Come on, Chelsea M.Campbell.
When I picked up
your book, I was expecting deep superhero stuff. I was expecting a young rebel
to question what it truly means to be a hero or a villain, to weigh the good
against the evil, determine the difference between what is good and
evil, and maybe refine his philosophy by getting his teeth kicked in before
ultimately emerging triumphant or something.
Instead, I got
the horniest bunch of teenagers on any given side of the railroad tracks.
The Rise of Renegade X all but called out to me from the shelves with its synopsis. In
its world’s central setting, Golden City, heroes and villains (both sides have
superpowers) are commonplace—and tourist attractions. When they turn 16, people
of hero lineage have one of their thumbprints morph into an H while the
villains get a V. Damien Locke, the proud son of a supervillain-ess, discovers
his unknown father was a superhero when his thumbprint turns into an X, casting
a shadow across his otherwise rosy path toward villainy. As a consequence, he
ends up living with his hero father’s family, a situation he will set out to
rectify by trying double-hard to become the villain he was always meant to be…
So, what does he
do? Unleash plague on his new step-family? Burn their house to the ground, and
then burn the ground? Invent a mind control device to bend his step-family to
his will?
Nope.
He makes risqué
jokes, does juvenile pranks (i.e. worms in the shampoo), and is generally a
brat. When he’s not trying to “I’m-not-touching-you” his step-family to death,
he’s just an all-round hornball, trying to French hot girls no matter how much
he “doesn’t want to.”
It’s not like
he’s starved for targets, either. Everybody, and I mean everybody who
isn’t under 8 years old, is horny as s***. Every time a sex-related theme is
brought to the table, be it perversion, fornication, sodomy, teen pregnancy, or
outright assault, it’s handled with disturbing casualness. In one particular
case, a friends-with-benefits relationship is discussed as a mere science
project. There’s hardly any philosophical inquiry into what makes a hero a hero
and a villain a villain; Megamind had more depth in this angle than Renegade X, not to
mention—spoiler alert—a more convincing transition of a dedicated villain into
a sort-of hero.
That’s the book’s
biggest problem, in my semi-professional opinion: who on earth is the audience?
With an uncomplicated plot and simplistic tone, this seems like a book for the
lower end of the teen scale. However, with the shamelessly sexed-up teens, the
subject matter veers into the upper-teen category, and it seems to want to take
these teens further into adult territory. I mean, this book lured me in with
promises of HIVE,
and while there is an actual superhero-ish plot, it’s only there for one-fourth
of the book—and that’s a generous estimate. Instead, it looks like H.I.V.E.,
got pillaged by Twilight, left for dead as a weird teen romance book.
Also, we visit
Vilmore, a villain academy, which is never described. I never get to bathe in
its villainy. Instead, we visit a nondescript dorm room where—shocker—there’s a
bunch of making-out going on (out in the open, anyway, but we can get a good
idea of what goes on behind closed doors).
And the plot’s
kinda predictable.
And the ultimate
villain is just some idiot bloke, really.
And there’s a
shapeshifter girl whose power is never used as a major plot twist. Come
on! That’s like the first thing you’re supposed to do with a shapeshifter! She
could have had any other superpower!
And the reason
for the Hs and Vs on thumbs is because the long-ago-heroes developed a virus to
mark the villains with Vs, who in turn made a virus to mark the heroes with
Hs—which means, in my opinion, the early villains were knuckle-dragging morons.
If you can make thumb-letters from viruses, why not mark the heroes with
Vs too? Can you imagine the results, the book we’d get instead? All of society
having to discern between the heroic and villainous superpowered people as
individuals, seeing beyond the semi-racist stereotypes and asking their own philosophic
questions? Imagine heroic individuals having an excuse to be villains! Imagine
softcore villains sheepishly straying into the path of the righteous! Imagine
the story that could have been (unless the author is planning on using that
idea in a sequel)!
So, as far as
this book goes—do I hate it?
Actually, not
really.
Heaven knows I don’t hate it as much as Enclave.
This book has its
shining moments, especially when it lets the superhero side shine through and
Damien is more than horny a-hole. I love the rare occasion he does an actual
supervillain-y thing (i.e. his petty vengeance on someone he invited to his
birthday party). I love the scene where his stepfather tries to teach him to
fly. I love some of Damien’s one-liners, and the last sentence of the book is
one of the best closing remarks I’ve seen in a YA book in a long, long time.
The plot, while simple, has a nice arc and a good climax. One of the
relationship threads was tied off with surprising maturity. Heck, even the
horniness is likely a representation of the world and mindset in which the
author grew up, now being conveyed to us. I don’t have to like the mindset, but
if it’s all the author knows, that’s understandable.
I still feel
betrayed, though. Looking at everything about this book, I thought it was going
to teach me its own perspective of what makes a hero or villain. Instead, I’ve
got casual sex references. Maybe that does it for you, but it’s not my thing.
If you want to take a look at it, go ahead, but I give the whole thing a soft
pass.
