Thank you so much Netgalley and Tor Teen.

What attracted me first was the cover, then the summary and finally, I saw the author was T.J. Klune whom I know for his Green Creek saga. I quickly came to the conclusion that I HAD TO read this book!

Even though I was skeptical regarding the super-hero aspect, it was actually pleasing to read about it. Could have been more detailed in my opinion but I feel like it is going to be the case in the sequel. but I feel like it is going to be the case in the sequel.
I think the strength of this book lies in the main character, Nick. It was so good to follow him through this crazy story. I laughed so many times thanks to him. You cannot not love him, he is the perfect MC!
But honestly, every character was endearing: his dad, his friends, ... Can we talk about Nich and Seth's friendship/relationship? You know what, nope I won't, you'll have to read this book and see for yourself how cute they are.

I need book 2 now. Like right now.

If you're looking for a fun and engaging read to take your mind off, well, horrible current events, search no further! This book sucks you right into Nick's world with a vibrant voice and lovable characters. And the romance plot will make you want to yell at the characters to just figure it out already! It's sweet and swoony and funny, perfect for anyone looking for an escape!

I can't remember the last time I had so much fun reading a book.  T.J. Klune's The Extraordinaries is on point as one of the funniest and quirkiest books I've read in recent years, plus it is incredibly moving and yes, very, very swooooon worthy. 

The Extraordinaries is about Nick Bell, a sixteen year old who has ADHD and spends his spare time writing fan fiction about real life superhero Shadow Star who fights evil wrought by his arch-nemesis Pyro Storm. That's right, there are real life superheroes, or Extraordinaries, living in Nova City and Nick will do just about anything to become one of them so he can get closer to the love of his life, Shadow Star. He enlists the help of his friends in order to do so, including his best friend, Seth Gray (who might actually be Nick's love of his life, but who knows) who is rather reluctant about the whole thing. Nothing will stop Nick from going after his big dream of standing beside the mighty Shadow Star... or will it?

I just loved this book for so many reasons. First of all, it made me laugh so much. I can't remember the last time a book made me laugh so hard, out loud and uncontrollably. Nick is hilarious and over the top and just so oblivious about certain things in a way that really made me chuckle over and over. Nick as a character was brilliant, I liked the way his struggles with ADHD was portrayed and how his obsession with Shadow Star fuelled his every day life, annoying his friends and his Dad. I loved his relationship with his Dad and of course, his friends Gibby and Jazz (who are girlfriends and very cool) and of course, Seth. Next to Nick, Seth was definitely my favourite character and well... you are in for a treat with this pair. 

While the majority of the book was filled with so much lighthearted fun, it's not all fun and games.  There's a lot of darker themes within the story to do with loss and to do with the way Nick's ADHD impacts his life. And of course, there's a lot of action-packed plot to do with the Extraordinaries that really kept me on my toes. 

I would highly, highly recommend that you go ahead and pick up this book when it hits the shelves in May. For me, The Extraordinaries had everything I could ask for in a YA novel. Unique and relatable characters, a thrilling plot, friendships and family relationships. The story is inspiring and fun and I would come back for seconds.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for this book!
I loved this book so much more than I thought. Granted it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I am infatuate with everything about this book.
- NICK! I love nick so much he was an amazing main character.He has to be one of my favorite MC's. At some points he could be a tad annoying but that just added to his charm.
- I also was very fond of the writing. I found the book to be very well written.
- The rest of the cast of characters was amazing. They all brought so much to the book and worked so well with each other.
- It was also so hilarious.There were some parts in the book where I could just not stop laughing.
I can absolutely not wait for the next book because with the way the book ended WOAH.
This was my first book I have read by T.J and I loved it so much. I will definitely be reading more of his works.
If have a chance to read this book please do so!
Review also posted to GoodReads!!

I’ve been excited for so long to read The Extraordinaries. And it’s been all I was hoping for. Cute, funny, thoughtful and well, extraordinary obviously.

TJ Klune has such a unique writing style and his books are always so compelling. Although I have to admit this book had me from page one where the main character is writing fanfiction about his superheroes. I just felt immediately like a part of the club.

This witty coming of age story is about Nick Bell who has ADHD and is obsessed with one of the extraordinary heroes: Shadow Star. He follows everything he does and he’s also a BNF in the extraordinary fandom. But one day this is not enough for him and he wants to become an extraordinary, too. With or without the help of his friends he sets out to make this happen.

