3 STARS

Unfortunately, I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. I thought it was very sweet and funny, but that just wasn't enough to make me fall in love with this book. Some of the relationships felt strange for me. I'm excited to read the next book though!

I don't know what to say other than OMG OMG GUYS WTF OMG I LOVED IT SO MUCH OMG WHY AREN"T YOU READING THIS???

Okay, so I've calmed down a bit.
We left Nick and Seth off in the last book where secrets were revealed and maybe some things were going to be revealed in this next book and OMG OMG OMG WHAT?! I KNEW IT!
Anyway, as this is spoiler free, I will not say what I think I thought and then what happened and how IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT. I will say that it is a fine, fine, solid and maybe one of the BEST THE BEST sequels I have ever read. It has layers and layers of character and story development without seeming forced and without forgetting the original essence of the characters. I love how the relationships developed and diverged, growing and stretching and showing us more and more and more but also how they respond to pressures and real life situations. I love how everything is addressed including Nick's policeman father, racism, stereotypes and sexuality. All of this is done with a lot of compassion and heart and without any preaching.

The first four chapters I re-read twice because I love them so much. There's so much laughter I think I did actually LOL which was okay because I was at home alone because you know, Covid, but usually I am out in public and I would have looked like a maniac.

Klune, come over and have some coffee with me so we can be best friends.

Anyway, I can't tell you how much I loved this book except to say that all my friends are going to be reading this and #1 because I am buying it for everyone for Christmas and yes, I'm talking to you book club and OMG.
Also, THE END. THE END!.
You just broke me.

Now I have to wait a whole year for book three? After that ending? Seriously???
God I'm going to have to re-read them again now.

This book was the perfect sequel to Extrodinaries. The writing is solid and the story of the superheroes were just so cute! I love the connection between the characters in the book and the way you fall in love with them. If you like superhero stories and real characters, this one is a winner!

Klune has spoken about his audience's reaction to the cop centric parts of the first book, and how he didn't think it through and planned to do better. That amounted in what is, no holds barred, a complete 180. Honestly, I was kind of worried how it was going to be handled, since too big a break too abruptly would be incredibly out of character, but I do think Klune handled it well by giving Nick the same information he was given and letting the reader see the shift in understanding.
The only issue this bring forth is that Klune definitely goes overboard at places trying to make it clear what all of the problems are and explaining Nick's feelings. It feels a bit like being hit over the head by the halfway point. And while I'm glad Gibby and her parents are involved in the conversation having so much of the argument be on their shoulders made me uncomfortable- it sometimes feels as if these characters are given the emotional labor of having to explain racism, and are always given the mantle as the angry people who are anti-cop. (The only other Black person is the Good Cop which... eh.) Now, of course, these are fictional characters who don't actually have emotional labor, and it's important to highlight the voices of POC in this matters, but it does feel like it tips over the line at times. I think Klune did as well as he could as a singular White author who has no experience with this, but I feel like he could have gotten some better outside advice in certain sections.

Onto that second hand embarrassment! The humor in this book... I needed a good distraction, light hearted book when I picked this one up and I was really hoping it would work out for me. I was shouting on about page 10. Yes, this book's humor relies a lot of second hand embarrassment and cluelessness, as the first one did, but for some reason it works better for me in this one. That doesn't mean there weren't places where I was groaning or yelling at Nick for making terrible choices, but that's all part of the experience. Maybe this is another "turn your brain off" scenario, but I was definitely cry laughing so I'm just going to call the humor Good and leave it at that.

The pacing in this book is also better than in the first book. While I didn't have huge complaints in that department for The Extraordinaries, it did sometimes feel like Klune didn't know entirely where the focus should be. I didn't feel that way in this book. It reads fast, it stays compelling, it asks and answers questions in a way that keeps you excited and makes you want to keep going. Especially at the end! I didn't actually know that there was going to be a third book, and I was downright jazzed when a plot point emerged and I realized there wasn't time in this one to tackle it.

I was excited to pick up this book because of one piece of information teased near the end of the first book, and it's handled so well in this book while also not letting it take complete center stage and keeping the flow of the story going. There are a ton of new elements added into this book and implications about what's to come, and it keeps it so fresh and interesting.

This book does not suffer even slightly from Second Book Syndrome!
There are parts of this story that felt a little unnuanced, and some more juvenile parts that I just didn't personal enjoy as much, but all in all it's a really fun book that's leading the way for a hopefully equally fun third book.

I was lucky enough to win an e-ARC of FLASH FIRE by TJ Klune in a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and stay safe!

