Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Not Your Sidekick

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

bluberrybooks's review

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mengzhenreads's review

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Although the plot felt a bit predictable at times and there was sometimes a lack of tension or stakes, this book was still a lot of fun and absolutely delightful to read. I loved seeing all the LGBTQIA+ rep that was depicted in this book and loved the concept of the story as well. Good read!

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bluejayreads's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this book. I needed a book for work, this one was immediately available at the library. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

On the whole, this book was really just fun. There is some dark stuff that happens, high schoolers nearly dying, and some heavy themes, but despite all of that the prevailing mood reading this story is fun. There's superhero stuff and a big conspiracy, sure, but there's also friendship and crushes and romances and high school and in a way it portrays how complicated life is. Jess may have parents and an older sister who are literally superheroes, but she still has to deal with school and internships and a crush on a girl who probably isn't even into girls.

I hope the world gets explored further in the rest of the series, because it was fascinating. It's set in the future, where people watch TV on holoscreens and cars are so self-driving they don't have steering wheels at all and roombas have AI and personalities. And, of course, superheroes exist and are big stars. At first there are only hints that all may not be as cool as it seems, but as Jess and friends start to uncover the big conspiracy, it begins to look like this is a dystopian world where the people in charge are so thorough that nobody even realizes their world is dystopian. I expect and hope there will be more on that in book two.

On one hand, I do have a tendency to guess plot surprises way ahead of time. On the other hand, I feel like all the superhero-related surprises were telegraphed from a mile away. Everything that was superpower- or secret identity-related and trying to be a plot twist I called almost immediately. However, I didn't guess anything related to the big conspiracy. And even though I guessed all the superhero-related twists, I didn't mind too much because I was just having fun with the story.

This was a surprisingly enjoyable book. Not perfect and leaning towards the "mindless entertainment" end of the scale, but I enjoyed it a lot and it was an absolutely fun read. And the biggest plot thread in the book didn't get wrapped up hardly at all, so I totally intend to read the next book.

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