15 great fantasy and science fiction books from 2020 you may have missed

2. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

With Marvel and DC bombarding us with new content every couple of weeks, it’s easy to feel superhero exhaustion these days. If you know what I’m talking about, then Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots might be for you. This book is a reversal of classic superhero stories, and fits right into that same niche as The Boys on Amazon Prime Video. Except instead of focusing on super-powered warriors, Hench is told from the perspective of a temp henchwoman named Anna Tromedlov. Anna begins the tale as a remote worker, doing data analysis and spreadsheets for a villain…until she’s invited to a press conference that goes horribly wrong when a superhero intervenes.

There’s a fight, and Anna is seriously injured in the collateral damage. Her former employer kicks her to the curb once they find out how long it’ll take her to heal. Frustrated over the injustice of it all, Anna starts a blog that documents how much collateral damage superheroes cause…and to her surprise, finds her experience is far from unique. Getting the word out is all a matter of compiling the data and clever marketing, which so happens to be something that Anna is an expert at.

Thus begins her rise to becoming a top hench to an even darker villain who recognizes the value in her work. Hench follows Anna’s journey and explores the fun idea that even supervillains need office workers to help them keep the wheels turning.

It’s no small feat to stand out in today’s hyper-saturated superhero market, yet Walschots’ debut novel pulls it off in a way that is both darkly funny, relatable, and extremely satisfying.