(Seriously, I
think the only advice the author was given about boys when she was growing up
was, “They only have their minds on one thing,”—and then she wrote a whole
book about it.)
One more thing:
there’s a major character in the book who takes notes on everything. Well,
isn’t that a coincidence! With this book, I test-ran a discipline of writing
two-sentence summaries of individual chapters, so I’ve got notes too!
Here they are, chapter by chapter. Feel free to read them in tandem with
the actual book.
Ben’s notes:
The Rise of Renegade X
Chapter 1: Nice
city concept, but I guessed the big surprise by page 14. Liking the MC’s evil
s***, though.
Chapter 2: Turkey
baster joke was boss. Sex references are pretty casual; guess that reflects the
times.
Chapter 3:
Tension low, but isn’t it how funny how casual sex/relationship attitudes lead
to dumb, overdramatic complications? Also, how can Kat’s mom be part of a
supervillain family and fall for such an illogical and obviously manipulative
lie?
-
(Also, page 51: please tell me you’ve heard of
Cyclops and you were being sarcastic.)
Chapter 4: OK,
that was quick; still being casual as hell. I do, however, like the idea of
Damien’s fake diary—if that’s not what I’m reading right now.
Chapter 5: I’m
getting a lot of he-says-it’s-not-going-to-happen-but-we-all-know-it’ll-happen-anyway
vibes. Very much forward to where Damien’s list of enemies will go.
Chapter 6: Just a
random collection of scenes, and Damien’s equation seems to be soft hero plus
douche. I think this book might be taking an overall racism-perception path.
Chapter 7: Beginning
of chapter: WTF is going on here? End of chapter: Why is it,
whenever Damien’s plans come to fruition, I’m left asking, “That’s IT?”—and why
is half the book’s data conveyed with a character quote immediately followed by
a non-quote first-person monologue?
Chapter 8: The
first half of this chapter is friggin’ awesome, plus it looks like the plot is
gaining steam. My money is on Damien having to fight his mom at the climax or
near-climax.
Chapter 9: OK, 1)
STOP THE CASUAL SEX REFERENCES, AND 2) SHOULDN’T YOU BE THRILLED IF PEOPLE THINK
YOU’RE A VILLAIN? What, is your only evil trait your hyper-sexed teen brain?
Chapter 10: Beginning
of chapter: WHA—FU—JUST LIKE THAT—WHAT ABOUT JACK—THAT’S F***ING ALL??? End
of chapter: Almost had something interesting happen back there—AND SARAH, JUST
TELL DAMIEN WHAT YOUR F***ING GUN OF PLOT CONVENIENCE DOES!
Chapter 11: Beginning
of chapter: Wait—describe Vilmore! End of chapter: HOLY S***, IS
EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK HORNY??
Chapter 12: Beginning
of chapter: Lemme get this straight…you’re on your way to rescue your
father, Sarah, and all you can talk about with Damien—another minor like you—is
having experiment-like SEX?? End of chapter: Having a hard time caring
about any of this.
Chapter 13: Beginning
of chapter: So…in this author’s head, superheroes are racists (although
they get an OK scene in this chapter) and these teens are her personal porn
fantasy—got it. End of chapter: DO SUPERVILLAIN THINGS; THAT’S WHY I
PICKED UP THIS BOOK!
Chapter 14:
Almost had an interesting scene there—but then eight tons of
tangled-relationship s*** smothered that sucker. Plus, Damien, don’t you WANT
to be pegged as a villain, you inconsistent douche canoe?
Chapter 15: Beginning
of chapter: You did NOT just put one of those cliché romance scenes in this
supposedly superhero/supervillain book! End of chapter: Like mother,
like son; when I heard Ms. Locke’s plan (which I more-or-less predicted), I
caught myself thinking, “That’s IT?”
Chapter 16:
Starts with a dick-measuring contest and ends with the plot-turnaround of every
MacGyver episode. But hey, the plot’s moving.
Chapter 17:
Surprise twist, but handled with zero drama; why is it the relationships are
dramatic but the plot isn’t? On the plus side, Damien’s a little more
interesting when the plot is moving—yet Megamind at the END of his titular
movie is more of a villain than he is—and one relationship thread seems to have
been tied off with surprising maturity.
Chapter 18: Beginning
of chapter: He’s gonna fly. End of chapter: …OK, maybe not now,
but he’s gotta soon.
Chapter 19: OK, I
like that “As long as my mouth works” line—good one. Decent climax action,
too—props.
Chapter 20:
Wait…we’re…OK with superhero stuff now? I’d say it’s abrupt, but this guy has
been in the hero-ish denial zone for a while…
Chapter 21: Might
as well use the end to remind us how, in the end, everyone in the book is
horny. However…there is absolutely nothing wrong with this book’s concluding
sentence.
***
Final note: It
might be a while before you hear from me again; I’m getting married in a couple
of weeks—to somebody who likes to hear me rant about books. No romance novels
can beat that.
