The Flash: Hocus Pocus by Barry LygaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
If I'm not mistaken, this is to be the first of a potential series of Flash adventures from Barry Lyga, based on the CW TV series - and while I know Lyga best for his often very dark YA books, this more MG-oriented book marks a much-needed return to his geeky roots.
Hocus Pocus could be a lost episode of the third season of the TV series, but with a few small changes courtesy of Lyga that make the story even better. Sadly for me, one of those changes is not a removal of WestAllen - heck, a lot of my friends in the fandom might run screaming from this book just for the prologue alone, and frankly I think the book could've done without the prologue, unless it was meant to imply that this is on an Earth identical to Earth-1 in every way except that the Flashpoint twist never happened. Just like on the show, the WestAllen scenes feel forced and corny (though at least Barry and Iris draw attention to that fact.) Also, Julian is conspicuous by his absence, with his function in the story largely given to Captain Singh instead, at least in terms of being Barry's superior and constantly wondering why the heck Barry's bailing on everything.
That said, though, I love how Lyga's takes on certain characters - namely, Wally and Caitlin - improve on their TV show counterparts, with Wally even more putting the "Kid" in Kid Flash and cutting loose in a way Keiynan Lonsdale really hasn't gotten the chance to do yet (and why can't he? The man's made of more sunshine than Supergirl, and that's saying something!), while Cait not only gets to show off her intelligence, but also doesn't have her Killer Frost powers bringing her down like the TV writers keep insisting on doing because they can't give her a Grey Jedi-like sense of balance for whatever reason. Lyga also gets Joe, Cisco, H.R. (thank God for H.R. Wells!), and especially Barry quite on point. And while Hocus Pocus isn't the darkest villain Lyga's created yet (not when we've got his books like I Hunt Killers and sequels, or Boy Toy, for that matter), his mind-controlling powers, written scarily similarly to Kilgrave, made me want to do like Reverse-Flash Wells and vibrate my hand through his chest. Especially when he turned my DC fave into his top puppet - though Bar being Bar, he's too smart to entirely lose his faculties.
While I'm extra-psyched for this book's Supergirl counterpart Age of Atlantis next month, I'm also looking forward to the promise of another Barry Lyga Flash novelette to follow up from this one. With that cliffhanger, a perfectly tantalizing teaser just like on the show, there better be one!
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