Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2) by C.B. Lee
"Bells Broussard thought he had it made when his superpowers manifested early. Being a shapeshifter is awesome. He can change his hair whenever he wants, and if putting on a binder for the day is too much, he’s got it covered. But that was before he became the country’s most-wanted villain.
After discovering a massive cover-up by the Heroes’ League of Heroes, Bells and his friends Jess, Emma, and Abby set off on a secret mission to find the Resistance. Meanwhile, power-hungry former hero Captain Orion is on the loose with a dangerous serum that renders meta-humans powerless, and a new militarized robotic threat emerges. Everyone is in danger. Between college applications and crushing on his best friend, will Bells have time to take down a corrupt government?
Sometimes, to do a hero’s job, you need to be a villain."
“There’s no such thing as normal,”
― C.B. Lee, Not Your Villain
This is the second book in the Sidekick Squad series and follows the character Bells from the first book on his journey. I was surprised at the start of this that it went back in time and showed some of Bells' hero training from the summer right before Not Your Sidekick started. It was a very interesting thing to see after having read the ending to the previous book and knowing what was going to happen. The author speeds through the events at the end of the last book for this one, and then the rest of the book deals with the aftermath.
I genuinely felt for Bells in this one. I loved that we got to see his side of things, and it was heartbreaking hearing how all he wanted was to be a hero, and to see how he'd been painted as a villain to the public was awful. But I thought he had a really nice character arc through this one.
I listened to the audiobook of this one, and I think that had a large influence on my rating. I loved the story, but it was also kind of boring. I was really looking forward to seeing Bells' point of view, and it was great, but it didn't feel like much happened. I'm afraid this one fell into what I think of as "middle book syndrome" and was more of a transition and setting up of things to happen in the last or next book. Though I am really glad we got more background on Bells and he got to tell his own story, for this one I was a little underwhelmed after reading the first book.
Genre: sci-fi/fantasy, lgbtqia+
Representation: trans mc, lesbian/queer, ace, bi
Content Warnings: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Physical violence, Unethical experimentation