The Rise of Renegade X

This is a fun read that will have quite a bit of appeal to teens and offers up an interesting twist on the classic superhero tale. When children of superheroes or supervillains in Golden city turn 16, they get either an "H" or "V" that appears on their thumb. At this point they are all set to go to either hero college or villain university and pursue their careers of either causing mayhem and destruction or saving people. Pretty cut and dried, right? Well, not for Damien, who finds out he's the son of a hero and a villain. On his 16th birthday he gets an "X". This sets the stage for a coming of age story told on a grand scale as Damien tries to figure out just who he is and what is important.

The characters in the book are fabulous. Damien, Kat and Sara are all believable in their roles and do a great job of illustrating that things are not always black and white. The girls end up teaching Damien some valuable lessons about friendship and his true nature. The dialogue is very well written. The author gives Damien just the perfect note of teen snarkiness touched with just a dab of villainy and an undertone of nice guy. He's a treat to read and his struggles within himself are wonderfully done.

It's the plot that kept me from really jumping into this story. There's not a lot of superhero action considering this is a superhero story and in a couple of places the author used some really clunky plot devices, that while they did a great job of moving the story along, they really stuck out amidst all this great dialogue and character development. The plot line of the mysterious hypno device just never grabbed me. There was just very little tension considering all the build up. It was like the author would build up to things and say, oh never mind...

This was still a fun read and while it would probably appeal to middle schoolers, I can't really recommend it because of all the talk of sex, illicit subway encounters, strip clubs and superhero porn magazines. Kind of disappointing in that regard. This one is best for older teens and I feel that it might not have enough of an edge for them, while having too much of one for the younger crowd. A cautious recommend mainly for the great characters and dialogue, but most would be best served passing this one by.

All Damien Locke wants for his 16-year-old is to see the V appear on his thumb--the V that will indicate that he will become a villain, just like his supervillain mom. To his horror, an X appears on his thumb, indicating that his father was a superhero! Damien gets carted off to live with his father, the Crimson Flash, and his family, with the hopes that the hero within him may awaken.

Damien would rather go back to his old life of pranking and hanging out with his best friend and ex-girlfriend, Kat. However, an unexpected friendship with Sarah Kink turns his life upside down when he gets sucked into a battle of good versus evil, and he must decide which side he stands on.

THE RISE OF RENEGADE X is an astonishingly interesting debut YA novel that subverts the usual paradigms of the YA genre and our preconceptions of good and evil. And it does this all in the most entertaining way possible!

The gem of this novel is Damien's voice. A perfect balance of snark, sincerity, and your typical adolescent male stupidity, Damien will charm you into falling for his screwed-up ways. I took a kind of perverse pleasure in liking an irreverent character so much: it's not every author who can make readers like an obnoxious, mouthy, and crass protagonist!

The plot meanders through family subtleties, adolescent complexities, and the absurdity of a comic book, and so does get a bit choppy at times. However, despite the rather sudden climax and resolution, it is the character development of THE RISE OF RENEGADE X that you'll remember after reading. The love triangle between Kat, Damien, and Sarah is marvelously believable, lacking the flatness that can often occur in such satirical situations. Damien's family members are well-rounded and believable in their (sometimes twisted and misguide) support of Damien.

It's hard to adequately describe THE RISE OF RENEGADE X, as it's like a subgenre of its own. All I can say is that, plotting issues aside, it is one enjoyable ride for anyone who likes superheroes, supervillains, giggle-inducing adolescent humor, and a great narrative voice.

In a world of superheroes and supervillains, you will meet Damien Locke. He's the typical teenager, dealing with his cheating ex-girlfriend, his supervillian mother and his upcoming birthday. His plans for the future are to study at the supervillain university and become an the best villain.

Except that something happens in his birthday. Instead of getting a V for Villain, he get an X, and suddenly, his future isn't so sure anymore.

Damien Locke is one of my favorite male character of all time. He has a great personality that fills the book with humor, and I couldn't help falling in love with him. He's funny and sometimes eccentric, and you really aren't sure if he's really a super-villain, or his worst nightmare, a superhero.

