What happens when your hero dies in their attempt to fulfill his prophecy. The champion fail before they have a chance to save their world? The Backup Heroes come to the rescue! Captain Iladrius and his DAM (Disaster Aversion and Mitigation) crew, basically a ragtag group of crew members on the ship, Jatarah, travels to worlds wherein the hero has failed. They try to pick up and finish what the prophesied hero failed to do. If they are unable to save the imperiled world, the inhabitants are evacuated.

It's a novel idea to me. It's always the hero who wrestles and fights and overcomes obstacles and in the end manages to fulfill the prophecy and then save the world! But having that age old stereotype fail, and then following the backup heroes traverse in a world unknown to them and as foreigners having to fight stereotypes and xenophobia in spite of the locals impending destruction.

The DAM crew is fighting a horrible army of something called the Endless, and they fight for other worlds because they lost their own, so every member comes from unique backgrounds and cultures. They are granted an ability from Jatarah which gives them a specific position on the crew and job when they get to a new world.
The characters joined at different times, so the longest lived ones have lost former crewmates. This creates tension between the longest lasting crew members and the newer ones that have yet to lose hope and are willing to take the fight to the Endless.

The characters are all flawed and have differing opinions which make them stand apart and makes them easily likeable. They want the best for the peoples they try to help and following the crew trying to save a world they know nothing of, except that it's on the brink of destruction.

The Backup Heroes is an easy recommendation, just on the basic premise of being about backup heroes. I am left with questions and a want for more padding in the story. It wasn't quite a bareboned story but more details and exploration of the characters would be a warm welcome.

3.5 stars

While the book started off a bit hard to follow, things began to make sense around the middle. By the end, I found myself rooting for the characters. The sharp writing and well-constructed magic system added depth. The world was also interesting and unique which was very intriguing.

With engaging action and emotional conflicts, the story explores loyalty, sacrifice, and the cost of saving worlds. This book offers a good, short read. I'm excited to see more from Quinn Thomas. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

3.5

I moved this onto my TBR list when I saw the cover pop up on NetGalley. It was a colourful papery-style scene that isn’t grabbed my attention. Shortly after, the cover art totally changed! There’s nothing wrong with the new one (although perhaps it looks a little middle-grade) but the original was beautiful!

Anyway.

This was a beautiful example of “starting late” with an opening: we jump straight into the plot and spend a good few chapters trying to ascertain who’s who and what’s going on. I found this a refreshing approach to world-building once I realized it was intentional and this wasn’t, like book five or an established world.

Our story continues in this vein: pretty much non-stop action all the way through. Because of this, it’s a pretty fast read!

While I like succinct prose, this could have been more fleshed out. It almost felt rushed, as we jumped from action scene to action scene. I still got a reasonable handle on the characters but we could have gone further.

It looks like this is setting up for future adventures but this could also work as a video game!

I enjoyed this one. I do agree with other reviews that there was a skip in the world building and, for a time, I did feel lost; however, that went away about 70 pages in. I liked the characters. I felt for them. I love a good found family trope and I think this did well in that theme and also with the mistrust that comes with having a found family. This also gave me some Becky Chambers’ The Way to a Small, Angry Planet vibes, so that may also be why I enjoyed this so much. More action than that book had, though.

Overall I think this was a fun book, it was just lacking the last few finer details.

In summary Captain Iladrius and his DAM crew are there to save the day when the champion fails. The book centres around the newest recruit, Surrah’s, actions.

I’m going to start with what I feel were the weaker parts of the book:

My first thoughts of the book were pretty confusing to be honest. I felt as though there wasn’t much world building and I was thrust straight into the thick of the story without understanding much about the characters or the world we were submerged in. I think it can work in a lot of books but I don’t quite think that this was executed as strongly as it could have been.

I think the book is a bit too short. I would have liked more time spent around certain plots within the book and as I mentioned before I think there could have been some more depth in to the start of the book.

Some parts were a little bit choppy and could have done with a bit more refinement to them, just to help us as the readers to understand a bit more.

The strengths of the book:

I think there are a lot of fun moments and I liked a lot of the dialogue between the characters. I definitely feel like with a few more chapters / pages then this book would have been stronger because we would have known more and had more time to form attachments to the characters.

