barbaram's review
4.0
Rating it 4* in its niche of YA superhero fiction.
That is not my typical niche but I bought this because the author caught my attention on Twitter and I wanted to support them.
Diversity and inclusion is very much the core of this book and on the whole very nicely handled. An enjoyable read.
That is not my typical niche but I bought this because the author caught my attention on Twitter and I wanted to support them.
Diversity and inclusion is very much the core of this book and on the whole very nicely handled. An enjoyable read.
dinibharadwaj's review
4.0
Note: I received a free digital ARC of the book via the author and publisher as I was part of the promotional blog tour
The Avengers hype has reached a fever pitch and being the Marvel fangirl that I am, I was really looking forward to a good story that would be reminiscent of the movie magic I love. I had also heard that the cast was diverse, which added to my expectations. The strongest point of this book that almost every review I’ve read also speaks about is the cast of characters. The angst, the rebellious attitude and the identity crisis was captured brilliantly. The representation was also one of the highlights of the book because not only was it was incredibly diverse in terms of gender and sexuality, it even had good disability rep. Of course, I can’t speak to any of these personally. The plot started off a bit slow for me and I was confused at the beginning. However, after a few chapters it picked up pace and by then I had fallen in love with the characters. As it is the first book in a series, it also had to introduce the world to the readers, which was why I didn’t mind that the story had some lull points. My only reason not to rate it higher is that the writing style didn’t appeal to me personally. There was nothing technically wrong about it, but I somehow found it incredibly hard to read it. I had to use the text-to-speech feature on my phone to get through it, which took away from the reading experience a bit. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a superhero kick to fight the post-Avengers hangover.
The Avengers hype has reached a fever pitch and being the Marvel fangirl that I am, I was really looking forward to a good story that would be reminiscent of the movie magic I love. I had also heard that the cast was diverse, which added to my expectations. The strongest point of this book that almost every review I’ve read also speaks about is the cast of characters. The angst, the rebellious attitude and the identity crisis was captured brilliantly. The representation was also one of the highlights of the book because not only was it was incredibly diverse in terms of gender and sexuality, it even had good disability rep. Of course, I can’t speak to any of these personally. The plot started off a bit slow for me and I was confused at the beginning. However, after a few chapters it picked up pace and by then I had fallen in love with the characters. As it is the first book in a series, it also had to introduce the world to the readers, which was why I didn’t mind that the story had some lull points. My only reason not to rate it higher is that the writing style didn’t appeal to me personally. There was nothing technically wrong about it, but I somehow found it incredibly hard to read it. I had to use the text-to-speech feature on my phone to get through it, which took away from the reading experience a bit. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a superhero kick to fight the post-Avengers hangover.
spinesinaline's review
4.0
Thanks to the author and Shealea for organizing the #SHOSPH book tour! Find more reviews and features by following that hashtag on Twitter and see more of my thoughts at https://spinesinaline.wordpress.com!
When I saw that this book was about superheroes, I was intrigued. When I heard it had diverse representation, I immediately signed on for the tour. I was really happy to find that the rep in this book wasn't just for show; it's clear the author really cared about how they approached this representation, as well as really cared for their characters so they were front-and-center even in a story that you'd expect to be mostly focused on action. Somehow, the author managed the perfect balance of character development and expanding their stories with the more plot-driven side involving action and bad guys and superhero powers!
I think part of that was that the story really lent itself well to having a slow buildup, where we had more time to learn about the characters before they were thrust into the battle. I could've used a somewhat slower introduction, because I was super confused in the first 15 or so pages. We were being given a lot of names as if we already understood everyone's relationships, and even code names for some people (which I totally didn't pick up on until a couple chapters in). It was a lot to keep track of when we were going in with nothing so I had to do a lot of rereading once those names were sorted out later on.
Some more info about the rep of course. One of the main characters is Black, as the cover shows, and some secondary characters are as well. There are also Jewish characters, several who identify as queer and one who identifies as agender, and a number of characters who are Deaf so the use of ASL comes up a little in the book. There were some trigger warnings that came up as the book talks about systemic racism, which is directly addressed and challenged early on, and ableism. I did want to talk about this, because there's really an extended conversation about disabilities throughout the book. One of the characters recognizes ableist behaviour right away and tries to address it but it does take time for the others to change their attitudes. I still felt that we didn't really get away from this mindset, so I hope the characters continue to learn about this problematic behaviour as the series continues and are actively called out for such behaviour.
What I really loved in this book was that along with our balance of self-discovery as the teens explore who they are and who they'd like to be seen as, and the more action-heavy sections, there was constantly this more tense and suspenseful tone underneath everything. So many people in this story are keeping secrets! It makes it really easy to speed through this one because you just want to figure out what is going on!