TJ Klune never fails to make me fall in love with his characters and from page one of Flash Fire I was reminded why I loved The Extraordinaries so much. Right from the start, Nicholas Bell is just as much a chaotic disaster boy as he was in the first book and I don’t think I will ever get enough of it.

I loved getting to be back with Nick again and watching him continue to go through the awkwardness of being a teenager with a parent set on embarrassing him (that sex talk was cringeworthy). Nick and his friends, Gibby and Jazz, and his now boyfriend (squeal!) Seth were just as fun together as they were in the first book. In Flash Fire we get to see Nick and Seth being the cutest boyfriends, Seth battling with wanting to continue to be Pyro Storm, Nicky trying his best to be a helpful member of Team Pyro Storm, Nick discovering his telekinesis, meeting new Extraordinaries, Simon Burke starting to rise to more power, Rebecca Firestone continuing to be the absolute worst, two new villains, and our babies going to Prom.

To say it was action packed would be an understatement.

One thing I really appreciate that this book did was not follow too many YA cliches. There were many times when I thought miscommunication or a breakdown of trust would come to play and drive a wedge between Nick and Seth just to add a bit more angst but those times never came and I was glad to see the boys using good communication skills. However, Seth and Nick’s great communication skills did not necessarily transfer over to Nick and his father. Secrets have always been a big point of contention between these two and now huge secrets are finally revealed.

I will admit that in the first book I was unsure how I felt about Aaron Bell since he never seemed to fully accept how hard Nick was trying but Flash Fire made me a bigger fan of him as a father. Despite the fact that he has kept huge secrets from Nick, this book does a great job of explaining the choices Aaron made and the lengths he’d go to protect his son.

However, Aaron Bell as a character needs to be addressed separately. I went into this book curious to how police brutality would be addressed since many reviewers of book one rightfully pointed out how cops were only portrayed as morally good individuals in The Extraordinaries. Though I cannot speak to the adequacy of the conversations in Flash Fire on this topic, I can say that it was addressed on more than one occasion. Nick’s father, Aaron Bell, in the first book assaulted a man in his custody after losing his temper. This is spoken of more once and Nick’s inner monologue does question his own biases and how he’d been naive in only seeing his father and the police as virtuous. Aaron also acknowledges his wrongdoings and actively makes choices to do better. I do hope this continues to be addressed in book three and I am curious to know how this aspect of the book will be received.

Randomly, and in no way impacting my enjoyment of the story, I did find a little inconsistency in for the series in this book. In The Extraordinaries, it is important that Nick has access to his cell phone at all times in case something happens to his father at work, to the point of nearly having a panic attack when threatened to have his phone taken, but in Flash Fire near the end his phone gets destroyed and Nick doesn’t seem to mind. It’s not a big issue, and perhaps Nick no longer has that anxiety, but it stuck out to me since I’d just reread book one.

Overall, I had a really, really great time reading this book. Though I may wish Seth and Nick had more time together (like a cute date or a scene where their cute moments weren’t in front of their family and friends… seriously, their family basically witnessed all their lovey-dovey moments), I loved being back with these characters. Nick is one of my favorite TJ Klune characters and I am so excited to see what he will be able to do in the next book.

4.5 stars

Full of heart, delightfully cheesy and heartwarming, Flah Fire is the sequel to The Extraordinaries and is filled with just as much charm, humour and hilarious antics. The same things I loved about the first book were still there, reading this series makes me so nostalgic for superhero films and TV shows and I feel like it perfectly captures that cheesy tone while still having some heartfelt messages and looking at issues queer teenagers face in their everyday lifes.

Nick is a great character to follow, he has a lot of flaws but I think in this book he shows increasing maturity and reflection, as well as taking more responsiblity for his own actions. In this book he goes through some challenges, with his newfound powers as well as the fact his father has being lying to him for a long time. Nick and his fathers relationship was well explored in this book, with Nick realising that maybe is father isnt as perfect as he always thought.

I love the friendship between Nick, Seth, Gibby and Jazz, they are such an adorable little group and I love how supportive they all are of each other. Also Seth is a very sweet character and is a very caring boyfriend for Nick, I liked how in this book we explore the toll ebing Pyrostorm takes on him and his desire for a "normal" life.

I think the plot was slightly weaker than book 1 and did feel a little bit of middle book syndrome, but the characters are so much fun to follow and TJ Klunes writing is so funny that I still had a great time reading!

