It’s a blast, and I cackled heartily as the villainous bosses acted very much like a CEO out of today’s headlines. It wasn’t exactly lighthearted, but Walschots’ definitely knew how to adapt work culture to her world and it instantly ingrained me to the book.

After the initial introduction, Walschots doesn’t let up as her knack for character really begins to pull the story along. She knows how to make you care for her characters while you watch them descend into a form of madness. Anna’s journey was especially compelling from a temp who just wanted to do remote work, to a hench calling the shots on big operations. The best part about the endeavor is Walschots’ tenacity in sticking to Anna’s strength: data. Gathering data, forming predictions, and coming up with ways to help accelerate her plans are Anna’s powers, though it’s never mentioned in that way and she’s extremely good at it. None of her “battles” resort to her using her smarts to physically outwit opponents, she’s just there in the background, pulling levers and letting the disasters play out. On top of that, the conflicts were usually in a more personal space. How far was she willing to go to see her models through? Who was able to be sacrificed for the greater good of taking down superheroes? It was refreshing that she never had to throw a punch herself, instead becoming the villain she thought she could be by making her own choices and living with the consequences.

Walschots clearly has a deep love for the superhero genre as she just nails so many small details with style. I can’t tell you how many times I felt the hairs on the back of my neck standup when a superhero’s backstory lined up with their names. Or the amount of times I muttered “well that’s fucking cool” to myself during fight scenes. After being tired out by so many of these tropes in past few years, Walschots breathes a new life to them. She also isn’t afraid to turn over the rubble they use to cover their dark sides. While she does well with the caped crusaders, it’s clear she has a special place in her heart for the villains and their henches, and with the way she writes them, who can blame her. Anna’s life is turned upside down by Supercollider, and he doesn’t even apologize. Leviathan in turn gives her the resources to fund her newfound purpose and allows her ambition and skill to take her where she needs to go. The other members of the villains’ team, while not as fleshed out as Anna, are just as broken, ambitious and skillful in their own ways. They are also incredibly likeable and have full stories of their own that help Anna to find her place among equals. There are several moments shared between her and the other henches that are genuinely heart wrenching and breathtaking. Walschots fills the book with little surprises that are nods to the genre that don’t self aggrandize their own importance, and instead sneak up on you and embed themselves in your soul.

Hench is as solid a debut as I’ve ever read. The humor is dark and spot on, making me laugh out loud several times. Anna’s journey to becoming a top hench is compelling, emotional and weirdly fulfilling. The world is energetic, realistic where it needs to be, and stylized just enough to make the weird stuff more impactful. It feels like the perfect antidote to the superhero craze. Walschots makes it all look easy, too, but it’s clear a lot of love and effort was poured into this book.

Rating: Hench - 9.5/10
-Alex

In an unexpectedly adorable turn, Hench is the tale of the rise of a henchman who starts out as a temp worker hired to do data entry and her developing and failing relationships with her friends, co-workers, and boss. In a world where superheroes regularly cause untold and ignored damage and villains hire their henchmen from placement agencies, Natalie Zina Walschots uses this not only to deconstruct the standard superhero story, but to revel in character-building, growth, and relationships.

The book suffers some from repetitive writing sporadically throughout, such as Anna and her best friend June choking on their coffee three times in two back-to-back scenes near the beginning. However, the writing construction does smooth out towards the latter half of the book; it feels like it needed more careful editing in the front half. Luckily, this doesn't heavily impact the sheer level of enjoyment of the book's central character and her cutting, dark sense of humor, or her wit and particular type of charm.

You should not expect a book that will create a character who waffles between a black and white view of "good" and "evil" and ultimately reneges on her life as a hench. You should also not expect a book that spends a lot of time moralizing or philosophizing about goodness and evilness and what that means, but instead a story about a character who has been hurt, brutally, and who must conduct research and go through a series of transformations in order to reach any kind of understanding of where she wants to be in the world. She is flawed, and she knows it; she must grapple with some of the terrible choices she's made and their outcomes and whether she should have done something different. Superheroes are not all suddenly inverted and made pure evil; they also have facets and flaws, and have their very human faces and stories revealed, even if it's ugly.

In short, this is a book about being human, and the perception of humanity. This book cares very deeply about people and about their worth, and whether those who profess to protect us are actually doing so, or doing anything worthwhile in lifting us up. "Hench" does not abandon any character without thought, not even side characters (perhaps especially not side characters, as this is a book all about sidekicks and henchmen, the goons and grunts who usually die by the halfway mark).