One quick issue though, more to do with the characters than the writing. Without giving away spoilers, one character starts to use contacts but is (understandably) freaked out about touching their eyeball. Others try to help them out and they kept being described as just taking the contact case and fishing around in the liquid for the contacts, like, NO, WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE YOU GO ANYWHERE NEAR SOMEONE'S ELSE'S EYE (or your own for that matter). And that's all I have to say about that :)
This was a really great read and I'm so looking forward to the next in the series!
When I saw that this book was about superheroes, I was intrigued. When I heard it had diverse representation, I immediately signed on for the tour. I was really happy to find that the rep in this book wasn't just for show; it's clear the author really cared about how they approached this representation, as well as really cared for their characters so they were front-and-center even in a story that you'd expect to be mostly focused on action. Somehow, the author managed the perfect balance of character development and expanding their stories with the more plot-driven side involving action and bad guys and superhero powers!
I think part of that was that the story really lent itself well to having a slow buildup, where we had more time to learn about the characters before they were thrust into the battle. I could've used a somewhat slower introduction, because I was super confused in the first 15 or so pages. We were being given a lot of names as if we already understood everyone's relationships, and even code names for some people (which I totally didn't pick up on until a couple chapters in). It was a lot to keep track of when we were going in with nothing so I had to do a lot of rereading once those names were sorted out later on.
Some more info about the rep of course. One of the main characters is Black, as the cover shows, and some secondary characters are as well. There are also Jewish characters, several who identify as queer and one who identifies as agender, and a number of characters who are Deaf so the use of ASL comes up a little in the book. There were some trigger warnings that came up as the book talks about systemic racism, which is directly addressed and challenged early on, and ableism. I did want to talk about this, because there's really an extended conversation about disabilities throughout the book. One of the characters recognizes ableist behaviour right away and tries to address it but it does take time for the others to change their attitudes. I still felt that we didn't really get away from this mindset, so I hope the characters continue to learn about this problematic behaviour as the series continues and are actively called out for such behaviour.
What I really loved in this book was that along with our balance of self-discovery as the teens explore who they are and who they'd like to be seen as, and the more action-heavy sections, there was constantly this more tense and suspenseful tone underneath everything. So many people in this story are keeping secrets! It makes it really easy to speed through this one because you just want to figure out what is going on!
One quick issue though, more to do with the characters than the writing. Without giving away spoilers, one character starts to use contacts but is (understandably) freaked out about touching their eyeball. Others try to help them out and they kept being described as just taking the contact case and fishing around in the liquid for the contacts, like, NO, WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE YOU GO ANYWHERE NEAR SOMEONE'S ELSE'S EYE (or your own for that matter). And that's all I have to say about that :)
This was a really great read and I'm so looking forward to the next in the series!
inameitlater's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
terriaminute's review
5.0
What a great story. Do you like secrets, personal issues, inner strength, moral questions, intelligence, ideals, reality checks, diverse casts, overwhelming odds, tragedy, family, and superheroes? Read this. The pace is measured, until it gets intense, the relationships felt real, and it is character-driven. They drive the plot, and it is very satisfying. I have a few quibbles, but first and foremost, I'm delighted to have read this.
There's no getting around the self-referencing in third person internal dialogues, but it's So Many Words. :) For some reason, Yael's musings were the worst - not because of pronouns, but because xe seemed the most childish, somehow. I'm assuming it's a temperament problem, intentional, and will be sorted in future stories. Other reviewers have mentioned the misgendering - but it is addressed, and by Yael, in xyr own time, and that seems right to me.
Bonus: the worldbuilding is top-notch, filtered in via the characters - I feel like I've been there. It wasn't entirely comfortable, the more I learned, which is just brilliant.
There's no getting around the self-referencing in third person internal dialogues, but it's So Many Words. :) For some reason, Yael's musings were the worst - not because of pronouns, but because xe seemed the most childish, somehow. I'm assuming it's a temperament problem, intentional, and will be sorted in future stories. Other reviewers have mentioned the misgendering - but it is addressed, and by Yael, in xyr own time, and that seems right to me.
Bonus: the worldbuilding is top-notch, filtered in via the characters - I feel like I've been there. It wasn't entirely comfortable, the more I learned, which is just brilliant.
larondaflyingpaperbacks's review
4.0
You can see my full review here!
*I received Secondhand Origin Stories from That Bookshelf Bitch for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.*
The story involves sensitive issues, such as systemic racism and ableism.
