I don't know how this series has existed so long without me coming across it. Bizarre. At first I thought they were graphic novels but no, they're regular novels.
Cute Mutants is your basic comic book premise: a bunch of teens develop mutant powers and deal with having them. One difference is that there's a singular source of their powers. They each kissed the same girl at a party.
Did I mention they're girls and a trans male? I don't think there's a single straight character in this book unless you count the villain and maybe some very background characters that are barely there. They're all at various levels of figuring themselves out, so that's discussed a few times.
The book is set in New Zealand, so expect the appropriate spellings and slang.
There will be spoilers here.
I'll give a quick rundown of the cast.
DYLAN: POV character. Dylan is actually the character I like second least. I loved this book and I loved every character, but her constant self-loathing is SO ANNOYING. She spends most of the book trying to come to terms with the fact that people like her, that she has friends. And with someone like Alyse in the mix, how can it take you that long to get it? She's so set against herself that it makes her very, very dense. She blames herself for literally everything when very little of it is her fault. In that aspect, she's so self-loathing that it becomes self-centered. Not everything that goes wrong is your fault. Stop thinking you're so important that every problem has its root in you. Dylan is your basic quirky female POV that attracts people like flies. She doesn't try to dress well. She thinks she's unattractive, even though so many people tell her she's gorgeous. How many of these lead female characters are there? A lot. I don't think I've ever read one as incredibly insecure as she is though. I'm hoping as the series progresses that she gains a sense of self-worth. She needs one. Dylan is working out her sexuality but doesn't shy away from pansexual as a descriptor. Her boyfriend at the beginning of the book is Lou, who we'll get to next. Dylan's voice is definitely on point for a 17-year-old. She drops a million pop culture references (Buffy, Gilmore Girls, the newer She-Ra, K-Pop) and expect a ton of inside X-Men references. Her nonbinary parent who gave birth to her passed on their love of comics, specifically X-Men. The only thing that annoyed me a bit was having to read text speak in the middle of regular prose. It's obviously fine in written text conversations in novels, but having it actually in paragraphs in the middle of sentences is...it took a lot of getting used to. I'm old. Also, if you read this, here's a hint: "alg" is short for "all good." Apparently, this is a New Zealand thing. So yeah, Dylan is the self-loathing, mutant-loving, bumbling leader character. Her power is unusual. I read some reviews talking about how unique people think this is. She talks to objects. Her presence can "wake up" certain inanimate objects. (There's no telling what.) So she has full on conversations with objects and you'll find yourself thinking of them as characters, too. As she practices, she learns she can not only convince objects to do things for her, but help them move telekinetically. It's not quite clear to me whether she helps them move when they want to or if she can move them without their desire. I think it's more the former. It's an interesting power, but I raised an eyebrow a bit when I saw people saying how unique it was, because Will from W.I.T.C.H. has been talking to electronics for years. Yeah, hers is electronics only, but it's still having actual conversations with objects. Anyway, that's Dylan. Codename: Chatterbox. (Which she doesn't like.)
PEAR: Breaking from the Cute Mutants lineup for a second here to discuss Pear. Pear is short for Parent like Mom is for Mother. I'm still very pleased by how freakin' clever that is. I love it. Pear is a great example of a non-binary adult character. They're never misgendered by any of the positive cast. They also shave their head and wear the exact style black leather coat Spike wore in Buffy. So in short, Pear is badass. Pear is mentioned as being ace and in a relationship with a woman named Sarah who has...I think 2 kids? I can't remember. Not important. Oh, and there's also Summers, the Taylor family dog. He's pretty awesome.
LOU: Lou is the lone trans male student at an all-girl school. Imagine how fun that is. His parents are assholes who don't accept his transitioning. Lou is a frustrating character for me because he's the stick in the mud. He doesn't want his powers. He doesn't like being on the team. He's not into the violent aspects of basically anything. And he's so insanely jealous that it pits him against Alyse who I love. He's kind of a coward honestly. In a lot of ways. He's another one that I'm hoping improves as the series goes along. Lou definitely did not get a great power. He heats up and can shoot light blasts...but only when he's turned on. Trying to weaponize arousal ought to be interesting as the series moves forward. Codename: Glowstick.
ALYSE: Alyse is the first mutant Dylan runs into and she is immediately endearing. Alyse is the stereotypical rich girl that gets ignored by her parents but she's the cinnamon roll character so she's not snobby or anything. She's described as Pasifika, which I had to look up. They're the people of the smaller Pacific islands that now live on New Zealand. Awesome. I'm pretty sure her name is pronounced more like Elise than Alice. Dylan shortens it to Lys which works more with that pronunciation. Alyse has the fun power of shapeshifting but she does it almost uncontrollably and it reflects her moods, hence her codename of Moodring. She comes up with some pretty excellent stuff though. I love it. Alyse becomes Dylan's best friend, which is really cute.
EMMA: Emma is the catalyst to all of this. In trying to figure out her sexuality, she experiments at her own party. She creates a fake app that looks sort of like a kissing game. What she really did was ask her friends who the hottest girls were and she goes around kissing each of them to see if she feels anything. (She gets Lou, too.) Emma's super power is apparently to trigger powers in others. It's her kiss that turns them into mutants. Even the villain, a party-crashing guy who kisses her by force and ends up with earthquake powers. Emma is the team's super tech genius. She's got drones and computer skills and all sorts of techie knowhow. She's described as Kiwi-Chinese, so there's some more diversity. She and Alyse might like each other but it's only been slightly hinted at so far. Emma's codename is Goddess because she created them.
DANI: Emma's best friend is the "ice queen" Dani Kim, adding Korean to the diversity mix. (I don't think Dylan, Lou or Bianca is explicitly described to include their ethnicity.) Dani is extremely intelligent and wants to be a doctor. (I think? I'm honestly blanking a little bit.) She takes forever to come around to joining the team because she doesn't like Dylan's recklessness. Though she does like Dylan, a fact clear to everyone except Dylan, who is convinced Dani hates her. Dani's power is telekinesis, but she has to hurt herself to make it work. It gets a little violent. Her codename is Marvellous, because like Dylan, she's into comics and pays homage to Marvel Girl/Jean Grey. Dani is my favorite character along with Alyse. I kinda wish the second book was from her POV just to get a different voice in there. And because I don't think she'd annoy me like Dylan does.
BIANCA: Bianca is Dylan's self-described "emotional support himbo." She's a 6-foot buff goth. Not explicitly identified as goth, but she wears dark makeup and black all the time, so I'm going with it. Also because I think it's cool to see a buff goth character. You never see that. Bianca is blunt and brash. She's not always nice, even to her friends, though she improves as the story goes along. She has a 21-year-old girlfriend who's a bit possessive. I actually love Bianca as a character so I was disappointed she's the least developed. Unless I skimmed it by accident, you don't even learn what her hair color is, while Dylan emphasizes that she (Dylan) has short hair well more than once. Bianca's power is to pull her chest open and reveal a black hole that three creatures come out of. She's literally exposing her inner demons and she can use them for various things like making her a form of invisible and sharing her emotional trauma with another as a means of incapacitation. Bianca is a powerhouse and I love her for it. Codename: Wraith.
Okay, that is everyone. Most of the book is the team developing as a team itself and their interpersonal relationships while also dealing with the earthquake guy that Dylan calls Tremor. It gets pretty wild, especially the final battle scene. Wait til you meet Roxy. Heh.
I really enjoyed this despite its few flaws. It's unlike anything I've ever read and I'm digging into the second one shortly.
