Absolutely loved this book and it is everything that I wanted in a sequel. Bells was my favorite character from Not Your Sidekick, the first in the series, and I was so happy to be given the chance to read this book. 100% buy this book for yourself, every young person on your Christmas list, classroom, etc. Just do it! Please!!!

Following up Not Your Sidekick is C.B. Lee's newest book, Not Your Villain. Told from the perspective of Bells Broussard, a newly minted member of the League of Heroes, this novel includes a diverse cast, secret missions, uncover adventures, and ulterior motives galore.

I am of two minds about this book. I loved the characters a lot. Getting to know the story of the Sidekick Squad from Bells' point of view was great, as was getting to know the others a bit more, like Emma, Jess's little brother Brendan, etc. However, I wasn't as thrilled with the execution of the plot.

To begin with, I loved the diverse cast from race to gender identity. There were characters that were comfortable with who they are and there is at least one that is still questioning their identity. There was mention of Bells' every day life as a trans-person, like his needing t-shots and the gender issues that came with his shape-shifting abilities. Emma isn't sure if she's asexual or aromantic or somewhere on the spectrum of either. There were instances of proper pronouns being brought up in casual conversation and all I could think was how right it felt; not just in the context of the story, but in the context of how real life should feel.

The action moves very quickly in Not Your Villain which I would usually be a fan of, but in this instant it made the book suffer a bit. To me it felt like things were happening too quickly and not enough details were being given about how things were progressing, like Bells' meta-human training. That happens in the blink of an eye and I thought it would be interesting to see how he went through the different classes.

There was also the fact that about halfway through, things almost felt like they were done and that the second half was filler. Again, things happened really quickly and I think that the text could have been developed a bit more. This is a rather short book, which I think accounts for what I'm seeing as lack of developing scenes and transitions between locations, characters, etc. I think this easily could have been a 300+ page novel with a little delving into some parts.

In summary, the characters were the best thing about Not Your Villain in my humble opinion. I'm certainly curious to see what Not Your Backup, the book told from Emma's point of view, will be like. I just don't think this book has much re-read value for me.

If I thought I loved the first one, this sequel blew me out of the water. There was more diversity, more nuance, more intrigue and everything combines to just make this hurricane of awesomeness.

I loved the references, the geekdom, and especially the way Lee has our characters discover the technology of our time. That process just entrances me on this meta level that I adore. On this level of world building, Lee excels by not only thrilling us, but also enfolding us in a detailed world of the future. This book we get to travel even further and see parts of this world previously unknown to us.

But above all, the characters consistently impress me. The struggles of the ‘ordinary’ versus the ‘superhero’ are balanced so well. Lee also incorporates the older events, from Bells perspective, and the newer ones in a way that doesn’t feel like a ‘previously seen’ message. We have the same tried and true characters, Emma, Jess, Bells, and Abby. Plus we even meet some more which consistently surprise our concepts of superheros.

So the universe that Lee continues to create for this series is fantastic. I loved Bells so much and it was great to see his perspective. His identity is handled fantastically ans I loved the relationships he had with his friends. It took a bit for the bool to pick up steam and I greatly enjoyed part 3 and the last half of part 2. I did expect more from Bells being called a villain and had expected to go full on evil dooer but what we got instead was fantastic. While this is fantastical in its tech its also very much slice of life at times which I enjoyed a lot more seeing how the Sidekicks all bonded. I really enjoyed the Star Wars film geeks and waa greatly amused by that scene. Overall this is a solid installment of the series and I am looking forward to Emmas book and how her relationship with Bell progresses. Long Live the resistance!

Not Your Villain is the sequel to Not Your Sidekick. Instead of Jess, this book focuses on Bells as the main character and as such the start of the book is somewhat different. It starts before the start of Not Your Sidekick, to show the start of Bells life in training for his super powers. The events from the first book are summarized and after that the story is continued on from the first book left off.
This creates a rather slow start. I was just waiting for the continuation to start. I think there could have been a more vibrant way to look back at this time for Bells as the story continued to move forward. Even so, some of his moments before the start of the first book were really interesting to see. Like how he met Emma.
The book is again written in third person point of view present tense. As I read this book right after Not Your Sidekick this time the writing style didn’t jar me as much as it did the first time around. I suppose I was used to it now. Plot wise I felt that this was more an in between book. There were no huge things that truly happened here that worked towards resolving the main plot. Just a bit more of world building in places and setting up for the next book I felt like.
I loved how we got Bells as the main character. I love his personality, his super powers. But through him we also get the normalization of being trans. There is talk of binders and injections and a brief look at a very young Bells and what it was like for him. But also through Bells we get a slightly different look on Emma. While she certainly is not my favorite character of the bunch, through him she is quite a bit more likeable. For me the romance between them wasn’t entirely necessary but Bells is happy so I guess that is enough for me then.
Jess and Abby are a bit more in the background this book but you can still see their relationship evolving. I liked how an argument didn’t necessarily turn into any huge dramas for days. Things got resolved which is what a relationship is.
Honestly, reading this book is worth it just for Bells. Trust me! And especially for teens I think this book is important when it comes to the sexuality and being on the spectrum themes.

This was a great follow-up to Not Your Sidekick. I'm really glad the author chose to give us Bells' point of view. Besides being an interesting book about heroes and villains and superpowers, this book did a good job of folding in correct pronoun usage in conversation and social introductions. The book mentioned every day parts of Bells' life such as needing testosterone injections, wearing a binder, and the gender identity complications that were a part of his ability. I enjoyed the great example of friendship, which carried over from the first book.

I would be more likely to recommend this book to young adult readers than adult. Some of the plot points moved a little slow for mature readers, and character motivations were easy to spot.

I'll read the next book in this series.

This was everything I wanted in a sequel! More political intrigue, action, suspense, and character/relationship development. I'm impatient for the next book! :D

Not Your Villain was everything I wanted and more. When I finished reading it, I wanted more and more. I'm ready for the next story, the next chapter of this superhero story, because it's bigger than each book. I wish this series was a TV show or an animated show because it'd be so awesome, I would watch that ASAP.

I was so happy when I first found out that Bells was going to be the main POV in the next book. And when I finally got around to reading this, Bells became my favorite hands down. He's the coolest, first of all, the presence he has in school, it's just too cool. Then the relationship he has with his friends, Jess and Emma, and let me tell you one of the biggest things in this book is how Bells feels after Jess gets together with Abby and Emma gets a boyfriend, so he feels like a fifth wheel and he misses his friends so badly. So that's a something that happens and it's so wonderful to see that even if he is sad, he wants the best for his two best friends and if they're happy, he is happy.

And then we also got the main arc that is bigger than the whole books, because it's something, it's a plot that comes from the first book so you need to definitely read them in order. The superheroes? aren't that good in the world. The villains might not be evil. It's just superficial, it's just a screen. So you get to find out more about this and all the new adventures Bells and the squad get into. There is so much things going on but it's not like you might be drowning in details and stuff, CB Lee does it in a way that you cannot stop reading and makes you excited for more to come.