Rise of the Renegade X review!

Rise of the Renegade X by Chelsea M. Campbell

normally, this is where i'd post the "official" summary. however, i thought that the summary i found on Goodreads contained WAY too many spoilers. instead, i shall endeavor to write my own...

His sixteenth birthday. This is the moment that Damien Locke has been waiting for his entire life. It's when he will get the "V" on his thumb that marks him as a supervillian. It's the age when he can finally apply to the supervillian university and start his real training. It's the moment when hundreds of people in the city are watching him.

Except suddenly nothing's going according to plan. When the "X" appears on his thumb instead of the much-anticipated "V", Damien has to figure out what went wrong. He has to uncover his mother's shocking secret. And then he has to put everything right by proving once and for all that he is worthy of becoming a supervillian, not--heaven forbid--a superhero.


my thoughts:

first of all, don't you just love the title? i know it doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but this book has serious cover appeal.

but i digress.

this book started out a little slow (something that been happening a lot recently for some reason) but once it picked up, it was addictive. i really did not want to put the book down. Rise of the Renegade X is so different from the typical YA book--i had no idea what to expect, and the author kept delivering new surprises, twists, and turns. it was a fun, fast-paced ride.

at first, some of the characters almost felt a little cliche, but after the story picked up, they started to make their own paths and become more interesting. the characters now feel much more real to me than many YA characters (perhaps this is because none of them fell in love with a vampire/fairy/werewolf/angel/two-guys-at-the-same-time?) they provided a very refreshing break from some of the over-done plot elements in YA lit. AND Rise of the Renegade X actually had a conclusion! amazing! i was afraid that YA lit had become a solely series-based market full of books that leave me hanging....

i would definitely recommend this book (however, if it was a movie, it would have a PG13 rating for references to sexual content, so use discretion with younger readers). i can't wait to see more from this author!

my rating: 4.6