Allow me to preface this by saying I am a huge fan of TJ Klune, so when I heard he was making his first foray into Young Adult fiction, I was quite intrigued, especially when it was revealed to be Queer Superheroes (Superqueeros, if you will). I’ve generally outgrown YA, getting easily frustrated with the characters and their actions, but every now and then I get drawn back in, and this book was certainly going to be one to do it. After all, I like superheroes. In addition, TJ stated this book was written exactly for people like me (see: below), and though I am well out of its age-bracket, I certainly understand what he meant.
Nick is, honestly, a breath of fresh air in the world of YA protagonists. I don’t just mean because he’s gay; I mean the fact that he has ADHD. This quality could easily turn off some readers, because Nick’s filter just doesn’t work so well, but as someone who was diagnosed with ADHD at ten, I completely understood his way of thinking, or rather, the scatterbrained way in which he thought. Nick was funny, witty, relatively oblivious, and occasionally downright rude without thinking about it. He felt like a genuine teenage boy, from his petty spite towards the reporter who clearly has a thing for the superhero HE has a thing for, to the times he bragged about how much of a man he was now that he was sixteen. Kid, much like Ariel, you’re sixteen. Shut up. But exactly like Ariel, you care about him and want him to achieve his goals, because he’s a likeable character.
The world this book takes place in is an interesting one. At this point I’m sure many people feel superheroes have been done to death, with Marvel smashing its way through Hollywood, but at its core I truly feel this isn’t actually a story about superheroes. Of course, they are IN the book, and a major plot point is how much Nick idolises a certain hero (“Extraordinary”), but the tagline for this book says it all: Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. Nick is just a boy who writes (terrible) self-insert fanfiction, while the Extraordinaries exist in the background of his reality (though they do eventually come to the forefront), but the true charmers of the story aren’t just Nick, but his circle of friends and the people in his life.
The Extraordinaries keeps you wrapped up in the pinball game that is Nick’s brain and thoughts, and as I read I felt sure I knew when something specific was coming. I was so positive I shouted at people I knew about how positive I was about it, before immediately taking it back, because I’ve read TJ’s work before, and immediately began to doubt myself. TJ Klune is a masterful writer, and he does not disappoint. Though this is marketed as a YA book, I truly do feel people of all ages could read it, especially those who are neurodivergent like I am, but most of all I desperately hope it reaches queer teens, because I certainly never had books like this growing up.
In conclusion: If it wasn’t already obvious, I recommend this book. I want everyone to read it and embrace this dramatic, silly boy, and get wrapped up in his adventures and to settle down in Nova City for a while.
After all, more things are certainly implied to come in the future…
*I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
Nick is, honestly, a breath of fresh air in the world of YA protagonists. I don’t just mean because he’s gay; I mean the fact that he has ADHD. This quality could easily turn off some readers, because Nick’s filter just doesn’t work so well, but as someone who was diagnosed with ADHD at ten, I completely understood his way of thinking, or rather, the scatterbrained way in which he thought. Nick was funny, witty, relatively oblivious, and occasionally downright rude without thinking about it. He felt like a genuine teenage boy, from his petty spite towards the reporter who clearly has a thing for the superhero HE has a thing for, to the times he bragged about how much of a man he was now that he was sixteen. Kid, much like Ariel, you’re sixteen. Shut up. But exactly like Ariel, you care about him and want him to achieve his goals, because he’s a likeable character.
The world this book takes place in is an interesting one. At this point I’m sure many people feel superheroes have been done to death, with Marvel smashing its way through Hollywood, but at its core I truly feel this isn’t actually a story about superheroes. Of course, they are IN the book, and a major plot point is how much Nick idolises a certain hero (“Extraordinary”), but the tagline for this book says it all: Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. Nick is just a boy who writes (terrible) self-insert fanfiction, while the Extraordinaries exist in the background of his reality (though they do eventually come to the forefront), but the true charmers of the story aren’t just Nick, but his circle of friends and the people in his life.
The Extraordinaries keeps you wrapped up in the pinball game that is Nick’s brain and thoughts, and as I read I felt sure I knew when something specific was coming. I was so positive I shouted at people I knew about how positive I was about it, before immediately taking it back, because I’ve read TJ’s work before, and immediately began to doubt myself. TJ Klune is a masterful writer, and he does not disappoint. Though this is marketed as a YA book, I truly do feel people of all ages could read it, especially those who are neurodivergent like I am, but most of all I desperately hope it reaches queer teens, because I certainly never had books like this growing up.
In conclusion: If it wasn’t already obvious, I recommend this book. I want everyone to read it and embrace this dramatic, silly boy, and get wrapped up in his adventures and to settle down in Nova City for a while.
After all, more things are certainly implied to come in the future…
*I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*