Change for the Better (Menopausal Superheroes Book 5)

Bryant blends more-than-human feats with very-human dilemmas, creating engaging character-driven superhero thrills.

This is the fifth book in Bryant’s Menopausal Superheroes series. Possible psychic revelations of past events ahead.

When the Director reveals a plan to bolster the Unusual Cases Unit’s reputation by adding the first of several supposedly rehabilitated supervillains to the team, Leonel and the others are worried he is putting politics ahead of practicality; a concern that turns to paranoia when footage from a robbery reveals Daniel Price, a mad scientist the team captured, is apparently free with no record he was ever in custody. To make matters more complex, Jessica is withdrawing from everyone for fear someone will steal the emeralds she knows she needs to keep control of her powers. To the people of Springfield, the UCU seems to have done a lot of good but as the evidence mounts that its purpose is not what it seems, Leonel and others must decide not merely whether they can keep the team together but whether they should.

The novel takes the thriller trope of agents discovering the organisation they work for might be corrupt and amplifies it by having the organisation lead by someone who instinctively influences other people’s minds; it is this non-intentional aspect of the Director’s power that makes the uncertainty over whether he is deliberately hiding malfeasance or just not sharing entirely legitimate schemes especially strong. Bryant skilfully builds this tension by contrasting growing evidence that there is something odd going on with—apart from an amount of PR activity—the missions that the protagonists are given being good deeds.

The subplot about rehabilitating supervillains centres on Helen, a fire-summoner who was captured by Leonel in a previous novel and whose daughter joined the UCU as part of a deal for better treatment. Bryant adds her to the roster of PoV characters from the moment the rehabilitation initiative is mentioned, providing the reader with confirmation that Helen does want to start doing the right thing. In addition to the dramatic irony of seeing the truth behind both sides fears about the rehabilitation, providing the reader with proof that Helen’s release isn’t about getting a criminal out of gaol adds to their sense of doubt over whether the Director’s other more covert schemes are also ultimately worthy.

In contrast to Helen’s struggle to become a productive member of the team, Jessica’s fanatical desire to have an emerald with her at all times and keep the remainder of her collection perfectly secure is a nuanced portrayal of addiction first weakening then overwhelming someone’s decency and restraint.

These multiple stresses reawaken the feelings of inadequacy that the other protagonists struggled against in previous volumes and amplify other issues in their lives. While these explorations of emotional struggle might not engage readers who wish their heroes to be stoic paragons, they do not collapse into angst or passivity so readers who enjoyed the previous novels are likely to find them engaging continuations of the specific character arcs and general feel of the series.

While Bryant maintains the theme of ordinary people facing the challenges of becoming extraordinary in one area, she also packs the novel with fast-paced action and tense investigations, providing plenty of superheroic thrills.

As with previous volumes, Bryant shows the reader the experiences of women without preaching about how the reader should think about them. This is perhaps most obvious in the way Leonel’s caring behaviour, as someone who appears as the apogee of male physicality, is constantly considered notable by other characters in a way it would not be if he appeared the mother and grandmother he was socialised as.

The denouements of the various arcs draw together these threads of morality and power, showing that people are not wholly one trait—whether moral or capability—and that good does not triumph because it is good but because people choose to do good. Thus the ending offers a satisfying conclusion to both the novel and the series as a whole without devaluing the complexity of the previous events with a fairytale perfect ever after.

Each of the protagonists is fully consistent with their character in previous novels while being changed by events; thus, they retain a plausible sense of strong underlying drives and desires while demonstrating an equally realistic adopting of more, or less, functional methods of pursuing them.

The supporting cast have a similar sense of multiple, potentially conflicting, underlying characteristics that both makes them seem like people rather than set dressing and adds to the sense of uncertainty over who can be trusted.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel greatly. I recommend it to readers seeking superhero action that neither underplays the challenges of being more than human in one way but not all nor collapses into a metaphor for the ethical use of force.