It was always about two chapters after I did, and made me want to bang the character’s heads together, but it was excellent fun to read. When the evidence was there, Nick put it together. This book leans heavily on the secret identities, lack of self-awareness and miscommunication tropes, but they were done well enough that they weren’t frustrating to read. I’ve never been so glad to be out of my awkward teenage years as I was reading Nick’s awkward teenage years. I laughed out loud a lot, whilst also panic closing the kindle app on my phone every time Nick said anything. It was like watching the best kind of noughties movies, where it’s almost too hard to watch. This book absolutely nailed the cringey teenager factor. And he’s going to succeed, with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, his best friend (and maybe the love of his life). Being the most popular fanfiction writer in the fandom is a superpower of its own, right? When a chance encounter with his biggest crush, and Nova City’s mightiest hero, Shadow Star has him starstruck, Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. Nothing extraordinary, even if he does immerse himself in the Extraordinaries fandom every day. Trigger warnings: copaganda, witness assault (not challenged), controlling medication, death and grief, ‘joking’ pedophilia accusations (explained below), violence. Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and Tor Teen for a review copy of this book, it has not affected my honest review. Going to keep my original review intact but adding notes below. I’ve actually come back and edited this review since my original read-through as the longer I’ve sat with this book the more uncomfortable I am with it and the more I dislike it. Because while they’re out there, saving the world, we’re the ones they come home to.”

The extraordinaries nick and seth