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bunnybunny_mp3's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2.5 stars - this may contain some minor spoilers
I have many feelings about this book. Most of them aren’t nice feelings. Also, I’m not that good at making reviews or writing in English since it's not my first language, but I’ll try my best because I feel like ranting about this book.
First of all, I decided to read this book after reading that it had a neurodivergent main character. I was super excited to read it since I found out recently that there is a very high possibility that I myself am neurodivergent. I have been learning more about the community and was anticipating reading this book as fast as I could.
At first, I was having a blast reading this. The book starts with a fanfic. It was really fun and it made me feel connected to the main character right away because of it. I loved to see the cliché fanfic tropes, it was extremely fun and I gave this book 4 stars right away. The fanfiction elements are strong in this book, they gave that sweet nostalgia of late-night questionable fic stories that I used to and still read sometimes.
The characters play with the inverse cliche trope and the plot is a cute superhero cliche story that should warm your heart. Should. But I had a few issues with some parts of the story.
The description of some of the characters did not sit well with me, especially the minorities. There's one BIZARRE scene at the end of the book with a homeless lady that made me cringe so bad I had to stop reading for a few minutes.
Also, as many people have highlighted over the reviews, this book has a weird relationship with the police. First of all, the work that the police do in this book is more of a real-life firefighter than the police, in my opinion. Second, there is a glorification of the police that is really hard to swallow. It gets weird around the 180 pages mark, Nick's dad is described as this great, hard-working guy with a big heart that made a mistake - the so-called mistake was to actually physically assault a witness (?) and it's said in the book later on that his friends helped him so he would get just a demotion instead of being fired as he should. That... was really weird. Really really weird. If he's violent he should be fired and the fact that his friends could influence the final decision was such a weird thing to put on a book that should be heartwarming? There's also a scene where his dad slams his hand on the table so hard that it shakes, he also says in this scene "why do you have to be the way you are?" and there's also another scene where he - for some reason- forgets the ONE thing about Nick that is really important and it leads to Nick having a panic attack. He does apologize but these other scenes plus the physical assault to the witness made me feel like this guy really should be fired. Nick also seems to have knowledge about police brutality and the fact that he doesn't see a problem about his dad punching a witness could have been more explored so it didn't seem like one of those "he made a mistake but I promise he's a nice guy!" kind of excuse that is normally used. This kind of excuse takes away the responsibility of the cop's own acts. The way that nick's dad handles Nick's ADHD is also disappointing. He forgets Nick's triggers and when Nick is grounded he makes Nick live without wifi, games, tv, or anything that could be used as comfort for Nick to the point that it made me think "if I were in Nick's position I would have multiple panic attacks as I would have nothing to comfort me". Everyone knows that Nick has special needs but no one seems to actually understand and respect said needs. And that's actually another thing that made me a little pissed. The way that people react to Nick's hyperfixations.
Through all the book there's this funny habit of every single character where they repeatedly mock Nick's interests to the point that I was like "OK, WE GET IT, EVERYONE THINKS NICK'S INTERESTS ARE STUPID, I GET IT" Because it happens ALL THE TIME, OVER AND OVER. Friends tease each other sometimes, that's normal. But the fact that hyperfixations are described as cringy, stupid, annoying and the fact that "obsession" is used almost as a synonym to hyperfixation was so frustrating. The only time that someone seems ok with the fact that Nick has a hyperfixation with superheroes in this book that I can remember now is around page 270 where Owen is trying to manipulate Nick.
Hyperfixaations are normally healthy and are used for comfort for neurodivergent people and I'm just so tired of seeing it being mocked over and over. It can be something healthy as long as it's managed well and it can bring so much knowledge. Even with things not seen as important. Nick loves superheroes, the story could focus on showing how because of it he learned more about the history of Extraordinaries or the biological aspects of superheroes or even what materials are best for costumes. Even with fanfiction and/or fan art, there are elements of creativity and writing strategies/visual art knowledge that could be explored more. I'm just tired of seeing hyperfixations being mocked. The author says at the end of the book, in the "about the author" that "Being queer himself, Klune believes it's important -now more than ever- to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories" and I love that! I really do! but I wish that at least one character treated Nick as a person that is allowed to have feelings and interests that are not usual without making it negative or seen as annoying. I'm sure that the author had good intentions but I also wish that he had been more gentle with the way that he wrote about Nick's ADHD because there are a bunch of neurodivergent youth reading this.
