Chelsea M. Campbell

I have had this book to review for what seems like forever. I was excited to finally get around to reading it. The books starts a bit slow, but ends up being a witty and entertaining story about what it means to be a villain or a hero.

Damien is super excited for his sixteenth birthday, the day when the whorls on his thumb will arrange themselves into a V and he will be able to commit to the life of a supervillain. However things don’t go according to plan when instead of a V he gets an X show more on his thumb...the dreaded third mark that means he has a superhero parent and a villain parent. He knows his mom is the villain but who is his dad? When he finds out his mom suggests (forces) him to spend a few weeks with his paternal superhero family which goes against everything he’s ever known. Soon he will be forced to make a choice; will he chose the life of a villain which is all he’s ever known or does the life of a superhero hold more promise for him?

The book starts a bit slow and it took me a bit to get into the story, but once I did I really enjoyed it. Damien is very snarky and witty and I enjoyed reading about him. It was entertaining to watch him try to navigate a world of black and white where he ends up as a shade of grey.

What starts out as a seemingly simple mystery where Damien is going to help a new friend track down her dad, ends up as an effort to save the world. While Damien is used to and determined to be a supervillain, he also has a bit of a soft spot for doing what is right. It’s interesting to watch him struggle to straddle the two worlds while also trying to just be himself.

The side characters fell a bit short for me; none of them really grabbed me all that well. I also found the “romance” between Damien and Kat to be a dry and abrupt. Although I did enjoy Damien’s parents and how they represented good and evil while still struggling with normal parenting issues.

Damien is incredibly snarky and funny and some of the dialogue throughout the book is incredibly fun. The whole story has a overtone of snarky playfulness throughout with just a hint of heartfelt sincerity here and there.

This book does a great job of showing how sometimes heroes fall short and villains can be heroic.

Overall I ended up enjoying this quirky and witty little book about the shades of grey between superheroes and villains. It was an entertaining read; although it took me a while to really get sucked into the story the second half of the book was very engaging. I am uncertain right now as to whether or not I will read the second book, The Trials of Renegade X. I would recommend to those who enjoy coming of age type stories with snarky superhero villains. show less

REVIEW: I really, really enjoyed this story (when you finish a book in just a couple of hours and don't just skim the thing, you know it's good!). It was fun and snarky. Yay for the anti-hero. Or at least a kid who's convinced he is an anti-hero, hates heroes and everything to do with them, and swears he'll never be a hero.

But is he really the villian he thinks he is (and really wants to be)? Well, he's dating a supervillian chick who's power is shapeshifting. He "punishes" those who annoy show more him with robot scorpions in their backpacks and worms in their shampoo. He has a List of those on whom he will seek revenge (It sounds much more ominous written with proper grammar. Go figure.) when he gets his powers. But he freed his mother's lab rats. And goes out of his way to help his ex-girlfriend when she makes a mistake. And befriends the class outcast. Guess that's why he's a renegade. Well, besides the fact that "Renegade X" is a really cool name.

Campbell does a great job developing her snarky antihero. The dialogue is snappy, and I can totally hear echoes of my students in Damien's conversations with not only his friends but his parents. The other characters are also well drawn: Mom as the science-focused evil scientist; Kat as the friend/ex-girlfriend/girlfriend; Sarah as the nerdy sidekick; and Dad as the put-upon superhero. All in all, a very enjoyable summer read.

Final Grade for THE RISE OF RENEGADE X by Chelsea M. Campbell: 95/A
352 pages
YA Superhero
Available now (hardcover)
Review copy purchased show less

What a blast! It's a YA superhero book, and I love the main character. He is the teenage son of a single-mom supervillainess, and he discovers that his father is actually The Crimson Flash, a beloved superhero. That creates all sorts of problems in his life. As I said, I love Damien (a.k.a. Renegade X). He is rebellious, sarcastic in a very funny way and always getting in some sort of trouble, but beneath it all he is loyal, sensitive and a surprisingly good guy. The books are a lot of fun, show more mixing humor, teenage angst, adventure, teenage snark, silliness and heartwarming stuff. show less

If you are new to this YA series better start with book 1 ([b:The Rise of Renegade X|6780702|The Rise of Renegade X (Renegade X, #1)|Chelsea M. Campbell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320520546s/6780702.jpg|6982231]). This story can stand alone, but knowing the character's history is better.

This book, the third in the Renegade X series, keeps up the excellent level. Although the premise, with the division between heroes and villains who have their own societies is a bit goofy, the author show more runs with it and makes it worth. As in previous books, Damien's voice is very entertaining and compelling. He is snarky, sarcastic and difficult to deal with, but when it counts he is a good guy and a good friend.

Here he is growing up and getting more concerned about what he is going to do with his life after graduation (assuming he survives till then!). Is there a future for him as a superhero when he does not like the League, does not intend to join it, and is generally disliked by most heroes because of his half-villain origin?

The book is still funny because, let's face it, Damien's narrative is always funny, but the tone is darker than in the previous two books. There are themes of discrimination, prejudices, abuse of power... and Damien is caught right in the middle of it, facing pressure in opposite directions from both sides of his family.

The climax of the story seemed to me too similar to that of book 2, but that's a minor complaint in a very enjoyable read. Strongly recommended. show less