Anyone who's read my reviews will probably know I have a soft spot for YAF.  I don't, however, have any interest in Superhero's,  never having watched Batman, Superman, Spiderman or any of the seemingly dozens of others that exist.    So what on earth compelled me to request the Superhero fiction <b>The Extraordinaries</b> by TJ Klune?   Well the comparison with  Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl certainly didn't hurt.   Even though I read that title 3 years ago I remembered loving it.   The great news is the comparison was justified and I thoroughly enjoyed The Extraordinaries.    If YAF is not your thing you may not be so keen. I would definitely say you don't need to be a super hero fan to enjoy this book but if you are partial to that genre blended with YAF I'm fairly sure you'll get a kick out of this one.  

Nick Bell was the central character in this story.  Teen boy.  ADHD sufferer.  Fanfiction blogger with a huge crush on the local Superhero Shadow Star.    Nick is slowly realising he may also have a bit of a crush on Seth the boy he's been best friends with since childhood.      Nick's self awareness fluctuated between hyperaware and clueless but he really was a likeable kid.

Not only was the writing engaging (at the YAF level) but it was so very entertaining, filled as it was with humorous dialogue.   In particular I  enjoyed the dialogue between Nick and his dad Aaron.   It was often funny and whether or not it was realistic for a father and his son I really couldn't say but it didn't stop me from having a chuckle.   Almost as often as it was funny it was touching.  Nick's mum had been killed a couple of years earlier and he and his dad were each other's everything so there were a few moments to tug on the heartstrings.  Finally, after the Epilogue, there was one last chapter that went by the title Stung.    I'm still not entirely sure if this was a teaser for a sequel or just a really clever ending to The Extraordinaries.   My guess is the latter but whatever it was it worked extraordinarily well for me.

My thanks to the author TJ Klune,  Tor/Forge, and NetGalley for the   egalley of this book.   I thoroughly enjoyed reading and reviewing this book and look forward to further titles by this author.

T.J. Klune drops us right into fanfiction about Shadow Star and we can see how Nick might be slightly obsessed with the superhero and his nemesis aka The Extraordinaries. Then Klune flashes into real life and what do you know, we really are in Nova City and there really is a superhero named Shadow Star. Don’t let Nick hear you doubt that there ever was one though (laugh).

Klune has a wonderful set of secondary characters in the multicultural lesbian couple Gibby and Jazz. I actually do not know which of the two is my favorite as they are the power couple to beat (sorry Nick). The love triangle of Owen, Seth, and Nick is quite funny at times as Nick does not realize that he is in a love triangle at all. Watching the chemistry between Owen and Seth, Owen and Nick, and Nick and Seth is humorous for all us including our live action commentators: the power couple with some of the best one-liners.

The last third of the book is a rollercoaster of emotions that even Nick’s ADHD medication cannot chill. Seriously. Klune puts us on a spiral to the last chapter (not including the epilogue).

Klune grabbed me from the beginning and Nick did not let go. I cannot wait to continue on Nick’s next adventure because let’s face it: 1) Klune left us with a cliffhanger of sorts; 2) Nick cannot stay out of trouble; and 3) Secrets gotta come out. I sooooo want to be there when it happens and so will you.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

Whenever I start a new T.J. Klune book I know that I’m in for a Good Time and this one did not disappoint. It was fun, tropey, queer, over-the-top in the best way and so full of love. As always, I can’t wait to read more.

I absolutely loved The House in the Cerulean Sea so to be approved for this made me so so excited. I love this author. One thing I do love about TJ Klune is his writing style. I find each story of his that I have read so so easy to read and engaging. I absolutely love how he brings attention to diverse topics and how he opens my eyes to topics that I do not know much about. Whilst I enjoyed this book and the characters were adorable, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. I mean how could it, I have announced on numerous occasions that The House in the Cerulean Sea was one of my favourite books of all times. I'm not sure how any book can live up to that expectation. I would recommend this book to my friends however and I would absolutely love to read more by this author. I love the characters and the concept!

