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A review by themermaddie
Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee
4.0
for a superhero/supervillain story, this book is awfully fluffy. i mean this in the best possible way, Not Your Sidekick is a tropey, low-stakes story about underdogs taking on the government. it can be quite predictable at times, but it's light and entertaining and just plain fun.
the conspiracies are pretty low level, they're things that have been done before so it's not really the kind of mystery that grips you by the throat, but it's just an enjoyable world. the history of the future was my favourite part of the setting! it was so interesting to learn about the tech and the disasters and the new geography, and i absolutely loved the way the author wove the immigrant experience into it. i thought it was really well done and relatable, especially as a first gen asian american, which just goes to show that the more things change the more they stay the same, i think. i loved the inclusion and exploration of jess's chinese-viet background, i think one of my favourite scenes was in the bakery in her immigrant neighbourhood; i loved it, i could practically smell the food. the little details like the price of meat were wonderful and rounded the world out really well.
the casual inclusivity of this book makes my heart so so happy, both with race and with queerness. bells' powers as a trans guy is incredibly cool, and i thought darryl's gsa was a very funny touch. i thought abby and jess's romance was adorable; turns out there's still gay panic in the future. their romance was easy and fluffy and very tropey; LOVE when the children of villains and superheroes fall in love. that being said, everyone was super reasonable and there's not a lot of angst about it.
very easy read, super cute, GREAT rep, fun world. overall great book that doesn't take itself too seriously.
the conspiracies are pretty low level, they're things that have been done before so it's not really the kind of mystery that grips you by the throat, but it's just an enjoyable world. the history of the future was my favourite part of the setting! it was so interesting to learn about the tech and the disasters and the new geography, and i absolutely loved the way the author wove the immigrant experience into it. i thought it was really well done and relatable, especially as a first gen asian american, which just goes to show that the more things change the more they stay the same, i think. i loved the inclusion and exploration of jess's chinese-viet background, i think one of my favourite scenes was in the bakery in her immigrant neighbourhood; i loved it, i could practically smell the food. the little details like the price of meat were wonderful and rounded the world out really well.
the casual inclusivity of this book makes my heart so so happy, both with race and with queerness. bells' powers as a trans guy is incredibly cool, and i thought darryl's gsa was a very funny touch. i thought abby and jess's romance was adorable; turns out there's still gay panic in the future. their romance was easy and fluffy and very tropey; LOVE when the children of villains and superheroes fall in love. that being said, everyone was super reasonable and there's not a lot of angst about it.
very easy read, super cute, GREAT rep, fun world. overall great book that doesn't take itself too seriously.