Couldn't Finish It... 'Turbulence' - Samit Basu (Titan Books)

A great way to start a new month, on the blog, then... Most times I'll finish whatever book is in front of me no matter whether I like it or not (just like I used to do with my dinner as a child) but things haven't been great just recently and this has been reflected in my total lack of reading patience. More likely than not it isn't the books fault at all but if it's not working for me then down it goes. Such was the case with Samit Basu's 'Turbulence'...

Aman Sen is smart, young, ambitious and going nowhere. He thinks this is because he doesn’t have the right connections—but then he gets off a plane from London to Delhi and discovers that he has turned into a communications demigod. Indeed, everyone on Aman’s flight now has extraordinary abilities corresponding to their innermost desires.

Vir, an Indian Air Force pilot, can now fly. Uzma, a British- Pakistani aspiring Bollywood actress, now possesses infinite charisma. And then there’s Jai, an indestructible one-man army with a good old-fashioned goal — to rule the world!

Aman wants to ensure that their new powers aren't wasted on costumed crime-fighting, celebrity 
endorsements, or reality television. He wants to heal the planet but with each step he takes, he finds helping some means harming others. Will it all end, as 80 years of superhero fiction suggest, in a meaningless, explosive slugfest? 

I can only comment on the hundred, or so, pages that I read but 'Turbulence' comes across as a verbose read with a lot of detail that doesn't seem to have much to do with the plot (although I'll admit that I could be wrong here, not having finished the book and all...) Normally I can deal with that but what made me put the book down was that it felt like 'Turbulence' was a book all about discussing superheroes rather than letting people actually be superheroes. I think there's definitely a lot of discussion to be had here but it's not a book that I want to be reading right now... so I'm not :o)

This has been an odd post for me to write then... The blurb looks great and I can see a lot of potential but it just didn't work for me. It might work for you though, let me know if you read 'Turbulence' and what you thought. Did I put the book down too soon?

Apparently Titan are giving away ten free copies of 'Turbulence' over on Twitter (if your interest has been piqued by the blurb here). All you need to do is tweet the link to this post to @Titanbooks (#Turbulence) along with a description of the most original superhero you can think of. Samit will pick ten favourites and they all get a book...