Skip to main content

Featured

October Daye / Inheritance - Essay Series Part Five: Long Series and How to Read Them

Hello Patrons and general audience members! Welcome to another Books That Burn essay by Robin. Thank you to Case Aiken, who receives a monthly Patron shoutout. [Full Audio Available Here] This is the fifth and final entry in a five-part essay series discussing two long-running book series by queer authors: October Daye by Seanan McGuire, and Inheritance by A.K. Faulkner. I chose these series because I love them both, they were intended from the start to be long series, neither of them are finished yet, and the authors have different structural approaches to developing each series across so many volumes. Purely coincidentally, they are both long-running contemporary fantasy series mainly set in California in or near the 2010's, with major characters named Quentin, and whose fast-healing protagonists have a tendency to quasi-adopt a gaggle of magical teenagers. After a brief moment in the 1990's, October Daye begins in earnest in 2009 and has reached 2015 as of the eighteenth boo...
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune (Extraordinaries, #1)

Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. TJ Klune's YA debut, The Extraordinaries, is a queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves.

Nick Bell? Not extraordinary. But being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom is a superpower, right?

After a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City’s mightiest hero (and Nick’s biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he’ll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick's best friend (and maybe the love of his life).

Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl meets Marissa Meyer's Renegades in TJ Klune's YA debut.

TITLE: The Extraordinaries
AUTHOR: T.J. Klune
PUBLISHER: MacMillan
YEAR: 2020
LENGTH: 400 pages
AGE: Young Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Superheroes
RECOMMENDED: N/A

Partial Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Secondary Character(s), Gay/Achillean Main Character(s), Bi/Pan Secondary Character(s).

DNF page 111 (27% in).

At first I like the lighthearted tone, but then what was initially sweet started feeling cloying: intense without any heft to it, and no relief. Most moments which seemed like they should have emotional weight and importance just didn’t land for me. Scenes which could have been intense were diffused with humor or antics almost instantly. I like humorous tones sometimes, but when nothing is taken seriously the jokes stop feeling funny. I disliked every scene with the MC’s dad (the few that there were). The MC is oblivious about pretty much everything, and it made me want to yell at the book to get, just, anything about what was going on. I stopped trusting that it would handle anything well, and the way the dad controls the MC's medication didn't feel good.

CW for ableism, homophobia (minor), sexism, panic attacks/disorders, medication control, grief, violence, parental death (backstory).

Bookshop Affiliate Buy Link

Add this on TheStoryGraph

Two teenage guys stand in front of a city skyline. The one of the left has a bowtie and stands with his hands in his pockets while looking at the other guy, the one on the right is pointing at the sky and looking up.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts