When all the superheroes get killed, Cityopolus turns to their once sidekicks: Allergen Girl, Butterfly Kid/King, and Kid Random. Only thing is: Allergen Girl’s an alcoholic, Butterfly King seems to be a poser/wannabe, and Kid Random–can he really do anything besides nervously trying to talk the evil-doer out of his bad choices?
The narrator brings the characters–main ones as well as supporting cast–to life with feeling and fun distinctive voices for each!
The story is full of clever wit and witticisms, silly, adolescent humor, some wise lessons about life and human beings in between.
I found Anna/Allergen Girl and Chuck and robot-Murry (the Gov’t Superhero/Sidekicks Program Directors) a lot of fun and dynamic.
However, there were a few things I didn’t like (slight spoilers): 1) Sometimes, the cussing and vulgar language in the story was funny; other times it seemed unnecessary and excessive. 2) the main character, Sam, while there is good foreshadowing, he is way too drawn out in his inability/refusal to use his special (random) powers; it makes for an entertaining climax but also a “Geez! finally! that sure took long enough!” (It is like a movie or TV series in which you know so-and-so are going to get together but they pretty much wait till the very end to make it happen.) 3) Randy / Butterfly King is sometimes a bit too 1-dimensional with platitudes and posing as someone–the ultimate superhero–who is a lot more than he really is. Still, I enjoyed his butterflies, esp. Kalim.
