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lemon_the_emu's review against another edition
Not really enjoying - I can't get into it.
melissah's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ariannemaya's review against another edition
4.0
This is the kind of book that makes me wish it existed back when I was a teenager. It was all kind of delightful, and it means so much to me to have a bisexual teen girl as the MC :)
bex_knighthunterbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
An entertaining read, with a cute Sapphic romance, lovable characters, and a new take on the superhero genre.
To be honest, I'm pretty uninterested in superheroes, having suffered pretty early from the oversaturation, however this was different enough to keep my interest. The story is set a few hundred years in our future, after a period of 'disasters' following a massive solar flare. I did enjoy this as a starting point, but for me I found the setting too familiar given the huge upheaval - I'd have liked to see more differences against our contemporary world to make it feel real, but this might not be a complaint I'd have had if I'd read this as a teenager.
I liked that the characters were generally diverse and queer, although on the world building side they are diverse and queer in very similar ways to people today, without the questioning of these norms (e.g. around gender). I did find the characters really likeable though, and especially enjoyed the main romance with it's good length build up. Jess was quite frustratingly oblivious and naïve for most of the book, but once I realised that was just what the story was going for I stopped eye rolling quite so hard.
I was initially concerned that this was going to play 'straight' the heroes vs. villains dichotomy, and so was very pleased when the story started to ask the questions of what makes a hero and are the villains really evil, and explore the government's role in all this and the purpose of celebrity culture. It took a while to get to this interesting stuff though, and I'd say this doesn't standalone well - the sequels are needed to actually resolve the main plot! The plot itself felt very convenient at times, with decisions not always making sense to me.
This is fun if you don't think about it too deeply!
To be honest, I'm pretty uninterested in superheroes, having suffered pretty early from the oversaturation, however this was different enough to keep my interest. The story is set a few hundred years in our future, after a period of 'disasters' following a massive solar flare. I did enjoy this as a starting point, but for me I found the setting too familiar given the huge upheaval - I'd have liked to see more differences against our contemporary world to make it feel real, but this might not be a complaint I'd have had if I'd read this as a teenager.
I liked that the characters were generally diverse and queer, although on the world building side they are diverse and queer in very similar ways to people today, without the questioning of these norms (e.g. around gender). I did find the characters really likeable though, and especially enjoyed the main romance with it's good length build up. Jess was quite frustratingly oblivious and naïve for most of the book, but once I realised that was just what the story was going for I stopped eye rolling quite so hard.
I was initially concerned that this was going to play 'straight' the heroes vs. villains dichotomy, and so was very pleased when the story started to ask the questions of what makes a hero and are the villains really evil, and explore the government's role in all this and the purpose of celebrity culture. It took a while to get to this interesting stuff though, and I'd say this doesn't standalone well - the sequels are needed to actually resolve the main plot! The plot itself felt very convenient at times, with decisions not always making sense to me.
This is fun if you don't think about it too deeply!
hereforthefunofit's review against another edition
some of the most uninspired writing I've encountered in some time
hannahhmh's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, so the plot may be predictable and bad but the romance was so cute it made up for everything.
juliact4's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book a lot, I liked the whole plot with the meta-humans and so on. I also really liked Jess and Abby's story, it was really cute (although at times too cheesy for my taste). However, the reason I almost stopped reading the book was how clueless Jess was about everything happening around her constantly. I understand how Jess not knowing certain things until later in the book was part of the story, but the clues were soooo obvious sometimes. I'm glad I forced myself to finish it, though. It had a good ending (again, a bit cheesy) that left me wanting to read the next book, especially if the sequel is from Bells' POV since he was by far one of my favourite characters.
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
4.0
I came into this one without a lot of expectations, but ended up really enjoying this fun YA superhero story set in a somewhat bleak future where solar flares in 2028 wreak havoc on the electrical systems of the planet, but also unlock the "superhero" gene in a small percentage of the population.