So this book.

I'm not really sure how to review it.
Because on the one hand I did enjoy reading this and it was fun, the characters were enjoyable. But on the other hand, it did drag somewhere in the middle and the characters were something annoying.

It was still an overall enjoyable read,butI think I true just fall flat in the middle. Where even though I enjoy this ARC and am intrigued by the possibility of a second book, it's not one that's immediatly going on my to buy list and if I never get a physcial or proper ebook copy I won't be dissapointed.

I have so many thoughts about this book, I'll try to be as coherent as possible. First, I love that this is an #OwnVoices story. This was my first time reading about a neurodivergent character and TJ Klune did such a wonderful job of translating Nick's internal monologue, to convey the urgency and confusion and pace and direction of his thoughts. Nick is so delightfully 16, reading him as an elder reader filled me with amusement and frustration, the boy is so oblivious- which is why I *loved* Klune's set of side characters, each well written and capable of holding their own, but also saying things to Nick you as a reader would wish you could say. Even though I saw the "reveal" coming, I DID NOT see it coming, I love being surprised by a book when you think you have it figured out. And what I loved (HATED) even more, is the little easter eggs, especially in the end, so author, PLEASE tell me there's a book 2 coming soon, I'm NOT ready to let go of these characters and their world yet. The book was funny, v feels inducing, and overall, a feel good one about baby gays being extraordinary in their own right.

This is an honest review in exchange for an e-ARC from Netgalley.

When I first heard about this book, I was so excited because you know, queer superheroes!! I wanted to read it so bad. It was my first TJ Klune novel. I have heard nothing but fantastic things about his work.
Overall, I did enjoy The Extraordinaries quite a bit. It was funny and easy to read. And of course, the queer representation, AND the ADHD representation, too. I don’t think I have ever read something with ADHD rep before this. There were a few issues that I had with it. First thing was the use of language in reference towards one of the lesbian characters. The work d*ke was used a couple of times as a description of Gibby, who is a black lesbian. I found the use of the slur a little discomforting. Also, although I did in fact appreciate the lesbian representation, it did feel a little stereotypical.
The plot was somewhat predictable. I was able to figure out everything before it happened—despite this, I did still find the story enjoyable. There were a few times while reading where I thought that the novel was too long. It felt like it kept dragging on. I was about 70% through the book before I felt like any action was really happening. At times, the writing did feel slightly childish and immature, but it did add to the humor quite a bit.
Overall, it was enjoyable. I had high expectations for this before reading it. Expectations were not completely met, but I wasn’t disappointed. I’d definitely recommend this to younger YA readers, not necessarily adult fans of YA.

this book is very very much not for me. the mc writes fanfic about real people in his universe, and real people fic squicks me out so much. i just couldn't get over that and it ruined the book for me.

1) After reading this, I officially adore TJ Klune.
2) I recommend you skip this book.

Yes. I hold both of these truths in the palm of my hand.

I adored the story. The characters. The voices. The plot. I adored Nick's hyperactive cluelessness. His completely over-the-line sense of humour. I adored his slippery brain parts, and the way he loves his friends. I adored the superheroes and supervillains arc, and the way it played with the canon. I adored the super queerness and everything about it. It's funny and darling, and stop-your-heart-sweet.

But it's also unabashed pro-police propaganda.

Like so many books I have read this summer, this is a Before-times book, written and edited before COVID, before the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and before the Defund the Police movement entered the popular consciousness.

In perhaps a nod to the superhero genre, there is a very present B-Plot about police and law enforcement, and the tension between superheros and cops. Nick's dad is a cop, as is a close family friend, and over the course of the narrative, cops are repeatedly referred to, un-ironically, as heroes who risk their lives to keep their city safe. The only references to police-instigated violence are a few crass jokes about police brutality and abuse of power. There's no acknowledgement that cops harass, arrest, assault, and kill a disproportionate number of Black and brown people within our communities.