I liked the multiple POVs in the book, and I find with some multiple POVs it can be pointless but this didn’t feel like it with this book.

I loved the idea of the world we were reading about, I feel as though it just needed a bit more refining.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to be an ARC reader in exchange for my honest review.

The Backup Heroes by Quinn Thomas
Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary:
Captain Iladrius and his crew serve as a safety net for when the “real” heroes fail, but when one member chooses to risk her life rather than see another world fall, it threatens to bring about the crew’s end.

Captain Iladrius and his DAM (Disaster Aversion and Mitigation) crew are not just heroes. They’re the hero-iest of heroes, because they step in after a world’s champion has flopped. When all hope is gone and disaster feels certain, their ship, the Jaratah, appears, marking one final chance to avert catastrophe.

The DAM crew chase a horde of monsters known as the Endless from world to world, doing what they can to save the various peoples they come across and stymy the Endless’ progress. When Surrah, the newest member of Iladrius’ crew, grows close with one of the locals of a world, she throws out the rules meant to keep the crew safe and places herself in great danger.

Surrah’s actions threatens to tear the crew apart, as members are forced to choose whether to risk their own positions to help her. Iladrius himself must make a choice that will shape the future of the Jaratah and its mission. Whatever he decides, it’s clear that the fight against the Endless will never be the same.

First Impressions:
I was very excited to dive into The Backup Heroes. The blurb promised a fun and adventurous story, and to a certain extent, it delivered on that promise. However, this book ended up being a bit of a mixed bag for me. While there was plenty of potential, the rushed pacing ultimately impacted my overall experience.

In many ways, I think this book is best summed up by a line one of the characters says: "There is no time to explain." Unfortunately, that sentiment applies to the story itself—everything happens so quickly that it didn’t give me enough time to fully immerse myself in the world, characters, or plot.

Plot & Pacing:
The story throws readers straight into the action, which can work brilliantly. However, here it felt a bit confusing because we weren’t given enough time to learn about the characters, the world, or the magic system in a natural, gradual way. A lot of aspects were simply told instead of shown, and we were often given small fragments of important information without fully delving into it, which left me with a lot of unanswered questions.

This lack of depth also impacted the plot, which had a lot of moving parts but felt rushed and unresolved in places. Certain storylines wrapped up too quickly, got thrown at us abruptly, or didn’t fully come together. The potential for an exciting and engaging adventure was there, but the fast pace didn’t allow the story or its elements to fully breathe for me.

Characters:
The characters had the potential to be interesting, but they weren’t given enough space to develop. Instead of showing us their backstories or relationships, the book relied on telling us about them, which made it harder to feel emotionally connected to the crew. As a result, the characters sometimes felt flat, and I struggled to distinguish between them—especially at the start of the book, even with the list of characters provided.

I was also surprised that certain characters who seemed like they would have a big role ended up barely being in the story. This added to the feeling that the book was rushed, as I wanted more time to get to know everyone and understand their dynamics.

Writing Style:
The writing style was fun and fit the adventurous tone of the story, but it was occasionally clunky, which made reading tricky for me as someone with dyslexia. There were moments where I wasn’t sure if I’d misread something, so I found myself rereading certain phrases to clarify what was happening. This occasionally pulled me out of the story, but overall, the writing had an energetic quality that suited the book’s premise.

World-Building:
The world itself was full of potential, with hints of a fun and engaging setting. However, like the characters and plot, the world-building also didn’t fully come through due to the story’s rushed nature. The magic system and the larger world felt underexplored, leaving me wanting more detail and context to fully understand the stakes and the crew’s mission.

Final Thoughts:
The rushed pacing and lack of depth made it hard for me to connect with The Backup Heroes the way I wanted to. If this book had at least 50 more pages to flesh out the characters, their backstories, and the world, I think this could have easily been a 4-star read. As it stands, the story feels like it’s missing the richness and emotional impact it was capable of delivering.

That said, the book still has its fun moments—particularly its adventurous tone—and I think readers looking for a fast-paced, light-hearted read will enjoy it. The covers are also stunning, and they reflect the story’s playful tone perfectly!