I absolutely loved Nick and his friends group. The characters were just great. So honest and loyal and real. I loved the dynamics between them but also the one between Nick and his dad who are both still grieving the loss of Nick’s mother. And well, then there’s also Seth. Nick’s BFF who is undeniably in love with him. Unfortunately Nick is too oblivious to notice...

If you like superheroes, mystery, super loveable, funny characters and adorable, very oblivious boys in love - this is your book!

What a fantastic start to this series. Can’t wait for the next one.

Excellent I loved how realist and unrealistic this book was, Tj has done it again made us laugh and cry at the same time. I loved every minute of it. Excellent way to spend isolation.

Firstly, and most importantly, I adore Nick's dad. I would read a thousand full books just about Nick's dad.

The Extraordinaries is a book with such heart. Brilliantly funny, it weaves the story of a boy trying to find his place in a world of extraordinary people.

The cast of characters are brilliant - Nick, his three best friends and his ex-boyfriend are fantastically entertaining and their friendships are beautifully developed. The threads of loss and hope weaved through the book are incredibly poignant, and I really hope we get to read more of Nick's story!

This review has been posted to Goodreads and will be submitted to Amazon after release.

Title provided via Netgalley for honest review (and I went and purchased it because DUH TJ Klune, I've got "almost" all of his books!)

I don't know where to start with this book. I read it in the span of a day because who needs sleep when TJ Klune puts out another book AND in a new genre! I was so very interested to see what this book read like because TEENAGERS and all their crazy problems. I think what I liked about this was that it was so very much a TJ book, but...not. It was different. For a fantasy book that includes super heroes it was very relatable and realistic - surprisingly!

Seth and Nick are so obliviously cute, well Nick is anyway. Seth knows the deal. I loved how normal reading the book felt it didn't really read like a fantasy because the fantastical in the book wasn't overly exaggerated. It was woven in quite neatly simply as a thing that happens in the book, like in realistic fiction. No extreme magical creatures, no magic at all to begin with. It's all SCIENCE the antithesis of magic.

TJ hasn't really written anything for teens so I was very curious to read what this would be like. Of course it is atypical in every sense, but that's how TJ writes. I laughed, I cried, I RELATED on a massive scale to Nick. And man, for something that read so atypically normal, boy was I surprised at the plot twists. I also like that the characters were very distinctly TJs characters. It reads NOTHING like Bear, Otter, and the Kid, or even Greencreek. I really approve of this sweet, yet sly piece that was released. I get disheartened with YA books because they all read the same after a while, but this one stands out on its own as something completely different within YA. Wonderful debut novel in the genre.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

Rating: 4.5 stars
Rep: gay MC with ADHD, bi love interest, F/F side relationship. POC and queer side characters.

As soon as I was accepted for this eARC, I started it straight away and finished within a couple of days! "The Extraordinaries" and "The House in the Cerulean Sea" by TJ Klune were two of my top 5 most anticipated books of 2020 and they did not disappoint.

This book is far from perfect and I definitely see why it wouldn't be for some readers, but it was perfect for me. I couldn't stop laughing, I was so invested in all the characters and their journey throughout the book. This novel had a lot of twists and turns that I personally didn't see coming, I was on the edge of my seat by the end and I can't wait for book two!

Personally speaking, this book shouldn't be taken too seriously. It's completely OTT, packed full of comedy and queer teenage disasters making mistakes, but "The Extraordinaries" is also a very heartfelt story about finding your place in the world and learning that people can't be put into boxes of good or evil, we are all more complex than that.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to people that love hilarious YA with loveable, LGBTQ+ main characters and superheroes. I've already pre-ordered a physical copy and I can't wait to reread!

4.5 stars
I truly loved this story. As a person who loves YA fantasy and superheroes, and is also weirdly addicted to M/M fanfiction on AO3, I loved everything about the characters and story. The story wasn't totally unique (dialogue in the book even picks fun at how the plot is basically a rip off of Spider Man) and was incredibly predictable (I annotate my books, and made notes on pg. 53 who Shadow Star and Pyro Storm are), but it was still a fun read nonetheless, which I very much look forward to the sequel.

This is a book that I not only plan on pre-ordering, but will collect all of the editions because it speaks to my inner-teen nerd heart. I will definitely be sharing this book with my high school students when it's released.

This book is so unique, so fun, and such a fast read.

