Superheroes do more than just save the world and stop crime. In Abby Hamilton’s house they also drink milk straight from the carton and steal the television remote. Abby’s older brother is the famous Red Comet, a superhero who has saved the town countless times. But he’s also her brother and annoys her to no end. Abby has never wanted to be a superhero, especially since she has no powers of her own. Or so she thought until the town’s newest supervillain, Iron Phantom, comes crashing into her life and saves her from a mugging. The Iron Phantom claims that he’s not evil and that their town is under a new threat. As Abby follows him deeper into the secrets of the city, she learns that superheroes can’t always be trusted and sometimes the good guys are the ones wearing black.
Considering that I am a huge fan of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and superhero movies in general, it should be no surprise to any of you that I picked up this book. The title itself was convincing enough for me to give this book a shot. I was expecting this book to be pretty serious, something that would have a crazy plot with lots of moving pieces. Something similar to the Steelheart series by Brandon Sanderson, where there would be plenty of action. This book was surprisingly adorable. I would classify it as fluff, but not in a bad way. The best way to describe it is that this book is light-hearted. I love that this book was light-hearted because I had been reading books that were pretty action heavy and darker in terms of what happens in them. The Supervillain and Me was a wonderful break from all of that. In addition to the light-heartedness of the book, the other thing that I really liked about this book was how simple it was. There was no crazy mastermind that required multiple books to defeat, no chosen one storyline, nothing more than a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end which can be wrapped up over the course of one book. I feel like it is extremely rare these days to get a science fiction book that is not a part of a series and sometimes I don’t want to read a series.
Given that this is a superhero/supervillain story, secret identity shenanigans are a must. The Supervillain and Me lived up to all of my expectations when it came to the antics of superheroes and concealing their identities. I was able to correctly predict the hidden identity of the relevant people when they were introduced but I did second guess myself as I continued to read the book. Even though I was able to predict the identity of the character, it did not take away from my experience of reading this book. In fact it enhanced it because I was able to think back to the clues that Danielle Banas had written as well as look back and remember the misdirection that was thrown in.
I loved the characters in this book. All of them were really well written. None of the characters even the minor ones felt like they were two-dimensional. I really liked that Danielle Banas chose to have Abby, the main character, be a normal girl. In my opinion it really enhanced the story because most superhero narratives focus on the hero and their moral dilemmas and their issues. In this book, we get to see a superhero’s dilemma from the perspective of a family member which allows for moments where the superhero isn’t some high and mighty savior but just your brother who annoys the crap out of you. It was great to see a perspective that we don’t often get to see. I really enjoyed reading the interactions between Abby and brother (as a regular person and superhero) as the interactions felt very real and natural. Another reason that I really liked Abby is that even though her brother is a superhero and saves the world every other day, she also has the fire in her to try to make the world a better place.
The plot of this book is as expected: fast paced and interesting. There are moments of action followed by moments of normality. This really allows the reader to imagine what living in a world filled with superheroes may be like. I would not say Danielle Banas comes up with any brand new insights for what it would be like, it was a lot of fun to read about it. I will say that I was hoping for predictions to come true about certain plot points especially when it came to the antagonist because I believe that it would have made for a more interesting story. However, I still like the original plot line of this book as it is.
Overall I would give this book 4 stars. The only reason that I am not giving The Supervillain and Me five stars is that it didn’t blow my mind. As you already know, I liked basically everything about this book from the plot to the characters to the simplicity. This book was basically a rom-com superhero/villain story. If you like rom-coms and superheroes/villains this book is perfect for you. If you only like rom-coms or only like superheroes/villains, I would say that you should give this book a shot. I will say that I am going to be rereading this book anytime that I need to take a break from the world and dive into a nice and simple storyline!
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