The superhero story is falling rapidly out of favor these days, partially because supers often support and valorize police officers. I appreciate that this book addresses some conversations about policing, but it still feels outdated.

Back in 2008, when I was in high school, there was a superhero novel featuring a gay character that I really enjoyed called Hero by Perry Moore. Ten years later, TJ Klune has written a superhero series featuring a gay character as well. There are such big sociological differences though with these works and how each respective series’ queer characters are featured, Hero dealt more with the psychological struggle of coming-out, whereas in TJ Klune’s superhero series, beginning with The Extraordinaries, deals with larger societal conflicts because a character being gay just happens to be an attribute of the character, and less so something that sows self-hatred/self-abnegating feelings. When you stand back and compare these two equally well-written books, it’s awe-inspiring to behold the progress that’s been made in society towards being more egalitarian of all the different shades and diverse spectrums of human identity.

Perry Moore sadly passed away before his dream of having a Starz television series for Hero was made manifest. The project has seemed to fade away into obscurity and the book itself is out-of-print at this point. Such a travesty given that the book deserves to live on in infamy for the profound role in played for setting the stage for TJ Klune’s Extraordinaries series.

This is a review of the sequel to the first entry in the series,The Extraordinaries, which was in of itself highly addictive, strongly emotive, and just an all-around excellent read. Up to this point, I’ve read two out of the four books in TJ Klune’s Green Creek Series (excellent shape-shifter/werewolf series) and The House in the Cerulean Sea, a one-off novel that is much more gentler in tone/pacing than The Extradionaries. However, for as much as I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea, I actually think the The Extradionaries is my favorite of his series with the newest installment and sequel Flash Fire being my favorite of his books to date.

Flash Fire never peters away in terms of pacing, it picks up right where the last book was, and it explores some fairly contemporary social issues including the issue of systemic racism, and also the book continues to feature a very wide spectrum of LGBT characters beyond just having either a gay/bisexual character, which I think is pretty important, since there are actually quite of a lot of different facets, as we’re learning to both our gender expression and sexuality. None of these qualities are things characters treat as character flaws, or some morose detail of their internal struggle because thankfully we’re long past that now in books being released. So we get to delve into equally as important and more interesting plot concepts, such as the grey morality of superheroes/vigilantes, and how that reflects also on the role of police in our society. There is a tension between the two. And even more interestingly, the antagonistic force being a pharmaceutical company that displays a pretense for wanting to help heroes, when in actuality, helping really means serving to profit through some type of ulterior scheme.

Flash Fire is even more complex which could have made for a tedious, exhausting read, but Klune has a strong ability of balance all these many story strands and have all character, even minor ones, develop into more than just caricatures. They are well-drawn and have their own foibles, as well as distinct expressions and dialogue style, helping to differentiate each of the characters from one another. As someone who struggles with not cobbling together a bunch of characters who feel like their full range of expression is muted by the monotony of mulish meandering world-building in some books, having distinctive characters that transcend beyond the hackneyed stock character is a huge relief for my brain/ occasionally short attention span.

Being a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, filled to the brim with wonderful pop culture references and allusions among the clever dialogue, Flash Fire, much like The Extraordinaries, is populated with many pop culture references that never detract from the book, especially if they’re references to things the reader might not be familiar with. This works in tandem with TJ Klune’s exceptionally great sense of humor too which was another triumph of Buffy being able to balance the melodrama, gut-wrenching stuff alongside well-timed/oftentimes sardonic/biting humor that never felt forced, instead there’s always a character who uses this lines in Shakespearean fashion to work as a catharsis to help the reader to properly grieve or process more difficult scenes. This is a very, very hard thing to balance and accomplish as a writer and it’s one of the reasons I greatly enjoy TJ Klune’s books because this is not at all a pedestrian skill to have as a writer.

Brilliantly, TJ Klune also features an ADHD character as his lead. As someone that likely has ADD to some extent, and has family members who have ADHD, I really appreciated that this book works to normalize those with ADHD, offer more neurodivergent characters. One of my many concerns about the current hostile internet environment with its strident condescension/ruthless sanctimony when it comes to always saying the right stuff/being correct in general with expression is that for those with ADHD people can be particularly vicious to those with ADHD. Those with ADHD as shown through our main character’s struggle are very acutely aware of disappointing someone, and being shamed/shunned for doing something may greatly enfeeble that person from ever improving themselves in a far more encouraging way. Social media is devoid of any grace, forgiveness. It feigns sensitivity in the guise of braggadocios shows of always being right. I cannot think of a worse environment for neurodivergent It’s no wonder those shunned their whole lives in classrooms and elsewhere might venture to darker corridors of the internet, where people, even with the wrong intentions, might actually listen to them, and not dehumanize them, denigrate them.

