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A review by labunnywtf
Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee
3.0
Read for the Asian Readathon.
Dude.
Dude, this book is just not fair.
This is a super hero book. Last year, I got on a MASSIVE super power kick. Almost all of my favorite books from last year dealt with characters with super powers. Some villains, some heroes, all kick ass in different ways. AND I DUG IT.
And here we have another superhero book! People got super powers after The Disaster, where...um...a meteor hit? Or something exploded? I can't remember now, it's not important. But SO many people get super powers, they have classifications. Lifting bridges is A class, snapping your fingers and having a fantastic manicure is, like, F class. And there are MCU-style superheroes, who dress in costumes and fly and get cool cars. Secret identities, all that razza matazz.
Our main character, Jess, is a normie daughter of two superheroes. C class, but still awesome. AND they get a cool car. Jess is majorly disappointed that she didn't present with any super powers, especially since her sister is uber powerful and kind of snotty about it. But she's busy with school, her friends, and her crush, so she's nice and distracted. She gets an internship with a super secret lab in a big tech company, and life is fine.
Until she and the mysterious M blow open an enormous conspiracy that proves things are not quite what they have been led to believe.
I love this world. I love these characters. You're drowning in rep in this book, especially LGBT rep. It's exactly what I would want from a YA/Middle Grade superhero book.
Except holy sheep, the writing is. like. death..
I wouldn't even feel comfortable calling some of this stuff foreshadowing. Or hints. Calling them anvils would be unkind to every literary anvil I've ever been beaten over the head with.
I don't want to spoil anything, because this was an enjoyable read up until about halfway through when I couldn't handle it anymore. But some stuff is so painfully obvious, my 10-year old godson would pick up on it. Like, "Um, Nanny, isn't this ____?" Yes, sweetie. Yes, that's exactly what's happening here.
It's painful. So. bloody. painful.
This author seriously doesn't give enough credit to young readers.
I'm genuinely interested in moving onto the next book, which appears to be set from the perspective of Jess's best friend, Bells. I just really flipping hope we got all the hinty hinty business out of the way with this one.
Dude.
Dude, this book is just not fair.
This is a super hero book. Last year, I got on a MASSIVE super power kick. Almost all of my favorite books from last year dealt with characters with super powers. Some villains, some heroes, all kick ass in different ways. AND I DUG IT.
And here we have another superhero book! People got super powers after The Disaster, where...um...a meteor hit? Or something exploded? I can't remember now, it's not important. But SO many people get super powers, they have classifications. Lifting bridges is A class, snapping your fingers and having a fantastic manicure is, like, F class. And there are MCU-style superheroes, who dress in costumes and fly and get cool cars. Secret identities, all that razza matazz.
Our main character, Jess, is a normie daughter of two superheroes. C class, but still awesome. AND they get a cool car. Jess is majorly disappointed that she didn't present with any super powers, especially since her sister is uber powerful and kind of snotty about it. But she's busy with school, her friends, and her crush, so she's nice and distracted. She gets an internship with a super secret lab in a big tech company, and life is fine.
Until she and the mysterious M blow open an enormous conspiracy that proves things are not quite what they have been led to believe.
I love this world. I love these characters. You're drowning in rep in this book, especially LGBT rep. It's exactly what I would want from a YA/Middle Grade superhero book.
Except holy sheep, the writing is. like. death..
I wouldn't even feel comfortable calling some of this stuff foreshadowing. Or hints. Calling them anvils would be unkind to every literary anvil I've ever been beaten over the head with.
I don't want to spoil anything, because this was an enjoyable read up until about halfway through when I couldn't handle it anymore. But some stuff is so painfully obvious, my 10-year old godson would pick up on it. Like, "Um, Nanny, isn't this ____?" Yes, sweetie. Yes, that's exactly what's happening here.
It's painful. So. bloody. painful.
This author seriously doesn't give enough credit to young readers.
I'm genuinely interested in moving onto the next book, which appears to be set from the perspective of Jess's best friend, Bells. I just really flipping hope we got all the hinty hinty business out of the way with this one.