OMG! I want to give this book ALL the stars! I had only read one other book by TJ Klune - The House in the Cerulean Sea - prior to reading this book. Because I loved that one so much AND I love reading YA books, I figured that I couldn't go wrong with reading this book.
I was NOT wrong.
Not only was this book absolutely amazing with its characters, their interactions, and their growth over the course of the book, but the narrator of the book - Michael Lesley - gave an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC performance. He WAS the MC Nick, a 16-year-old gay male with ADHD who lives in a world with superheroes (called Extraordinaries), writes fan fiction about said superheroes, and STANS one of them HARD. Lesley took the brilliant story written by Klune, who captured the character of Nick and what it's like to live with ADHD, and brought it to life in a way that I can't really explain. It's an experience to listen to, and I HIGHLY recommend you listen to the audiobook so you can also experience it.
A little bit about the story (no spoilers, I promise)...
Nick is 16 and writes fan-fiction featuring his favorite Extraordinary, Shadow Star, and Shadow Star's archvillain, Pyro Storm. The fan fiction is not good, but it is popular, and, yes, some of it is included. Nick also has ADHD, for which he takes medication. It's taken a while to get the right medication for him, but it's working for him at the moment. Nick's life, along with that of his father's life, is divided into Before and After. The event that marks the change was the death of Nick's mother, which takes place before the book starts, but continues to affect him in various ways.
Nick also has 3 awesome friends - Gibby, Jazz, and Seth - and an ex-boyfriend who won't go away - Owen. Some of the best interactions in the book for me were the conversations between the friends, especially when, after a random encounter with his crush Shadow Star, Nick gets it into his head that he's going to turn himself into an extraordinary so that Shadow Star will want to date him... and also so he can protect the people he loves. But mostly so that Shadow Star will know who he is and start to date him. The problem with that is the ideas he has are ... not exactly the best ideas.
While Nick is trying to figure out how to become an Extraordinary himself, the battles between Shadow Star and Pyro Storm are getting increasingly dangerous. Will Nick become an Extraordinary in time to help Shadow Star finally defeat Pyro Storm? Will it happen before anyone gets hurt? And will it end up finally being the thing that breaks his friendship with Seth, who may or may not be the love of his life?
...and now back to the discussion about the book. I will be the first to admit, there are parts of this book that are cheesy, parts that are campy, and parts that are incredibly eye-rolling. But, rather than detracting from the story, Klune leaned into those parts so much that they just work. From the crazy ideas that Nick comes up with, which he tells his friends in long wandering speeches that often have them saying "Nicky, NO!" and to which he responds "Nicky, YES!" all of the cheesiness, campy-ness, and eye-rolling-ness (that's my new word; just go with it), illustrates just how much the characters care about each other.
In addition to those, I absolutely loved the scenes with Nick and his dad. Despite his dad's tough-guy exterior, it's clear that he loves his son, and would do absolutely anything for him. Their interactions also allow for some great comedy along the typical parent-teenager lines when talking about dating and school.
I had picked this book for one of my r/fantasy bingo cards specifically because it seemed to fit the Mental Illness square on my card. I figured it would be good. I did NOT expect that the audiobook would be so good that I would have to force myself to stop listening at 3 AM so I could go to sleep and then go to work the next day. I am definitely happy that I can listen to audiobooks while at work so I was able to finish listening. As soon as I was finished, I was checking my Libby app to see if my library had copies of the next two books in the series so that I could borrow copies and listen to them immediately. They did not, unfortunately, have copies, though I did put in a request for the books because I think they would be a wonderful addition to any library. But, since my library doesn't have copies of them, I will definitely be purchasing audiobooks for the rest of the series. I think you should too. Or, at the very least, borrow a copy from your own library so you can listen too.
I was NOT wrong.
Not only was this book absolutely amazing with its characters, their interactions, and their growth over the course of the book, but the narrator of the book - Michael Lesley - gave an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC performance. He WAS the MC Nick, a 16-year-old gay male with ADHD who lives in a world with superheroes (called Extraordinaries), writes fan fiction about said superheroes, and STANS one of them HARD. Lesley took the brilliant story written by Klune, who captured the character of Nick and what it's like to live with ADHD, and brought it to life in a way that I can't really explain. It's an experience to listen to, and I HIGHLY recommend you listen to the audiobook so you can also experience it.
A little bit about the story (no spoilers, I promise)...
Nick is 16 and writes fan-fiction featuring his favorite Extraordinary, Shadow Star, and Shadow Star's archvillain, Pyro Storm. The fan fiction is not good, but it is popular, and, yes, some of it is included. Nick also has ADHD, for which he takes medication. It's taken a while to get the right medication for him, but it's working for him at the moment. Nick's life, along with that of his father's life, is divided into Before and After. The event that marks the change was the death of Nick's mother, which takes place before the book starts, but continues to affect him in various ways.
Nick also has 3 awesome friends - Gibby, Jazz, and Seth - and an ex-boyfriend who won't go away - Owen. Some of the best interactions in the book for me were the conversations between the friends, especially when, after a random encounter with his crush Shadow Star, Nick gets it into his head that he's going to turn himself into an extraordinary so that Shadow Star will want to date him... and also so he can protect the people he loves. But mostly so that Shadow Star will know who he is and start to date him. The problem with that is the ideas he has are ... not exactly the best ideas.
While Nick is trying to figure out how to become an Extraordinary himself, the battles between Shadow Star and Pyro Storm are getting increasingly dangerous. Will Nick become an Extraordinary in time to help Shadow Star finally defeat Pyro Storm? Will it happen before anyone gets hurt? And will it end up finally being the thing that breaks his friendship with Seth, who may or may not be the love of his life?
...and now back to the discussion about the book. I will be the first to admit, there are parts of this book that are cheesy, parts that are campy, and parts that are incredibly eye-rolling. But, rather than detracting from the story, Klune leaned into those parts so much that they just work. From the crazy ideas that Nick comes up with, which he tells his friends in long wandering speeches that often have them saying "Nicky, NO!" and to which he responds "Nicky, YES!" all of the cheesiness, campy-ness, and eye-rolling-ness (that's my new word; just go with it), illustrates just how much the characters care about each other.
In addition to those, I absolutely loved the scenes with Nick and his dad. Despite his dad's tough-guy exterior, it's clear that he loves his son, and would do absolutely anything for him. Their interactions also allow for some great comedy along the typical parent-teenager lines when talking about dating and school.
I had picked this book for one of my r/fantasy bingo cards specifically because it seemed to fit the Mental Illness square on my card. I figured it would be good. I did NOT expect that the audiobook would be so good that I would have to force myself to stop listening at 3 AM so I could go to sleep and then go to work the next day. I am definitely happy that I can listen to audiobooks while at work so I was able to finish listening. As soon as I was finished, I was checking my Libby app to see if my library had copies of the next two books in the series so that I could borrow copies and listen to them immediately. They did not, unfortunately, have copies, though I did put in a request for the books because I think they would be a wonderful addition to any library. But, since my library doesn't have copies of them, I will definitely be purchasing audiobooks for the rest of the series. I think you should too. Or, at the very least, borrow a copy from your own library so you can listen too.