TJ Klune is even-handed in his ability to write with diversity without it coming off as artificial and fake. There’s no political correctness when a writer works hard to maintain a degree of realism with their characters. If there was one song that kept pummeling its way into my mind while reading this book, it’s Evanescence’s Imperfection from their album Synthesis, something I’ve been listening too over-and-over again for the last four years. The message in this song, as with this series, is imploring us to recognize our intrinsically flawed selves, but not to actualize a thought process of destroying ourselves, giving into the disinclination not to live, to endure, and heal by realizing that there’s nothing wrong with being imperfect.

Even when this summer’s severe allergy season has left me feeling at times extremely tired, cotton-headed due to brain fog, TJ Klune’s terrifically entertaining, heartstring-tugging, at times poignant superhero story starring a boy with ADHD, managed to enliven my mood, impart to me the importance of books that celebrate diversity in all its iterations, and ones that works as a salve/source of empowerment to all of us. Flash Fire is easily my favorite novel of the year thus far and I think it’s TJ Klune’s strongest writing effort to date.

If you enjoyed TJ Klune’s series, you might also greatly enjoy another character-driven series All For the Game by Nora Sakavik. you’re forewarned that this sports drama is unexpectantly addictive, and much like Klune’s books will mostly definitely leave you with one big book withdrawal afterwords.

WOW! I am left speechless with the second installment of Kline's Extraordinaries series. OMG, the embarrassing and cringey moments with Nick and his dad were both hilarious and horrifying. I loved being inside Nick's head and seeing how his ADHD brain worked. His brain went haywire a lot and it was so awesome to see. He was just so huggable. I loved him and Seth and all their friends. I will say that the first 30% of this book was just meh. I mean, there were a LOT of funny scenes with Nick, his dad and all their friends and I enjoyed them, but the plot didn't really seem to be moving. I wasn't sure where the author was going with the story. Then it really picked up a lot. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say there were more Extraordinaries, which was a great surprise. And then that last fight scene . . . and that ending . . . OH. MY GOD!!! That ending left me with my jaw on the floor and in DESPERATE need of the next book in the series!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this copy of Flash Fire!!

I read the first book in June and fell absolutely in love withholdings nick, gibby, Jazz, Seth, Aaron, all the characters! I was so excited to see where they all ended up!!

As with the first book the friendship is everything. One of my favorite things in books is a great friendship group. Often in YA, we only see the on sided friendship with the MC and their relationship to the friend. But what I love about this one is I feel like I know all the friendships and I’m rooting for them.

When I read the first book a couple months ago, I didn’t take notice of the way the police were handled in the book. Upon reading some reviews, I noticed that the timing of the book and the way the police were handled, people felt like the author was glorifying the police. This sequel has conversations about the police and the mistrust and harmful behavior they can sometimes display. I don’t feel like I can comment on that, but I wanted to mention it in case you wanted to know if the author took a stance following the first book.

SPOILERS (especially if you haven’t read the first book)
Throughout the first book I was questioning why the mention of nick take your pills came up so much. I kept thinking he’s gotta be an extraordinary right?? It never happened in the first book but this time OMG! Did it happen! I absolutely love that he got his powers and he wasn’t like I know how to use them I’m a badass superhero now! No he’s using trial and error to try and work them out. Such a nick thing to do!

The battle at prom was EPIC! Getting to know additional extraordinaries was fantastic! That was one thing I wanted to know from the first book was if pyrostorm and shadow star were the only ones. Miss Conduct and TK were such cool characters and I know we get more in the next book

THE CLIFFHANGER!!! Why’d you do that to me TJ Klune!!!

4.5!

I received an earc of this book from NetGalley! This has not influenced my review in any way.

Klune always knows how to hit the heart!! It feels AMAZING to read about an MC with ADHD and anxiety. This book covered some important topics such as family is not being OWED your love and addressed the police brutality issue in the first book.

I’m still not a fan of the dad—he’s made some really terrible decisions, but Klune did what Klune does best: made the characters human. Humans make mistakes, some are trivial and some are so large, you can’t believe they could make such a mistake/bad choice.

