Flash Fire by TJ Klune


Okay so, I love love love the characters - especially Nicholas Bell  - he such a wonderful messy ADHD teen angst with BIG FEELINGS character. I love how Seth and he compliment each other in all the ways. I am also totally here for this type of super hero story - diverse, queer - with supporting roles filled by cis-straight parents - may we all go live in that better universe soon.


I also appreciated the way Nick has to wrestle with conflicting feelings about his father and the police, although in this universe the ***spoiler*** police are distinctly moving away from being on the hero side and moving to the villain side. It is all very no-shades-of-grey, as one expects from a Hero Genre story. I did find Nick to be a bit drawn out with his anger towards his dad, but he is in high school, so that tracks.


I also felt it maybe took too long to build up to ***spoiler*** Nick’s powers and the big reveal at the end, which kind of made the prom scene and a few others more predictable because of the prolonged build up. 


Overall, love the book, the characters and their development - especially Dad Bell - he grew on me more as a troubled man than the version we meet in book one. Cannot wait for book 3 and frankly anything else TJ Klune comes out with.


Last thing - so many laugh out loud moments - especially the connection of Nick’s phone to his dad’s car. Died.

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