Chance Fortune and the Outlaws review

Chance Fortune and the Outlaws 

by Shane Berryhill

Starscape

July 2006

First line: Joshua Brent Blevins had wanted to be a superhero for as long as he could remember.

14 year-old Joshua isn't about to let the small fact that he doesn't happen to have any superpowers stop him.  Rejected from the superhero academy, his mentor, Captain Force, forges him a new identity, "Chance Fortune" whose (difficult to prove, and subtle) power is "good luck."

Once he's at school, "Chance" spends a lot of time hoping desperately not to get caught.  Even as a "superhero" he's classed among those with lesser abilities.  He attempts to make up for this by suiting up with as many high-tech gadgets as allowed.  I loved the scenes where Chance first gets to school and gets to pick out his superhero outfit which was a cross between meeting with a fashion consultant and weapons expert.

The students at Burlington Academy for the Superhuman spend a good deal of time in mock battles preparing themselves for their lives of crimefighting.  Chance is soon teamed with Psy-Chick, Gothika, Iron Maiden and Private Justice who find themselves squaring off against the school champions led by Superion, a real bully.  I was reminded a lot of the Harry Potter "purebloods vs. mudbloods" conflict. 

This was a fun campy read.  Some of the battle sequences got a bit long, I thought, but on the whole, I very much enjoyed it.  It ends on a huge cliffhanger, a certain set-up for more in the series.

Compare to:
Sidekicks - Jack D. Ferraiolo
Rise of the Heroes - Andy Briggs
The Rise of Renegade X - Chelsea Campbell

I borrowed this book from the library