Generally good and well-paced, but not a lot new to the genre, and the fact that this is not a complete story but only half of one is very disappointing - it basically ends in the middle of a scene ( )

This book is incredible. It's all the best parts of the X-Men metaphor plus more actual representation and more actual stakes (which are possible because this can be a universe with stakes and real death and change without the constant forever ongoing story with nothing big changing ever that Big 2 comics end up with)

But seriously, it's so good. You can tell Proehl absolutely loves X-Men and this book is a love letter to mutant kind and and all of us for whom the mutant metaphor is a metaphor. I can't wait to read the second half of the duology. ( )

Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Oh boy! I requested this book because superpowers! but it was so much more. It makes you take a hard look at society when things happening in the book are mirrored in the current climate, or could be so easily. The abilities were interesting and the integration of them into the real world was great. I enjoyed and was challenged by this world and would read more. ( )

Ok, so this is a book with a LOT going on. Told from multiple viewpoints, and having multiple storylines, it did get confusing at times, so it wasn't a book to be rushed or read when there were distractions afoot.

That said - woo, what fun! The whole "there are people with special abilities and we have to stay hidden or normal people will be frightened of us" is an established trope, but this held its own. It has some incredible characters and I wish we had a little more backstory on some of them.

The pacing felt inconsistent - sometimes it was hurtling along, and then other times it dragged. It was worth hanging in there for the parts that hurtled along.

And then it ended. Boom. Like someone closed the book on my fingers.

Now, I knew going in this was a two-parter, but the ending came up so quickly and abruptly I didn't know what to think! (I think if the second book is like the first, this could have been a trilogy and some of the holes could be filled in - like I said, there are a lot of storylines to squeeze into one book.)

I loved the characters and the individual storylines - I'll be waiting for the next book to see how the author pulls it all together.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.* ( )

The Bishop Academy in NY hides a secret. Its students are different than other people. They have special abilities....the equivalent of superpowers (although they don't like that word). Called Resonants, they've been in hiding from the general population of the world for a long time, mostly because people fear things that are different or that they can't understand. Avi is a reporter contacted by this group to help them announce their presence to the world. It's a lot for him to take in...especially when it's revealed to him that his young daughter is also a Resonant.

I enjoyed this story. It's well-written and the characters are engaging and mostly well developed. But....I have to be completely honest and say I felt the entire time like it was too much like the X-Men. Wayyy too much like the X-Men. This type of story has been done before.....supers reveal themselves to the world and the S hits the fan. I get that the purpose is to hit at the issues of racism, immigration, etc. But lately that's pretty much been done over and over and over again. I wanted something new from this story.....and it never really materialized.

Enjoyable tale....but nothing new here. A bit disappointing.....

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Random House via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )