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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I was so excited to continue the Supervillian Rehabilitation Project with #2 “Redeemed”!
Another great installment in Burke's SVR world. In this book, we meet Alma, a new teen character who acts like a teen. Sigh. It's realistic but frustrating when characters could save everyone so much hassle by just talking to each other. Alma gets a pass though, because she is a teen, and she does have legitimate reasons. All those adult characters in other books need to grow up. Speaking of which, Alma does grow up some in this book, which is another excellent point for this book. The characters grow and change.
In addition, all the things you expect from Burke: Superheroes, action, great plots, good writing
In addition, all the things you expect from Burke: Superheroes, action, great plots, good writing
An excellent follow-up to Reformed! It's a little less action-y than its predecessor but still good. Alma was an interesting addition to the crew, and I enjoyed the different dynamics that her presence created. Also loved the progression of Prism and Fade's relationship. (Actual! healthy! couples! yes!) And then the ending is both very good and is giving me an idea of why I have been warned about a particular chapter in book 3, which I plan to start reading tonight.
adventurous
emotional
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
Apparently my other reading is on hold until I finish this series. I've been sucked in and literally started book three about a minute after finishing this one.
Redeemed quickly stole my heart by continuing the story of the characters I enjoyed in book one and adding an at risk teen.
After Tanvi interrupts a burglary and accidentally injures the teenage culprit, Prism agrees to take the teen on as their next rehabilitation subject. The problem is, none of the team members are parents and Alma is too young to be an active member of the team. Plus the sulking teen has secrets and skeletons-in-the-closet that could bring the entire team down with her.
I felt like the writing and narration improved from book one to book two.
All in all, this book kept the fun and emotionally engaging trajectory of the first book and improved upon in. It's the perfect lighthearted read for lovers of superhero stories, cinnamon roll love interests, and action sequences.
CONTENT
Religion: Prism is a Christian, and she is refraining from physical intimacy with her boyfriend as a result. She continues her relationship with Fade despite his uncertainty about God and faith.
Romance: The book starts with Fade trying to progress a kiss to being more-than-a-kiss and Prism stopping him. Kisses are described at a moderate level. There are conversations about chastity and sex. Characters are aware of each other's attractiveness.
Language: Characters use PG-13 level swear words
Violence: Lots of fight scenes, as one would expect in a superhero story. Nothing overly graphic.
Substances: The superhero team engages in responsible drinking.
Redeemed quickly stole my heart by continuing the story of the characters I enjoyed in book one and adding an at risk teen.
After Tanvi interrupts a burglary and accidentally injures the teenage culprit, Prism agrees to take the teen on as their next rehabilitation subject. The problem is, none of the team members are parents and Alma is too young to be an active member of the team. Plus the sulking teen has secrets and skeletons-in-the-closet that could bring the entire team down with her.
I felt like the writing and narration improved from book one to book two.
All in all, this book kept the fun and emotionally engaging trajectory of the first book and improved upon in. It's the perfect lighthearted read for lovers of superhero stories, cinnamon roll love interests, and action sequences.
CONTENT
Religion: Prism is a Christian, and she is refraining from physical intimacy with her boyfriend as a result. She continues her relationship with Fade despite his uncertainty about God and faith.
Romance: The book starts with Fade trying to progress a kiss to being more-than-a-kiss and Prism stopping him. Kisses are described at a moderate level. There are conversations about chastity and sex. Characters are aware of each other's attractiveness.
Language: Characters use PG-13 level swear words
Violence: Lots of fight scenes, as one would expect in a superhero story. Nothing overly graphic.
Substances: The superhero team engages in responsible drinking.
adventurous
medium-paced
Much like Reformed, Redeemed is a quick and easy read. Our group of heroes - now including Fade as a rehabilitated hero, discover an unregistered 'flyer' robbing houses. This is unusual because all heroes - and villains - should be registered and it's rare to avoid it; if it's hereditary the parents will report it and all genetic tweaking is closely monitored. Also, flying types are really rare and often powerful. Either way, despite only being fourteen, Alma is brought into the SVR. Her other choice involves a prison cell after that. But Alma has her own secrets and doesn't know if she can trust the team.
I admit to being far less enamoured with this than I was with Reformed. Why? There are several reasons. Firstly, there is way too much fluff. Despite being less than 300 pages long, this could easily have been cut down by another 30 pages or more. Second, the romance angle takes a far more centre stage role and that was frankly the bit I liked least in the last novel. It still felt forced, it still felt unnecessary, only now I had to read about it for pages on end. Third, the plot is weak as hell. It shouldn't be; the bare bones are there to make a really interesting story, but because the focus is on the romance it's barely fleshed out at all. And finally, the twist at the end. I'd seen it coming due to a few comments made earlier in the novel, but again, not a favourite trope of mine and one that is usually done badly.
I'll unpack a bit. The narrative is perhaps my biggest irritation with this novel. I hate it when a novel has real potential and let's itself down. That's what happens here. The author begins to explore the psychology of a very hurt teenager, one who struggles to trust adults because adults have never been on her side. And yet, it just fizzes out because Prism and Fade's burgeoning relationship is far more important. The supposed main narrative therefore gets reduced down to a few action scenes by the end, which was really disappointing. If I wanted to read a romance book, I'd find a romance book. This is not billed as a romance book.
There were some things I liked; I liked how the events of the last book aren't forgotten; the characters are still dealing with very real grief and trauma and that isn't white-washed to make it easier to read. I liked how every member of the team has a part in the novel, including Bob - yay for Bob! - who was very much side-lined in the last novel but has some very real moments to shine here along with his very normal cat. I liked the early depictions of Alma; having grown up in the system, my heart hurt for her and the author did capture the mindset of a hurt and confused teenager lashing out at everyone around her. It's a pity this wasn't at the heart and centre of the novel.
