Review: The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell

THE RISE OF RENEGADE X by Chelsea Campbell

Pub. Date: May 11, 2010
Publisher:EgmontUSA
Format: Hardcover, 352pp
Age Range: Young Adult

Sixteen-year-old Damien Locke has a plan: major in messing with people at the local supervillain university and become a professional evil genius, just like his supervillain mom. But when he discovers the shameful secret she's been hiding all these years, that the one-night stand that spawned him was actually with a superhero, everything gets messed up. His father's too moral for his own good, so when he finds out Damien exists, he actually wants him to come live with him and his goody-goody superhero family. Damien gets shipped off to stay with them in their suburban hellhole, and he has only six weeks to prove he's not a hero in any way, or else he's stuck living with them for the rest of his life, or until he turns eighteen, whichever comes first.

To get out of this mess, Damien has to survive his dad's "flying lessons" that involve throwing him off the tallest building in the city—despite his nearly debilitating fear of heights—thwarting the eccentric teen scientist who insists she's his sidekick, and keeping his supervillain girlfriend from finding out the truth. But when Damien uncovers a dastardly plot to turn all the superheroes into mindless zombie slaves, a plan hatched by his own mom, he discovers he cares about his new family more than he thought. Now he has to choose: go back to his life of villainy and let his family become zombies, or stand up to his mom and become a real hero.

In Campbell’s exciting and humorous debut, The Rise of Renegade X introduces us to some unforgettable characters. Damien Locke, son of supervillain – Mistress of Mayhem can’t wait for his debut in the world of Supervillains. He even has a revenge list. From the moment Chelsea introduced me to her exciting new world of heroes and villains, I was enthralled. I’m a big Marvel Comics fan and it was great to read a YA novel in this category.

I had plenty of laughs with this book. Chelsea’s sense of humor spills across the pages with witty lines and hilarious moments. I couldn’t get enough of Damien Locke. After his coming out party as a supervillain is ruined, his future is undecided. After discovering his genetic flaw, he’s the underdog in Golden City’s world of heroes and supervillains. It was impossible not to root for him on his quest for self discovery. What’s a prodigy to do? For this is the very question Damian has to figure out. Which side to choose? Right or Wrong? I thoroughly enjoyed his journey to find out.

Readers looking for something new and exciting and quite different from the paranormal norms should pick this novel up. How can you say no to heroes and villains in spandex? Great debut by Chelsea! I can’t wait to see what she cooks up next.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars