Having finished The Web of Arachnos, I just had to read the second half of the story, didn't I?
Freedom Phalanx moves time up into the 1980s, and there's a new group of heroes in town. These are some of City of Heroes signature characters -- Manticore, Positron, Synapse, Sister Psyche, etc. Statesman's still around, and he's hecka cranky as usual -- but at least this time he's got a good reason.
I liked this book better than Arachnos -- the writing was tighter and more polished, and I was impressed at the subtle shifts in style as the point of view changed. And it made Synapse fun and somewhat charming, which surprised me, because up until that point he'd almost been dead weight.
There's a running joke among CoX fans about the number of times Synapse has been knocked unconscious and used as a human-shaped projectile.
There's also a wider variety of baddies in this story, and I'd like to see more of some of them in game -- Protean and Dr. Null especially. And I liked the jackbooted, "we're taking over" climax -- it had a nice 1984 feel, and made the stakes suitably high for a bunch of superpowered types.
But poor Sister Psyche! I understand that her powers would have put the kibosh on the majority of the plot, and so the author had to get her out of the way. But the poor girl just got jacked.
Did her "big battle" have to be against the *only* female villain in the book in a women's restroom? And doing more damage with her fingernails than with her powers? Sigh ... I'm a woman who loves comics and superheroes. It's tough sometimes.
A quick and easy read, but I'd still only recommend it for CoX fans.
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