Brave Men Run & Pilgrimage by Matthew Wayne Selznick

These are Books 30 & 32 finished

Brave Men Run & Pilgrimage by Matthew Wayne Selznick

Published by the author, 2005 & 2014

I read the first book in this duology back in 2008 and when I saw there was a new book out, I reread the first one before reading the second.   It’s a pretty good story for all that it’s YA.  This is the story of a 15yo misfit, Nate, in 1985 who realizes why he’s a misfit when a group of people go public with their superpowers declaring themselves Sovereign.  Nate’s abilities can be summed up as being cat-like dexterity, strength and speed with an ability to see in the dark.  He has oversized eyes and a vaguely feline face.

His arch-nemesis at school, the ultra-jock Byron thinks he’s also a Sovereign and approaches Nate for help trying to sort it all out.

There are evil government types, new girlfriends, best friends, mad scientists, long-lost father figures and insensitive school administrators – everything a YA story needs to succeed.   Where this stands out is this book allows Nate, as narrator, to speak like a 15-yo; he can be completely self-centered, he can be naïve, he can have flashes of maturity in his decision making in-between stupid decisions made through inexperience.

The first book ends without a Happily Ever After and Nate is still confused over how to think about this place in the world and about his parents.  It was a good stopping point when it spent years as standalone book.  Although I have to say I found it annoying that it was called ‘A Novel of the Sovereign Era’ and then there we no follow up novels – just a follow-up collection of short stories by other authors.

The second book starts a year later.   People are unsure they like the idea of super-humans and there’s a backlash movement growing.  Nate’s father needs held handling his abilities and needs to go to the Sovereign enclave in Montana to find it.  Nate needs to find his father to help deal with his own abilities and his out of control emotions as well.

At 16, Nate is horny, he’s constantly mad at his mom, he’s constantly mad at authority figures; basically, he’s a 16yo boy.  He’s still voiced as a normal boy but he comes across much less sympathetic in Pilgrimage than in Brave Men Run.  I found myself wanting to shake him – a lot.

The anti-Sovereign backlash as a secondary storyline is interesting but also is very reminiscent of an X-men sub-plot.  What I liked about the first book was Selznick took what is essentially the premise of the mutants in the Marvel Universe and made them feel personal and at the same time new.  I saw the parallel from the beginning but it wasn’t over emphasized so it didn’t detract.   With this storyline added in, I felt like I was reading about the anti-Mutant forces gathering outside the Xavier School.   

The climax had some startling elements to it and the story took some turns I completely wasn’t expecting.  I didn’t really understand the ending, however.   If this is the last book, it’s a bad place to end; if it’s a trilogy and not a duology, then it’s a typical place to end.   I hope I don’t have to wait 6-years to find out.

4 stars for Brave Men Run

3 Stars for Pilgrimage