Twist the knife a little deeper, Klune. Go on,

I'll even show you my gut so you can punch it. Again.

I have not had the pleasure of reading any of Klune's prior work, so THE EXTRAORDINARIES was my introduction. And a great one! Here is the snappy teenage dialogue I've been craving for YEARS, the purest of m/m romances and friends-to-lovers novels that I needed in the year of our discord 2020. Here, too, is the ADHD representation that young adult literature still needs SO much more of. (I immediately recommended the title to my friend *with* ADHD, so I eagerly await her take on that element of the book, which I'm not really an expert on.)

There are lesbian quotes for DAYS. There are White People™ quotes for YEARS. There are clueless puppy dog eyes all over the place, and intensely uncomfortable scenes of social meltdown that felt SO, SO SOSOSOSO relatable. (The first time your hero talks to you? BLARGH, I don't ... words ... eek.) (The first time you realize your parents are breakable? OMIGOD you're KILLING me, Klune!) (Friend groups filming each other being dumb and using it as social currency later.) (Friends who email you after ten years abroad to ask you, "Hey! Did you use my FULL NAME on this weird fanfiction website?" Thanks, Google Alerts, you traitor.) (Friends looking up absurd things on Google while others are involved in intense and painful fights, only to break in with cricket information––yeah, weirdly specific, but then ... read the book and you'll understand why I want a sequel dedicated to Gibby and Jazz.) That Nick's father and friends understand his neurodivergent behavior and embrace it thoughtfully ... well, let's just say that broke my heart. Not because it goes wrong in the book, but because it's something so *many* neurodivergent kiddos and teens never get, that understanding. (And it highlights how devastating it can be when the people who normally love you and support your neurodivergencies the most have a lapse in kindness.)

Okay, so let's talk mess for a second. Nick is a garbage fire of a human being when it comes to structuring his life, and the book reflects that in some ways that are clearly intentional and in some ways that just feel ... messy. I would subtract a half star for mess except that I would add a dozen more stars for WHEELHOUSE (this book ticks every. single. one. of. my. boxes.)! He's oblivious, in part because of his ADHD and in part because he has some maturing to do at the start ... and the middle ... and yeah, maybe even the end ... of the book to do. (I'm so glad this is the start of a series!) Tonally, there were some resonances with Ryan La Sala's REVERIE and the rambunctiousness of a Sarah Gailey book. (Think of the most unexpected thing you could make your characters do right now. NOW ADD SEWAGE. And/or superpowers.) That said, Klune's Nick is a character who I have only ever encountered in peak fanfiction before, and I'm so, SO glad to see him on the page.

Guys, I started crying before the halfway point. It might have been the quarter-way point. And I was steadily if slowly crying for the rest of the book. Again, not because the book is particularly sad, but because it's so divinely beautiful to see a queer neurodivergent kid receive the kind of love that ALL queer or neurodivergent kids should have always received, and didn't. I'm tearing up thinking about it right now, in fact. If this is pure fantasy and wish fulfillment, you leave me the H alone, okay? It's 2020. I'll take every ounce of joy I can find and wring it of every. last. drop. of. delightfulness.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I think a lot of people will really enjoy this book, but sadly I'm not one of them. This could have been amazing book! I found parts of it laugh out loud funny. I loved Nick ,Seth and their friends. It was the glorification of the police force that did not sit well with me. Especially with all the social injustice that has been going on in the U.S.

There's a line that mentions the Black Lives Matter movement as well as a joke about police brutality. I found this utterly offensive. I could not get past this...it ruined the book for me.

Quirky, fun, and ultimately satisfying young adult story about finding the extraordinary inside yourself. I absolutely loved Nick's offbeat sense of humor and internal dialogue, as well as his diverse group of friends. There were times when I was absolutely certain I knew where the story was going, but it still managed to surprise me at the end. I especially adored Nick's banter and relationship with his father and the way the loss of his mother was worked in throughout the story. The fanfiction parts were perfection. I really hope there's going to be a sequel!

TJ Klune can write the most heartfelt and fun stories, and The Extraordinaries was just that. This book left such a big smile on my face and I can’t wait to read more in this world.

