MY THOUGHTS I had been seeing this book around but until I read the eThis and other reviews can be found on The Psychotic Nerd
Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars
MY THOUGHTS I had been seeing this book around but until I read the excerpt on Bookish First, I didn't know that I absolutely needed to read it. This book was a lot like what was promised, superheroes meets Fangirl, with LGTQ rep.
In a world where superheroes called Extraordinaries exist, Nick is ordinary. He spends his time writing fanfiction about Shadow Star, his city's biggest hero (and Nick's crush). When Nick decides to become Extraordinary himself, he ropes his friends into the adventure, but he ends up pulled into the Extraordinaries more than he expected.
It's weird that I don't like watching superhero movies, but I absolutely love reading books featuring superheroes. Once I realized this was a book featuring a world where superheroes are real, I was on board. I was definitely on board after reading the first few chapters. The world in this book is ordinary with the exception that these superheroes are celebrities. There was no confusion on the world, and I understood quickly how the extraordinaire worked. As close to our world this book is, it still felt extraordinary, especially when we see the world through Nick's eyes. I'll admit that since reading this book I've been daydreaming about a world with superheroes.
I did have some difficulty with this book, though. There were a couple of major plot points that were obvious to me from the get-go, but it took so long for Nick to figure out. This made for some cringey moments. At the start, I was excited for Nick to know these things, but I grew tired of waiting. This also made the pacing feel slow in the first half. The pacing did pick up and once Nick started putting the puzzle pieces together, I grew excited once more.
Nick's voice was very strong in this book. He has humor, and while we don't live in a world with superheroes (that we know of), his obsession with Shadow Star was completely relatable. He also has ADHD and while I can't speak of how great the rep was, it felt genuine in the book and was just a part of him. He honestly read like a teenage boy. He makes a lot of mistakes in this book, and there are so many cringey moments, but that's what it is like being a teenager. I did want to shake him sometimes because there are things that were so obvious to me, but it took 80% of the book for Nick to figure things out. (view spoiler)[One, that Seth had a crush on him. Two, that he actually knew both Shadow Star and Pyro Storm. I guessed that from the synopsis (though I went back and forth throughout the book on guessing who was who. I knew which two people though) (hide spoiler)] Even though things were obvious to me, I did like seeing Nick try to figure things out.
As for other characters, this book has such a great cast. Nick has a group of supportive friends that don't really understand Nick's obsession with Shadow Star, but they still try to help him and lovingly joke with him about it. They also try to talk some sense into him when he gets into dangerous situations. Nick's friendship with Seth is adorable. I also loved Nick's relationship with his dad, which we don't always get to see in YA books. It was so comfortable and I loved their back and forth humor.
The ending of this book was huge and made up for the early pacing issues. I'm not sure how I feel about the last chapter. (view spoiler)[I don't know if I find it exciting that Nick has powers or disappointing because I kind of wanted him to be ordinary. (hide spoiler)] Either way, I'm excited for the next book!
IN CONCLUSION Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. The pacing was slow at first, and some plot points were obvious, but I enjoyed the characters, the extraordinary abilities, and seeing everything come together!...more
MY THOUGHTS I have learned over the years to be wary when it comes to spin-off books.
When this book first came out, I was hyped for it. I even preordered it. But I didn't get to reading it right away, because I never felt in the mood for it. And as time went on, I grew wary about reading this book.
Here's the thing about spinoffs. Sometimes they go right. Sometimes they bring back the world and the characters you love. Sometimes they give a new perspective in a unique and interesting way. Sometimes they feel necessary.
But, more often than not, I get the letdown spinoffs. This one was that. It's not that I hated this book, it's not that I even disliked it. To be honest, I think it did a better job in the spinoff department than Rebel. But I just felt meh about this whole book. I felt disinterested the whole time, even in really intense scenes. It took me much too long to read this book because I kept taking breaks. I felt like I was forcing myself to read it.
