Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Heroine Complex

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn

5 reviews

bumblemee's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-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

3.0

first of all: i love the cover! it's has great colors, it's dynamic and very fun to look at, love it! <3

other than that, i have mixed feelings on this one. i liked how funny it was and how there's some rep for asian american superheroines that are quite badass - very cool! i also enjoyed the romance aspect, i think they are very cute together and i felt the chemistry between them.
the writing style was fitting for a superhero story, it felt like the novel version of a comic.
still, this book didn't grip my attention enough. maybe i expected the wrong things from it. for example, i thought it would feel more fast paced. but while there's certainly something happening all of the time, it still felt weirdly slowed down, which made it drag on for too long for my taste. also because of the focus put on the character relationships, i felt like the plot suffered a bit. the tension didn't get through to me, i simply accepted everything that was happening and didn't feel surprised by the plot twists, even though i didn't see everything coming. that was a weird experience and i can't really explain it. maybe it had something to do with me feeling like the way they figured things out wasn't done in an exciting way, which might be because the author already tried to handle a lot of character development for a lot of people at the same time.

oh, and there were things that i found a weird choice - for example i was confused why they thought that "anger shatters field" was evie? because why on earth wouldn't her stone have something to do with fire? eventhough she uses emotions to fuel the fire, the fire is the most obvious thing about her powers and they probably had a lot of stones they couldn't tie to a person since it was explained that there were a lot of people with minor powers. idk, this isn't a big thing, but somehow it still threw me off a bit.

he character arcs made sense to me, especially evie and aveda and i think they were well done. however, other characters like bea felt soooo random. yes, she is a teenager, but some of her decisions were too bad even for a teenage girl, my god.
oh, and i liked nate a lot, but for his role of being the smart one he sometimes wasn't that smart?

like .. he's the son of a demon princess, but he can't piece together that some of the stones resemble the powers of people, despite it being quite obvious? especially the gps tracking thing? he explained it with his extreme attention to detail, but still ... idk man

all in all i would recommend this book since it does have a lot of fun things going for it, even if it wasn't really my jam.. but honestly, i could imagine that i would've liked it better if i listened to it via audiobook, since the parts i thought of as dragging probably woudn't have felt as dragging.

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renpuspita's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Part of Heroine Complex series binge reading.

Heroine Complex is the first book of...Heroine Complex series. Dunno why the series called the same with the first book, publisher decisions not mine. For me, this book is dramatic, all over the place and extra. But, in a good way. I admit I decide to collect the set because the premise of Asian superhero (or super heroine) are unique back then in 2016, long before we got Shangchi or Ms Marvel. Reading Heroine Complex feel like reading a superhero comic or movie but in a novel format. That's why there some sound effect that a little bit weird when written in the book, but after awhile I don't mind it.

Told thoroughly from Evie Tanaka's first PoV, the Asian stereotype is so true, it's hurt to admit it. Being Indonesian myself, so basically, also Asian, I understand some of Evie's inner turmoil. She used to bottle up her feeling, avoiding conflict to finally just snap up and awaken her true power, a fire-wielding power. I get why Aveda Jupiter, Evie's childhood friend turn boss, getting jealous because she feel that Evie now steal the spotlight while Evie in the first place just want to hide her ability. The book is painful to read because it's pretty glaring that Evie and Aveda's relationship is basically a toxic friendship. Evie feel grateful because Aveda back then defend her when they are in the kindergarten and then again when Evie drop out from college because her power lashed out. But, I think Aveda take it all for the granted and with her penchant for diva-ness. Even their school friend, Scott, now that Evie and Aveda is being toxic to each other. Although, Kuhn finally address this toxicity with Evie stand up to Aveda and Aveda kinda redeemed herself in the end. Just a little bit, though.

The world-saving plot is just like your usual plot and what make Heroine Complex interesting is more like in the dynamic between the characters. We get to know Maisy, a mean and nasty antagonist blogger that ready to tear Aveda apart in the online community, and Shasta, her sidekick that apparently hide a secret of her own. We also got introduced to people under Jupiter HQ, from Lucy, the bodyguard slash karaoke enthusiast and Evie's rebellious sister, Bea, that manage to get under Evie's skin by being difficult (she's a teenager, teenager supposed to act difficult). The romance department didn't disappoint since Nathaniel Jones aka Nate, Evie's love interest is an dorky and grumpy beta hero but I liked that Kuhn incorporated tropes that I liked. Basically, friend to lover; although Nate and Evie can't be considered as friend, more like colleague but in a close proximity, and also he feel first, she feel harder. Although at first, the romantic relationship can be categorized into insta-lust at first, but because Evie and Nate already know each other for a long time, this is more like hate-to-love things.

The villain is pretty much comical and the tone of this book also pretty light, so don't take this very seriously. Although, again, the strength of Heroine Complex is the character development and the dynamic. The Asian stereotype might not for everyone forte, but if you are an Asian, you might be feel related to what Evie feels. Also, since she's a first kid, I know very well the pain to be a role model to your sister especially if you also got to be her parents figure. In the end, Evie finally become a super heroine of her own right and the next book, Heroine Worship is told from Aveda's PoV. I admit, I'm intrigued. Aveda is known by her diva attitude and I wonder what Kuhn have for Aveda story in the future.

Content Warnings