Turbulence

This superhero origin myth with a Bollywood vibe probably looked great in outline, but the overly meta effort provides only a flashy pop-culture backdrop against which very little happens. As passengers slept on a plane from London to India, their dreams were transformed into sometimes fantastically impractical powers. Uzma, an aspiring actress, has the ability to make everyone love her; unfulfilled Tia can now create multiple copies of herself and experience a world of options; Aman can surf and manipulate the Web in his head. With the exception of Vir, an Indian Air Force pilot who is now basically Superman, they are unprepared to battle the passengers who decide to use their powers to achieve world domination. Debut author Basu, likewise undecided, lobs in a fight sequence when the story sags too much, but the narrative meanders as the characters spin their wheels, argue, research superhero stories, hack Web sites, create costumes, and fall in love. Snappy and clever but unfocused and lazy, this may inadvertently be the first hipster superhero story. (July)