Having teenagers be teenagers while having a world of superheroes around them?
Incredible. There's fanfiction, there's drama, there's action...all come together for a fastpaced adventure.

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars for this diverse, contemporary, extraordinary YA superhero fantasy that manages to be both hilarious and poignant.

“I need my own origin story,” Nick announced grandly. “I’m going to become an Extraordinary.”
Seth: “Nicky, no.”
Nick: “Nicky, yes!”

With ADHD, an obsessive crush on Shadow Star (his city's "Extraordinary" super hero), and a stream-of-consciousness brain and mouth that just can't stop, Nick Bell is "a bit much" for some people. That's fine. Nicky and his dad have come through a lot together and he always has his friends — his beyond precious, sweater-vest-wearing, best friend Seth Gray; Gibby the baby butch and her always surprising, head cheerleader girlfriend Jazz; and Owen, a hot jerky ex that won't stop messing with them. But where exactly are his dad and friends when the super hero skirmishes escalate and Nick undertakes a poorly planned quest to become an Extraordinary himself? Answer: They may be closer than he thinks.

A few extraordinary things about this book:
• diversity handled so well
• sexuality discussed frankly and normalized
• grief portrayed accurately but with great care
• a queer, teenage friend group with a smart, sarcastic, gently ribald sense of humor that seems tone perfect
• a father-son relationship that is #goals
• a community of caring that gives all the best #FoundFamily vibes
• the painfully pure, excruciatingly fumbling friends-to-more situation
• a spot-on capture of fanfiction culture and a unique perspective on a super hero world
• nerdtastically unbridled enthusiasm
• dialogue and narrative that runs from snappy hilarious to heartrendingly perceptive

Much to my surprise, I really disliked this. It took me forever to get through, mostly because the pacing was painfully slow and because the "reveals" were telegraphed from miles away for about 60% of the book. But it didn't help that Nick was completely unlikeable as a protagonist, that there seemed to be zero romantic chemistry between the couple we're supposed to be rooting for, and that the humor didn't work AT ALL for me. (It actually made me actively hate parts of the book, especially the final fight scene.)

I know that Klune is a talented, emotional writer, but I just couldn't connect with this. I had to force myself to finish it, and when I did, I wished I'd just quit earlier.

3/8/20 Seven percent into this novel, I was ready to put it aside. But my rule is to read 50 pages of a book before giving up on it. With a Kindle that’s not so easy to figure out. This read like real person fanfic, at least to the first person POV and it’s waaay overblown. I don’t remember why I didn’t stop at 20 or 25%, but suddenly I was at 50% and I kept reading. It’s not for me, but I suppose it’s for some readers.
Nick is a teen obsessed with his city’s superhero Shadow Star. But Nick either doesn’t read or watch superhero media enough to know that they also have regular people problems.
I got this book from Netgalley. I read it on my Kindle.

Thank you to Tor Teen for giving me a free digital galley of this book in exchange for feedback.

"The Extraordinaries" was so much fun!

Nick is a reasonably normal gay teenager, with the reasonably normal hobby of obsessing about his favorite Extraordinary, Shadow Star - and writing an epic fanfiction about him to some online acclaim.

In his offline life, he is a kid with ADHD, recently dumped by the dreamy but awful Owen, and consoling himself with his best friends, Jazz, Gibby, and Seth.

No one in this story is straight. No, wait, that's not entirely true. Nick's dad, the police officer, is probably straight, and so was his late mother. I suppose they could be bisexual? It isn't a plot point.

I completely enjoyed every chapter of this book. The author strikes a perfect balance of humor, romance, and adventure, and while I did see many of the plot twists coming before they arrived, that's okay, because it was an enjoyable journey, and I think I was supposed to figure things out just before Nick does, anyway.

I read this book in mid-March of 2020, as I began to stay at home to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. It's a strange and worrying time, and "The Extraordinaries" was exactly the stress-relieving brain candy I needed.

Best of all, the end of the novel clearly sets up a sequel. Maybe even a series? I hope so, because I'll definitely be here for the second book.

I am always looking at the authenticity of voice in YA literature. Do the characters speak and behave like actual people, or do they do so in a way adults think they would?

The main character in this book has ADHD, and his thoughts bounce along like most people blessed with ADHD experience.. He is gay, and this is normal. He does not question or have continual internal, tormented dialogue. He just is, like he just is 15 and he just is male. It is so refreshing.