Ultimately, The Backup Heroes is a book with great potential that just needed a little more time and space to shine.

I had the wonderful opportunity to read this book as an ARC reader through NetGalley, for which I want to express my gratitude! This review is my honest and voluntary opinion, and I am thrilled to share my thoughts.

This review can also be found on Goodreads on my account Meltriestowriteastory.
I will not be sharing this review on my TikTok account.

Captain Iladrius and his DAM (Disaster Aversion and Mitigation) crew step in when a world’s champion fails to succeed - arriving as a last ditch effort to save the day. Chasing monsters known as ‘The Endless’ from world to world, they try their best to save those left without a hero to do so.

I was very confused at the start of this book! It seemed to drop us in the middle without any sort of world building and establishing the characters. There was a feel of it being a mid series book rather than the first in a series. It needed to set up the magic systems, the world and the characters - even just briefly - before getting into the bulk of the story. It sort of took for granted that we knew things, but obviously we didn’t as there was no prior development!

The characters were interesting, but slightly two dimensional. The character list at the start gave us some background but not sufficient to be able to add weight to the characters actions and their motives. We didn’t really get to follow the progression of their character development throughout the novel as we didn’t get a starting base.

I loved the crew dynamics - the idea that each of them brings a valuable skill to the team. They just needed to be utilised more. Again, the basics were there - it just needed more padding.

This was, however, a fun read. The author managed to seamlessly intertwine high stakes action and comedy, to make a highly entertaining story. It just needed far more fleshing out!

ARC copy provided by Ebbing Neptune Publishing & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A weakness of mine is occasionally forgetting who’s who when there are a lot of characters in the story. Thankfully, in The Backup Heroes, I didn’t get characters mixed up since the story mainly focuses on Merit and Surrah, the crew of Disaster Aversion and Mitigation (DAM).

When a world is under imminent threat of destruction due to a rent that unleashes a swarm of monsters called the Endless, the DAM crew is there to help, doing their best to protect and rescue the people they encounter.

Merit possesses a gift for understanding the locals. Our newest member of the DAM crew, Surrah, is responsible for figuring out how the magic works on the worlds they wind up on.

During her investigation into the magic to close the rent in the Free Peoples’ world, she becomes close to a local, promises him to save his world, and places herself in danger that could tear the crew apart.

Overall, the book was average for me. I feel there are several aspects that need more detail, such as the background stories of our characters. I wish the author had explored them in greater depth. But if you’re not too concerned with details, you might wanna try this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Ebbing Neptune Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For the first several chapters I had very little clue what was going on or who was who. The story felt like it started in the middle or like the world building had already been done but it all started to come together about midway through when all the threads started to pull tighter, helping to make sense of what we'd read previously. It was quite clever really.
The characters at first didn't speak to me but by the end I was really rooting for them and was pleased with their progression. Overall it was a good short read.

This is an irreverently funny and action-packed adventure that will keep you turning the pages!

Follow the crew of the Jaratah, a ragtag group of heroes who are the last chance for those lucky enough to be visited by them.

Appearing only when a world's own hero has failed, these DAM (Disaster Aversion and Mitigation) specialists work to save as many innocents as possible whilst eradicating the universe of the monsters known as the 'Endless'.

But what happens if the local inhabitants are bigots and don't want to speak with outsiders?
What if those that the crew are trying to save refuse to speak with anyone female?
What happens when the newest member of the crew defies orders because of a promise made to a local child?

Only reading onwards will answer these questions and take you on a fun and thought-provoking journey you won't want to miss!


*I received an advance reader copy for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review*

I loved the blurb/description of the book. It was very intriguing. Upon reading the first few chapters it made it feel like a middle of the series style book; no explanations of lore or backgrounds just jumping right in. This style continued through the rest of the book until the very end where there was very minimal explanation.

The characters were kind of flat; it took ages for me to be able to tell them apart, even with a character description list in the beginning, because they all felt the same. They felt one dimensional with minimal character development. Merit and Surrah improved the most out of the DAM crew, but I still wasn’t a huge fan. My favorite character was Mathym and he was a smallish side character.