I recommend this series, but be careful with the first book! (CW: police brutality and police-positive. This was fixed in book 2.)

I’m looking forward to reading the next installation! Even though that cliff hanger has me all sorts of angry.

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: Let me start by saying I DNFed this novel but I love TJ Klune's works. My favorite novels by TJ Klune include The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door, both of which are very likely to be in my top ten favorite books of 2021.

Now why this book didn't work for me: The Extraordinaries received a 3-Star from me. It was solid and I had high hopes for this series to develop. Flash Fire's gorgeous cover does not match the content inside. I tried picking up this book repeatedly before and after its release and it never caught my appeal enough to continue until the end. It was choppy, it didn't match the quality of The Extraordinaries or any of Klune's other fantasy novels.

ARC supplied by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was so glad that I waited to read The Extraordinaries so that I could pick up the second book right after closing the first one. Otherwise, I think the wait would have been excruciating. TJ Klune did it again.

The second book in The Extraordinaries series had the same smart banter and wonderful humor as the first. It was action packed, full of drama, angst, romance, and such a wonderful found family. I adore the romance between Nick and Seth so much. They are so dang cute and pure and awkward and just everything I would expect from this author.

Also, can we just talk about how Nick’s dad is dealing with his son’s new relationship? I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard reading in a book in a long time. The car Bluetooth scene! I can’t handle it.

One of my favorite things about this series is how TJ Klune uses the tone of the writing to perfectly portray Nick’s character no matter what is going on. Even in the most action packed or angst-ridden scenes, Nick’s personality and humor shines through. This story has some dark moments and deals with big issues, but it never stops being a funny and entertaining read.

I found the character development in this book to be phenomenal, and I loved seeing how this found family has changed since the big reveals at the end of book one. They work so well as a team and their friendship dynamics are ridiculously enjoyable and heartwarming. I would have been happy with about 100 more pages just to get more of these wonderful and complex characters. No plot needed.

I was glad to see that the author made it a priority to address the issues regarding the portrayal of police violence in the first book. It was an open conversation throughout the book, and I personally felt that it was done well. I hope that the characters, especially Nick’s dad, continue to make improvements in the next book. I do recommend that you look at reviews of POC readers and those more able to comment on these issues.

This book had the usual second installment issues – it was very focused on moving the plot along and introducing new relationships and plot points that will be important in the next book. However, I was never bored with this book or felt like it was too slow. The second half of the book picked up the pace and was a rollercoaster of action, misunderstandings, and big reveals! I will admit that I saw the newest plot twist coming, but I am so looking forward to seeing how it all goes down in book three!

A perfectly acceptable second book in a trilogy. I didn't expect much from it plot wise because I figured it would just be setting up the final book, and I was right. Really enjoyed some of the side characters introduced! And Nicky is always a funny character, even if I do feel embarrassed for him sometimes, haha.

Readers who were upset about the way Klune portrayed the police in the first book should know that police brutality was discussed in this one. I thought it was pretty awkward and stilted, and felt pulled directly from a beginner's guide to defunding the police, but it was there. Whether it was adequate or not isn't something I feel is my place to dictate.

I loved being back in Nova City. TJ Klune has delivered an adorable, earnest continuation of The Extraordinaries that was everything a sequel should be: good world expansion, fun new characters, and a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Once again, the story felt predictable and the dialogue teetered the line between cringey and juuuuuust tongue-in-cheek enough to work, but I bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Although it was still a fun read, I just didn't gel as well with Flash Fire as I did The Extraordinaries. I'm not sure if this is partly due to the different formats I read them in - I listened to the first book in audiobook format, and something about the writing style really matched well. In contrast, the narrative in this sequel didn't seem to flow as easily, and I wasn't as drawn into the world of the story. Dialogue which might have been hilarious read aloud, felt more awkward written down. I also found that, whilst it's good that efforts were made to address issues in the previous book (particularly with regards to Nicky's dad, and the NCPD), the manner in which this was handled felt quite heavy handed at times. It felt very intentionally placed, rather than fitting in with the characters.
That said, this was an action-packed and sweet book, even if it did sometimes miss the mark somewhat. I laughed aloud several times, and felt my eyes well up once or twice. I will definitely still immediately seek out anything TJ Klune writes - mostly likely, including the third book in this series. It was great to see what happened next, even if some of the twists were clearly signalled and unsurprising. I feel emotionally invested in the entire friend group, and am keen to see where they go from here.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

2.5 stars.