I thought the discussion around sex and sex positivity/safe sex was really great in this book and done at an excellent level for a YA book. I'm firmly of the opinion that YA books, especially queer ones, should discuss sex and show examples of what is a good healthy attitude and what isn't - especially as school isn't exactly a great place for a comprehensive sex education. It's also important for queer teens to see that desires and feeling are completely valid and worth exploring in a safe way, and that they are not wrong or abnormal, this is something I really would have appreciated as a teenager (instead of just repressing lol). Also a lot of same sex relationships depicited in media are often either hyper-sexualised and fetishised or completely clean, with no room for middle ground. Also the scene with Nick's dad explaining dental dams to Seths aunt and uncle was HILARIOUS T_T

I appreciated the discussions of police brutality and Nick's previous hero worship of his father and the police, this is something that was glossed over in book 1, and a lot of people rightly brought it up as an issue, and TJ Klune definitely explores that a lot more in this book and makes his stance very clear that the police have a lot of issues, especially with being racist and over-funding, and Nick reflects on his previous opinions and changes them - which I think also helps show how Nicks character is maturing. There is also discussion around police corruption and them working as an almost private force for the villain Simon Burke, a corporate tycoon who can just throw money around to solve all problems.

In conclusion, a very entertaining read, that will make you feel very nostalgic, is laugh out loud funny and is a great book to have out there for queer teenagers (and people of any age!) who get to see themselves in a hero's role and saving the world!!

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an ARC of this book. This review contains spoilers from the first book The Extraordinaries.

The good:
-A much more woke approach to police violence
-Aaron Bell's mission to embarrass Nick at all costs is pretty hilarious
-A nice, but predictable, twist at the very end
-Miss Conduct

The bad:
-Although this book is much more critical of the police, the main and side characters who are police officers are still portrayed as the good guys. They do recognize their mistakes and work towards improvement though.
-Seth being Pyro Storm is this big secret, but they talk about it literally every day in the cafeteria! Are they not concerned someone will overhear? Probably not that big of a deal, but it annoyed me.

The meh:
-There is a lot of setup for the next book. So a lot of events happened that we don't see the full consequences of, but are used to set up a character as the Big Bad.
-We found out Nick is an Extraordinary at the end of book one, Nick did not figure it out until about 40% through this book. That was a long 40% of dramatic irony that got a little old.

Although the plot wasn't as strong, I think this is a better book than the first one. We see the characters grow and question many of their beliefs from the first book. The introduction of Gibby and Jazz's parents was a good choice to bring in some comic relief as well as a way to include the missing social commentary. If you were turned off by the pro-police nonsense of the first book but loved the queer superhero aspect, I recommend reading this one to let Mr. Klune redeem himself. Plus, after that ending, I am already ready for book 3.

Amazing!!
Middle book syndrome? Don’t know her!
Everything I was hoping for and so much more!!

Our little squad of disaster friends has come so far from book one and I enjoyed every minute of their story in book two! Flash Fire has the perfect mix of returning and new characters, and seeing these long-time best friends learn to trust outside their group was so cool! After enjoying The Extraordinaries so much last February, (and then binge-reading most of TJ’s backlist because I needed more of his genius in my life) I have been eagerly awaiting this sequel to find out what happens next!

With just as much fun-filled chaos as The Extraordinaries, Flash Fire also does an incredible job of broaching important topics such as police brutality, blind hero-worship, accepting due consequences for your actions, the importance of communication and consent in any relationship, and of course... the power of friendship and family.

And for anyone who is as curious as I was ... yes ... the bowties do make a reappearance in the sequel!! 😂

Now ... how on earth am I going to hold out for book 3?!

Rating: 5⭐️
Release date: July 13 2021

A huge thank you to @raincoastbooks and @tjklunebooks for the earc!

I'd hoped I would enjoy this book more than the first, but I found myself having a lot of the same issues. I was still frustrated by the utter lack of consequences Nick has for any of his behavior. He was out of line many many many times in the story, but more often than not, he would manage to make himself the victim, and the other person would somehow end up apologizing (namely Seth). The relationship between Nick and his dad still weirded me out, and despite the work that was done to distance this book from cops, which I think was the right move, but I didn't think it was done in a great way. Gibby's character in this book was basically just reduced to just be a way to convey that info, which I found really frustrating because I was hoping we would get to see more of her as an actual character. There were some fun new characters, though I found some of the plot decisions came a bit out of the blue, and I just couldn't really connect with anything happening since I found Nick pretty unlikable. I'll still read the last book when it comes out since this book left off with such a revelation, but I couldn't really get into this book.

