The Rise of Renegade X Review

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell

Publisher: Egmont USA

Release date: May 11, 2010

Source: Goodman Media for Blog Tour via The Teen {Book} Scene

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.

Review:

The Rise of Renegade X was an exciting and original debut and I'm so glad I had a chance to read and review it.

Superheroes and supervillains are something rarely written about in YA lit. I loved reading about the different kinds of heroes and villains and how they were so excepted in everyday society. It was nothing out of the ordinary to see a pack of heroes gathering at a burning building or even rescuing a kitten caught in a tree. While most books and movies (The Incredibles) take the hero route, Chelsea's main character, Damien, is a supervillain!

Damien was a sarcastic, funny, and well developed main character. He was dealing with a lot, but always managed to make his problems seem less serious than they were. For starters, he discovered his father was actually a *gasp* superhero and Damien may have some of his father's talents. Damien is forced to move out of his supervillain/mad scientist mother's home and move in with his superhero father and his large family.

The plot was so fast paced and original, I was constantly on the edge of my seat, wanting to know how things were going to turn out for Damien. He really was good at heart, so he was having a tough time trying to be a villain all the time, especially after moving in with his superhero family. His father shows Damien that there's more to being a superhero than he ever thought, and Damien is starting to rethink everything he ever thought about being a villain.

There were a lot of characters introduced in The Rise of Renegade X that I loved. Kat and Sarah especially. Two kick-butt heroines that meant a lot to Damien and even saved his life.

In the end, The Rise of Renegade X was an entertaining and original debut that had me laughing out loud throughout. There are quite a few more serious things going on, but it all works out in the end. This was very different than anything I've read lately and I can't wait to read more by Chelsea Campbell in the future.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars