Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

8 reviews

keiwald's review

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-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

5.0

The book is written is such a delightful tone. The author did a great job of narrating in a way that makes you feel inside the main characters head and follow his scattered ADHD  fueled thoughts. 
Also the secondhand embarrassment is real. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

annorabrady's review

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

4.0

I love TJ Klune's writing and dialogue style, and this book is no exception to that love.  

This book is a great palate cleanser without being meaningless fluff; there was still a solid story with character development of primary and secondary characters alike, realistic behaviors in unrealistic situations, and worthwhile conflicts.

I will say that Nick's stupidity is both endearing and absolutely obnoxious. Especially when it causes certain plot points to carry on too long for my liking. Though, it's done in a way that makes sense for the character, so it doesn't feel unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Outing, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Violence, Medical trauma, Death, Kidnapping, Vomit, Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, and Stalking

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

funny reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Death and Death of parent

Experimental drug tests on a minor.

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

there's something about men in the TJ Kluniverse (yes, i am proud of myself for that, thank you) that's a lot better than irl (in my experience of course), especially dads… consider it part of the apologetic parents canon: https://www.vox.com/culture/23025832/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-parental-apology-fantasy-turning-red. however, this romanticizing of characters also extends to cops, making for some strong copaganda—especially awkward given the book's release in summer 2020. one of its major themes is the myth of good vs. evil and of black & white thinking, yet this only applies to our fictional superheroes and not the institution of policing we actually live with—no no, the police are always unquestionably "the good guys" 🙃. there's even a moment where we're made to sympathize with a cop in a literal act of police brutality, punching a witness (a witness, not even a suspected perpetrator) for not cooperating. we see how much he was going through at the time; maybe we should extend that understanding to other cops who abuse their power? or, maybe a different superhero story got it right: "with great power comes great responsibility," and as such it's reasonable to expect protection from those whose job it is (supposedly) to "protect and serve". another of Klune's books, The House in the Cerulean Sea, used fantastical metaphor to make a political statement; i can't help but see as a glaring omission how The Extraordinaries falls short in that regard.
big thought out of the way, here are some scattered ones:

• there was a lot of build up and the climax seemed to drag on, but insufficient payoff. (though, at least there was any payoff at all, unlike Fence: Striking Distance. that's not relevant here, i just hold a grudge.)
• for the amount of times the narration described what teenage boys are like, i started to think maybe it was the author trying to convince us that he knew, like "how do you do fellow kids"
• it was genuinely funny
• audiobook reader was top tier 👌
• "I'm young and queer and in a fragile place right now." me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Medical content, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Police brutality, Stalking, Vomit, Car accident, Classism, and Drug use

sssssoup's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Violence, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality

zoepagereader's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad 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

5.0

I’ve passed on this book an uncountable number of times. It took a friend literally thrusting their copy into my arms and telling me to enjoy it for me to actually read it. I should have read it sooner. The entire time I thought I knew the twist and that it was ridiculously obvious but NOPE it was a different twist that was even better!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Child abuse

alibader's review

adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.0

I really, really wanted to enjoy this especially after reading The House in the Cerulean Sea. This book infuriated me almost all the way through.

What I enjoyed: (a short list)
1. Nick's cluelessness (until about the halfway point)
2. The romance (so cute!)
3. The overall premise (I wish I could say the same for the execution)
4. The ending.

What I did not enjoy:
1. The insensitivity towards police brutality and the character of Aaron Bell.
2. The camp - it took away from the story that could've been told and made it look like a bad parody.
3. The dialogue (teenagers do not talk like that)
4.

 The constant lying. It didn't make much sense when it was finally revealed and it took too long for Nick to find out the obvious that it really hindered my enjoyment. Also when he found out that Seth, Gibby and practically everyone he knows lied to him it's just.... his fault? And it's all okay?

5. The reveals (I'd like to think that these were intentionally obvious but that didn't make it any more fun - also it was super anti-climatic). The ending wrapped up way too quickly too. 
6. The "comedy". One of my biggest gripes with this book was that serious moments didn't make that much of an effect and instead served as "comedic relief" - it wasn't funny. 

This is my longest review yet but I truly did want to enjoy this queer superhero series but I was so disappointed. I may give the sequel a try in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia

booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.0

Some of this was cute, but superhero’s really just aren’t my thing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Violence