Emergence Superhero, Science Fiction, LGBTQ Fiction, Gay Romance
Blake Allwood Publishing
June 1, 2023
Kindle
213
Amazon
With such incredible power, his abusive past makes him a powerful time bomb. Can the love of one man prevent him from destroying the world?
Had it not been for his latent powers, Kaden would have perished at the hands of the men who enslaved him.
Lysander comes from an idyllic childhood, but lacks belief in himself and his powers.
When meeting at their superhero college they both feel intense and powerful animosity. As they confront a common enemy, however, the dynamic shifts from enemies to lovers.
When the supervillain wrests control from Kaden, will his love for Lysander stop him from destroying everything in his wake?
MEMBERS OF OUR REVIEW TEAM HAVE SIGNED UP TO HELP AUTHOR ADAM J. RIDLEY WITH THEIR THOUGHTS. WE WILL BE ADDING THEIR REVIEWS TO THIS AS THEY FINISH BOOK !!! STAY TUNED
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Kaden Pierce went from foster home to foster home until he was sold to sex traffickers. His life was a dark room, no food, beatings and rape. He never fought back and accepted what his life was until the day a young girl was put in the room with him and he was told to kill her. If he didn’t kill her his torturer would and for the first time in his life he fought back. Kaden had no idea of the power that lived inside him until it was released, and the result was at least thirty dead, the building burned to the ground and fortunately, all the children were saved.
Kaden’s power caused fear in everyone around him, and he was sent to Erudo College for the Science of Superpowers. Kaden had to learn how to control his power, a power that could destroy the world. When an attempt was made to remove his powers for everyone’s safety it proved to be a failure, Kaden’s powers were too strong to remove.
Lysander Phillips has discovered he has powers and has chosen to attend Erudo College to learn how to use his powers and control them. Unlike Kaden, Lysander grew up in a loving home, but he was anxious to learn about his powers and chose to attend the college. Lysander and Kaden would meet at the college and although it would start out poorly it would change both their lives forever.
When the two first saw each other they both experienced a strange sensation and that led them to believe the other evil. When it became clear that Lysander was Kaden’s polarity and Kaden was Lysander’s the person who would make them more powerful their rocky start immediately changed.
For the first time in his life Kaden had a friend and Lysander’s friends Kyle and Kaylee embraced Kaden as well. Despite everyone’s fear of Kaden he now had three people who liked him and enjoyed being with him.
As their friendship grows so do their feelings for each other but there is evil hiding in the background waiting to get Kaden’s power and Lysander could be the one to make it happen. People with special powers and knowledge are sent to discover what Kaden’s powers are and to do that it would be necessary to have him release them. A safe place had to be found that would not endanger those around him to finally discover what would happen when Kaden released all his powers, and it was a doozy.
I loved this book because of Kaden and Lysander, two characters that I immediately fell in love with. I am not a literary genius who writes reviews using big words and going into the guts of the book, I am a reviewer who likes or loves something and just uses simple words to reveal my feelings. So, I loved this book because it held my interest from the first page till the end and I loved all the characters. It was an interesting take on superpowers so anyone with an interest in that would love this book as much as me. It was a book that was emotional at times especially when reliving Kaden’s childhood.
Superpowers, romance, surprises, secrets and an amazing cast of characters.
Review by Ulysses Dietz
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild
This was a fun, high-energy adventure featuring two teenagers, Kaden and Lysander, who go from enemies to friends in a mountain-top private school for teens with emerging superpowers.
There is an unmistakable echo of X-Men mythology here, and I seem to remember a sort of campy teen movie about superhero kids and sidekicks called Sky High. Adam Ridley gives this contemporary trope his own twist by imagining the notion of polarities—pairs of super-powered individuals whose powers complement and augment each other. He also creates a second duality that separates/joins the two boys. While Lysander is from a loving family, and is sent to Erudo College to make the most of what appears to be fairly limited powers; Kaden is rescued from a life of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of sex traffickers. He is sent to Erudo so that they can figure out what to do with powers that are so massive they pose a threat to humanity.
This is a full-on romance, but the sex is kept off-page. It is the emotional connection that Kaden and Lysander find that ultimately drives the plot and the fairly explosive finale. These boys represent a sort of power and polarity duo that has never been seen before.
I confess that Kaden’s over-the-top powers never quite felt believable to me. Ridley slips into hyperbole, which distracts him from the very human aspect of these boys’ budding relationship. Also, the plot felt a little rushed to me. It’s not a long book, and Ridley would have done well to take a little leisure to build up Kaden and Lysander’s friendship in the context of college life. I wouldn’t have minded an extra fifty pages that delved into various relationships a bit more. If you’re going to create a Hogwarts-like school, there could have been a lot of fun with the world-building.
The book ends with the clear sense that it is in fact a beginning. I hope this means there will be a book two.
Review by Sherry Perkins
“That was the night my powers became apparent. That was the day the world learned to fear me.”—Emergence
Emergence. Hmm. I’m not necessarily a fan of omnipotent superhero stories. I mean, what’s the point if you are all that powerful? What I am a fan of is character development and lessons learned, especially when it’s self-discovery and growth. Especially if it is a result of being loved and in giving love.
