Hero-Type by Barry Lyga

The dictionary defines a hero as:

“a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal”

Kevin Ross (Kross, to his friends) never thought that his name and the words “model” or “ideal” would be used in the same sentence, much less actually being seen as either of those things, but when he saves the mayor’s daughter Leah from a grisly end at the hands of a serial killer things begin to change. Kross attends ceremonies in his honor (with reluctance), gives speeches about his heroics (with difficulty), accepts the key to the city (with fake excitement), and gets a great deal on his very own car (with real excitement). However, things soon start spiraling out of control when Kross tosses some magnets (those “support the troops” ribbon things) into the trash. Suddenly, he has gone from the “town hero” to an ungrateful soldier-hater. Interesting how that works…

This book displays many different facets of awesome. From the funny and entertaining pranks of the Council of Fools (the circle of Kross’s best friends) to the debates about things that most people never give a thought to. As well as Kevin’s dark secrets and inner battle about whether he really deserves to be called a hero.

Needless to say, I loved it. All of the plot twistyness and owning the narrow-minded in fantastic verbal duels and bitter little ironies made it a wonderful read. Even comparable to Little Brother in its awesomeness (which Aella reviewed, once upon a time). I’m not exactly sure when Hero-Type comes out…but when it does, go buy it. Yes, I said buy. Seeing as I only have space for one shelf of books (and whatever I can pack into the various untrodden corners of my home) books have to be amazingfantasticwonderfulsplendidmagnificent before I’ll actually buy them. And I don’t just recommend books for buy-age lightly.

And I’d love to get some thoughts on this one: What makes a hero?

P.S. 7 out of 7… somethings…. not exactly sure what we’re giving books these days