Question "Please don't tell my parents" books

The series that started out with "Please Don't tell my parents I'm a super-villain", and continued in "Please don't tell my Parent's I blew up the Moon", has a new entry.

"Please Don't tell My Parents I've got Henchmen"

Penny Akk is back on earth, and back in Middle School, and has found that thanks to the example of her alter ego, "Bad Penny" many of her classmates are coming out openly with super powers.

In some ways this book is a place holder in the series. There are no huge big plot resolutions, instead it's sort of slice of life that focuses more on a whole new cast of super powered tweens then on Penny and her friends. But what happens at the very end of the book, that people more discerning then me may see coming, will make this a huge favorite of people here who have read the other two books, and have them eager to see the next book in the series.

I know I have high hopes, and fingers crossed that the Author won't just brush it aside.

Which revelation? The business one or the personal one? Personally I saw the business one coming, or maybe I was just hoping for something like it and that coloured my views. I did not expect the personal one though, reading through it the second time I saw the hints he was leaving.

Yes I'm hiding what I mean by being vague, I don't want to give away spoilers for a great series.

Jarjaross wrote: Which revelation? The business one or the personal one? Personally I saw the business one coming, or maybe I was just hoping for something like it and that coloured my views. I did not expect the personal one though, reading through it the second time I saw the hints he was leaving.

Yes I'm hiding what I mean by being vague, I don't want to give away spoilers for a great series.

The personal one. And I'm really hoping he does not handwave that plot in the next book. It's worthy of lots of attention.

Looking back over the material I could see where it was hinted, but I don't think very many people could have deduced it. He kept his cards close to his chest.

Personally I expect something of a falling out to happen between the characters involved. Not just the ones directly involved but the others it would affect as well. They will have to deal with the revelations, and any new revelations that occur because of it.

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This is getting stupidly complicated, I've deleted half of a paragraph twice trying to avoid spoilers.



As for the business revelation, I'm so excited! I mean it's probably not going to be dealt with immediately but it is so awesome if she accepts.

The first book was great, it had a lot of jokes, action and schemes to make me read it in almost one sitting.
The second one was not nearly as good, Penny and her crew were mostly side characters reacting to everything rather than being proactive, I just found it really disappointing.
The third one was almost as bad, but I'm willing to forgive it since it set a few interesting things in motion. However the editing sucked, it looked rushed, and the author might want to slow down with the fourth book to polish it up a bit more.

I agree that the first was the best of the three. The second was good in the parts where he let them be kids. The third really show cased, to me, that that was the best part of the books. Do I wish that the main characters had more… can't think of the word right now, similar meaning to involve to but not quite… with the events going on around them? Yeah, yeah I do. The characters should drive the plot not the other way around. Am I going to complain about characters just being around interesting things happening? No, but that's because I don't think big showy events have to drive the plot even if the main characters are involved. I think the characters need a stake in what's happening for there to be a decent plot, and the characters had a stake in a lot of things that happened. All of these things just happened to be less showy than other things that happened.

I'm getting off track. My opinion, the first book was the best (so far), the second was the worst (so far), and the third one could be better but I've read way worse.

Personally I would have focussed way more on the plot line of Penny trying to hide her secret identity. Have people slowly figure out who she is with tons of close calls. There is a good plot somewhere along those lines that could have been done. But it didn't happen, so suck it up it could be worse. I would mention worse stories but I try to avoid saying anything negative on the Internet.

What I want is basically a heist movie with these characters. Don't lie, you can all see Penny planning a heist and enlisting the help of some of the other supervillain kids.

I enjoyed the second book less because the characters seemed doomed to failure at multiple occasions, overshadowed by the situations they found themselves in. Then, I realized that, in some ways, that was good. The Inscrutable Machine was improbably successful, which was fun for a while, but it's good to have some reality ensue, much as has happened with Team Kimba and Wondercute in the Whateley Universe. I too was a bit disappointed with the third book. Bull's extended family felt gratuitous, characters bounced in and out of the plot, and it just felt really insubstantial.

FuzzyBoots wrote: I enjoyed the second book less because the characters seemed doomed to failure at multiple occasions, overshadowed by the situations they found themselves in. Then, I realized that, in some ways, that was good. The Inscrutable Machine was improbably successful, which was fun for a while, but it's good to have some reality ensue, much as has happened with Team Kimba and Wondercute in the Whateley Universe. I too was a bit disappointed with the third book. Bull's extended family felt gratuitous, characters bounced in and out of the plot, and it just felt really insubstantial.

I don't mind the Inscrutable Machine failing, but I'd still like them to be the main characters who struggle to succeed only to fail by the skin of their teeth. Or see it failing and than run like hell to escape the downfall.
It didn't really happen in the second book.
With the third book, they had taken back some control, but yeah the characters bouncing around and lack of anything in particular made it more filler with some build up.

Domoviye wrote: I don't mind the Inscrutable Machine failing, but I'd still like them to be the main characters who struggle to succeed only to fail by the skin of their teeth. Or see it failing and than run like hell to escape the downfall.
It didn't really happen in the second book.
With the third book, they had taken back some control, but yeah the characters bouncing around and lack of anything in particular made it more filler with some build up.

{nods} I suppose I could see that. While Penny was an important cog in the machine of ensuring that the real villains got as far as they did, ultimately it came down to Jovians and Puppeteers, and some of her best assets, such as Vera, were put out of commission. Differing opinions and all that, I think that it actually kind of fit. Penny succeeded on Earth due to a combination of genre-savviness, genre-blindness among her peers, and accidental possession of traits that were terrifying to the rest of the world (as best I could tell, people still believe that she has a Conqueror Orb at her beck and command, and that she intentionally summoned the dragon demon thingy). Outside of Earth, she's at a major disadvantage, as much so because she's trying to be a hero and open to everyone around her. Without the grounding in how society works, without the mystery surrounding her, and with few secrets withheld from her "allies", she's working with a severely reduced range of ability. And I'd still argue that they eventually made it out by the skin of their teeth, and largely on their own merits.

The third book, as you noted, she's taken back some control. She's on familiar territory, and people are still underestimating her. However, she's also revealing parts of who she is, revealing secrets, and it weakens her position in some ways albeit with the benefit of now having more backup from the people she's brought into the circle. She's also a lot more cautious than she used to be, on account of realizing that she nearly unleashed a horrible menace upon the stars, and nearly unleashed something even worse in a kneejerk attempt to fix it. That level of caution impedes her because she second-guesses her options and doesn't employ the extent of her power.

Thanks to this thread, I bought and have started the first book. Unfortunately the only thing I am really interested in is Claire's Lunchbox. The rest of the story seems to be boring. None of the characters feel real, the parents are cardboard cutouts and the kids not much better.

It is definitely a light read, but if you want something quick and just go with it, it works.

I'm sticking with Myth Adventures. More my era.

This is my second on my list of favourite superhero books. I'm enjoying the ride. Number one being wearing the Cape. But yea the thing about boob 2 in this series was the nightmare fuel. I was glad it was absent from book 3.