THE SILVER PRISON

A wisecracking superhero battles supervillains in a militarized near future in Shokeir’s fantasy adventure.

In the 22nd century, the Western Union is an alliance of North American and European nations fighting a seemingly endless war against terrorist groups in Africa and the Middle East. Slate is a genetically engineered supersoldier who’s accidentally brought out of hibernation at a Western Union training base in the Sahara. Equipped with an unremovable silver helmet, he doesn’t need to eat, drink, or breathe—but he does seem compelled to offer snarky commentary in a whiny, “constipated” tone: “I expected to be tortured, not massaged by Fabio,” he says to a man who’s pistol-whipping him for information. Slate also has superhuman strength as well as the abilities to fly and shoot lightning from his fingertips, which enables him to slaughter a group of mercenaries who attack the base. He embarks on a journey across the desert toward Cairo, accompanied by a pickup posse that includes Gilda Plato, a tough military cadet; Victoria Zaidi, the heir to a weapons manufacturer who’s searching for her father’s assassin; and the flaky Gen. Eisenhorn. They take on militias, missile-armed attack drones, and “pinocchios”—spiderlike mobile bombs that latch onto victims and explode. The group’s odyssey coalesces into a mission against Cloak, a criminal organization led by other supersoldiers; these include Repulsa, who telekinetically pummels opponents; Sandtrap, a hulking figure who magnetizes metals; and Houdini, an arrogant sorehead who teleports and says things like “Silence, you swine!” Shokeir’s yarn feels like an insouciant version of an X-Men comic with a touch of cynical politics, as the heroes disparage the Western Union’s neocolonialism while also reluctantly fighting for it. There’s plenty of well-staged, arresting mayhem written in fast-paced, supple prose: “The flight attendant wore an expression of simple shock as she realized an arm was now going through her chest.” Shokeir effectively leavens the carnage with bits of humor, resulting in a nifty, energetic page-turner.

A rollicking SF romp with cinematic action, entertaining banter, and an appealingly scruffy protagonist.