This book was AMAZING. Superheroes with all of the diversity and racial commentary and found families and 8 YEAR OLD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE’S. I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH (just in case you didn't get that from the updates, I'll say it again). I was so surprised when characters I disliked became… likable? The character development for them all were amazing. By the end of the book, if I didn’t like them, I understood them, which is saying a lot because I’m stubborn with my opinions. think the thing I found really interesting was how Lee expanded on the psychological and physical costs of superhero abilities, which we don’t see in superhero movies often. So YES, I recommend. HIGHLY. GO READ IT PLEASE.
04/18-- I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
*I received Secondhand Origin Stories from That Bookshelf Bitch for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.*
The story involves sensitive issues, such as systemic racism and ableism.
This book was AMAZING. Superheroes with all of the diversity and racial commentary and found families and 8 YEAR OLD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE’S. I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH (just in case you didn't get that from the updates, I'll say it again). I was so surprised when characters I disliked became… likable? The character development for them all were amazing. By the end of the book, if I didn’t like them, I understood them, which is saying a lot because I’m stubborn with my opinions. think the thing I found really interesting was how Lee expanded on the psychological and physical costs of superhero abilities, which we don’t see in superhero movies often. So YES, I recommend. HIGHLY. GO READ IT PLEASE.
04/18-- I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
ignitingpages's review
4.0
When I read the synopsis to this book, I was super excited to dive into it. Mostly because it was a book about teenage superheroes and they were a diverse cast, which sounded similar to Not Your Sidekick, one of my all-time favourite books. I really wanted to love this book but I ended up just enjoying it and finding it unmemorable.
The novel was in multiple perspectives, four to be exact, and whilst I ended up not minding it too much and the story linked together nicely despite the change of perspective, I still found that I didn’t like the multiple perspectives. BUT this is more a personal preference then the author’s writing, because I did find that the story flowed quite well and there was hardly any confusion with the plot.
This book has a lovely, diverse cast, including: a person of colour, gender-fluid character, characters on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and a character acquiring a disability after an accident.
I enjoyed reading about the four main characters, they were a diverse cast and you could see their relationship develop. Opal is a black characters (I can’t say for sure what her nationality is) and she was independent and intriguing and I adored her. Though she is reckless and is quick to protect, even those she does not know, which is an admirable quality in a superhero. Jamie was sweet as well, but when I first met her, I genuinely thought she was 10 years old at most because her voice just seemed so young. I grew to like her as the story went on, but when I first met her, I kind of found her annoying. Oops hehe.
I adored Yael, even though I found xe's voice hard to get into and understand at the beginning. Xe’s fiercely protective of Jamie and Issac, who he considers his siblings, and is a gender-fluid shapeshifter who uses xe and xyr as pronouns. I’m still on the fence about Issac, I don’t dislike him necessarily but I don’t love him. But I can admire his adaptability and clever mind. I guess we can’t love all the characters in a book, right? But I do love Martin, who is the family artificial intelligence (AI).
I think what made me love the characters more was the relationship they had together. Jamie, Issac and Yael seem to have grown up together and they are loyal and love each other wholeheartedly, doing anything and everything to protect each other and bring comfort to each other. They all end up adding Opal to their sibling family too, which I found was sweet and cute. Honestly, they all need to be protected from the world, especially Martin, who I think is my favourite character (yes, the AI is my fave character. Don’t judge me).
I think Lee Blauersouth’s writing is easy to read and they have a way with words that creates vivid imagery in one’s head. However, I found the plot to be extremely slow and the world-building to be lacking. I would have liked to know more about the history of the world and more about how the prisons work and how the Altered came to be and who the APB are. There are snippets of this information, but not enough to get a full picture. The plot, in my opinion, only really picks up after about halfway of the book, which I think is too long as the audience’s engagement will have wavered by then. The pacing was really slow too, which made it harder to keep wanting to read in my opinion. I felt most of the conflict was centred around family, but then I guess it did expand.
The last couple of chapters (the chapters are long) were much more fast paced and I devoured the end of the book in one sitting because I just needed to know what would happen to the squad. Despite the ending’s predictability, I quite enjoyed it and was satisfied by it.
One thing that would be useful for this story is an appendix of superhero names and their civilian identities, because I struggled to figure who was who because the changing perspectives would change how the characters viewed the superheroes
Overall, it was a cute read, and it is not that long of a book and I definitely would recommend you pick this up, especially if you love superhero stories. I want to see more of the characters so I will be picking up the sequel when it comes out.
The novel was in multiple perspectives, four to be exact, and whilst I ended up not minding it too much and the story linked together nicely despite the change of perspective, I still found that I didn’t like the multiple perspectives. BUT this is more a personal preference then the author’s writing, because I did find that the story flowed quite well and there was hardly any confusion with the plot.