Did I somehow fall out of love with Nick and his friends between The Extraordinaries and Flash Fire? I didn't think so, but Flash Fire is ROUGH.

I know Klune got heat for having Nick's dad be a police officer in The Extraordinaries and Flash Fire feels like his bandaid response to that. There were a lot of inauthentic interactions between the characters - specifically one between Gibby and Nick talking about how Gibby doesn't trust police officers. I understand why it's in there and figured that would be fine, but nearly every mention of cops had a comment right after about how they aren't as great as they used to be.

Piggy backing off the cop heat, Klune also made sure to cover his bases by making comments about men/women can be men/women no matter what genitals they have. Klune couldn't even let a compliment on a dress go without mentioning that it doesn't matter what others think, as long as the wearer is happy and comfortable.

It was hard to follow the plot with so many side comments about events that happened in 2020.

I went into this book not realizing that it was book two in a series. Normally I wouldn't do that and I would read book one first, but it did not take away anything from this fun adventure with the Extraordinaries. Nick and his friends face not only the challenges of life in high school but also protecting their city. I really enjoyed Nick's quirky personality and the tight bond that he and his friends have despite all the trials. Now I have to go back and read the first book. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. 4 stars

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Flash Fire

Author: T.J. Klune

Book Series: The Extraordinaries Book 2

Diversity: M/m romance, bisexual grandpa, Black side characters, Black lesbian side character, Bisexual side character, Bisexual love interest, Gay ADHD MC, Puerto Rican drag queen side character

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: young adult readers, fantasy, superheroes

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publication Date: July 13, 2021

Publisher: Tor Teen

Pages: 374

Recommended Age: 15+ (Sexual content, Porn mentions, Police brutality mentioned, Panic attacks, Death, Violence, Gore)

Explanation of CWs: Police brutality is mentioned and there is a lot of discussion about how race plays into policing and policies. There is some sexual content and porn is mentioned.

Synopsis: Nick landed himself the superhero boyfriend of his dreams, but with new heroes arriving in Nova City it’s up to Nick and his friends to determine who is virtuous and who is villainous. Which is a lot to handle for a guy who just wants to finish his self-insert bakery AU fanfic.

Review: I fell in love with this book so hard. The book did well to continue the story and keep me on my toes. The book also did well to present more mature teenagers, which I think is a demographic lost in most YA books speaking from experience as someone who was more mature than her peers. I also loved the mirroring of the two books, the loss of trust and the rise and revelation of the heroes. The character development is amazing, I loved the commentary on police brutality and race, and I loved the world building.

The only issue I had with the book overall is that it sometimes felt that the teen characters were a bit too mature in some parts, but I loved it regardless.

Verdict: It's amazing, highly recommend.

Loved this fun continuation of The Extraordinaries and was excited to be back in Nova City. Flash Fire is filled with laugh-out-loud humor, superhero action, heart, and life as a teenager! I find Nick, Seth, Jazz, and Gibby plus all the other family characters so endearing. (Bob is so great!)
Very glad to see the author addressed the issues about policing after the situations in both the first novel and our real world.
Flash Fire was fast-paced and introduced some new villains and Extraordinaries. Loved the comic book style twists and can’t wait for book three!!
Thank you to Tor Teen and the author TJ Klune for the advanced ecopy. Reviews are my own!

OMG!!!!!!!! This is the 2nd in what I believe is a YA trilogy that could very possibly be better then the first! Saying that almost makes me feel bad, because I did truly love the first book as well, so I don't know. If I needed to sum up the book in one sentence....how about A queer YA superhero rom-com? But I don't know if that still sums it all up. There is so much that TJ wraps up in his hilarious little bow! Our main character is Nick, and I absolutely love him! His is an adorable mess with ADHD and no filter! His is in love with his best friend Seth (view spoiler) who wears cute little bow ties and sweaters. Their best friends, Jazz and Gibby round out their group and they are always there for each other. I love their banter! TJ Klune does dialogue so well! I love the back and forth between the 4 of them so well! I dare you to keep a straight face! But in this book, we have more than just the four of them. What to do when the parents get involved?? Of course they are concerned, who wouldn't be. And at one point, they knew something was wrong when Seth's Aunt didn't offer someone cookies! Lol. There is your proof! Don't take it from me, check it out yourself! Better yet, listen to the audiobook! Michael Lesley is the best and will have you howling out loud!

