The Extraordinaries (The Extraordinaries, 1)

Fremdschämen for sure but also so many squees.

Okay. First and foremost, I love both of T.J.Klune’s adult works, and in general I adore YA books, so a YA book by Klune should be perfection, right? I was instantly hooked on this one. Having said that it was a bit… scattered. It took a bit for the pieces to click for me and for this book to really get going. That isn’t to say it wasn’t good, bc it is, but Klune’s adult works feel so much more together than this one?

I loved Seth, but wasn’t that here for Nick at several times, disappointingly enough. I do plan on checking out the next book ASAP, bc of course. It’s not bad, just a little to scattered and angsty for me.

This book was CHAOS. I wanted to DNF from the prologue alone, and now that I've binged it, I am thoroughly invested in the characters and their stories and am on the verge of instantly picking up its sequel. Nick is absolutely everywhere. If I knew how to, I'd insert a gif of Britta from Community yelling, "High on my own drama!?" cause that's Nick. He has ADHD and we meet him while he's hyper fixating on Shadow Star - a batman-esque hero who has power over shadows (Batman could only dream). Nick is chaotic, has grandiose ideas that often get him in trouble, and loyal friends who stick with him despite his wild ideas and slight self-centered-ness. At its core, this book is very YA and, as such, fairly cringey at times. There are a lot of cheesy lines and moments that made me want to crawl into my shirt out of second-hand embarrassment; but these cheesy moments were also often hilarious and left me grinning like an idiot as I listened to their wild ideas and adventures. Then there were entirely deep and serious moments that made me tear up, especially between Nick and his dad. Klune, as ever, is a dynamic writer, and he made this book everything he wanted it to be - nothing about this was bad writing, only intentional storytelling and I have to give him credit for that. I loved Nick's friends - they're odd, wild, and fiercely loyal. Their banter and wit had me laughing and grinning, and their absolute sass made it so easy to love them. I don't know how else to describe it, but they felt so authetic - like exactly how friends are in high school - that it just worked. To sum up this book, picture Sky High but gay. It's a wild ride and absolutely worth the read! TW: violence, injury detail, multiple panic attacks on page (three total), drug use (mostly medical), kidnapping, mentions death of parents (two in a train crash, one in a bank heist) Rep: MC has ADHD, gay MCs, lesbian secondary characters Plot: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5 World Building: 4/5 Writing: 4.5/5 Pacing: 4/5 Overall: 4/5 eARC gifted via NetGalley by Tor Teen in exchange for an honest review.