When I heard about this book, my excitement level was at an all time high. First, I love TJ Klune’s writing, and second, it was compared to Fangirl which is a book I love. On top of that, superheroes!

Nick Bell is an ordinary teenager with ADHD who lives with his dad. Nick loves the Extraordinaries and has a popular fan-fic based on his favorite superhero, Shadow Star. Nick has a thing for Shadow Star, and when he meets him in real life… OMG. I laughed so hard. There are some twists and turns (some I guessed, a few I had ass backwards) and so many fun moments.

This story had humor, action, and had some romance but also big focuses on friendship and family. Nick and Seth’s relationship/friendship was the best thing ever, but I also loved their other friends and Nick’s relationship with his dad.

I enjoyed this one lots. It was even, dare I say, extraordinary. I’m not sure if the next book in this series will be more about Nick, Seth, and the gang or a new cast of characters but either way, I’m excited to read more!

Trigger warnings: copaganda, witness assault (not challenged), controlling medication, death and grief, ‘joking’ pedophilia accusations (explained below), violence.

This book absolutely nailed the cringey teenager factor. It was like watching the best kind of noughties movies, where it’s almost too hard to watch. I laughed out loud a lot, whilst also panic closing the kindle app on my phone every time Nick said anything. I’ve never been so glad to be out of my awkward teenage years as I was reading Nick’s awkward teenage years. This book leans heavily on the secret identities, lack of self-awareness and miscommunication tropes, but they were done well enough that they weren’t frustrating to read. When the evidence was there, Nick put it together. It was always about two chapters after I did, and made me want to bang the character’s heads together, but it was excellent fun to read. The characters were fleshed out and interesting, and I loved the supporting cast of queer characters, particularly Gibby and Jazz. I identified with Gibby way too much. I will be interested in getting my hands on the sequel to this one, because I think it’s going to be supremely exciting after the prologue to The Extraordinaries punched me in the stomach.

Okay, I put loads of trigger warnings above, and I want to explain most of them. This is slightly spoilery. Not for major plot points, but for each of the warned triggers. I think for a lot of people, this book won’t be particularly triggering at all and will be very enjoyable, but the things I did list above aren’t challenged at all so I think if they are triggering to a reader they’re going to be extremely triggering. The copaganda was so jarring to me every time it happened. I can understand where Klune wanted to use the hero comparisons, and I do think that it would have been tricky to get the same comparisons that he used with another career (though Nick’s dad should have been a firefighter) but it felt really strange to me for this book to specifically reference Black Lives Matter protests in the first few chapters and then spend a chunk of the book defending a police officer who assaulted a witness because of issues in his personal life. The officer gets a demotion but the book says on the page that the rest of the officer’s colleagues defended him and made sure that he didn’t lose his job. That was just so off to me when Black Lives Matter is primarily protesting police brutality (and while you’re here, support BLM causes here).

The main character’s father is also in charge of controlling his medication. Nick isn’t able to access his pills, he has to get them from his father when he needs them, or from a school nurse with permission from his father. The last, and strangest, of the trigger warnings are the joking pedophilia accusations. This one is so weird? There’s a character who has to look after the main character on a few occasions and he and his friends (also teenagers) just repeatedly accuse a stranger of being attracted to them and accuse him of being a pedophile. It wasn’t funny, and felt totally unnecessary. It was just uncomfortable, and the accused character is a near-stranger to them. Why would anyone do that and think it was funny?

The above issues are what lost this book its stars. I think this could have been a five star read for me otherwise. It did read like someone in their late-thirties writing teenagers, but don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it a lot. There were just moments that the slang and the way they talked to each other just felt… off. It was a much better attempt than some others that I’ve read, but the moments that didn’t work really jolted me out of the story. I think I’m going to really, really love T.J. Klune’s adult work, and The House on the Cerulean Sea is next on my list.