This novel is a sequel to The Extraordinaries, and that is the first thing I’d like to commend the author for: despite not having read the first volume, I did not feel like I was missing something vital in reading this volume first. It was clear enough at some point that I checked to see if this was a sequel, and I have no idea if the amount of detail about the first book would be too much for someone who has read The Extraordinaries or not, but it was nice to read a sequel, know it was a sequel, and not feel lost because of it, while not feeling inundated with so much information from the first book that there’s no point in reading it. I also think that the author did a good job capturing the teenage, high school experience.

That said, there were other things I didn’t like. The book starts with “Chapter 36”, which confused me - and confused me even more when it turned out to be “fan fic” written by the main character, in which he described a gay boy’s fantasy encounter with his boyfriend. If you don’t want to read about heavy petting, this book is going to start off badly, especially as the next chapter basically repeats the encounter, but with the main character’s actual boyfriend - about whom the fan fic was written, so at least that makes sense. If you’re reading this for more encounters, however, you’ll be disappointed; there’s a few, enough to be off-putting if that’s what you’re looking for, but nowhere near enough to class this as soft porn outside of those passages.

Nick is a 16 year-old boy in love with another 16 year-old boy; what makes their relationship different is that Seth, Nick’s boyfriend, is also a superhero. As a superhero novel, there’s actually very little superhero action going on; what there is, is a lot of teenage angst, centering on Nick, Seth, their best friends Gibby and Jazz (another couple), high school, and their parents - all pretty typical teenage stuff except for the superhero piece and the in-your-face constant reminders of everyone’s sexuality. On the one hand, it’s nice to see a novel with so many characters who are out in high school; on the other hand, I lost track of how many times Nick felt it necessary to remind people that Seth isn’t gay, he’s bisexual; it seemed out of place in a high school cafeteria, especially repeated so many times. The references were so nonchalant, and yet so continual, that it became almost preachy, as did Nick’s father’s frequent attempts to ensure that Nick practices safe sex should he ever, eventually, reach that point with Seth - including, but not limited to, discussions of dental dams and providing condoms on prom night. It reached the point where it detracted from the plot, which was a fairly straightforward superhero premise, with some issues around secret identities particular to teens. The path to discovering one’s powers harks back to some very early X-Men issues, although it’s entirely possible that the author hasn’t seen those; it’s hard to say, as there’s only so many ways to present “Something weird is happening to me - things are happening that I can’t control and don’t understand”.

Overall, I think there was an attempt to get too many themes into one book, and it kept each theme from being properly developed. Either a longer novel, or the omission of something - sexuality, loss of a parent, teenage angst around relationships and parents, social media presence, bullying, peer pressure, plus other themes also present — would have made it feel less like a rush to get everything in. In trying to be everything to everyone, this book falls short of being what it could have been. Hopefully, the third novel predicted in the epilogue will do better.

What a fantastic follow-up after The Extraordinaries! Wow! After all of the controversy following The Extraordinaries, this was a refreshing read that I hope will calm other readers in addressing those concerns. This is such a sweet story and I loved it. I am so thankful to Klune for his determination in filling the literary world with positive LGBTIA+ representation. I hope to put this book in my classroom library soon… and I hope to follow it up with a third story!

Everything about this book has me gushing with happiness. There were so many important topics discussed and so many potentially perilous situations, yet the overarching feel of this book is uplifting. You just can't help but smile! It is filled to the brim with moments of second-hand embarrassment so extreme that I could feel myself blushing as I read on. It was hilarious and utterly charming and I have come to love this series completely.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

I cannot wait for the next one!!

TJ Klune writes the most amazing, heartwarming, laugh out loud novels ever. This series has made me laugh so hard, I don’t want it to ever end. The new dynamics this sequel brought to the characters and storyline are just *chef kiss* and his novels should be required reading for every age to teach compassion, acceptance, and love.

TJ Klune is my new favourite author. His sense of humour is unparalleled and he is so very good at writing romance.
Flash Fire is the perfect sequel to The Extraordinaries. It has the same banter, it has lots of funny moments and it's just delightfully queer! I liked that Klune educates his readers about the struggles and unfairness persons of colour have to go through on a daily basis, and I admire that he does this without becoming preachy.
Flash Fire is the perfect book for anyone who wants to be completely addicted to a very good, exciting and funny book.