You get rep! You get rep! Everyone gets rep!
Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee
This was another book I discovered during the Queering YA panel of ClexaCon 2018. That panel really was where these reviews and my current mission to shine a light on the queer fiction that is present in the library world started. I was blown away by this book! Literally squealed so many times, you’ll see down below. Now onto the review!
Unicorn Rating:
Blurb: Superheroes? Paid internships? Pretty volleyball players? Oh my! This book is one you will not want to put down and then be sad when it ends, because you just never want to leave the world of Andover and the cast of characters that C.B. Lee has created.
Disclaimer: I will try my best to not spoil anything from the book, but my book loving rambles may give more away than a traditional review. Here we go! Ramble time!
Review:
Have you ever read a book where it was physically painful to put it down? That was exactly what it was like reading this book. The characters are immediately real in your mind the moment they are introduced on the page. The world draws you in and just doesn’t let you go.
One thing that is always hard to swallow in stories with superhuman abilities is how those abilities come about. Who gets them and why? C.B. Lee did a fantastic job of establishing the world that these types of abilities are not only possible but recognized and strictly regulated. There wasn’t a single moment that I, as the reader, had to go beyond a normal suspension of disbelief to make the world work. On that note let’s take a closer look at the plot.
I know I already mentioned how much I loved this book and I am gonna reinforce that statement here with the plot. It was the kind of story telling that pulls you in but also keeps you guessing. Even when you think you’ve figure it out you really haven’t...or at least not all of it. I love the feeling of unraveling a story and spinning theories to see if I’m right and this book was no exception, but usually when I figure something out easily it takes away from the story in the end cause I’m not surprised, but with Not Your Sidekick I was delighted when theories panned out or when I was taken by surprise. A huge part of what made that possible was an outstanding cast of characters that you fall in love with immediately.
Jess, our main character, was an utter delight to read. From her first moment on the page she felt real and vivid. Her sarcastic wit was refreshing and brought some of the best laughs of the book. One thing that was nice to see was that her sexuality was figured out long before the story takes place so it is just part of her character and is mentioned in a passing description. Her bisexuality is just part of the many things that make her who she is but isn’t at the forefront, which gives her that authentic feeling that some queer characters lack. Her attitude towards her family and how she didn’t have any abilities was a truly interesting dynamic. She didn’t have over-the-top resentment that a lot of characters in her position tend to have in today’s media. She wasn’t stoked about being the only ‘average’ member of her family, but she decided she would do the best with what she had. That kind of mindset is rarely seen in heroines, because most we see are created to be even more extraordinary than a typical hero to make sure no one can say this girl isn’t the hero of the story. There was never any doubt who was going to be the hero of this story even though she had no abilities that anyone knew about.
The dynamic between Jess, Bells, and Emma was very fun to dig into as well. These are three friends who just function through their lives with each other. If one is involved the other two are just a given. Watching as that dynamic changed into one of a less codependent nature but still didn’t change how intrinsically important they were to each other was fabulous. It was so true to real life (super powered shenanigans aside) that as the book progressed they each had different things that required their attention, like jobs and family and school projects, but at the end of the day they were still close and wanted to be around one another after the dust settled.
Now on to one of the unexpected but brightest spots of this book. My baby boy Bells Broussard. He is precious and deserves to get pampered every day and told how much he is loved. From when he was introduced he was a rather literal definition of a colorful character, with his hair and out-loud personality, but you could immediately see the depth under the fabulous hair. Then one line took him from the usual sidekick/comic relief character into a whole new dimension. Finding out he was a transman resulted in uncontrollable squealing and hand-flailing. The fact the reader has no idea that Bells is not a cis male from the beginning is something completely out of the norm. Usually a trans character is defined by that gender identity but he isn’t at all! This is the kind of trans representation that has been so badly needed. I could go on for ages but I’ll save that for the sequel, but when we get there I make no promises!
I won’t say much on Abby as a character, which doesn’t mean I didn’t like her (quite the opposite actually), but I have a hard time discussing her without going into spoiler territory. I will say that the most refreshing aspect of her character was that she wasn’t just the token love interest. She had an entire story and purpose and drive that had nothing to do with Jess. Even though her first mention was as Jess’ long time crush, the moment we actually meet her on the page she doesn’t fit the mold of the bland love interest that is nothing but a pretty face for our heroine to ogle at. The romantic subplot was so well done and woven into the story that it flowed naturally and never took away from the actual plot. I’m gonna wrap this up before I give myself any more chances to spoil this masterpiece of a book.
Something must also be said about the racial diversity in this book! Of the core group we meet, only one is Caucasian, which I have never seen in my life time of reading and it was awesome! Overall, this book and the world it brings you into through Jess, Bells, Abby, and Emma is so engaging that you don’t want to leave when the book ends. It is a brilliant example of how you can have queer characters be the center of your story but not have it focus on that aspect of them. This story is about superheroes and villains and everything that comes with that. It just so happens to be happening to some awesome diverse queer teenagers.
Queer Wrap-up: This one wracked up quite the tally at the end of the day. We have the main character who is openly bisexual and pining after a cute volleyball player and her friends pick on her about it like you would expect in any other teen book. We also have my BABY BOY BELLS!! He is the best trans rep I have ever read! I literally tossed the book down to call my brother because I had to talk to him about this precious bean. This is also a case where I will count the love interest as an additional queer character cause Abby definitely qualifies, but again I am incapable of talking about her without spoilers, so if you want details then send me some asks. That is why this book not only gets a five unicorn rating but will also be the first inductee to the Sparkly Unicorn Hall of Gay.
Links:
C. B. Lee Website
Goodreads
Amazon
If you love superhero books and are looking for some queer rep wrapped up in excellent racial diversity and a truly enthralling world this is definitely the book for you. I will eventually be doing a review of the sequel Not Your Villain and will link it after it’s posted. If you guys want to discuss anything please don’t hesitate to send me asks. As always if you want to read this but don’t want spend the money without knowing for sure you are going to like it, go to your local library. You’d be surprised what they have on their shelves just waiting to be discovered. Trust me, I’m a lesbrarian.