This book has a lovely, diverse cast, including: a person of colour, gender-fluid character, characters on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and a character acquiring a disability after an accident.
I enjoyed reading about the four main characters, they were a diverse cast and you could see their relationship develop. Opal is a black characters (I can’t say for sure what her nationality is) and she was independent and intriguing and I adored her. Though she is reckless and is quick to protect, even those she does not know, which is an admirable quality in a superhero. Jamie was sweet as well, but when I first met her, I genuinely thought she was 10 years old at most because her voice just seemed so young. I grew to like her as the story went on, but when I first met her, I kind of found her annoying. Oops hehe.
I adored Yael, even though I found xe's voice hard to get into and understand at the beginning. Xe’s fiercely protective of Jamie and Issac, who he considers his siblings, and is a gender-fluid shapeshifter who uses xe and xyr as pronouns. I’m still on the fence about Issac, I don’t dislike him necessarily but I don’t love him. But I can admire his adaptability and clever mind. I guess we can’t love all the characters in a book, right? But I do love Martin, who is the family artificial intelligence (AI).
I think what made me love the characters more was the relationship they had together. Jamie, Issac and Yael seem to have grown up together and they are loyal and love each other wholeheartedly, doing anything and everything to protect each other and bring comfort to each other. They all end up adding Opal to their sibling family too, which I found was sweet and cute. Honestly, they all need to be protected from the world, especially Martin, who I think is my favourite character (yes, the AI is my fave character. Don’t judge me).
I think Lee Blauersouth’s writing is easy to read and they have a way with words that creates vivid imagery in one’s head. However, I found the plot to be extremely slow and the world-building to be lacking. I would have liked to know more about the history of the world and more about how the prisons work and how the Altered came to be and who the APB are. There are snippets of this information, but not enough to get a full picture. The plot, in my opinion, only really picks up after about halfway of the book, which I think is too long as the audience’s engagement will have wavered by then. The pacing was really slow too, which made it harder to keep wanting to read in my opinion. I felt most of the conflict was centred around family, but then I guess it did expand.
The last couple of chapters (the chapters are long) were much more fast paced and I devoured the end of the book in one sitting because I just needed to know what would happen to the squad. Despite the ending’s predictability, I quite enjoyed it and was satisfied by it.
One thing that would be useful for this story is an appendix of superhero names and their civilian identities, because I struggled to figure who was who because the changing perspectives would change how the characters viewed the superheroes
Overall, it was a cute read, and it is not that long of a book and I definitely would recommend you pick this up, especially if you love superhero stories. I want to see more of the characters so I will be picking up the sequel when it comes out.
veereading's review
3.0
This was quite an enjoyable superhero novel! If you like anything to do with superheroes, then this is worth checking out!
I really liked how much diversity is in this story. I usually don’t point this out when I’m reading a book but I thought the author did a spectacular job incorporating it into the story. It added so many more dimensions to the characters.
I also really liked how character-driven this novel was. I’m a sucker for good character development, and this book definitely delivered on that front! All of the characters changed as the story progressed, and I loved that they were able to self-reflect and grow as individuals. Also…. SUPERHEROES! I loved that this novel featured them in such a unique way. It was great to view them as more than just saviours, but as humans, too.
As I had mentioned, this is a character-driven story. This means that the plot moves quite slowly. This was the only drawback to the novel; I wanted it to be a bit more fast-paced. However, I was willing to forgo that since the story had such amazing themes and characters in it.
I had so much fun reading this novel and exploring the multitude of issues it brings to the surface with the diverse cast of characters! For those reasons, I’m giving it a solid 3/5 stars!
I really liked how much diversity is in this story. I usually don’t point this out when I’m reading a book but I thought the author did a spectacular job incorporating it into the story. It added so many more dimensions to the characters.
I also really liked how character-driven this novel was. I’m a sucker for good character development, and this book definitely delivered on that front! All of the characters changed as the story progressed, and I loved that they were able to self-reflect and grow as individuals. Also…. SUPERHEROES! I loved that this novel featured them in such a unique way. It was great to view them as more than just saviours, but as humans, too.
As I had mentioned, this is a character-driven story. This means that the plot moves quite slowly. This was the only drawback to the novel; I wanted it to be a bit more fast-paced. However, I was willing to forgo that since the story had such amazing themes and characters in it.
I had so much fun reading this novel and exploring the multitude of issues it brings to the surface with the diverse cast of characters! For those reasons, I’m giving it a solid 3/5 stars!
nbspacegay's review
4.0
Lots of good characters that I was very invested in. I have some uh hm Questions about dr mom's behaviour towards the children that weren't resolved, but overall a really interesting read