3.5 stars (though I think a lot of that is because I didn't mesh with the audiobook narrator...)
Wholesome queer characters! Something that I didn't understand until adulthood (but a lot of younger out queer kids have known all along) is that queer people travel in packs. So we have a group of friends who are all unabashedly queer and open about their feelings with and for each other.
Also, the fanfiction element was fun and familiar (though I feel like the tags should have changed with each chapter? Maybe it's been too long since I've read fanfiction). The characters felt like teenagers with their ums and weird noises and dramatic proclamations - and I loved how authentic Nick's ADHD felt (and also the different ways he's treated because of it by various people).
I also really like that this wasn't a "coming out" book (see paragraph about wholesome queer characters) because it gives these characters a different level of agency.
I'll be honest, superheroes aren't really my thing, but I feel like that portion of the book was handled really well, especially when it came to: comparing comic books with reality, analyzing who it is that tells the story, and actually seeing who is affected.
The audiobook narrator was... Exuberant. Which fit with Nick really well, but it created issues when other characters started sounding the same (especially when there was back-and-forth dialogue without tags, where I couldn't really tell who was saying what).
Wholesome queer characters! Something that I didn't understand until adulthood (but a lot of younger out queer kids have known all along) is that queer people travel in packs. So we have a group of friends who are all unabashedly queer and open about their feelings with and for each other.
Also, the fanfiction element was fun and familiar (though I feel like the tags should have changed with each chapter? Maybe it's been too long since I've read fanfiction). The characters felt like teenagers with their ums and weird noises and dramatic proclamations - and I loved how authentic Nick's ADHD felt (and also the different ways he's treated because of it by various people).
I also really like that this wasn't a "coming out" book (see paragraph about wholesome queer characters) because it gives these characters a different level of agency.
I'll be honest, superheroes aren't really my thing, but I feel like that portion of the book was handled really well, especially when it came to: comparing comic books with reality, analyzing who it is that tells the story, and actually seeing who is affected.
The audiobook narrator was... Exuberant. Which fit with Nick really well, but it created issues when other characters started sounding the same (especially when there was back-and-forth dialogue without tags, where I couldn't really tell who was saying what).