Seven Wonders (Angry Robot)
by Adam Christopher, Will Staehle
Why You'll Love This
What happens to a superhero city when the villain finally gets defeated — and nobody actually wants that?
- Great if you want: classic superhero tropes turned sideways with noir undertones
- The experience: fast and pulpy, built for comic-book fans reading prose
- The writing: Christopher leans into genre archetypes rather than subverting them subtly
- Skip if: you want psychological depth — the characters stay fairly surface-level
About This Book
San Ventura is a city that should feel safe — it has its own dedicated superhero team, the Seven Wonders, legendary protectors who've kept watch for years. The problem is The Cowl, a supervillain of terrifying reach who has the city firmly under his thumb despite everything. When ordinary citizen Tony Prosdocimi suddenly develops powers of his own and decides to do something about it, he discovers that the relationship between heroes, villains, and the people caught between them is far messier and more complicated than any comic book ever let on. The stakes here are personal as much as they are citywide.
What makes Seven Wonders worth picking up is Adam Christopher's willingness to poke hard at superhero genre conventions without abandoning the fun of them. The book earns its darker turns by first making you care about the world it's built, and the pacing keeps the pages moving even as the story grows more layered. Readers who enjoy genre fiction that asks uncomfortable questions about power, identity, and whose side anyone is actually on will find plenty to chew on here.