Once again TJ Klune has delivered an entirely predictable superhero story that is all the more enjoyable for that fact. You come into this book expecting several things to happen—and they do—and most of the internal superheroic twists and turns are highly telegraphed to anyone who has read a comic book or watched a good superhero cartoon, and it is absolutely delicious. It's really masterful how so many references and allusions to superhero tropes are worked in!

The first book in this series was entirely too credulous toward the police and entirely too flippant about police brutality. This book revisited and reworked that aspect in a big way, grappling with issues that in the first book were oversimplified and underexamined. It was awkward and made me wish again that those mistakes hadn't been made in the first place, but it was absolutely necessary if this series is going to continue, and I think the next book will be much stronger for the changes that happened in this one.

Klune's characters and their speech patterns and phrases suffer from a little repetitiveness and lack of differentiation—it can be confusing when a lot of characters are having a conversation with each other, because many of them speak so similarly. I hope this continues to improve in future entries in the series as well!

Hey book buddies!
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Review time: Flash Fire by T.J Klune!
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As you all know, The extraordinaries was probably one of my favorite books of all time. So thank you @torteen and @netgalley for the E-arc.
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So let’s get down to it. Flashfire Has left me with a mixture of emotions. On one hand I love Nicky and Seth and their developing relationship. Chapter one had me dying laughing and I was like YES YES YES. But sadly, that excitement got smooshed for me when the author tried to “fix” the wrongs in the first book. The dad whose a cop and hit a suspect. The scene this happens feels like he’s TRYING to fix it but it came off as just very poor taste. And this is dragged out in little snippets throughout the book. To me if the extraordinaries was just a small fire, instead of putting out the flames he tried to stomp on them and spread them. It was all just a mess for me.
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I loved the new characters we got to meet and seeing the relationships between the squad. And anytime Nicky and Seth were alone together was gold. Unfortunately the author did another thing at the end of the book (no spoilers) which was a major boner killer for me.
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I’m going to read book three purely for Nicky and Seth. But I can confidently say, this is no longer going to be my favorite trilogy sadly. 3/5 for Flashfire for me. I hope you all check out my favorite lil adhd riddled gay boy though!
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Thank you so much, NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Tor Teen, for the chance to read and review this book! I love this saga so much and I was so happy for this opportunity!

Nick and Seth are happily together, but their lives are complicated when other Extraordinaries arrive in Nova City and with their friends they have to understand who's good and who's evil. Between secrets and powers, corruptions and discoveries, Nick, Seth, Jazz and Gibby have to rely on one other and their family to fight for the right thing and themselves.

I LOVED reading Flash Fire! It's hilarious, sweet, amazing and I loved everything about this book. I laughed, I cried, I swooned, I smiled with these awesome characters, captured by the story, their lives and adventures.
It's impossible not to love Nick and his beautiful mind, his writing fanfictions, his love for Seth, his friends and his dad.
Nick and Seth's relationship is one of the best I've ever read. The way they love, support, laugh, joke with, one other is truly beautiful and it warms my heart every time. They are impossibly cute together, as best friends, boyfriends, partners. I love how they communicate with one other, how they talk and share their fears and doubts, how truly intense is the bonds between them, but also between every character. I love when people talk and there aren't miscommunications and useless dramas! This book gave me so much life!

I loved everything about Flash Fire, it's filled with plot twists, new characters, old enemies, secrets and discoveries, sweet and intense moments, so many laughs and I can't wait to hold it in my hands.
TJ Klune has a wonderful way to describe relationships and their intricacies, between friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, parents and sons and daughters, in a relatable and realistic way.
With sensitivity and care the author talked about all kind of relationships, safe sex (I'll laugh forever reading those moments), but also police corruption, the way Black people are seen and treated by them, the strength and difficulty of holding onelself accountable, realizing one's mistakes and trying to be better.
I love the message in this book, the hope that, even in the face of hate and danger, it's important be oneself, be together, support and love one other, that there's strength in love and friendship.

It's a book about all kind of love, queer love, parental love, friend love and it filled my heart so much, reading about these characters, Nick, Seth, Jazz, Gibby, but also their parents and family, be ready to do anything for one other, supporting, helping, talking with, one other and it's truly beautiful and moving.
(I've also loved how Nick corrected those saying Seth was gay, instead of bisexual, not wanting his sexuality to be erased.)

Flash Fire is probably one of the funniest, most intense and most moving book I've read this year and it's unbelievably AWESOME! It makes you fall in love with love, believe in friendships and families and in hope.
These characters have all my heart.

