Book: The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune
Read From: 1st January - 3rd January 2022
Rating: 3/5 stars
Summary: In Nova City, there are extraordinary people, capable of feats that defy the imagination. Shadow Star protects the city and manipulates darkness, and Pyro Storm is determined to bring the city to its knees using his power over fire. Nick is the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom but he’s faced with a new year at school, a father who doesn’t trust him and a best friend named Seth, who may or may not be the love of Nick’s short, uneventful life. It should be enough. But after a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City’s biggest hero (and Nick’s biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself an extraordinary. And he’ll do it with or without his friends’ help...
The Extraordinaries was my third TJ Klune novel and it has only solidified the fact that no one quite does characterisation like him. I don’t know how, every single time, he is able to take a group of characters and craft their own personalities and their relationships with each other so incredibly well. It’s definitely not my favourite book of Klune’s, but I had such a fun time reading this nonetheless.
As always with Klune's books, the found family element was great. Nick and his group of friends would have me regularly snickering to myself with their interactions and banter. Gibby was definitely a stand out for me though, with her tough love takes no bullshit attitude, but it was also so clear that she would take a bullet for her friends if they needed it. Nick was a funny protagonist who somehow managed to get himself into the most absurd situations or come up with the most unrealistic ‘solutions’ you can’t help but laugh. I also thought the book did a great job at capturing the awkward teenage crush phase that I think would (begrudgingly) resonate with a lot of us - whether you’re reading this book as a young adult yourself and can relate to everything or reading as an older reader who can reflect back on a similar phase at a similar age.
The concept itself was super cool - I liked the urban fantasy setting where the superheroes were a part of the regular world who acted as almost vigilantes and took justice into their own hands where needed. This caused a lot of annoyance to the police, which brings me on to my first minor issue with the novel. I think it over-glorified the police to almost an unnecessary degree. I fully understand that a young adult fantasy story about gay superheroes isn’t the most obvious place to bring up issues or critiques of the police force but the police do play quite a big role in the story and there were also some questionable one-liners from our (white) protagonist regarding police brutality… I think there should have at least been a privilege check included somewhere within the story and I know quite a few reviews have raised this as problematic.
Overall though, this book was a great time. No, it’s definitely not a literary masterpiece but it’s filled with (mostly) endearing characters you can’t help but love and a fun plot line that would appeal to a wide range of audiences.