Thursday, May 13, 2010

Review of The Rise of Renegade X

by Brittany Geragotelis

I'm always up for a good superhero story. I mean, who isn't? Superpowers, the battle between good and evil, suspense and thrilling fights...What more could you want, right?

I just finished reading the book, The Rise of Renegade X, the debut book by Chelsea M. Campbell. The premise of the book sucked me in from the start:

Golden City Publishing
Damien Locke knows his destiny—attending the university for supervillains and becoming Golden City's next professional evil genius. But when Damien discovers he's the product of his supervillain mother's one-night stand with—of all people—a superhero, his best-laid plans are ruined as he's forced to live with his superhero family

Going to extreme lengths (and heights), The Rise of Renegade X chronicles one boy's struggles with the villainous and heroic pitfalls of growing up.


All in all, I enjoyed this book. It was told from the perspective of a teen boy, and that had me feeling a little left out at times. The book is much more geared toward male teenagers and girls might not connect quite as much to the protagonist because of it. I also felt that the edginess of the novel didn't ring 100% true. It was as if the author threw random shocking sentences throughout in an attempt to get that edge-factor, but it felt a bit out of place compared to the overall tone of the book.

But still, the story itself was fun, light and a quick read. It's easy for the reader to sympathize with the angsty teen situations that Damien finds himself in and you want to root for him even when he's trying to be evil. I especially fell in love with the character, Sarah, the young girl who becomes Damien's sidekick, Cosine. She's nerdy, but felt like the most real character in the book. She's also the only one who doesn't have superpowers and instead has to rely upon her intelligence to beat the bad guys. And FYI, she may just be the most powerful of them all!

In the end, The Rise of Renegade X was a fun read. I'd recommend it to any teen (or adult) boy with a soft spot for caped crusaders.

5x5,
B.

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