In my mind, the Class Heroes books are a bit of a genre mash up. Predominantly, they are superhero fantasy/superhero science fiction books. But mainly they are character-based books. The main characters are ordinary teenagers who have had something extraordinary happen to them.
They don’t wear costumes. I mean… who’d want to wear a costume? Fancy-dress parties, Halloween, maybe cosplay events (I’m not talking about myself here, by the way) I can understand, but who seriously would want to wear a costume if you’re doing anything other than going on a good night out and could guarantee the toilets were going to be ok?
So who are these characters, I hear you idly wondering whilst tapping on your phone? OK. You forced my hand. Here goes. The cast list, now we’re up to four books is growing, but I’m going to start posting some background on each of them. This week, we’ll start with Samantha Blake.
Samantha Blake
Twin sister of James Blake, 14 years old in book 1 – A Class Apart, Sam is kind, fun-loving, determined and enjoys her life. She goes to school in South Ealing, London, and she enjoys running, mucking about with her friends, and having arguments with her brother.
Sam is caught up in a bomb explosion in London. When she wakes up in hospital, she slowly realises she has some amazing new abilities. She’s now 20 times stronger, can heal rapidly, and has an uncanny ability to control fire.
She’s got it made, right? Ahhhh, no. Why are things never that easy? Imagine if you had that kind of power. Would people think you were a freak? Would your friends suddenly be scared of you? What if you hurt someone? That’s a lot of power to keep under control.
What’s worse is how other people might perceive your value. Forget being an X-Factor winner — this kind of celebrity status would exceed that ‘enjoyed’ by royalty or world leaders. And that makes you prime fodder for exploitation. So good luck, Sam… You’re going to need it.
Listen to Sam’s story in her own words.