Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Heat Wave

I LOVE Klune's books, and this one didn't disappoint! I laughed, I cried, and I loved the journey. I love Nick and relate to him in a lot of ways since I'm neurodiverse and have a very little filter, LOL. The beginning of the book was a bit rough and confusing, but it definitely made sense later and added to the story. Overall a great and funny book!

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sunspinner730's review against another edition

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Dog shit

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bibliomania_express's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I was so nervous going into Heat Wave. For starters, Nick Bell has the ability to infuce secondhand embarrassment like you wouldn't believe. But also, I knew this was the final book in TJ Klune's Extraordinary series. How would it end? What would it say? Would I survive the cringe long enough to find out?

This book was amazing.

It really delves deep into family, community, love, and the absolute desire to make the world a better place in the face of misinformation and hate. And yes, there are quintessentially Nick Bell scenes, but as with the previous books they worked so well because Klune has a master's degree in hormonal ADHD teen boy that made even the most cringey hilarious scenes so genuine. I adore the friendship between Nick, Seth, Gibby, and Jazz. I adore the Dad Squad. Even Burrito Jerry was a fun addition to this book.

And really, this book has everything - outlandish plots with nuanced characters, discussions of grief, responsibility, misuse of power, abuse, misinformation, and Black justice. It has families both blood and found. It has doubts, insecurities, and mistakes, but also bravery, apologies, and forgiveness.

It also does some clever things. This book takes advantage of the time between the publication of the second book and this one - memories of events are fuzzy for the reader, and likewise Nick is struggling to sort out events and see through the fog to the truth. Or, should I say, The Truth 😉

And yes, there are some clichéd things, some jokes that were a bit too on the nose, and some manor instances of oversharing, but on the whole this book is a wild and enjoyable superhero story that manages to be touching, serious, nuanced, and surprising.

And then! And then there's the adorable post-credit scene (don't go missing the post-credit scenes in these books because they are great!). Really, these books are a queer love letter to superhero media.

Phew.

So, obviously, five stars.

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sarasreading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

I ended up really enjoying this series. The characters grew on me over time and I found them extremely loveable.

It wouldn't be an extraordinaries book without some mortifying sex ed content, mystery, rich d-bags, found family, and some "Nicky, no!" "...Nicky, YES!" I had a fun time with the end of the series, and it was nice and satisfying.

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