The Extraordinaries is the comedic queer superhero novel everyone needs to read! This book is amazing, it’s one of those five star reads that becomes almost impossible to describe or explain. I am honestly lost for words with The Extraordinaries, every part of it was just exceptional. I switched between the eBook and audiobook for this novel and the audiobook narrator was hilarious, he somehow managed to add another level of hilarity to the story so I would most definitely recommend checking out the audiobook. If you’re in need of cheering up, a soft fantasy novel or some humour , then The Extraordinaries will fit the bill perfectly. I haven’t read a novel as funny as T. J. Klune’s YA debut in quite a while.

The story starts with Nick, the main character’s, fanfiction upload, Nick is obsessed with Shadow Star, Nova City’s superhero and so he writes fanfiction detailing Shadow Star and a young guy’s romance. Nick is a quirky, funny and nerdy teenage boy who can be incredibly awkward but also very compassionate. Nick has ADHD and to me, as someone who isn’t all that aware of all that ADHD entails, I found this novel and the portrayal of Nick’s ADHD to be very educational and informing, the own voices representation of ADHD really shines through. Erasing the stigma around neurodiversity is so important and own voices novels like The Extraordinaries are paving the way.

Overall the plot of The Extraordinaries is very fast paced and character driven, for majority of the novel I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if my conspiracy theories regarding the superheroes and Nick were true, I definitely guessed a few plot points early on but the novel continued to make me doubt myself and there was a huge surprise I did not see coming at the end! The Extraordinaries takes your average superhero story, gives it a few twists, an almost entirely queer cast and the most adorably awkward teenage boy as a main character and delivers an amazing novel. I could not recommend this book enough, I loved it so much!

This was my first foray into the world of T. J. Klune but most certainly won’t be my last, not by a long shot! I can’t wait to get my hands on The Extraordinaries 2 (which is already with the publishers!!) but in the meantime I’ll be picking up The House in the Cerulean Sea so keep an eye out for a review of that one soon! If you haven’t purchased a copy of The Extraordinaries yet I recommend that you change that as soon as possible, you won’t regret purchasing a copy of this laugh a minute read.

This was a hilarious story about a fan - boy living in a world (city?) of superheroes (aka the Extraordinares) – as in he is a hardcore fanboy writing fanfiction about the same Extraordinary hero who is in love with him (in the fanfiction, not in the story! And let me be clear, he isn’t alone in it, for we have ALL fancied ourselves in love and loved by our fictional heroes!) with his group of friends, all endearing in their own way. It also has a Super Villain, some amazing banter between parents and their kids + a slow burn unrequited love that our protagonist isn’t even aware of (adorable moments ya’ll!) and some amazing fight sequences that reminded me of Avengers/X-Men albeit in written form (and no, I haven’t read the comics!).

Our adorkable protagonist, Nicholas Bell, is ADHD, gay and in love with Shadow Star, the resident The Extraordinary Superhero; who is always saving his city, Nova City from the resident villain, Pyro Storm. He writes fanfiction about Shadow Star, beta read by his bestest friend in the whole world; Seth Gray – whose penchant for wearing bow ties and sweater vest obviously makes him the coolest person in Nick’s eyes. They are joined by Gibby, a butch girl who looks scary and is scary and Jazz, a cheerleader who lookslike a calming influence but is actually the deadly one – a queer couple who are so obviously in love but are the protectors Nick and Seth need! We also have a sleazy yet flirty ex – boyfriend (or the Debacle) of Nick, who tends to nose in on the conversations that Nick

This was my first TJ Klune book – and honestly I am in love – The plot is predictable – I swear I predicted how the book would proceed with the first 15% of the book (I swear, I even called it with Nick!) – but it was adorable, charming and hilarious in a way that I needed after a long, tiring day! I swear, Nick’s interaction with his dad, with his friends and the way his friends supported him, even when he was being a selfish prune; had me sighing in pleasure!

I realise that I haven’t spoken about the actual plotline; and that was deliberate – mostly because most of it is given in the blurb it self – so I know you will enjoy the book, if you go in ONLY with that in your mind.
Also, just one thing, Nick’s ADHD rep is on point – he tended to actually go on a tangent which reflected in the book as well – so there were times, even with whole adorableness of the book and the characters had my head swimming for a while – and this is NOT a negative point – I adore that the author had the talent and ability to show EXACTLY how an ADHD mind works!

