I did have a minor issue with the first bit of this book, in that it is basically going over all the events of Sidekick as they happened from Bells' point of view. Worldbuilding! Friendship! Superpowers! Characters casually mentioning exploring their sexuality! An actual discussion of the ace spectrum and where a character may possibly fit into that, without ever demonizing or questioning the ace spectrum as being legit! Like, the amount of happiness I got from this book is off the charts. We got to meet Emma's moms! And spend more time with Brendan! And I definitely also appreciated in the introduction of some new characters as well. Also, we got more of the other side characters we saw less of in book one and that was really enjoyable. Spoiler (not really don't worry): it's all adorable. I loved the side bits of characters we already fell in love with in Sidekick, especially seeing how Jess and Abby's relationship is slowly evolving. Beyond that, there is a normalization of they/them pronouns and even a scene where characters introduced themselves and included!! the pronouns they preferred!! in their introductions!! Honestly my heart sang it was glorious. Bells' identity is never called into question at any point, and his pronouns are a constant and an absolute.

I am cis and cannot comment on the accuracy of the trans rep, but I have heard really wonderful things from trans and nonbinary reviewers so please seek their voices out! I will say I loved the normalization of pronouns throughout this book. And can we talk about how brilliant it is to see a black trans guy on the cover of his own book? I can't stop staring at this cover and grinning. His general excitement over being a superhero was so contagious and joyful. He's so awkward and nerdy sometimes, but he can also be a glorious show off and I adore it all. I loved Bells in Not Your Sidekick so of course I had to love him when he actually got his own book. These books make me so happy I lose the ability to be coherent. Oh my god this was so lovely and wonderful.

Not your sidekick by cb lee