I know from my own writing that it's tempting, as a white person, to include cops and try to show in the text that "these are the good ones." It's an example of white privilege that I didn't fully understand in myself until this summer; but by including cops and claiming that they are heroes or that they uphold the safety of the [ahem white] community we're presenting an argument in favour of their continued place in our communities, even when we are conscious of the danger cops pose to communities of color.

We need to set aside the idea that there are good cops. Law enforcement is an institution that perpetuates racism and modern incarnations of slavery. Cops were originally created to hunt down runaway slaves. Our laws have been designed specifically to target people of colour (example: drug bills criminalize drugs used by Black communities with higher punishments than "white-collar" drugs, eg crack vs coke, weed vs weed; example: laws criminalizing certain styles of dress as suspected prostitution.) Our prison industrial complex puts imprisoned populations to work as slave labour. And people convicted under these unfair systems often lose their rights to vote and to participate in our democracy.

And then there's the fact that police publicly murder our Black friends and neighbors on a painfully routine basis.

This summer, across the world, we have seen people and organizations speak out against systemic racism and police brutality. I've seen anti-racism declarations from publishers, bookstores, underwear brands. But when confronted with the opportunity to speak out against the violence committed by their fellow cops, and to declare that this is not what the police are about, police departments and individual cops across the country (and world) have marched against their fellow citizens, beating, arresting, tear-gassing, and threatening anyone who dares to speak out against police brutality.

Police organizations have allied themselves with the killers among them. And cops have been out on the streets, showing exactly which side they are on. Until and unless we see police holding police accountable, for hate crimes, assault, battery, and first-degree murder, we can let go the myth of the good cop who wants to keep their community safe.

The idea that we can shape our society with a structure that no longer includes cops and prisons is new to all of us. I can't fault Klune for falling prey to the same blindness of privilege that I myself held onto until quite recently. But given how painfully important it is that we change these systems now, while we have momentum and focus on our sides, I cannot recommend any piece of writing that reenforces the perceived positive roles of police in our communities.

There were elements about this book that I absolutely adored. I. Fucking. Loved. everything about this book that wasn't cop related. But after my own experiences with police violence this summer, the pro-police elements were so triggering I ended up in tears. I would love to get this book back, without this ugly film cast across it.

I really hope that Klune and the publishers explore a second printing with a major editing overhaul to better align with our world today. In the meantime, if anyone does a fan-cut to remove all references to cops, hit me up. I'm not even minutely kidding.

So much of this book is about Before and After, and unfortunately this is a Before-times story that really does not fit in the After.

this was an incredible read and everything I have come to expect from Klune. It made me smile and giggle and wanting to have more fanfiction in my life.
5 wonderful stars and I cannot wait to read more from Klune in the future

My Rating: 3.5
Superheroes! Aren't they amazing? Now, this is the time that most people would answer yes and I would answer... No! I never liked superheroes movies, series or comics when I was a kid. I don't know why but I just find it ridiculous (how unlikely it is to gain super powers) and mostly boring because I'm not a fan of action packed media either.
So the fact that I liked this book is actually a surprise. I had read The House in The Cerulean Sea back in February and I LOVED it. So when I saw this book I thought "Why not?"

In the book we follow Nick Bell, a HUGE fan of the Extraordinary Shadow Star. He even has his own fanfiction where he pairs himself with Shadow Star. He's a hardcore fan.
The book focus a lot on fandom culture and I did like how it was portrayed.
I would say that the reason that made me give it only 3 stars (besides the fact that I hate superheroes in general) was the MC. He had ADHD and I think it was well portrayed and that we need more representation but that made the character too accelerated and his thought were a bit scattered. And that made me lose focus of what was going on and I had to keep on re-reading the lines over and over.
Moving on, Nick has an amazing friend squad: Seth, Gibby and Jazz. And there there's Owen, the douche bag that Nick had a fling with. So Nick has this huge crush on Shadow Star and hates his archenemy Pyro Storm. Through out the whole book we keep getting hints that Seth and Owen might be one of the Extraordinaries but we only find out more towards the end. I liked the twist with the Seth and Owen even though I had already call it a few chapters before.
The romance was a bit meh since I wasn't really rooting for the male interest.
Overall it was a good superheroes book and now I'm a fan of T.J. Klune.