It was a fast paced book and I couldn't stop reading it until knowing what was going to happen to Damien. Besides, the author creates a world where finding super villains or heroes is normal, but they have the same problems we do, except that they can fly, or whatever.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book, and I really wish there would be a sequel. It's funny, original and fantastic, and you shouldn't miss it.

Okay, I picked this book up on a whim, and I thought it would just be "oaky". Boy, was I wrong. This is such a fantastic read!

This is a story of a boy, Damien, who wants to be a supervillain. Not just any supervillain, but the best and baddest. Then one day he finds out that his mom had a one night stand with a superhero. That means that Damien can never really be a 'supervillain" because he has some "superhero" in him. Damien does things to prove that he should have the title "Supervillian" no matter what is in his bloodline. However, soon Damien has to make some hard choices in his life that will decide if he's a "villain", a "hero" or something inbetween.

This is such a fantastic and original story, you can't help but to be glued to the book to the very last page, and wanting more. The author has a unique writing style. She makes Damien not only face challenges for Damien to face, but also makes Damien face issues that todays teens have to face as well. Students of all ages will be able to identify with some aspect of Damien.

This has a great cast of characters. I love the characters of Damien, Kat and Sarah. This also has superheros and supervillains, something for everyone. If you have a boy who doesn't like to read, then I highly suggest this book for him. I can' promise he'll be hooked. This book is okay for kids in 5th grade or up.

Damien is such a snarky characters, you can't help to love him. He's a hoot.

I hope we'll see Renegade X and his friends in future books. I know I'll be first in line to get my copy.

Damien Locke knows exactly who he is (the only child of the supervillain known as the Mistress of Mayhem) and precisely what his future holds (study at Vilmore, the local supervillain university and then a glorious career of headline-stealing evil deeds). In fact, his perfect future is about to start today - his sixteenth birthday. Due to a pair of viruses loosed on the population, supervillains and superheroes are `outed' on their sixteenth birthdays when their right thumbprints rearrange themselves into a V or an H. Damien is nothing if not enterprising, so he's invited a horde of tourists to his big bash. They're paying top dollar (and funding Damien's birthday party) to watch Damien's V appear as it happens. Except - it doesn't happen. Instead of the expected V on his thumb, Damien gets an X. And that can only mean one thing - his father is a superhero.

As stunned as Damien is, as aggrieved as he is with his mother, he just can't do what she wants and let it go. He has to find out who his father is. And Damien's shock at his subsequent discovery is nothing compared to that of his father, who had no idea his tryst in a subway bathroom stall had produced a son. Dear Old Dad follows Damien home and insists that his mother send Damien to live with him for six weeks in order to give the boy a chance to learn about the superhero side of his nature. To Damien's everlasting horror, his mother agrees. How is a villainous kid supposed to survive in a house full of superheroes? And what is Damien going to do when a truly evil plot threatens his new family - and all of Golden City?

I've been wanting to read this book since it first came out and recently I was lucky enough to win a copy through the blog of the fabulous Y.A. author, Elizabeth Scott. The minute it arrived I sat down to read it and was immediately caught up in the world Chelsea Campbell has created. I LOVED this book. The concept was fresh and fun and the very skilled writing kept everything real and multi-dimensional - no small feat as a lesser author might have let the whole story degenerate into a one-joke gag. Damien's voice was clear, individual and a blast to read. He's snarky without being grating, and both witty and charming in his own `hoping to be an evil genius' kind of way. The relationships between Damien and his mother, father best friend (and ex-girlfriend) Kat and new friend (and sidekick) Sarah are all truthful and well drawn. I can't recommend this book highly enough and whenever Ms. Campbell writes another, I'll be one of the first in line to snatch it up.

This book can be described in one word as Fantastic!

Fantastic characters, fantastic world built, fantastic plot....yup, you guessed it fantastic all the way around. So fantastic, in fact, that I can't decide where to start.

