Michael is a thirteen year old foster child fighting for his life in the slums of Baltimore when his Earth power emerges. Given that he was busy killing gang members, mostly in self defense on this occasion, prosecution is waived, but he has to join the Junior Super Corps until he's eighteen. You'd think that gaining super powers and moving to New York City would bring positive changes into his life but not so much. Most of the hierarchy think he's a vulgar loose cannon, which he is, but they're mostly concerned that he might say the wrong thing in public and for an organization with such a shiny image they definitely have things to hide. Their few secrets that Michael doesn't already know, such as the government is really run behind the scenes by a secret group called The Society, he will know soon enough because he's a hacker working for an opposing secret group that takes very seriously the words all Supers hear when they gain their powers....the storm is coming.

When the main characters are mostly teenagers they tend to categorize the book as YA but this is a book for adults both in the subject matter and reading comprehension skill. Yes, there's this tantalizing "storm" coming which most expect to be a dystopian event of some kind and super powers but this first book focuses on Michael's background including the poverty and abuse faced by many in America and around the world. As a genius even before gaining super powers Michael is easily able to discuss statistics and anthropology alongside astrophysics. He's not only open about the physical and sexual abuse kids see in the foster system, and in certain professions, he's also angry about it. He's a survivor first and social crusader second so he's more than happy to inform the innocent of the realities and doesn't hesitate to use violence to defend himself. There are other aspects of social crusading such as dispelling rumors about transgender and homosexuality as well as the way people can weaponize social media with false rumors. 

As usual Ringo's writing quickly draws you into the story even if you're not sure how you feel about the main character at first. At times the Michael's graphic descriptions can be depressing, uncomfortable, and even somewhat repetitive but they are in line with statistics I have heard in the past. The Powers in this first book aren't described in much detail except for Michael's Earth power. Part of that is probably because the government actually prohibits Supers from training their Powers but I would still like to see a broader range of abilities. What little there is focuses on some of the humorous realities of potential Powers such as what would happen to a Flyer's clothes if they are going fast enough to break the sound barrier. Basically, this is like Ringo's zombie apocalypse series where its a mix of sarcasm, graphic violence, and uncomfortable realities.

The audio version isn't out yet but the ebook has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon and most reviews seem to agree with me that this is quintessential John Ringo with the mix of humor, violence, and uncomfortable truth.