What’s up readers?

Your book nerd Jonny has been very busy! I just finished my first round of assignments for grad school semester and am about to start the second leg of the journey, but before I did I wanted to sneak in some time to finish my current read.

This time I read Sensation (Kid Sensation #1) by Kevin Hardman.

Lately I’ve had superheroes on my mind, so I decided to give this book a go. It probably helped that this was available on Kindle Unlimited (KU) since I primarily read on my tablet nowadays for convenience.

So, did this superhero romp rock my world? Let’s get this review started!

Blurb

Like millions of other kids, Jim grew up wanting to be a superhero. Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, Jim actually had the goods: a plethora of super powers that would have been the envy of any meta on the planet. But when his tryout with the Alpha League – the world’s premiere group of supers – goes disastrously wrong, Jim basically becomes an outcast.

Two years later, Jim is still bitter about what happened to him. However, he soon finds himself the centerpiece in an odd turn of events that gives him a second chance at his dream. But nothing is as easy as it sounds, as Jim soon discovers. Among other things, he’s made an enemy of a prospective super teammate, he’s being stalked by an unknown pursuer, and a shadowy cabal bent on world domination has identified him as the only obstacle to their plans.

It’s a lot for one super to handle, even with a smorgasbord of abilities. But if saving the world were easy, everyone would do it…

GoodReads

Amazon

***Brief disclosure***

I am an Amazon affiliate and earn a tiny commission for purchases made through the Amazon links in this post at no cost to you. It’s a great way to help me keep things running on my blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase. 

The Review

I had plenty of fun on this superhero adventure, though it wasn’t without some highs and lows.

In a world full of popularized superheroes, Jim wants to be a hero, and he has the superpowered goods to back up his ambition. However, he’s been hiding his powers for the past two years due to an unfortunate misunderstanding. When he gets a second chance at trying out for the Alpha League, he can’t just let this chance go by. But as Jim soon discovers, there are threats out there that rival the paragons of good he wants to join, some that may threaten his very life and that of his family.

There were some really good elements to this novel. I love the alternate Earth this is set in. Superheroes and supervillains are aplenty, and there’s this sense of adventure of magic that make my inner kid want to cry out. This world feels full of potential, and I enjoyed finding where Jim’s journey took us while exploring some cool individuals with even cooler powers.

Jim as a character was decent, but I wanted a little more. He’s something of a white knight, which made sense given his upbringing and the general state of the world, but I think he could’ve used some more complexity to his character. I also didn’t like that he had so many powers. I figure that’ll be explained in later books, but he just felt too overpowered, enough to where I would occasionally forget which powers he had because there were so many.

I also would’ve liked to see him struggle to use his powers a bit more. He has been trained by family how to use his preexisting gifts, but when he discovers a new one or new way to use a preexisting one he always gets things right on the first try. It’s just a little too easy and lessened the sense of conflict overall.

The plot was pretty good. I liked how unpredictable it was. I thought things were going to go one way, then they went in the complete opposite direction. Good job keeping me on my toes!

Although I did have fun with this book, at this time I won’t be continuing with the series. I just needed it to wow me a little bit more, though I think a teen with a love for superheroes would absolutely love this series.

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this book review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this book? Are there other similar books you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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