Shall I begin by speaking about Golden City? Ok, sure, that's a great place to start. I mean, where else can supervillains and superheros co-exist but in a place that sounds so very much from the heart of a comic book? Golden City , at times, gave off a very distinct 50's era vibe. Most notably when in the presence of superhero Gordon (The Crimson Flash) who's television show The Crimson Flash and the Safety Kids feels a bit like Romper Room on steroids. But wait, it isn't really set in the 1950's it only feels that way here and there. Because, a lot of the time there was a pretty decent more modern Gotham City vibe as well.

An interesting crux of the story is that the path a child takes is out of their control. In Golden City, whether a person becomes a hero or a villain is determined by a letter designation that appears on their thumb on the sixteenth birthday. H = hero and V = villain. But oh no! What if that letter shows up as an X!?!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

This means that the wearer of the X controls his own destiny because his actions directly influence what that eventual final designation will become. He can still be a villian, he just has to perpetrate enough nefarious activity to turn that X to a V.

Despite having the ability to take up heroism or villainy as the mark of their thumbs predisposes them to do, these teens lead a pretty typical life. Sure, they have super powers, but really most of what happens is about as typical in the angst department as any other story. Girl dumps boy, boy still loves girl and wants to win her back, girl secretly still loves boy but won't admit it....you know, great stuff like that. It's just that the superhero/villian bent makes it all that more interesting because it's another layer in the dynamic that these kids need to navigate.

Same holds true for the family dynamic. Single mom villain has a quickie with hated arch rival superhero thus producing a son of neutrality. That big ol' letter on his finger is a whopping neon sign that reveals her secret and opens up the door to a future Damien is unsure he wants. This, naturally is where the angst comes in and where the lessons are learned. How does one get what they want when over the course of time they may grow to learn they may not want it anymore? Great stuff I tell ya, absolutely....you guessed it, fantastic!

Have I mentioned that the world of Golden City needs saving? Because, yea, it totally does! The who, why and what of it all to remain a secret here so you can enjoy it yourself but I'll say enjoy it I did. It was a somewhat surprising element of the story that creeped into Damien's life slowly over time and built perfectly to help him make his ultimate decision as to whether he wanted to go the way of good or evil.

Oh and I gotta give Campbell her props, she has a great sense of humor. She's built Damien as a witty smart-alec of a boy. A boy who's sarcasm doesn't come off as aggressive or hurtful but rather fun and entertaining. He's charming and lovable (despite his darker tendencies) and just genuinely enjoyable to follow through the story. I often found myself laughing out loud at his dialogue and actions.

I'll also add that there wasn't a character in this book that I didn't love or didn't love to hate. Not a one was overbearing or annoying. The attention on each was well focused and even handed.

Who would I target this book to?

Pretty much anyone. It's an awesome read from start to finish. Quick to get through too. It's definitely a good book for reluctant boy readers because it has that comic book superhero/villain factor to it. But the glory of this story is that these elements won't detract from offering it up to girls too. There's a bit of romance and some cute boys I think they'll latch on to pretty quickly. I also think it's a great first read for adults toying with the idea of reading young adult fiction. There might be a bit of a nostalgia factor in it for us old codgers!

So I'll end here by saying....you guessed it again, fantastic.

First thing first, you need to realize that the premise behind The Rise Of Renegade X is pretty silly - a world made up of super-heroes and super-villains. The super-heroes are out to thwart evil and act as good Samaritans. The super-villains are out for money, power, and to annoy the super-heroes. It reminds me of the farcical nature of The Impossibles. I also immediately thought of White Cat by Holly Black, but I never believed Renegade X's world like I did the world of White Cat.

Don't let that you prevent you from picking up Renegade X. Ignore the urge to occasionally roll your eyes and focus on the real story. Damien is trying to discover who he is. He grew up idolizing super-villains and fully expected to be one himself. He is a snarky, arrogant, brash trouble-maker who has a comment and complaint about everything. Even though he's an irritating boy, I loved his voice. His sarcastic look on everything made me laugh throughout the book.

