Kids with superpowers, check. A shadowy government group trying to capture them, check. A hero with amnesia who isn’t sure who he can trust, including himself, check. Bloodshot has all the components of an exciting spy thriller. Add in some engaging characters and an easy-going writing style and Fred Van Lente delivers an exhilarating, fast-paced novel that’s sure to entertain.
Bloodshot starts as a mystery and keeps getting bigger
He awakes in the midst of complete devastation. He doesn’t remember anything, not even his name. All he knows is that she is there, asking him if he’s alright. Trying to help him. So when it becomes obvious that bad people want him, all he can think about is protecting her. Turns out that he’s pretty good at it too. He looks like a teenage boy, and he can’t remember anything personal, but weapons, fighting, and killing seem to be hardwired into him. He also seems to have some crazy healing powers and the ability to talk to machines. It leaves him wondering just who he is, and who is chasing him?
Then it turns out that Kalea, the girl who found him, has some secrets of her own. Shockingly, she has some powers of her own. And she can get Bloodshot (a name picked up from the people chasing him) in touch with more kids that have powers and may be able to help him.
But then comes a big twist. Turns out, Bloodshot isn’t exactly being hunted by the PRS (the shadowy government group). He’s actually part of the PRS, and his job is to hunt down other kids with powers.
When he learns this, Bloodshot is appalled. He doesn’t want to do that anymore. He wants to help the kids he’s met have normal lives. So he decides to bring down the very organization that he used to work for. But that isn’t the last secret that the PRS is hiding or the last twist to Bloodshot’s story. Who he really is and what’s really going on with the PRS is so much darker than he could have ever imagined. He’ll still try to bring the PRS down, but even all his powers might not be enough to fight the darkness hiding at the heart of it all.
Bloodshot is a Valiant comics spin-off
Bloodshot is based off a 1992 Valiant comic of the same name. Van Lente gives Bloodshot a new origin in his novel. He uses many of the same names and institutions from the Bloodshot comics but makes a few major changes that ask questions that are becoming ever more relevant in our modern society. I don’t want to say just what those new questions are because it will give away some important and exciting twists from Bloodshot, but Van Lente certainly takes the story and the hero in a new and thought-provoking direction in his novel.
Van Lente also chooses to bring Bloodshot’s age way down in his novel. I think that by having Bloodshot be younger, it makes him a more sympathetic character. It also revs up the mystery surrounding him. How exactly does someone so young become so skilled in combat and weapons? It keeps the reader more off-balanced about what is going on at the PSR and with our hero. And the answers make Bloodshot a truly fascinating character, unlike any other superheroes currently out there.
The future heroes of Generation Zero
When Bloodshot seeks sanctuary with Generation Zero, we get to meet a lot of kids with different powers, known as psiots. These kids are all pretty young. The oldest is only around seventeen, while the majority seem to be under ten. Currently, they are just hiding out. The PSR has tried to kidnap all of them at some point. In fact, Bloodshot has tried to come after most of them himself. At first, they don’t want to trust him, but eventually, they do.
As he gets closer to Generation Zero, we get to see all these powered kids. And we realize, just like Bloodshot, that the key word is kids. They are young, they are scared, and they are vulnerable. But Bloodshot comes to realize that they also have huge untapped potential. That is what scares the PSR so much. If these kids ever learned to really use their powers and come together as a team, they would be unstoppable.
Bloodshot does begin to show them how to do just that. But the road to them becoming “superheroes” is a long one. It’s a journey that’s started in Bloodshot, and I would be interested to see it continued in future stories. I think that Generation Zero has some real potential as a series, hopefully Black Stone Publishing will continue exploring that potential.
Bloodshot by Fred Van Lente should be your next read
Bloodshot is a fun, exciting, thought-provoking story. Fans of the MCU will definitely appreciate Van Lente’s writing style and approach to this tantalizing character.
My rating: 8/10
If you like adventure, mystery, and action, then Bloodshot is definitely something you should check out. Bloodshot by Fred Van Lente is now available wherever books are sold.
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