Hilarious, heartwarming and delightfully over the top/cheesy this book will not fail to put a mile on your face! I ws grinning with joy the whole time while reading!!

We follow our main character Nick, and his obsession with superheros, known in this world as extraordinaries. He writes fan-fiction about his favourite Shadow-Star who Nick might possibly have a crush on...

We also follow Nick and his friends at school, I think this was my favourite part of the book following Nick and his friends, they were all such easy characters to root for and very endearing and loveable and their friendship dynamic was adorable.

Nick also has such an entertaining but also heartbreaking dynamic with his father, they are both struggles after the death of his mum a few years ago but they care about each other so much and have the best banter. Their relatonship reminded me a lot of stiles and his dad from teen wolf which was one of my favourite shows when I was younger.

Nick also ADHD and struggles with feeling like his is too much for people/not good enough as he is, which leads him into trying to become an extraordinary. Nick is also hilariously oblivious, not realising that is best friend has been in love with him for years and Nick has also been in love with him as well and their dynamic was so endearing - friends to lovers really is the superior trope..

This book is also unapolgetically queer, with Nick being gay, his best friend Seth is bisexual and their 2 other friends (Jazz and Gibby - who are the best!!!!!) are a lesbian couple.

I also loved the superhero aspect of this book, which i know might not be for everyone but it made me feel so nostalgic and reminded me of my favourite cheesy superhero CW shows which really helped cheer me up when I was i ill. This book really is very over the top at times but it just works and I think is meant to be taking the micky out of superhero comics/shows a little bit.

One negative is I think this book was slightly longer than it needed it to be but I loved following the characters so this wasnt a major negative for me!

DNF at 28%: I hate to say this because I LOVED (like, favorite of the year, loved) the last TJ Klune book I read, but I did not enjoy what I read of this one at all. I found the main character’s POV to be kind of insufferable and that made it extremely hard for me to connect to the story or care at all about what was happening. While this one didn’t necessarily work for me personally, I do think that if you enjoy superheroes, you could probably still really like this one. But between me not caring a ton about superheroes and not connecting to the main character, this was very much just not the TJ Klune book for me.

I love every character in this book! They all have fabulous messages to deliver. I laughed and cried in equal amounts, and even learned a few new things. The dialogue - especially from the MC, Nicky - is endlessly entertaining and often educational. I'll do my best to choose my words a little more wisely going forward. I'll also forever laugh when I see a pillow with a face on it!
Entertaining and educational is a precious combination in a book. I will definitely be recommending The Extraordinaries.

Nick Bell may not be one of the Extraordinaries, people with super human powers, but he definitely is a fan. In fact, Nick is pretty much all in, writing Extraordinaries fan fiction about his favorite super hero, Shadow Star (starring a loosely veiled version of himself as the love interest). For Nick, Shadow Star is everything he could want — strong, brave, powerful, and willing to do whatever it takes it stop his arch nemesis, Pyro Storm. Nick can’t help his massive crush on Shadow Star, especially when he has a chance meeting with the dreamy super hero himself.

While Shadow Star may be his not-so-secret obsession, Nick is trying hard to focus this year on school and being responsible. He knows he let his dad down last year when he let things get out of control while he was dating Owen. But Nick has promised his dad he will take his ADHD medication, he will be at school on time, and he will try to stay out of trouble. After Nick lost his mom tragically, his dad is all he has, and Nick doesn’t want to let him down. But that is easier said than done, especially when his brain moves a million miles an hour and sometimes Nick can’t quite think things through before he finds himself acting on them.