Perhaps it's what someone would call heavy-handed at times, but these days, there is little room for subtlety and veiled metaphor as the only methods to speak to our reality. Sometimes, you need to bring out the two-by-four -- or, if you're Anna, the carefully constructed chain of events that really fuck your day up until you can't wear your mask anymore.

I loooooved this book. Walschots hooked me immediately and completely, and I was going to be heartbroken if the story didn't hold up. But it did--and I was gleefully talking about the highlights of this book to the other people in this house frequently enough that they were likely a leetle irritated and ready for me to finish.

If you're in for a new character-driven, superhero-focused, smart, wicked, and action-packed book, this is it.

Anna is a hench. She's an expendable part of a data entry pool and works boring temp jobs...for villains. It's not like she's in the line of fire or taking part in dastardly plots. She sits behind a computer, she needs the steady paycheck--and she's got a grudging respect for the purity of the revenge missions of the "bad guys" (and girls, and others, including their sidekicks) who help her pay rent. She wears winged eyeliner, she doesn't put up with any good old boy chauvinism from heroes or anyone else, and she's so smart, her talents are probably going to waste.

Then she's unexpectedly and accidentally involved in a violent clash of good and evil and is badly injured by a gallingly shiny superhero. She doubles down on her contempt for the good guys and her annoyance at how others see them as infallible when they're far from blameless. She digs into determining the actual costs--in lives and financially--of heroes' clumsy bashing around in the name of duty, and she sets out to reveal the details of the dark side of the superhero myth. (This part reminded me, in a good way, somewhat of the cost analysis of heroes that takes place in Incredibles 2.)

Her clever behind-the-scenes revelations catch the eye of the darkest and most mysterious villain of all, Leviathan, who wants Anna on his staff full time. She's uncomfortable with commitment, but her new employer is giving her a blank check of resources to enact clever, systematic, whole-scale revenge on heroes. It's too incredible an opportunity to pass up. She assembles a team dedicated to her and to their (dark, brooding, sometimes surprisingly kind, and often silent) boss, building a "cruel little department" that begins to shoulder a large portion of the organization's work.

Anna starts to believe that her talents (she has discovered a flair for data mining, moving around information, manipulating social media, and knowing her superhero foes' habits and weaknesses) might allow her to teach some of these golden boys and girls a lesson--even if it also requires her to reluctantly come out from behind the desk for some old-fashioned battling now and again. She's growing closer to her boss Leviathan, and sometimes her taste for hero destruction seems to be overpowering even his own.

Walschots's writing and pacing in Hench is wonderful. She builds the world in her book gracefully--her job as a game designer probably plays into this ability. She provides lots of action; sometimes poignant internal conflict; some dark humor; and she builds history for the characters by retracing old superhero and villains' rivalries.

Anna's singular, ruthless mission of revenge shapes her emotionally and physically and affects her interpersonal relationships. At times she doesn't recognize herself much anymore. But she can't stop trying to destroy the heroes' false perfection that is devastating so much of the world, and her struggle feels noble in many ways, even if her methods are not. She emerges as more brave than she had believed herself to be, and as she evolves, Walschots is able to make the reader question what good and evil really mean by having us view the hero/villain construct through Anna's eyes.

I was delighted by the superheroes' and villains' names, their various supernatural abilities, and their complicated relationships--as well as how henches and sidekicks continued to crop up in others' employ, following the money and reinventing themselves as people might in any profession. There are performance reviews; the need for higher-ups to sign off on manpower requests and project plans; and other mundane concerns--except for the entertaining fact that they all center around superheroes and villains and their passion for mutual destruction.

The one problem I have here is that while the tone of the ending feels like an appropriate level of wrap-up, issues remain (regarding June--!; Leviathan; Quantum; and Anna and her future, her mission, and her potential supernatural abilities) which deserve more delving into and will require another book in order to satisfy ME personally. Yet there is no number on this book, nor is there any mention of a sequel. I just hope that Walschots is with me on this and is already hard at work on the next book.

Walschots is a game designer who has published two books of superhero-focused poetry (!), but although this is her first book, I thought her story-building and the story's depth felt effortless. More, please!

This book brought to mind The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee. Both of these titles offer unlikely heroes, action, and some dark humor, although Yee's young adult book is more playful, as are its examinations of good and evil. The dry humor in Hench also reminded me in a way of the Murderbot series (I review the first three books here). If you like this book, you might like those as well.

I first mentioned Hench in my Greedy Reading List Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/16/20 Edition.

I read a prepublication copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and William Morrow; it's scheduled for publication on September 22.

#fantasyscifi, #fourstarbookreview, #hench

The novel follows the humble journey from hench woman to evil genius. Morality of heroism is questioned and once a spreadsheet enters the picture, who can argue with the facts? The events and evidence are laid out methodically.