So, THIS ONE GETS ALL THE THUMBS UP – Also can I not have to wait A YEAR FOR THE SEQUEL PLEASSE?

Goodreads says it’s a trilogy!!!! Which I’m very excited about! I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to see what the other books will hold. Especially after that ending! This post will be mostly be just rambling about how much I connected to the characters (well, mostly the main character). So it might be a bit long.

If you were wondering what on earth I was doing, rambling on in the summary; the main character (Nick) has ADHD. The book is ownvoices for its queer rep and the neurodiverse rep. I have ADHD, so I was pretty excited to see a MAIN character have it too. And while I can’t speak for medicated ADHD rep (because I haven’t been on meds since like high school), I do think it was great representation of how a person with ADHD thinks and reacts and speaks.

I have so so many notes in my Kindle that’s just ME in all caps and etc etc because I RELATED so much to the main character!! And that’s really really important for me (someday I’ll do a post on what makes or breaks a book for me) – to connect to a character and to relate to them. Nick was definitely one of them, what he said I felt. Like when he said something embarrassing and immediately regretted it? I’ve spent multiple nights thinking back to literally anything mildly embarrassing I’ve said in the past.

And when he rambles and goes on about x or y topic and other people are like… and they don’t exactly know what to do or say; or sometimes (and this does happen) that even your best or closest friends or family do say something rude about the ADHD. And it hurt Nick, and it hurt me as well. Because that is something that happens alll the time. I don’t think people really get how it affects our day-to-day life/living. There’s never a moment where my ADHD lets me like… rest. Not even at night, when I’m ‘trained’ to sleep. My brain is always on overdrive and multitasking and thinking and thinking and thinking.

But anyway! Let’s carry on from all the rambling. I loved the other characters. Seth 🥰🥰 Gibby and Jazz were super great. Just everyone I really loved?? Except Owen. I didn’t like him.

The plot? I had my thoughts, and then I switched my thoughts, and my second set of thoughts were right. Meaning, the plot was a bit transparent and I knew what was going to happen. Yes, Nick seemed like a bit of a dumb-dumb for not realising what was happening earlier, but then again that tied into his personality – which I loved a lot.

I loved the fic aspect (which I wished there could’ve been more of, like in Fangirl). I mean, the fact that it was past 200k and he was STILL writing is everything for me.

Yes, I did give the book 4 stars instead of 5. Unfortunately, that’s mostly due to (sometimes) the book did feel like it was taking too much inspiration from a fic, and being too much like a fanfic – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing! At all! I love fics so much! But sometimes it can be a bad thing. Another reason why I gave it 4 and not 5, is because Nick’s dad is a police officer. And the book paints the job in a very good light and praises the police force without talking about the negative aspects of the career. And that’s a very unfortunate thing to do in this current time and environment.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

This was such a cute book! The main character, Nick Bell, is a lovably awkward teenager with a fun group of friends. The story moved along well, even if the final outcome was predictable, it was still an adorable and fast read. The story was funny even while dealing with some bigger concepts/themes.

TJ Kline has me hooked on his writing style and I can’t wait to read some other works.

Friendships, relationships, comedy… all the best parts of a story were included in this book. We also got a fantastic, swoony, romantic young adult love story. Seth and Nicky were so goals, both as friends and as more. In fact, everywhere I looked there was another story with this story. It gives me such hope for the trilogy overall.

And the cliffhanger was perfection. It left me eager for the next book, but without feeling like I’m hanging on a precipice.

It was a really good book by a really amazing author. I only wished I hadn’t been able to guess where The Extraordinaries was going to go. I figured out almost all of the reveals far before they happened, and I would have liked to be more surprised. Luckily I don’t read this author for the shock value. I read him for his heart.

The Extraordinaries had a beautiful heart.

“It’s well known that regardless of what else they are, teenage boys are inherently stupid.”

