Whoever blurbed this book The Breakfast Club meets the X-Men nailed it. As Gen-X a book as they come, it’s an angst ridden, coming-of-age sci-fi, superhero mash up that’s as meandering as it is captivating. Smart, funny and heartfelt, Fight Me is an intriguing read.
As a teen, Andrew Beekman was given a magical amulet by his teacher who was, in fact, some sort of wizard, and told he would fulfil a great prophecy. With one utterance, Andrew becomes the Prodigy, an immensely powerful and indestructible superhero. Yet, with zero guidance – his wizard benefactor having immediately disappeared – the teenager is left directionless. As an adult, Andrew Beekman is now Rick Tower, a mediocre teacher living a basic bachelor life and hiding out from all that came before. He’s still as directionless. That is until his subspace communicator, long forgotten, signals that he has a message.
Told through two timelines, Fight Me describes an alternative world where meta-human heroes and villains, cyborgs and mad scientists, time travellers and advanced weaponry manufacturers exist in a 2015 where Andrew has had to assume an obscure identity. In the early 1990s, however, he’s part of the Newcomers, a group made up of his high school classmates: Jack, a hyper intelligent inventor; Cat, a modified super soldier; and Stefanie, a magical princess in exile from Summerdwell. Whilst the four were brought together due to delinquent crimes, they’re formed into a team – a morally unbalanced one – but a team nonetheless. Together they battle Sinistro, a mysterious figure from the 30th century hellbent on ruling Earth. For four years it all goes well.
But things never work out, especially when prophecies or messages from the future or vengeance is concerned. As Andrew tries to uncover who murdered his wizard teacher in 2015, the story of the past is slowly revealed to build a convoluted and gripping picture about the future. Unrequited love, teen angst, adult regrets and the bitterness of failure blend together into a strangely humorous and adventure filled narrative. There’s double crosses, both past and present, and the desperate attempt to make sense of it all somehow, despite the complete lack of foresight.
Paying homage to that lost generation X, Fight Me is a brilliant take on coming-of-age for a group who weren’t given the advice they needed to navigate a changing and difficult world; one where, as adults, the past is a foreign country where regrets don’t yet exist. It’s a stunning look at the philosophical conundrums of morality and ethics told through Andrew’s perspective as he battles, literally and figuratively, to work out who he is and where he should be. Where friends are also enemies, and everything feels like a terrible choice, it’s no wonder things are messed up.
Fantastically crafted, capturing the spirit and mentality of Gen X with all the sarcasm and angst it brings, Fight Me is a wonderful, action packed superhero sci-fi adventure. Funny, fierce and engaging, it’s an amazing journey through a strange world full of very real humans (who are also super human). Truly exceptional.
Review copy
Published by Michael Joseph
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