So. Will I continue? If you'd have asked me at the end of Reformed, it was an obvious yes. Now? I'm not so sure. This was disappointing and I'm really not looking forward to the trope used to propel us into the next novel. Occasionally, just occasionally, it's done well - I'd give a book but that would be risking spoilers for those who've read one but not the other and that's not fair. Maybe, just maybe, this will surprise me and it'll be one to add to my list where it's actually worked. Maybe. We'll see.
I admit to being far less enamoured with this than I was with Reformed. Why? There are several reasons. Firstly, there is way too much fluff. Despite being less than 300 pages long, this could easily have been cut down by another 30 pages or more. Second, the romance angle takes a far more centre stage role and that was frankly the bit I liked least in the last novel. It still felt forced, it still felt unnecessary, only now I had to read about it for pages on end. Third, the plot is weak as hell. It shouldn't be; the bare bones are there to make a really interesting story, but because the focus is on the romance it's barely fleshed out at all. And finally, the twist at the end. I'd seen it coming due to a few comments made earlier in the novel, but again, not a favourite trope of mine and one that is usually done badly.
I'll unpack a bit. The narrative is perhaps my biggest irritation with this novel. I hate it when a novel has real potential and let's itself down. That's what happens here. The author begins to explore the psychology of a very hurt teenager, one who struggles to trust adults because adults have never been on her side. And yet, it just fizzes out because Prism and Fade's burgeoning relationship is far more important. The supposed main narrative therefore gets reduced down to a few action scenes by the end, which was really disappointing. If I wanted to read a romance book, I'd find a romance book. This is not billed as a romance book.
There were some things I liked; I liked how the events of the last book aren't forgotten; the characters are still dealing with very real grief and trauma and that isn't white-washed to make it easier to read. I liked how every member of the team has a part in the novel, including Bob - yay for Bob! - who was very much side-lined in the last novel but has some very real moments to shine here along with his very normal cat. I liked the early depictions of Alma; having grown up in the system, my heart hurt for her and the author did capture the mindset of a hurt and confused teenager lashing out at everyone around her. It's a pity this wasn't at the heart and centre of the novel.
So. Will I continue? If you'd have asked me at the end of Reformed, it was an obvious yes. Now? I'm not so sure. This was disappointing and I'm really not looking forward to the trope used to propel us into the next novel. Occasionally, just occasionally, it's done well - I'd give a book but that would be risking spoilers for those who've read one but not the other and that's not fair. Maybe, just maybe, this will surprise me and it'll be one to add to my list where it's actually worked. Maybe. We'll see.
3.75 stars // read October 2021 (the entire series is 99c each until Oct. 8th!)
so… I may or may not have read books 2 and 3 together in one sitting… and gotten about 4 hours of sleep last night… but it was worth it :D However, the two books may have blurred together in my brain slightly so I apologize if I don’t get all of the details right.
I actually debated skipping this book so I could get straight to Book 3, which I already knew due to #spoilers has one of my all-time favorite tropes. :D However, I went ahead and read Redeemed, which, despite some major issues with the content, I’m glad I read.
First off, I loved how much of a role a certain shapeshifter played! She definitely proved how valuable she is to the team (even if said team wasn’t aware of her existence.) Despite Alma being a Very Angsty Teen, I grew to like her too. There’s grief and emotional repercussions from a certain traumatic event in Book 1, which is handled very well.
The plot is strong, balancing relationships (both romantic and platonic) with action. The superpowers themselves are really fascinating and original- I like discovering what all abilities exist in this world of sables.
Content:
Sensuality: strong Medium/High. I would’ve rated the book 4.5 stars, but this area is what caused me to rate it lower. The main issue here is that there’s a non-Christian guy in a relationship with a Christian girl. That in itself is an major red flag for real-life relationships, but this is a fictional ship so I’m not going to get into that. Basically the guy has had physical relationships with other girls in his past and expects the same thing from this girl, while she believes in saving herself for marriage. That conflict is mainly at the beginning of the story, and isn’t mentioned as often once Alma is introduced.
There’s also a scene in one of the later chapters with a married couple that I would recommend skipping.
so… I may or may not have read books 2 and 3 together in one sitting… and gotten about 4 hours of sleep last night… but it was worth it :D However, the two books may have blurred together in my brain slightly so I apologize if I don’t get all of the details right.
I actually debated skipping this book so I could get straight to Book 3, which I already knew due to #spoilers has one of my all-time favorite tropes. :D However, I went ahead and read Redeemed, which, despite some major issues with the content, I’m glad I read.
First off, I loved how much of a role a certain shapeshifter played! She definitely proved how valuable she is to the team (even if said team wasn’t aware of her existence.) Despite Alma being a Very Angsty Teen, I grew to like her too. There’s grief and emotional repercussions from a certain traumatic event in Book 1, which is handled very well.
The plot is strong, balancing relationships (both romantic and platonic) with action. The superpowers themselves are really fascinating and original- I like discovering what all abilities exist in this world of sables.
Content:
Sensuality: strong Medium/High. I would’ve rated the book 4.5 stars, but this area is what caused me to rate it lower. The main issue here is that there’s a non-Christian guy in a relationship with a Christian girl. That in itself is an major red flag for real-life relationships, but this is a fictional ship so I’m not going to get into that. Basically the guy has had physical relationships with other girls in his past and expects the same thing from this girl, while she believes in saving herself for marriage. That conflict is mainly at the beginning of the story, and isn’t mentioned as often once Alma is introduced.
There’s also a scene in one of the later chapters with a married couple that I would recommend skipping.
4.5 stars! A great second installment, with an epilogue that had me immediately picking up the third :D