I am happy to announce that this quote sums up a good majority of this book and it’s wonderful. The Extraordinaries was hilarious and full of SO MUCH second-hand embarrassment. Some of Nick’s choices and his obliviousness made me want to face-palm so hard. The romance in this book was adorable and it was so cute how flustered Seth and Nick got around each other. Plus, Nick loves his friends a lot and I love seeing that in books. Every single one of their interactions was just the best.
What I really loved about this book was that it’s basically set in our world but with superheroes. So you had Nick talking about Spider-man, Batman, etc alongside Shadow Star and Pyrostorm. Which I thought was really cool. Many people have said that they saw the twist coming and it wasn’t shocking, but I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be the point. The Extraordinaries leans into many of the tropes of superhero stories and I think you’re *supposed* to know what’s coming. You can’t tell me that every single superhero movie you watch is brand new and shocking to you. They just aren’t.

All of that being said, the portrayal of the police didn’t sit right with me at all. Nick’s dad is a cop who got demoted for punching a witness and the police play a central part in the story. Many of the quotes when talking about the police read like glorification and there was even a joke about police brutality. While I hope that this is something that’s addressed in the rest of the series, I want people to be aware of it before they go into this book.

Actual rating: 3.5/5

I read another of TJ Klune's books: Middle Grade The House in the Cerulean Sea<a couple of months ago, and I found myself just smitten with his writing style. This is his YA debut, and it not only features superheroes. It contains some pretty "extra" teens. This friend group is precisely the one you'd want to go through high school today. This queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves captured my heart.

Parental Note: I'd say it is a story for older teens (or any kid that understands the physical mechanics involved because it is completely spelled out) If that's the case, you or your teen will love Nick and his friends. Great banter, I laughed so much. I also want to not an Excellent liberal representation of the differences between people. And it's the start of a series!!

The Extraordinaries is a fun, wonderful novel.
I didn’t know quite what I was getting into when I started the book. Despite reading the summary and several reviews, I was under the impression that Nick wrote fanfiction about a TV show with superheroes. So imagine my surprise when there are actual superheroes and peoples with powers in this world. It didn't detract from my enjoyment at all, but it was a different book than I was expecting!
It took a few chapters to get into the groove of the boo. The dialogue and characters seem over the top and past the point of believability (looking at you Nick). However, that quickly became what I loved about it. I was laughing out loud consistently throughout the story, partly at how oblivious Nick is and the suffering of his friends.
There is one aspect I think some readers may have issues with. Nick’s dad is a police officer – a police officer that had been demoted for punching a suspect. Police are a central part of the story. The main character's dad is a police officer - he’s around the house, and his job is very relevant to the story. It also seems like Nick’s dad will play an active part in a sequel. I don’t know - the portrayal of the police didn’t sit quite right with me, but I'm also not sure what would make it better.
All in all, I loved reading The Extraordinaries, and I'm looking forward to reading more about Nick Bell and his friends.

I think a lot of people will really enjoy this book, but I'm unfortunately not one of them. The police glorification really made me want to tell Klune to read the room, and the only characters of color are barely given personalities. It was a fine read but honestly I expected more from someone who wrote one of my favorite books of the year -- The House in the Cerulean Sea -- and though I'll be reading more by Klune, this is an average book at best.

Review: The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune // Or, Not Your Ordinary Superhero Story

★★★★☆ |This one’s for when you want to HAVE FUN!!

🦸‍♂️ m/m friends to lovers
🦸‍♂️ side established f/f
🦸‍♂️ not your ordinary superhero story
🦸‍♂️ ADHD rep

ARC received from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

If you like stories that manage not to take themselves too seriously and perhaps go a bit meta then this one is for you.

Here, we have a superhero story but from the POV of a superhero’s disaster love interest.

Nick Bell is a huge fanboy, an author of the longest fanfiction in the Extraordinaries fandom, that boy with ADHD. What Nick Bell isn’t is Extraordinary.

And he desperately wants to be after an encounter with the city’s superhero Shadow Star A.K.A. Nick’s biggest crush.

And thus begin the trial and errors of Nick trying to become an Extraordinary. With the help of his best friend (and maybe the love of his life?) Seth and two amazing lesbian girlfriends and part of their friend group he desperately attempts one after another dumb (and often dangerous) plan to gain superpowers.