Here's what makes rating this book difficult for me, because I can't fully place why this book didn't work for me. I could say it was the pacing or characters, but I worry that part of it is because I just am not as interested in these kinds of books anymore. I used to love dystopian fiction, but when the world looks more and more dystopian every day, I don't really want to escape into dystopian books. But it's also been six years since I've read In The Afterlight. Six years ago I was graduating from High School. Six years ago, dystopian was my jam. Now, my tastes have obviously changed. This makes me worry whether I would enjoy The Darkest Minds series if I reread it today.
Even though I felt like I was slogging my way through this book, I did like some parts. Once I got, say, 300 pages in, I grew more interested. I do think it added a lot of new details. It answered questions that readers of the original trilogy might have had. I also liked that it didn't kill off any of the major gang, which I have seen spinoffs do in the past. This book kind of shows how disastrous the world is years after the original series, and how the cast still has a lot of work to do. I think it was interesting to have a book from Zu's perspective, even if I had trouble connecting with her in the book.
IN CONCLUSION Overall, though I don't think this book was necessary. But, if fans of the series love it and if it makes other readers happy, then it's fine. I just wish I loved it more than I did....more
This was an okay read and I really liked the premise of the book. It was definitely a unique idea and it was interesting how iActual Rating: 2.5 stars
This was an okay read and I really liked the premise of the book. It was definitely a unique idea and it was interesting how it was shown and how it affected Lindsay. The last 50 pages or so caused me to give it this rating though. The ending was just odd compared to the rest of the book and I feel like some of the events that happened really warranted more of an explanation. ...more
This and other reviews can be found on The Psychotic Nerd I won an ARC copy of this book through Goodreads
ACTUAL RATING: 3.5
MY THOUGHTS I was so eThis and other reviews can be found on The Psychotic Nerd I won an ARC copy of this book through Goodreads
ACTUAL RATING: 3.5
MY THOUGHTS I was so excited to read this book! A book with a protagonist that is a writer, her character comes to life, and IT IS ABOUT PARALLEL UNIVERSES!! HECK YES! Fun fact: Parallel worlds are one of my favorite things to read about. I find the idea of parallel worlds just so intriguing! Some parts of this book disappointed me, but by the end I was deeply immersed!
I had difficulty getting into this book at first. In the beginning, this book is very cheesy. Jessa is a normal girl who enjoys writing stories based on her dreams. One day, she literally runs into the man of her dreams and the character she writes the most about, Finn. He tells her that they are Travelers, able to travel through dimensions, and she is in danger. Part of my problem was that Finn played the cliche role of mysterious but attractive stranger in the beginning and, in the beginning, the book was feeling like your average YA book. It didn't help that we also had a huge info-dump at the very beginning of the book. But as Finn became more of a person and less of a cliche and as Jenna actually traveled to other worlds instead of being told about them, I found the book much more entertaining!
I really liked how DeLano incorporated the parallel universes. I found it interesting that Jenna traveled to the other worlds via mirrors and would then trade places with her mirror self. It was also slightly amusing how, when she returned to her own world, she generally find that her mirror self changed things (changed clothes, cut her hair, etc). We also got to see a wide variety of different worlds, some very different, some very similar to Jenna's world. Though, there were some worlds that were favorites of hers. I also thought it interesting how Jenna dreamed about the other worlds. There are still some questions I have about the worlds, because I always want to know more about parallel worlds, but I get the feeling DeLano will go more into detail as the series continues.
As far as romance, I wasn't exactly on board with it, but I didn't dislike it. Part of it could've have been that I didn't have the best first impressions of Finn, so it was hard to ship them. It wasn't bad though and I did like their relationship. It did kind of bother me that Jenna ignored Ben, her best friend, in favor of Finn. And I know it's hard to explain something as strange as parallel worlds to friends, but I wish she told him about the worlds. I do have a slight feeling that there might be a love triangle in the next books.
IN CONCLUSION I am close to giving this book 4 stars, but because of my early misgivings, I dropped half a star. By the end of this book I was really enjoying it and based on the way the book ended I am really excited to read the next book! All in all, I do recommend this book and if anymore has trouble getting into this book, keep going! This book was a wonderful read full of parallel worlds!...more
Jessica (Goldenfurpro)
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