Review: Heat Wave (The Extraordinaries #3) by T.J. Klune

Heat Wave is the explosive finale to the thrilling Extraordinaries trilogy by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author TJ Klune!

Nick, Seth, Gibby, and Jazz are back in action bringing justice, protection, and disaster energy to the people of Nova City.

An unexpected hero returns to Nova City and crash lands into Nick's home, upturning his life, his family, and his understanding of what it means to be a hero in the explosive finale of the thrilling and hilarious Extraordinaries trilogy by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune.

A satisfying conclusion to this YA fantasy trilogy, I felt this matured with each book, as well it should as our teen hero Nick and his loyal friends all go through a lot, learning about life, love, and themselves!

When we last saw Nick and company, they were a solid incognito crime fighting team, and Nick was trying to come into his newly realized powers and potential responsibilities, all the while dealing with familial secrets and betrayals. Flash Fire left readers wondering about the future fate of all Extraordinaires as nemesis Simon Burke introduced a seemingly benevolent offer to cure their powers for the safety of the public, hiding a yet to be seen but inevitable sinister self serving plan. Toss in an off kilter ex-boyfriend who had escaped prison and an unbelievable cliffhanger reveal, and there were many questions left to be answered.

Though this plot line started out nebulous and confusing, what unfolds was a scary twist. Many might not like this crazy development, but I felt it ultimately played out nicely, forcing the gang and their wonderful parents, friends, and family to really band together to fight Simon Burke’s evil maniacal agenda.

What I truly appreciate about these 3 books is that with Klune’s deserved popularity and move into a more mainstream avenue, I’m grateful that a bigger publisher in no way impeded his unique and trademark brand of humor, style, and over the top brazenness. This doesn’t hold back on touchy topics, the uncomfortableness of growing up, the squeamish/embarrassing but relevant topics that all teens face, and Klune does it with frankness, truth, and outrageous humor and always with plenty of heart. It’s been a hot minute since I laughed so hard that I was crying, and then I soon found myself crying for real because of all the feels.

Overall, though some things in plot execution didn’t pan out as I wanted (do they 100% truly ever?), this still had a fitting conclusion that fell in line with the themes and messages of each book. Things can’t always end perfectly (tho it was pretty darn close), and that’s how life goes - sometimes it’s tough, sometimes it’s really really great, and often it isn’t fair.

Sooooo bad guys are going to do bad. Good guys are going to their darnedest to stop them. There are certainly some setbacks, but this is fantasy fiction after all so don’t be too worried. Rest assured that our titular hero Nick definitely remains true to himself and learns plenty along the way as all YA stories go, leaving me with a big fat smile at the very end!