This book is ridiculous and camp and not to be taken seriously.

But it also breaks the tropes, is surprising even when you think you have it all figured out, and has a great rep.

ADHD is a huge part of the story and Nick’s characterisation. It’s not just something mentioned in passing — it’s here from the first page to the last one.

And the whole group of queer misfits that are Nick’s friends is already out. Nick’s gay, Seth is bi, and Nick’s two girl friends are GIRLFRIENDS and lesbians.

Nick and Seth were so cute, too! Nick was super oblivious to Seth’s feelings for a big part and Seth was pinning HARD (while beta reading the self insert fanfiction Nick wrote, poor boy…) and it was both heartbreaking and hilarious!

The one thing I didn’t like was the overt cop propaganda & police idealisation — Nick’s father is a cop and it is a big part of the story. With what’s going on in the USA and police brutality this doesn’t read well and I hope Klune will try and improve in the rest of the series.

All quotes are from an advance copy and may differ in final publication.

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review, and this hasn’t affected my opinions in any way

This book would be getting four stars, because it had so many things I loved, but unfortunately it also had some really harmful shit so instead it’s getting a very deserved 1.5 stars!! Yay, disappointment!

I am so incredibly disappointed in this book, and I really wish I could rate it highly and recommend it, but I cannot in good conscience do that because wow wtf. Anyways, i do feel the need to acknowledge the good in this book still, because it was there, and you know this is supposed to be an honest review, so uh:

The Reasons It’s Not Getting One Star:

- the writing was super fun! It was so easy to read and i literally read it in one sitting because i genuinely was enjoying myself a lot when i didn’t feel like throwing it across the room

- the characters were great. I really loved Nick even though he was completely clueless, and Seth was so sweet, and also the side sapphic couple whose names i’ve already forgotten were amazing and just hjgfjghkjghf i loved this cast of characters and i wish!! I could fangirl about them! without feeling vaguely sick!

- this book was soooo funny. Like i spent the whole time laughing aloud and it was a fun time

- the rep! I can’t speak on the adhd rep, but i do believe it was ownvoices. and i really liked the gay rep, and how natural it felt

The Huge Glaring Issue:

The way this book glorifies the police force is deeply harmful. I don’t feel that any book can involve the police force this much without critiquing it, without being an inherently harmful book. (If you still, even after everything that’s happened recently, don’t think that the police force is incredibly fucked up, I don’t know what to tell you. Go do some damn research.) This feels like nothing less than propaganda, and intentional or not that is harmful.

The police play into this book hugely. The main character’s dad is a cop, and the police are always getting involved in stuff with the superheroes. And although the police aren’t always shown as right, especially about the superheroes, they are always shown as a well-meaning institution for good.

I was pretty skeptical from the beginning when I realized his dad was a cop, but i was still somewhat hopeful it would redeem itself and call them out later (spoiler alert: it didn’t). And then we find out that his dad punched a witness. His dad used unnecessary force on someone while doing his job as a cop, and it was shown as okay because he was ‘a good person who made a bad decision’. I barely even have the words for how fucked up that is, but I’m sure as hell going to try because i can’t just let that go.

A cop who punches someone because they said something that made him mad is dangerous. A cop who punches someone because they said something that made him mad has anger issues. A cop who has anger issues is going to get people killed if you let him stay on the force. A cop who has anger issues needs to lose his job asap. The portrayal of him as a good person who made a mistake once just doesn’t work when you think about the context of his position of power. This man needs to be fired.

In case you don’t believe me that he was glorified, here’s a quote (it’s taken from an arc and may not be final, but i still feel it holds a lot of weight) about the cops who stood up for his dad after he punched someone on the job:

These were the people who had fought for Aaron Bell when before had become after, and his dad had lashed out against someone he shouldn’t have. They were the ones that had argued with Internal Affairs and the higher-ups, telling them in no uncertain terms that Detective Bell shouldn’t be dismissed, that he was an unmatched asset to the Nova City Police Department, and to lose him would mean losing someone who bled blue.

These men are shown as heroes, when in reality they are enablers. This isn’t okay.