With his dad being a cop, Nick knows that danger is everywhere. And he sees how hard Shadow Star is working to protect Nova City from bad guys like Pyro Storm. So Nick decides to figure out a way to make himself an Extraordinary so he can help. His best friend, Seth, and his friends Gibby and Jazz, are somewhat reluctant to join in what they see is a risky endeavor, but Nick knows if he can just figure out how to gain his own powers, he can protect those he cares about. Unfortunately, figuring out how to give himself abilities is easier said than done. But when things heat up, both in the battle between the Extraordinaries, and with danger on the home front, Nick is going to need the support of his friends more than ever if he will have a chance to protect those he loves.

The Extraordinaries kicks off a new young adult series by T.J. Klune and I totally loved it. I am sucker for superhero stories and this one has all the right humor and playfulness, but also with a really nice depth that grounds the story and builds something really engaging. What I appreciated most here is that the story grows and evolves throughout the book. I thought I knew exactly what was happening from the start (and to a degree, I was right), but things keep developing and building in ways that kept me eagerly turning pages to watch it all evolve. Klune does plenty of foreshadowing to lead us all along, and I loved the way the story ends up being much more than it originally seems. For superhero fans, there is a lot to like here. We get nods to various superhero tropes, with arch nemeses and dramatic origin stories and even superhero lairs (albeit ones that are somewhat disappointing to Nick). There is also a nice playfulness that fits well with this style story. Those familiar with Klune’s more comedic adult works will recognize the style and I think it translates nicely here. At times, Nick is a bit over-the-top in his cluelessness, but I think it works overall given the type of story this is.

I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between Nick and his dad. The two of them have had a rough go of it as they struggled in the aftermath of his mom’s death. Things are a little tense as Nick let things get somewhat out of hand over the last year and he is trying to get his act back together. And it is not always easy with his ADHD. But even as his dad may lay down more rules than Nick wants, the love between them is always clear. They may joke and banter, but they without a doubt care about each other, and his father’s support is what really grounds Nick as things get somewhat out of control once again. I also loved the interaction with his best friends, Seth, Jazz, and Gibby. They may roll their eyes at Nick’s obliviousness at times, and think some of his ideas are crazy. But they also have his back and I there is great camaraderie among them all. I love Gibby as the self described “baby butch” and Jazz, her cheerleader girlfriend who has a lot more going on than might appear at first glance. And of course, there is Seth, Nick’s best friend and a total cinnamon roll who I just wanted to hug and squeeze for his adorableness (as does Nick, although it takes him quite a while to figure out exactly why that is). Nick and Seth’s romance is just starting to develop here, but they are all kinds of sweet together.

As I said, a lot unfolds here over the course of the book and Klune takes the story in some fun directions. There is humor and suspense and some real emotions as Nick struggles with realizing he is good enough just as he is and doesn’t need any super powers to be an extraordinary person all on his own. Things tie up nicely here, but also the door is left open for a lot of threads to continue with the series. And be sure not to stop reading until the very end, because in true superhero story fashion, there is a late scene that takes things into all kinds of great directions.

‪This is probably the most heartbreaking book to review. I absolutely love TJ and have been a fan of his since reading BOATK. The Extraordinaries was severely underwhelming. Perhaps it’s because of how much I anticipated it + it being in between two other huge books for him & it being pushed back, but I found myself being bored throughout the majority of the book. I am obviously not the target demographic so [i]this[/i] part doesn’t mean a whole lot. Compared to his other books, things feel like they’re everywhere and maybe that’s a representation of how it feels to have ADHD. It was extremely frustrating at times.

also, Nick’s dad is a cop and uses excessive force & only gets demoted. I feel like him being a “good person” downplays the fact that he in fact used excessive force. ACAB, even those who are fictional.

I’ve seen this categorized as a YA SCI-FI, but the book is set in a world very much like ours, other than the fact that superheroes are real.

Or superqueeroes, because this is about LGBT+ teens. Author's word, not mine but I love it.

