or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
38 used & new from £0.77
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Superpowers
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Superpowers (Paperback)

by David J. Schwartz (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 10? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
21 new from £2.42 17 used from £0.77
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Paperback 10 used & new from £4.69

Frequently Bought Together

Superpowers + Hero: Every superhero has a secret + Soon I Will be Invincible
Price For All Three: £23.46

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

  • This item: Superpowers by David J. Schwartz

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Hero: Every superhero has a secret by Perry Moore

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Soon I Will be Invincible by Austin Grossman

    In stock but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Hero: Every superhero has a secret

Hero: Every superhero has a secret

by Perry Moore
4.5 out of 5 stars (14)  £4.48
Soon I Will be Invincible

Soon I Will be Invincible

by Austin Grossman
4.4 out of 5 stars (13)  £12.99
From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain

From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain

by Minister Faust
4.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £13.95
Little Brother

Little Brother

by Cory Doctorow
4.0 out of 5 stars (82)  £5.89
Powers (Annals of the Western Shore)

Powers (Annals of the Western Shore)

by Ursula Le Guin
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  £4.73
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (5 Jun 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099516101
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099516101
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 127,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Times

`witty and charming debut ... an adult novel but teenagers of 14+ will enjoy it'


Product Description

A party in a college flat in May 2001, a case of dodgy home-brewed beer, a violent storm. Next day: the mother of all hangovers. What would you do if the morning after the night before brought a banging head, a raging thirst...Oh, and your very own superpower? Meet the all-stars: Harriet (invisibility), Charlie (the ability to read minds), Caroline (flight), Mary-Beth (super-strength) and Jack (faster than a speeding...well, you know). Determined to become costumed crime-fighters, but baffled by the lack of super-villains to tackle, the quintet soon finds that the ramifications of their new powers are more complicated than they anticipated, and that humans (even themselves) are much more fragile than they'd realised. And all the while the clock ticks down to one day in September 2001.
See all Product Description

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(8)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
See all 11 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Superpowers
52% buy the item featured on this page:
Superpowers 3.7 out of 5 stars (7)
£5.99
Hero: Every superhero has a secret
38% buy
Hero: Every superhero has a secret 4.5 out of 5 stars (14)
£4.48
The Magic of Thinking Big
4% buy
The Magic of Thinking Big 4.5 out of 5 stars (33)
£5.37
The Magic of Thinking Success
4% buy
The Magic of Thinking Success
£5.99
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars With Great Power..., 23 Jun 2008
'Superpowers' is a comic book but without any pictures, which frankly ought not to work but thanks to David J. Schwartz's fast moving prose, it does. Five college students wake up one morning and discover that they have acquired various (and typical for the genre) superpowers. Unlike many superhero tales 'Superpowers' does not rely on Good Vs Evil to drive its plot. Indeed, the novel's central message is that good and evil largely depends on perspective.

'Superpowers' explores the moral obligations of those imbued with supernatural ability in a far more effective way than having Tobey 'Spiderman' Macguire banging on about 'great power coming with great responsibility' every five seconds. The attempts of Schwartz's characters to come to terms with their powers and their responsibilities is very well actualised and extremely human.

Schwartz also tackles, with great sensitivity, humanity's failings and the feelings of inadequacy we all feel from time to time. By using, larger superpowered examples, he offers us a microscope with which to look at our own motives and ambitions. As the tension in the novel builds, real world events also impact on the group, distorting their world view even further. Their response, is an excellent (if thinly veiled) metaphor for the American led response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

All in all, I found 'Superpowers' to be a very satisfying read. The novel is well paced and manages to be describe the supernatural and yet remain believable. Excellent stuff.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite a supernovel, 12 Jul 2008
By Ichabod J (Farleigh Wallop, Hampshire) - See all my reviews
  
This book tells the story of five US college students who inexplicably acquire superpowers overnight, following a heavy session on the homebrew. The novel focuses on how the individuals come to terms and utilise their new gifts of super strength, speed, flight, invisibility and telepathy.
This is in the 'Heroes' mould and may appeal to fans of that show; having said which, neither this novel nor 'Heroes' treads very new ground - superheroes have, of course, been struggling to come to terms with their gifts/curses for decades in comic books.
The plot, such as it is, is quite thin; without givng the storyline away, the novel looks at the difficulty of being a hero and doing good, exposing the limitations of superpowers in sorting the world out.
I would recommend this to anyone drawn by the subject matter, as it's a quick and light read. I do wish, though, that Schwartz had let his characters (and readers) have a bit more fun with those superpowers, instead of cutting almost immediately to the anguished motif of 'it's no cakewalk being a superhero'.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4.0 out of 5 stars Not the greatest novel but quite entertaining, 28 Jan 2009
I like comic books and books, TV shows and movies about heroes, like most of my generation, I have grown up with super-heroes movies and I when I saw the book I was curious about how the author was going to develop the idea, that was both simple and attractive.
It is the usual beginning for a comic book, five college students, let's say, five friends, each one with their issues and background stories of sorrow and pain, get super powers and try to help a world that is amazed and fears them.
It has some very good points, showing us the human side of these heroes, how they get to terms with what they are living, the author doesn't make the mistake of going all the way with the comic book genre, and has some brilliant moments, like when they get together to decide whether they will be superheroes or not.

The book is told by a "journalist" that gives his point of view all the time and the chapters are short, easy to read and fast.
Even if you don't love comics or haven't read one in your life, the author explains everything in a simple way. It is not a challenging book but a fairly entertaining one.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for grownups
Contrary to what the Times review says, this is a teen novel that might appeal to some adults. It adds nothing at all to the debate - pretty much exhausted by the major comic... Read more
Published 13 months ago by The Electric Ghost

4.0 out of 5 stars Deeper than I expected, and better
We've probably all wondered what it would be like to have powers -- to fly to work when we can't be bothered with the traffic; to turn invisible in horrible situations; to run... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Christopher Halo

5.0 out of 5 stars Not what I'd usually read and I was pleasantly surprised
'Superpowers' really isn't the sort of book I would usually read, I tend to give sci-fi and comic books a wide berth, but I was initially attracted to the cover of this book and... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Snapdragon

4.0 out of 5 stars Good
This book was not exactly how I imagined it, for the better. I am a big fan (huge rather) of Soon I Will Be Invincible and although this was not as good as that, Superpowers was... Read more
Published 16 months ago by L. Young

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject









i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.