Meanwhile Nick’s reaction to his dad mentioning what happened is this:

”But that doesn’t mean you still can’t be a good person, right? Just because you did something wrong doesn’t mean that’s who you are. And even if you keep doing the wrong thing, you can still be saved.”

I generally agree with the sentiment, but in the context of his dad being a cop who has abused his powers, something about that really doesn’t sit right with me.

There were also a few other lines about the police that I raised my eyebrows at (again these are taken from an arc and may not be final, but either way are deeply not okay), such as:

Police officers are woefully underpaid,” Nick agreed. “Especially for the line of work they’re in. It’s dangerous on a daily basis, and they should be compensated.”

No. Just no. Defund the police. They don’t need more money.

For this second one I feel the context is very important. This happens when the character is being arrested by cops who know his dad and are being very gentle with him. He knows he’s safe, he knows the worst trouble he’s going to get in is grounded.
”Record this,” Nick bellowed at Jazz and Gibby. “Record this so i can use this in a lawsuit I’m going to file against my dad and the city for police brutality! I will have my vengeance!”

Yes you read that right, that was a joke against police brutality (made by the privileged white male character). This was also the only reference to any real problems with the police force in the entire book. And it was a joke.

In short: fuck this book and all its propoganda.

I picked this book up based on the "a queer fanfic writer about real life superheroes" and the book 100% delivers on that premise. The tone/voice of this book is really unique, and could potentially be a turn off to readers though. Nick's ADHD and fanfic style really influence the story, as does his complete and utter lack of awareness for things that are happening (like the level of foreshadowing in Back to the Future? That's with Nick not realizing what's happening but you the reader do). There still are some good reveals towards the end, but the reader still is clued into them before it's actually revealed.
This book is a romp for those who love fan fiction, but at some points the sheer ridiculousness can be overwhelming (which is why I would probably rate it a 3.5). There were times where the dialogue seemed utterly ridiculous and you wonder how Nick still manages to be alive (also the way his teachers treat him is categorically not allowed), but the book is candy covered popcorn and here for a good time. If you're looking for something light, ridiculous, fan-ficy with superheroes, pick this up. But if you're expecting something serious and well-crafted, this isn't the book for you (although there's some really lovely sections about grief and loving people who are put in danger).

I read this in one sitting and simply adored it. It’s funny and silly and ridiculous and heartfelt and real. Despite being superqueeros, it is indescribably real.

I figured out almost all the secrets early on, and while that usually takes me right out of a story, it didn’t. I was along for the ride.

Oh and someone find me a detective agency/bakery please.

I hesitated picking this one up because I swore off YA fantasy series that aren't finished long ago. I just can't handle the suspense, and I usually end up SO MAD that I can't find out what happened until a year or two later. But I caved, and as I predicted, I'm SO MAD!

Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Bell is obsessed with The Extraordinaries. Or should I say, just one in particular: Shadow Storm. While he most definitely appreciates Shadow Storm for his heroic deeds, it becomes apparent that Nick has a massive crush on the guy. In his ardor, he decides to seek out his own Extraordinary powers, no matter how ridiculous the method. Helping him on his mission is your typical ragtag group -- Gibby and Jazz, two lesbians who are ridiculously and adorably in love with each other; his best friend, Seth; and his ex-maybe-boyfriend, Owen.

You'll find this book hilarious and campy, and only enjoy it if you can accept it for what it is. Nick seems intentionally insufferable at times (he was a hard protagonist to like for me), but his narrative is clearly the smart focus for the trilogy. I was a bit disappointed by the foreshadowing and predictability of some of the plot lines, but I still enjoyed reading it, even though I knew what was going to happen.

Even though the author's narrative and comedic style hooked me from the start, it took me a few sessions to get into this one. But once I did, I devoured the remaining 70% of the novel in nearly one sitting. I'll be adding this to my classroom library post haste!

I love this book so much! Funny, sweet, goofy, just like main character Nick. The superhero story plays well against the story of an atypical gay teen who wants to be extraordinary, wants to be a good friend, and wants to find love. I'll be recommending this book again and again and again!