Anyway, it's a good read and entertaining story with some cool and multi-dimensional characters.

Nova City deals with the fight between two Extraordinaries, who are people with superpowers and secret identities. Nick is a big fan of Shadow Star and so he writes a popular fanfiction including him as the love his superhero's life. But along with the new pill for his ADHD, the failure of his romance with a good-looking jerk and the now regular absences of his best friend and beta reader Seth, this have also been changing in his city, and it seem the two Extraordinaries are more at it than ever, bringing danger to the civilians. That's when Nick decides he too will become an Extraordinary and help his soon-to-be best friend and later lover Shadow Star.

This book was nothing of what I expected and probably of what I've seen before. It's not that different from others but still enough that it was refreshing and appealing. You know when some secret heroes will have that best friend who is a big fan of their hero selves without ever knowing who they are? I think having that comic relief as the main character is the premise for this book, but with lots of twists along the way, because we don't really know who actually is Shadow Star.

I can't point out the exact genre aside from saying this is romance. But there's also the whole superhero thing, which is not just a side story, and it surely has a bit of parody-like scenes—especially with Nick's bizarre plans to become a superhero but not exclusively. The narration too gives airs of comedy at times, and it's very rare for a book to make me laugh so hard because of some parts that I got tears in my eyes.

The thing is, I think the book itself never decided whether we were to take it seriously or not. Is it simply for us to laugh or not? So while the narration will go off track too many times, surely to attest the character's ADHD, it'll take a serious tone at others. So I think the book failed in setting its tone, making me confused and resulting in something too long for what it is. It's a great book, hilarious story, but the tendency to wordiness and digression made me frown too.

Aside from that, we had great side characters, I think I fell in love even with the villain until... he started doing the things villains do, of course. The ending was okay, though it could have been better. What I loved the most, though, was how it reminded me of this old cartoon I used to watch, Static Shock. But gay(er?).

Recommended to anyone who loved LGBT YA romances and superheroes. To be honest, I think even readers outside the LGBT or even the YA genre could enjoy it. This doesn't deal so much with fandom but it's also true we get to talk about fanfics and Real-Person Fiction to top it!

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

I received a complimentary copy of The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune from Tor Teen through Netgalley. I also recieved a complimentary ALC from Libro.fm. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The Extraordinaries came out on July 14th!
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Nick Bell isn't an Extraordinary, but he's a popular writer of fanfiction about the superheroes known as Extraordinaries. Nick has a serious crush on Shadow Star, the city's most popular Extraordinary, so when he and a friend are victims of a mugging and Shadow Star shows up to save them, Nick can't believe his luck. But he can't tell his cop father, who is raising Nick alone and will totally freak out about Nick nearly getting mugged. As Nick's life becomes more complicated with superhero encounters, drama with his friends, his only parent working a dangerous job, and the challenges of his own ADHD, Nick decides to become an Extraordinary himself, no matter what it takes.
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This book was so cute! I switched between reading an eARC and listening to audio and I highly recommend trying the audiobook! The narrator was FANTASTIC! He really brought Nick to life. I love that Klune gave us a main character with ADHD and such relatable teenage awkwardness. Nick's relationship with his father was one of my favorite parts of this book: it's so endearing but imperfect. The mlm romance is sweet as well! My main complaint is I want to see more of the world and more Extraordinaries than the two we see in this story, but I'm hoping we'll get that with the upcoming books in the series!

The Extraordinaries provides great representation of gay and lesbian characters within a fantasy setting. The characters are nerdy and relatable, though a bit cringe-worthy at times, but the story line is unique and is a solid read for those looking to read a fantasy novel and/or looking for positive gay/lesbian characters, relationships, and situations in YA Lit. The book was a bit slow to start, but if you stick with it, the ending sucks you in and keeps you wanting more. In fact, the ending seems a bit unresolved, so there is hope for at least one more book in The Extraordinaries universe.