Besides that, I love Jazz, Seth is an adorable romantic interest and the main plot twist was really nice. The final battle is satisfying and funny.
Overall, there were some elements that I hated about this book but I did have a good time. Not really sure if I'll recommend this. I heard that there's a second book, if I read it, I'll be updating this review :]
Favorite quote:
"French toast waits for no man"
Thank you for reading this and please remember to drink water today. My apology for any spelling errors :D
(Fun fact – I started reading this book while waiting in the line for my first shot of the vaccine. It could have been the worse 2/3 hours of waiting in line of my life if I didn’t have this book with me and for that I am grateful)
I have many feelings about this book. Most of them aren’t nice feelings. Also, I’m not that good at making reviews or writing in English since it's not my first language, but I’ll try my best because I feel like ranting about this book.
First of all, I decided to read this book after reading that it had a neurodivergent main character. I was super excited to read it since I found out recently that there is a very high possibility that I myself am neurodivergent. I have been learning more about the community and was anticipating reading this book as fast as I could.
At first, I was having a blast reading this. The book starts with a fanfic. It was really fun and it made me feel connected to the main character right away because of it. I loved to see the cliché fanfic tropes, it was extremely fun and I gave this book 4 stars right away. The fanfiction elements are strong in this book, they gave that sweet nostalgia of late-night questionable fic stories that I used to and still read sometimes.
The characters play with the inverse cliche trope and the plot is a cute superhero cliche story that should warm your heart. Should. But I had a few issues with some parts of the story.
The description of some of the characters did not sit well with me, especially the minorities. There's one BIZARRE scene at the end of the book with a homeless lady that made me cringe so bad I had to stop reading for a few minutes.
Also, as many people have highlighted over the reviews, this book has a weird relationship with the police. First of all, the work that the police do in this book is more of a real-life firefighter than the police, in my opinion. Second, there is a glorification of the police that is really hard to swallow. It gets weird around the 180 pages mark, Nick's dad is described as this great, hard-working guy with a big heart that made a mistake - the so-called mistake was to actually physically assault a witness (?) and it's said in the book later on that his friends helped him so he would get just a demotion instead of being fired as he should. That... was really weird. Really really weird. If he's violent he should be fired and the fact that his friends could influence the final decision was such a weird thing to put on a book that should be heartwarming? There's also a scene where his dad slams his hand on the table so hard that it shakes, he also says in this scene "why do you have to be the way you are?" and there's also another scene where he - for some reason- forgets the ONE thing about Nick that is really important and it leads to Nick having a panic attack. He does apologize but these other scenes plus the physical assault to the witness made me feel like this guy really should be fired. Nick also seems to have knowledge about police brutality and the fact that he doesn't see a problem about his dad punching a witness could have been more explored so it didn't seem like one of those "he made a mistake but I promise he's a nice guy!" kind of excuse that is normally used. This kind of excuse takes away the responsibility of the cop's own acts. The way that nick's dad handles Nick's ADHD is also disappointing. He forgets Nick's triggers and when Nick is grounded he makes Nick live without wifi, games, tv, or anything that could be used as comfort for Nick to the point that it made me think "if I were in Nick's position I would have multiple panic attacks as I would have nothing to comfort me". Everyone knows that Nick has special needs but no one seems to actually understand and respect said needs. And that's actually another thing that made me a little pissed. The way that people react to Nick's hyperfixations.