The ending felt rushed with the reveal just being thrown in real fast with minor explanations. Followed by a fumbled together HEA.

2.5/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Ebbing Neptune Publishing for providing the ARC!

This is such a unique story I loved it! It's cozy, fun and heartwarming with funny moments and endearing characters

A unique concept and cozy, heartwarming story that at times did feel disjointed but was a good read overall.

I loved this book. This is a great, well-paced story. I loved the characters and the banter between them. The writing is very sharp, and I found myself re-reading some passages because of the great writing. I also loved the curses; very inventive. The magic system was also very good as was the world-building. This book was captivating from beginning to end and I hope that Quinn Thomas writes more books about this universe. Thank you to Netgalley and Ebbing Neptune Publishing for the advance reader copy.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of this book.

I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that just throws you into the story like this one does! It was almost like the author was trying to introduce you to an alien world that you don’t know anything about…oh wait…that’s exactly what she’s doing!

You’re along for the ride with the crew of the Jaratah. They are who gets called in to save a world from the Fallen after that world’s hero has failed. The crew is absolutely brimming with personality. There’s some witty dialog here, but the story itself seemed to take a little bit for me to fully catch on, but once you start to get adapted to the world, everything clicks. There’s even a fun little magic system in play here!

One thing that bugged me, is that I couldn’t tell if this was sci-fi or fantasy. I don’t know if the Jaratah sails the seas, or soars through the cosmos. Maybe it does both? That question isn’t very important at all at the end of the day. This was just a really fun read that never overstayed its welcome. Highly recommend this one!

I saw the cover of this book and originally thought it was middle-grade, however the description totally hooked me! The cover on the Ereader version with the paper dragon is so beautiful.

The tags for the book included "humor and satire" and there is nothing better than a fantasy that makes you laugh. And trust me- this one did!

I was a little worried that I was going to be totally lost because the prologue throws a lot at you at once but as soon as you start the first chapter, everything makes senese. The characters all have their own unique personalities and goals. My favorite character was for sure Surrah!

I hope this book turns into a series because I would love to learn more about each character! I read this in just a few sittings!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

(this book is not yet listed on GoodReads)

I had a LOT of fun with this, I really enjoyed it and found it hard to put down once I started.

Action packed and brimming with charm, it reminded me a lot of Joss Whedon’s Firefly and MCU’s Guardians of the galaxy. The pacing in some places makes it a 4 star rather than 5 but still a great experience overall.

It’s quirky, fun and a really entertaining read. Highly recommend!

I truly really enjoyed this book. It felt like a warm hug between found family while watching guardians of the galaxy and eating popcorn. I hope that made sense, because it was funny and hopefully and I loved all the characters

The Backup Heroes tells a funny and emotive tale of a disaster prevention crew called to save worlds after their own heroes fail. It presents an interesting take on the sci-fi genre, along with an inventive magic system.

I enjoyed the use of distinct POV chapters that allowed insights into the motives of the main characters. The book also started off well by throwing the reader straight into the action. However, I found it difficult to picture the characters throughout the book. I would have liked to see more explanations to help with visualisation and perhaps more succinct descriptions during fight scenes.

Overall, I liked this story. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try out a comedic sci-fi with a fast paced plotline.

Overall, a fun but unremarkable read. I've got a few complaints though that the book would be a lot nicer without! Lots of overdescription especially in the first half, but underexplanation when it's needed most. What was the dagger? What is a named? The climax felt very quick and basically vanished into thin air after the big bad was defeated. There's supposed to be a found family, but Kallion never had a true moment of care between the other crew members. I didn't mind the writing style at all, I got through the book fairly quickly. The main characters weren't bad at all, could use a bit more work but still likeable. Personally I would like more visual descriptions for them; I don't think a single physical aspect of cravoc was described. But like I said, this book was a fun read in the end. The concept of many magic systems and gods and worlds and people is a really interesting one that can go really far. I also think the cover is a bit plain and doesn't explore all the exciting things the story has going for it. Where's the crew, or our main POVs Merit and Surrah? These are just a couple of my thoughts but I enjoyed the book so keep it up :)