Sidekick: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight by Pab Sungenis
Publisher: Month9Books
Publication Date: March 12, 2013
Rating: 4 stars
Source: eARC provided by the publisher
Summary (from Goodreads):
Bobby Baines is in high school, which is bad enough. When his hero, Scarlet Knight, dies, Bobby is forced to take up his mantel. Only Scarlet Knight never had to deal with eking out a passing grade in math, keeping his fellow sidekicks in check, or stopping a giant squid from bearing down on his school and crushing everyone inside. After all, Bobby Baines is no super hero, he’s a Sidekick!
What I Liked:
When I finished this book, I could only think of how extraordinarily fun and action-packed this book was! I really liked the balance of lighthearted humor and scene-to-scene action. The cast of characters is diverse and numerous, but I found that all of the characters had a good amount of depth.
Bobby is our protagonist, and what an interesting protagonist he is! After the tragic death of his "Uncle" or foster father, the former Scarlet Knight, Bobby finds himself stepping back into the world of superheroes, and into his foster father's old shoes. It's not easy, going from sidekick to hero, especially when Bobby stopped being a sidekick for quite some time to focus on his schoolwork.
Nevertheless, I found that Bobby did an excellent job becoming the new Scarlet Knight. He made mistakes - several of them - but he handled himself well in most situations. His thinking was clear and easy to follow, and it was always fun to see what he would do in the next adventurous outing.
Speaking of adventure - there was plenty of it! I loved the amount of action there was in this book. It felt like every time a new scene opened, someone was going to die, or Bobby would be chasing after someone. I loved this! Nonstop action for the win!
The rest of the characters were extremely likable, and added to the dimensions of the plot. When I say this, I mean that each character had a specific role to play in this book, and I feel like each character played their role well. It was easy to tell who meant the most to Bobby, who was kind of sketchy, and oddly enough, who the real villain was. I knew almost from the start. This isn't a bad thing, but, well, I knew.
No love triangle! Woohoo! And, I can happily say that in terms of the romance, all's well that ends well. Sort of. The overall ending? Well, you'll just have to read this book to know. *winks*
What I Did Not Like:
There wasn't much that I didn't like about this book, but I think that some of the "telling" scenes, in which the reader gets a ton of information dumped on him/her, could have broken up into shorter sections, and the information could have been introduced at other times. Because sometimes, I was either a little overwhelmed by those scenes, or a little bored. Or a little of both.
Would I Recommend It:
YES! What a fun book. Anyone can read this book and probably enjoy it. Don't let the cover fool you - this is a very quick, fun, and enjoyable read.
Rating:
4 stars. I know my dislikes section didn't seem very large, but to me, this book felt like a 4-star book. It didn't completely wow me, but I really enjoyed it.
Was this review helpful? Please let me know in the comments section!
About the Author:
Born in the swamps of Southern New Jersey, Pab Sungenis developed a childhood fascination with cartooning and drew a daily strip for his own amusement for two years before realizing he couldn’t draw. He wound up in broadcasting, worked for numerous stations including WSBU, WOND, WMGM, WSKR, WBNJ, WWBZ, and WKTU. He describes his drawing ability as like that of “a mentally challenged rhinoceros on a Ny-Quil bender”, but thanks to the wonders of photo-manipulation and computer image editing, on February 8, 2006 he found himself creating The New Adventures of Queen Victoria, which has appeared ever since, first on Comicssherpa.com., and now in online syndication with gocomics.com. Pab Sungenis is available for quotes, signings, video or podcast appearances, and all opportunities relative to SIDEKICK: THE MISADVENTURES OF THE NEW SCARLET KNIGHT.
Month9Books Links:
Tour-Wide Giveaway!
Grand prize includes a print copy of SIDEKICK: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight, Kick-Ass DVD, and a Superhero mask set. Grand prize is open to US residents only.
Five ebook copies of SIDEKICK: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight will also be given away, open internationally.