Through all the book there's this funny habit of every single character where they repeatedly mock Nick's interests to the point that I was like "OK, WE GET IT, EVERYONE THINKS NICK'S INTERESTS ARE STUPID, I GET IT" Because it happens ALL THE TIME, OVER AND OVER. Friends tease each other sometimes, that's normal. But the fact that hyperfixations are described as cringy, stupid, annoying and the fact that "obsession" is used almost as a synonym to hyperfixation was so frustrating. The only time that someone seems ok with the fact that Nick has a hyperfixation with superheroes in this book that I can remember now is around page 270 where Owen is trying to manipulate Nick.
Hyperfixaations are normally healthy and are used for comfort for neurodivergent people and I'm just so tired of seeing it being mocked over and over. It can be something healthy as long as it's managed well and it can bring so much knowledge. Even with things not seen as important. Nick loves superheroes, the story could focus on showing how because of it he learned more about the history of Extraordinaries or the biological aspects of superheroes or even what materials are best for costumes. Even with fanfiction and/or fan art, there are elements of creativity and writing strategies/visual art knowledge that could be explored more. I'm just tired of seeing hyperfixations being mocked. The author says at the end of the book, in the "about the author" that "Being queer himself, Klune believes it's important -now more than ever- to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories" and I love that! I really do! but I wish that at least one character treated Nick as a person that is allowed to have feelings and interests that are not usual without making it negative or seen as annoying. I'm sure that the author had good intentions but I also wish that he had been more gentle with the way that he wrote about Nick's ADHD because there are a bunch of neurodivergent youth reading this.
Besides that, I love Jazz, Seth is an adorable romantic interest and the main plot twist was really nice. The final battle is satisfying and funny.
Overall, there were some elements that I hated about this book but I did have a good time. Not really sure if I'll recommend this. I heard that there's a second book, if I read it, I'll be updating this review :]
Favorite quote:
"French toast waits for no man"
Thank you for reading this and please remember to drink water today. My apology for any spelling errors :D
(Fun fact – I started reading this book while waiting in the line for my first shot of the vaccine. It could have been the worse 2/3 hours of waiting in line of my life if I didn’t have this book with me and for that I am grateful)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Violence
there's a major glorification of the police, some weird ways of describing minorities and some aspects of the ADHD of the main character is seen as annoying and cringytrulydevious's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Blood, and Body horror
nightlight9's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
nothingrhymeswithrachel's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Oh my god this book was so frustrating. First, the pro-police stance is gross. Nick’s dad should have been fired, not just demoted and then PROMOTED AT THE END OF THE BOOK. Beyond the constant police dick-sucking going on, the relationships sucked. Every. single. one. Between Nick and his dad? Toxic. Nick and Seth? Seth deserved better. Owen and Nick? What the fuck even was that? Gibby and Jazz? They’re fine I guess but we didn’t see them much. Jazz was my favorite character in this whole book because she minded her own freaking business. Also, can we talk about how actually STUPID Nick is? Dumb. A dumb man. Just because you’re aware that you’re a dumb teenage boy doesn’t make it okay. It is so infuriating to read. Oh my god. Jazz is the only reason this got any stars from me. I am mainly mad at myself because I know I’m going to read the whole trilogy even though they are probably all going to suck like this. Oh well.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
library_dreamer's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is not for everyone, but it was for me. It's funny. The main character, Nick, is a clueless but loveable ball of energy. He would be the main thing that makes this not for everyone, though. He has ADHD, which can make him insufferable at times. But there is a lot of overlap with my own brand of ADHD, so I really appreciated the rep and laugh out loud moments. How he is giving his friend some profound advice at one point and then jumping in a polluted river to try and get superpowers at another point.
I loved all of his friends and the relationship he had with his dad. There are some problematic elements concerning his dad and the police department he works for, made worse by the fact that the book was released the day after a very high profile case of police brutality in the U.S., but based on an interview with the author, I am going to withhold judgment on this until I read the sequel this summer.
I would like to know why Klune loves the color cerulean so much, though.
I loved all of his friends and the relationship he had with his dad. There are some problematic elements concerning his dad and the police department he works for, made worse by the fact that the book was released the day after a very high profile case of police brutality in the U.S., but based on an interview with the author, I am going to withhold judgment on this until I read the sequel this summer.