The plot is unique, and satisfying. The reader will probably figure out what is happening before the protagonist does, and that's okay. There doesn't need to be an omniscient narrator to hook the reader, and the cluelessness of the main character is part of his charm.

I would recommend this to superhero fans, and any person who is struggling with excepting themselves just as they are.

When I started reading "The Extraordinaries," I did not have any expectations. The opening of the story was a fanfic chapter by Nick, and I did not really appreciate it nor realise Shadow Star and Pyro Storm were real in the book. But as I read on into the main story, it was surprisingly enjoyable and gave me a few laughs. The book was the kind of YA fantasy with queer main characters I needed back in my teens.

"The Extraordinaries" is an awkward, embarrassing, and cute story on love (friendships, families, romantic relationships) and trust. Nick's obsession with Shadow Star and attraction to his best friend Seth are adorable and sometimes cringey to watch. The interactions between him and his cop dad were both loving and saddening at times. With Nick's queer clique of best friends: Seth, Gibby, and Jazz (I love Gibby and Jazz), Nick was always backed by his most trusted and loved ones. I generally really like books with conscious characters, and Nick's best friends were awesome. I would totally read its sequel to see what happens next!

Klune has carefully shifted the narrative, and being queer was never a big deal in the book. But we can obviously see the parallel of being queer in our world, being with Extraordinaries in the fictional one, and being neuroatypical in both meant being singled out. I think these parallels give us something to think about.

All in all, "The Extraordinaries" is a great book for readers of any age. TJ Klune's YA debut certainly does not disappoint.

If you’ve read TJ Klune before, The Extraordinaries is obviously one of his books from laughing too hard to bawling your eyes out. Nick Bell is a teen with ADHD and a perhaps-unhealthy obsession with Extraordinary Shadow Star, and one day he decides he’s going to become and Extraordinary too so he and Shadow Star can get married and live together happily ever after. But he also has to survive junior year of high school, cope with grief over the death of his mother two years prior, and anxiety and panic over his father’s job as a cop.

I really loved this book and spent so much of the second half with tears on my cheeks. TJ is utterly masterful when it comes to friendships and chosen family, and I loved seeing it with Nick and his best friends Seth, Gibby, and Jazz, as well as with his dad’s boss, Cap.

This really was just such a good book and I can’t wait to see the continuation of the series. Nick’s story isn’t finished and I’m looking forward to more of his friendships and his relationship with his dad

I have heard so many good things about TJ Klune's adult novels so I had fairly high expectations going into this story. Somehow, each and every expectation I had was far surpassed. Characters I loved and wanted to root for? Check! A realistic look at the fandom/fanfic experience? Check! Cute, believable, developed relationship? Check! A plot that kept me invested and turning pages? Check!

Klune's characterization is strong, and I wanted to be part of this world so I could interact with each and every character. Every time I'd read a passage featuring a character I'd find myself saying "Oh this is my favorite character!" There is so much to be developed here with all of the different friendships, family relationships, and romantic relationships. Nick, Seth, Gibby, Jazz, Owen, Nick's dad, Cap, Owen's dad, Officer Rookie.... seriously I need more of all of these characters because they all had just enough backstory to pique my interest, but so many unanswered questions as well. Also, the way everyone interacted with each other just felt so real. The comfort between Nick and Seth was so obvious in the way they spoke to and about each other and the same was true for Nick and his dad.

Sometimes the first book in a series feels almost incomplete; so much time is set laying the groundwork for the series as a whole that the plot suffers. That was absolutely not the case too. While I was able to maybe connect some more of the dots than Nick was (and was happy to see that other characters did as well) there were still twists in the plot that I absolutely did not expect. That said, there was definitely a nice little collection of hints of where the story can go from here, that again make me beyond excited for more in this world.

I feel like I can't do this story justice because I just want to squeal and flail over it. Needless to say, I'm excited to read more from TJ Klune ASAP!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

I'd heard great things about Klune's prior book, Wolfsong, so I requested this title immediately. As an adult who reads YA, this was another one that was difficult to trudge through. I was hoping for a echoes of Not Your Sidekick, but instead got diluted Fangirl. But at least in Fangirl, the characters were actually compelling. I actively disliked the main character and his drama and need for attention via fanfic. (If you read fanfic, you KNOW that author, who drags out the story with snippet updates and taunts readers based on comments.) I think fandom culture has done a lot for published fiction, but this definitely wasn't a positive.