Jessica Tran is the daughter of the two C-level superheroes who keep her town safe from villains. As she approaches her 17th birthday she desperately tries to uncover any superpowers she may have inherited from her parents. When it seems clear she hasn't inherited any, she agrees to a mysterious internship at a major robotics company that turns out to actually be in the secret lab of her parents' sworn enemies, and also happens to be with her longtime crush.
As Jess begins to unravel the carefully spun narratives that hold her world together, what she discovers may have consequences for the whole world. Another plus is that it's set in a generally LGBTQ+ accepting world (Jess is bisexual, her best friend is trans, and plenty of side characters fit somewhere in the queer rainbow), so plenty of sensitivity is shown to characters not automatically falling into heterosexual or cisgender norms, without having to make a big deal about it.
Jessica Tran is the daughter of the two C-level superheroes who keep her town safe from villains. As she approaches her 17th birthday she desperately tries to uncover any superpowers she may have inherited from her parents. When it seems clear she hasn't inherited any, she agrees to a mysterious internship at a major robotics company that turns out to actually be in the secret lab of her parents' sworn enemies, and also happens to be with her longtime crush.
As Jess begins to unravel the carefully spun narratives that hold her world together, what she discovers may have consequences for the whole world. Another plus is that it's set in a generally LGBTQ+ accepting world (Jess is bisexual, her best friend is trans, and plenty of side characters fit somewhere in the queer rainbow), so plenty of sensitivity is shown to characters not automatically falling into heterosexual or cisgender norms, without having to make a big deal about it.
cherrymf15's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
dame_samara's review against another edition
I wasn't sure how I'd like this book but have been craving more superhero fiction after binge "reading" (listening) to the Renegades Series.
I can't say I was disappointed by this book but I certainly wasn't wow-ed by it either. Their were no surprising twist or reveals. Which is ok, because it adds to the overall humor of the book. It really plays towards the ongoing joke of how can no one notice that Superman is Clark Kent it is just a pair of glasses. So instead of waiting on edge wanting to find out the identities of these people you are instead giggling and rolling your eyes as people fail to put two and two together.
I was also all for the awkward queer romance, It makes me so happy that YA Fiction now has this kind of representation. Also normalizing Trans people, I'm also always here for.
What I had not expected to pop, or not at least by that point in reading was race relations in this novel. When Captain Orion begins speaking poorly of Smasher and Shockwave due to their ethnicity and nationality, I became infuriated.
But also it made me more intrigued to learn about the systematic racism that is now most certainly is part of the Hero's League. I hope to see this further explored in the sequel because the whole system of the 'hero and villain' tracks seem inherently flawed and discriminatory.
Especially since at the end when we see Captain Orion and Mrs. Mischief discussing that the whole reason Mrs. Mischief is a Villain boils down to who she was in a relationship with. It made me uncomfortable, reminding me of a mixture of Eugenics and keeping the bloodline pure.
I can't say I was disappointed by this book but I certainly wasn't wow-ed by it either. Their were no surprising twist or reveals. Which is ok, because it adds to the overall humor of the book. It really plays towards the ongoing joke of how can no one notice that Superman is Clark Kent it is just a pair of glasses. So instead of waiting on edge wanting to find out the identities of these people you are instead giggling and rolling your eyes as people fail to put two and two together.
I was also all for the awkward queer romance, It makes me so happy that YA Fiction now has this kind of representation. Also normalizing Trans people, I'm also always here for.
But also it made me more intrigued to learn about the systematic racism that is now most certainly is part of the Hero's League. I hope to see this further explored in the sequel because the whole system of the 'hero and villain' tracks seem inherently flawed and discriminatory.
Especially since at the end when we see Captain Orion and Mrs. Mischief discussing that the whole reason Mrs. Mischief is a Villain boils down to who she was in a relationship with. It made me uncomfortable, reminding me of a mixture of Eugenics and keeping the bloodline pure.