Reviewed by: Sue Eaton
TITLE: Novas Got Nerve
SERIES: Liquid Onyx Book 1
AUTHOR: BL Jones
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 585 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 14, 2022
BLURB:
British superheroes, melodramatic Mages, snarky secret agents, one hell of a found family, and a whole load of weird people.
Also, there’s a duck.
This is the painfully bizarre origin story of Rexley Nova.
When Rex was four years old, he became one of the world’s first superhumans.
When Rex turns twenty, he feels the drive to use his scientifically given abilities to protect the world. He leaves home to become a member of the Secret Superhero Security team, alongside three of his friends and Danger City’s own superhero, Polaris.
Rex fights murderous Mages, evil organisations, criminal mafias, his agency appointed psychiatrist, his own anxious brain, and the most frightening of all, his attraction to a certain blue-eyed superhero.
REVIEW:
This is a coming-of-age Superhero story taking the whole teenage/young adult angst to a whole
new level.
The book switches back and forth between the past and the present, giving the backstory to Rexley and his friends in short bursts which I liked. It was easy to follow, sometimes this switching between past and present becomes very confusing but not in this book.
Rexley’s dad is the supervillain, who experimented on children and made them into superheroes. They all have different powers, but Rexley’s is the most extreme so much so, he doesn’t want to use it. Despite Rexley’s villainous Dad who died when he was very small, he continues to have a huge hold on Rexley, and his dad’s acts continue to have ramifications years later.
The found family trope runs deeply through this book bonded over tragedy and because they are superheroes whose parents work for the super-secret spy organisation. The relationships between Rexley and his friends is super snarky, up in your face nosiness, infuriating and above all a deep and abiding love for each other. They are all really weird but in that we are all weird and we own it type of way.
Rexley figuring out his attractions was so on point, to what every young adult goes through. It was at times frustrating to read, your best friend’s brother who you’ve known all your life, who you consider a friend but but but ……
Then there is the uber cool but very closed off Damon, whose relationship with Rexley is fraught with past tragedy, who is so rigid and emotionless but together they burn so brightly.
The love triangle was only just touched upon in this book, but I expect it to be at the heart of the next book, I hope. It’s one of those instances where I really like all three characters and don’t want one to be picked over another, but we will just have to see where the author takes this.
This book is very much a setting the scene and exploring the backstory I’m intrigued where it will go in future books and look forward to finding out.
RATING: 
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