Damian is forced to question his future and his identity when he discovers that he is half super-hero and half super-villain. His actions will dictate which direction he eventually goes. At first the choice seems easy: super-villain all the way. He is still kinda in love with his super-villain ex-girlfriend Kat. He and his mom are pretty close. His new super-hero dad is goody-two-shoes boring. His new siblings are irritating. But as the book goes on, he has to question everything. His cool mom and super-villain friends make some choices that rub him the wrong way. His super-hero family may not be that bad after all. What life will he choose?

Another large aspect of this book is a love triangle between Damien, his ex-girlfriend Kat, and his sidekick Sarah. This is one of the best depictions of a teenage boy's confusion about girls that I've read in awhile. He and Kat broke up when he caught her cheating. But he can't let go. Does he just want to be friends or does he still love her? He doesn't really know. Then there's Sarah, his new sidekick. There's definitely physical attraction on both sides, and their personalities make them a great pair. Yet Damien still can't stop thinking about Kat. Who will he choose?

I thoroughly enjoyed The Rise Of Renegade X. Yes, it's silly, but it has a great underlying story of self-discovery that feels universal.

I have to admit it, I bought this book for the lulz. I thought a book about a poor little supervillain who is FORCED to live with his superhero dad and experience personal growth was going to be HILARIOUSLY bad. I mean, I thought it was going to be so epically horrible that we'd be mocking this until we all died.

I thought wrong.

Okay, the premise is still a little goofy, and the teenaged angst is still a little... well, maybe I'd like it more if I were still a teenager, and yes, Damian has the idiot ball more than is really, truly necessary (these are all spoilers, but let me just say that his sidekick would never have gotten kidnapped if he'd told his mom he knew her and liked her instead of lying about it, I mean, DUH), but... it's still good.

I was amazed. I was laughing, sure - but because the book has actually funny jokes, and because Damian's idea of a good time is to snark at people while pranking them. And the ending... I won't say I didn't see it coming, but it was well done for all of that. I find myself hoping there's a sequel, or at least some good fanfic.

This is not serious fiction, nor does it pretend to be. If you want to read serious fiction, please pass this one by. If you want something nice and easy to read, a bit funny, and definitely better than it sounds - give this one a shot. (Oh, and don't overthink that whole "hero and villain families" bit. I can't wrap my mind around it in any sort of moral universe, but I don't think you're supposed to either.)

Raised by his villain mother and forced to get to know his superhero dad Damien wrestles with the oldest of questions. "Who am I? A snarky superhero who is afraid to fly? A caring villian who is only in it for some fun? Should he have a sidekick or a girlfriend? Whatever Damien decides he will have you laughing and shaking your head at his hilarious antics. At the very least life is a little more interesting when he is around lol!

When I read the description of the book, I was very excited by the idea presented. Unfortunately, I don't think it quite lived up to its potential. It was a fun story, but could have been SO much more. I think there were parts of it that were exceptionally creative, but it wasn't quite able to pull off greatness.

I think the biggest question for me that was never answered was, "why were the villains allowed to exist?" In the book all of the villains are pretty evil, some of them are very evil. Many of them have committed very serious crimes, even murder, and they are just sent to prison where they eventually escape. One villain is actually mocked because he took so long to escape. This is actually something that drives me crazy about almost all superhero books/movies/comics: that the bad guys just go to prison and the escape a little while later to cause havoc all over again. I mean, seriously? Has no one ever heard of the death penalty? These bad guys are crazy evil people who want to enslave and/or kill dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of other people and sometimes even succeed. How is it that really evil bad guys never face justice and actually answer for all the lives they've destroyed by paying with their own life?

The above is hardly a unique problem, but the fact that all villains are marked and still get away with their villainy and even have a college to study at (where they learn the art of torture among other villainous things) is a bit absurd. That has got to be one of the worse governments in the history of governments to allow this.

So, I feel like I've given a rather negative review, but that is not by intention. It was actually quite decent, not a masterpiece by any means, but good and fun. I would certainly recommend the book (and actually did to some friends earlier tonight).