Cute Mutants Vol. 2: Young, Gifted & Queer is the second entry in SJ Whitby’s YA fantasy series about a group of New Zealand teens who gain superpowers after kissing the same girl at a party.
It picks up several months after book one and finds Dylan and the Cute Mutants under the control of evil corporation Yaxley, who wants to use them as child soldiers for various missions, including capturing and killing other mutants.
While book one was mostly fluffy, book two took a much darker turn, including the deaths of several characters. And speaking of characters, we’re introduced to several new mutants, such as Katie, aka Dragon, who spits fire, and Alex aka Keepaway, a nonbinary teleporter.
I thought each of these new mutants had distinct powers and personalities, though I do think Katie got more than her fair share of page time at the expense of other characters, such as Lou who was barely in the book despite being an OG Cute Mutant.
I also thought the ending was insane, especially the revelation that other countries have mutants and will be after Dylan and her group since they’re now rogue.
However, Bancroft, Valen and Aurora; the Cute Mutants’ handlers at Yaxley; appeared one-note, and the way the kids’ parents reacted to Yaxley effectively kidnapping them to do shady stuff felt unrealistic.
The evolution of the OG mutants’ powers was interesting to read, and I loved the relationship Dylan formed with Onimaru, a samurai sword said to have slain demons. And I found their reaction to being made slaves of the government rang true.
Though, I thought Dylan acted immature, like when she got jealous of the bond Katie and Pear formed, or when Bancroft removed her as team leader for disobeying orders and replaced her with Dani. But she’s only eighteen, so she still has a lot of growing up to do.
I liked the sex scenes between Dani and Dylan as they were the perfect amount of use your imagination and fade to black without being too salacious.
The ending to the book was the definition of crazy; characters dropped left and right and by the last pages I did not know how the series would progress from there, but I’m hooked and bought the rest of the series.
I give Cute Mutants Vol. 2: Young, Gifted & Queer 5.0 out of 5 stars.