I enjoy TJ Klune's works and this was no exception. His characters are always fun and over the top and it always makes for a fun read. Perfect follow on from the first one, and I will eagerly await the third book.

You know how in films and on TV when someone has a second child they say that they don't love their first any less, their heart just expands instead....well that is how I feel about T.J. Klunes books.

I had no doubt that Flash Fire would be just as amazing as The Extraordinaries (which I raved endlessly about to anyone that would listen) and my faith in T.J. Klune was entirely justified. Nick and his friends are so freaking amazing and the cuteness was out of this world. Saying that, this book isn't all sunshine and roses, it covers a variety of different serious topics and promotes awareness for them throughout the story in a way that feels completely natural.

If I didn't already know about the whole heart expanding thing from my experience reading first Wolfsong, then The Extraordinaries and The House in the Cerulean Sea, I might have thought it was impossible for me to love these characters any more but I know that when book 3 comes out my heart will be expanding once again!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a sequel! In this second installment of The Extraordinaries, Nick Bell finds himself navigating so many typical teenager moments and so many that are not so run of the mill. The major one of these is balancing his emotions about his relationship with new-boyfriend/lifelong bff Seth while also balancing his place beside the superhero Pyro Storm who, book one spoilers, *is* Seth.

There was a lot of discussion after the first Extraordinaries about how Nick’s dad is a cop and painted in a very favorable light. When the book was released in July of 2020, this was… a very fair critique. Klune was vocal about how there would be changed moving forward. I expected there to be some light dialogue, but Klune does not shy away from it. He addresses the concerns of the characters in the book who are Black, and their discomfort over Nick’s dad being around them and their families. There’s a lot of commentary about the police in this book and it’s done incredibly well.

In this book especially, I felt the cheekiness of Klune’s prose. Maybe it’s that I was more attuned to it, but there are parts that are too over-the-top obvious or parts of dialogue (with one-off characters) that are in no way how any person would speak. And that’s part of the charm of this book and this series. The voice and the prose work to make this feel like a comic book, a superhero film, and a novel all rolled into one. There is a uniqueness to how this book reads that is entirely intentional and part of what makes it sing.

And then we have main character, Nick Bell. I love Nicky’s voice, his internal dialogue, his louder than life ideas, and how honest he is to everyone and himself. His interactions with his dad (especially when it comes to his relationship with Seth oh my god) are some of the best in the book. The second-hand embarrassment at having a parent repeatedly address The Sex Talk is too real. It works so well because we care about Nick immediately. We want him to succeed and we want him to find his place and we want him to feel extraordinary.

I am going to be counting down the days until the third one is released. I cannot get enough of this world. I will also be on the hunt now for a certain tuxedo mentioned in this book. I need it. I need it badly.

5 ~extraordinary~ stars.

I have become such a fan of TJ Klune's writing, especially over the last year, and I am thrilled to say he is back on top form here in this follow up to the sensational The Extraordinaries.

This follow up was everything I wanted from TJ Klune!

The characters were just as entertaining and endearing as they were in The Extraordinaries. I liked that we got a bit more from the adult characters, and (as an adult reader) I really thought their perspectives on their children's superhero and life experiences was well done. Each character and relationship got some more development and substance that made them feel more real.

I also felt this book was much stronger in the plot. I didn't feel like the plot twists were as obvious as they were in The Extraordinaries. I was shocked time and time again about where the plot was going, whereas I felt the first book was very easy to predict. I continued to love how "teenager" this book felt with school, college decisions, and changing friendships all featuring prominently. It would be easy to ignore or spend less time on these to focus on the exciting superhero plot, so I was happy to see them included. Oh, that ending. Once again, I have to start counting down to the next book!

One of the things I was happiest to see was how well Klune addressed the criticism of The Extraordinaries in relation to Nick's dad, and the police in general. Klune has said he would be addressing it in the second book after listening to the critiques after the first book, but I didn't expect it to be such a major plot point. You really got to see Nick struggling with how he feels about his dad when it comes to race relations and police brutality. I can't speak to how well this was done as a white reader, but seeing how seriously he was taking the issues expressed to him was very heartening.

This was almost everything I wanted in a sequel to the extraordinaries. Cute, SO funny and with engaging dialogue between interesting characters. The only disappointment was that the story wasn't quite as good as the first, with the antagonists not being as developed and the plot twists being predictable.

Wholly lovable, charming, readable, and fun. I adore everything TJ Klune does and this book is no exception. This is the heartwarming superhero romance we all needed. Who knew!?