So, while Emergence starts out on a quite traumatic and horrible note, it also serves to underscore that we can incorporate our traumas and use them to build resilience and to ultimately do good. If you are one of those readers who need to know about the triggers within a story, you will because Emergence is an unflinching look at what happens when you brutalize children. It’s just a glimpse but even only a glimpse is all it takes.
What is important though, isn’t the trauma itself. It’s the surviving. In many ways, Ridley has written a book not too unlike Sens8, any Marvel Universe story, and Firestarter all smashed into one new story. The heft of the tale is in what comes next.
Having the traumatized character, Kagen (who doesn’t even consider himself to be traumatized, which can often be the case) meet a character who is basically his opposite, Lysander (who is well-loved and a bit vulnerable)assures love will find its way. Contrast is a tried-and-true attraction guarantee in what isn’t technically a romance but instead, a superhero story with a romance written into it.
Of course, there needs to be a catalyst for superhero action and motivational growth to make the story interesting whether there is romance or not. The superheroes university with instructors that have questionable allegiances and motives is another tried-and-true format. Ridley doesn’t make it feel trite though. His story is engaging except for that omnipotent thing. Let’s see what Lysander can teach Kagen about that.
A five-star read about what makes us who we are and what we might become.
REVIEW BY GLORIA LAKRITZ REVIEW CHAIR
I am not a newbie to Adam J Ridley’s writing. I must say this new path caught my eye and as an 80 plus year old Grammy, taking grandkids to see X Men and Superhero movies is my thing.
The very dark beginning showed us Kaden in the depths of despair. Being a sex slave he cared nothing for himself lying in the dark, naked, waiting for his door to open to be abused again and again. So it was when they put another young child into his space when his powers suddenly surfaced in his necessity to save the child. The building destroyed and 31 guards dead, brought this youngster now to be named a Danger to society.
It is life now that Supes have been born and special schools exist for them and staff to guide them and teach them. We meet Lysander, a young Supe who has had the totally opposite life, well loved, happy childhood, great parents.
While a tribunal is judging Kaden’s case as to what danger he is to the world with the powers he has, it is decided to allow him to live. He is sent to a Supe College where he meets Lysander. The under current between them is negative, each feeling bad vibes about the other. Kaden’s past doesn’t help as he is socially unable to reach out for help or friends.
The need to reach out eventually happened, and a happy foursome occurred with Kaden, Lysander and the twins. Each teen learning about their powers and classes for them to grow them. It also grew trust and sexual attraction between the two young men, which was there as part of who they were.
Kaden’s learning of family, and trust is something beautiful for this young man who was exposed to the worst in his past. Lysanders friends and family quickly taught Kaden respect for himself.
So it wouldn’t be a SUPERHERO book without terrible things to face, saving the world stuff……Adam you did it and left us satisfied, but OPEN for more….Mr. Ridley you have written a 5 Star book that could become a 5 Star Series!!!
Review By S.C. Principale
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Emergence is a unique opposites attract paranormal romance combined with a superhero academy story. This M/M romance pairs Lysander with Kaden at Erudo College a place where superheroes learn to control and develop their fantastical powers.
As the book went on, I fell into the pattern of thinking about Lovable Lysander and Killer Kaden. Lysander is a gentle teddy bear of a young man, from a loving and supportive family who want him to develop his modest super powers into something bigger and better. Kaden became Killer Kaden, not because of his cruelty or anything like that, but because his powers could literally kill you—and maybe a few major cities. This gets him off to a rocky start at Erudo, as he’s a “unicorn” in terms of his powers. As someone who can control all four elements, his powers are legendary—in the bad way. Students seem to fear him and professors make the mistake of talking about him behind his back. But Lysander stands in the gap, providing a friendship that develops into more. Beyond their friendship, in this world superheroes have a person who complements them and augments their powers, referred to as their “polarity.” Lysander and Kaden are a match made in superhero land.
Ridley devotes more attention to Kaden’s backstory than Lysander’s. This perhaps is excusable as Kaden’s backstory is truly tragic, as he was rescued from human sex trafficking. The trauma is mostly kept to the minimum on the page, but we can only imagine the horrors. I would have liked to see a little more in-depth analysis of this tragic past before Lysander and Kaden find each other, or as they’re developing their relationship.
But the relationship that develops is truly lovely and with support from Lysander’s family (something that Kaden really needs, too). You couldn’t imagine a better person to comfort Kaden as he learns to be the master of himself and his powers. The romance simmers, but the sex never boils over onto the page, so if you were hoping for explicit steam, you’ll be waiting in vain. Maybe after what Kaden has endured, Ridley wants to give him some privacy. That’s a very sweet way to think of it, anyway.
The book as a whole reads as a YA romance working to become the X-Men, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, although the introduction of a sudden Big Bad among the faculty feels a bit hollow. And of course, our darling duo must test their strengths together and separately to see if they can save the day why Lysander is taken by a rogue professor to lure Kaden into her trap—which is of course meant to get Kaden to use his powers for evil ala a very cheesy, “You’re a god, Kaden, start acting like it!” speech.
Of course, good prevails and lessons are learned. It’s a delightfully sweet homage to superhero culture with a queer romance added in. While it has some weaknesses, younger readers who want fluffy romance and action will enjoy it!
LGBT/SCI-FI/FANTASY