I would like to know why Klune loves the color cerulean so much, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Addiction
caidyn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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
3.75
This book was out of my wheelhouse. I'm not into superheroes and this is a very cutesy book. Are those bad things? Nope. But it's not entirely my thing. I absolutely adored how Klune wove the story. It felt like a YA book with actual teen characters. And the fanfiction? Amazing. It read in that cringey way that fanfiction can. I can't wait to see what the next book brings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent
wardenred's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
You’re a goddamn Extraordinary. Do you know what that makes me? That makes me the clueless comedic relief! I never wanted to be the clueless comedic relief. I’m supposed to be the hero!
This was a really fun and relatable read. I mean, sometimes I had to look away from the page because of a certain nearly unbearable degree of secondhand embarrassment for the MC... but that's because I've pretty much recognized myself in some moments. The kind of moments that my brain loves to play on repeat at 2 AM when I'm trying to sleep. Anyway, given that Nicky gets to save the day and have a happy ending and be generally surrounded by people who love him for who he is, even the secondhand embarrassment was surprisingly cathartic. :)
I'm not sure if it's me being genre-savvy or if the plot twists were intentionally written to be as transparent as possible. They were certainly extremely transparent for me, and that's where a lot of the fun from this book came from: I generally knew what was going to happen long before the MC did, but I had no idea how it was going to happen and what was needed to make the MC aware that it's been happening all alone. It's a quality I'm used to finding (and absolutely loving) in fanfic more often than in published books. It was awesome to see it here. Also, fitting, since the MC is a fic writer. (Although I do hope that "best writer in the fandom" is Nicky's own assessment of his talents and not a hard fact. I mean, it's an awesome assessment of one's talents to have! More power to Nicky! It's just that after spending close to 20 years reading fanfic, I know it can be better, okay?)
There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments here, a lot of raw feeling, and the cutest friends-to-lovers slow, slow burn ever. Also, I'm so here for this awesome all-queer cast and all the found family goodness. One thing I can always trust T.J. Klune with: to write a perfect pick-me-up story. I absolutely can't wait to read the sequel!
One thing that did make me lower the number of stars just a tiny bit was the presence of what I can only call copaganda. The MC's dad is an awesome character. So is Officer Rookie. I wouldn't want them to be absent from the story in any way. But I could use a bit less of a general "cops are the true heroes and they could have been doing their jobs even better if the Extraordinaries quit messing around the city" feel. It reads weird in today's landscape, and I'm not even American.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Ableism
copaganda, controlling medication, internalized ableismbooksthatburn's review against another edition
DNF page 111 (27% in).
At first I like the lighthearted tone, but then what was initially sweet started feeling cloying: intense without any heft to it, and no relief. Most moments which seemed like they should have emotional weight and importance just didn’t land for me. Scenes which could have been intense were diffused with humor or antics almost instantly. I like humorous tones sometimes, but when nothing is taken seriously the jokes stop feeling funny. I disliked every scene with the MC’s dad (the few that there were). The MC is oblivious about pretty much everything, and it made me want to yell at the book to get, just, anything about what was going on. I stopped trusting that it would handle anything well, and the way the dad controls the MC's medication didn't feel good.
At first I like the lighthearted tone, but then what was initially sweet started feeling cloying: intense without any heft to it, and no relief. Most moments which seemed like they should have emotional weight and importance just didn’t land for me. Scenes which could have been intense were diffused with humor or antics almost instantly. I like humorous tones sometimes, but when nothing is taken seriously the jokes stop feeling funny. I disliked every scene with the MC’s dad (the few that there were). The MC is oblivious about pretty much everything, and it made me want to yell at the book to get, just, anything about what was going on. I stopped trusting that it would handle anything well, and the way the dad controls the MC's medication didn't feel good.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent and Homophobia
CW for ableism, homophobia (minor), sexism, panic attacks/disorders, medication control, grief, violence, parental death (backstory).betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Oh I loved this! Just when you think you have everything figured out, it all twists around. Nick is fantastic and I want to protect him and Seth forever. A great cast of characters, filled with extraordinary powers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Police brutality, and Violence
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