The novel had excellent representation of people from the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities, weaving the characters in as actual people whose identities do not revolve around those particular traits.

There where some loose ends, which I hope indicate a second book.

A temp worker is ill-used by the small-time villain she works for and badly injured by a reckless superhero. Turns out they picked the wrong hench to mess with — one who is tired of the indignities of the gig economy, deeply cynical about superheroes, expert nerd levels at data research and analysis, and now enduring a long convalescence on a friend's couch with nothing better to do then obsessively analyze the staggering human costs of the whole superhero system. It's looking more and more like a sham and a menace. When she's offered a job with a real villain, working for a real salary with excellent benefits, she gets an opportunity to crunch more than just the numbers. She takes that opportunity —carefully but gleefully, and with a vengeance that reminds us that we're, uh, kinda rooting for the bad guys here. ⁣
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Or maybe there's no "kinda" about it.⁣
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Either way, prepare yourself to sit with some moral ambiguity and some outright? borderline? quasi? unquestionable? evil in this sky, funny, gritty story that refuses to ignore the complexities of life for the convenience of a morality tale. There's no simple good and evil in a world where supervillains can be fair and thoughtful employers and superheroes can be egotistical vigilantes who cause more harm than they prevent. But that doesn't mean there isn't a morality tale hiding in here somewhere — you'll find it between the horror and the humor and the humanity. ⁣
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My thanks to @hartfieldbookco and @williammorrowbooks for the #ARC. Find 𝙃𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝 by Natalie Zina Walschots at Hartfield and other stores on September 22!⁣
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Content notes: strong language, job insecurity, kidnapping, superpowered battles, death, murder, lies, infidelity, open-skull surgery, off-screen torture/interrogation, body horror⁣

I'm a sucker for superhero pop novels. There's so much angst and so many power dynamics — who has it, who doesn't, how it's used and why and for who — in any superhero story, and it's hard for superhero comics to explore any of it with internality in a few word balloons per page. So novels like this have a lot more room to explore the commitments and doubts of four-color heroes and villains in depth, while still enjoying the big fights and dramatic turns that make a good superhero story.

Hench takes place in a world full of heroes and villains, though the heroes seem to be exclusively government property — kids are tested young, taken from their parents, and trained as heroes if they have powers — while the villains are anyone who isn't under government fiat. The world is pretty reminiscent of Venture Bros. in terms of magi-tech and hero/villain density and action, but also in that it focuses on a low-level "hench," a woman named Anna who's used to temping in data entry for supervillains. Then a routine job puts her in the wrong place when the world's Superman equivalent is rescuing a kid, and she winds up unemployed, badly injured, and nursing a vast rage and an obsession with analyzing and quantifying the damage heroes cause. This is something of a villain origin story, but it operates on its own level, with relatively interest in coloring within the predictable lines of "Villain is born, villain fights hero."

Hench feels like it's missing a lot of useful background intel — an awful lot about this world has to be inferred or grabbed in passing — but that lets the story roar along at an intense pace, and it kept me caught up in the action the whole time. It's a breathless and engaging book, with an interesting protagonist with a very specific way of looking at the world. The one thing I really think it could have used more of was perspective on its villains — the book spends a lot of time on the collateral damage heroes do, and on depicting them as a net evil. But in order to get there, it spends very little time revealing what supervillains are like in this world, apart from publicity-hungry strivers. It's always seemed a little disingenuous to me to focus on the damage a hero might do while stopping a villain, when the villain was out to do considerably more damage. Here, the main focus is on a villain who comes across as more noble and removed from society, but there are clearly a ton of freelance villains out there, doing dangerous things, and I would have liked more perspective on how they shape the equations the book is so obsessed with.

But still. A well-drawn central character, an angle on the superhero novel that I haven't seen before, a lot of breathless and well-described action, a hint of romance but not a rote or simple one. This was a fun and engaging read.

In a world of heroes and villians, the protagonist is difficult to define. Even though she works for the "bad" guys, her purpose is not so clear cut. It was a bitt difficult to become engrossed in this book but once I got over the hump, I really enjoyed it.

I LOVED this book. I'd wanted to read it ever since I saw the description a few months ago because I am all about a new spin on an old concept. Every time I watch a superhero movie, I'm always left wondering what happens to the families of the people who die, the maimed survivors, the owners of the cars that get smashed. I had only once or twice stopped to think about the considerable support staff any villain would need. This was a richly rendered story about one of those people and the impact superpower -- good or evil -- would have on someone in its wake.

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots is a mind blowing captivating book. I loved everything about it from beginning to end.