Song for the day: Take Me By The Hand and Lead Me Through This Disaster by Pat The Bunny

I had a huge Pat The Bunny stage in tenth grade what's up kids it's chrona and this is an introduction to best book. Many people will tell you they just can't choose when you ask them about their favorite books or characters but here in the Chronaverse I have done statistical analysis and 80% of the time this is my favorite story and 80% of the time these are my favorite characters. The execution needs some polishing but this is the story that I would choose to take all the way had I the opportunity. 

Deja Vu is the story of twin brothers Will and Adam Rosenbloom, who are separately tasked to lead forces of teenagers to save the world from humans who have been corrupted by a mystical element known as Diosite. While both siblings undergo similar trials, neither of them confide their secret identities in each other, which leads to a series of interactions I can only describe as the emotional equivalent of falling down a flight of steps.

Here are my boys:

Will Rosenbloom (right) is the younger of the two, while Adam (left) is the older. Will has spent his whole life in Adam's large, generally apathetic shadow. They care about each other but neither one is good at expressing it as Will sees himself as a burden and Adam thoroughly believes that Will is a burden. They see themselves as total opposites, although two sides of the same coin might be more accurate. I usually sum up the difference between them as such: if you asked them both what they want to do with their lives, Adam would have a hard time answering because he has nothing he particularly wants to do, where Will would have a hard time narrowing the list down. Will would eventually settle on something he wants to do but has no initiative for, thus making it implausible, where Adam would settle with something practical that he doesn't care about in the slightest.

As for the side characters, there are eleven characters of importance disregarding villains, but I'm going to stick to the most important five here:

EVAN DRAKE

Evan Drake is part of Adam's save-the-world team, Team Alpha. Evan Drake is a snarky prick who started the year with no friends and has half a mind to end it that way. Due to his father's continous pursuit for jobs, as he's raising Evan alone, Evan spent a lot of his childhood moving around and slowly developing a hatred for school and most of humanity. His misanthropy is a thin veneer over an intense need for validation and a seething hatred both towards societal standards he can't live up to and towards himself for not meeting those standards. 

MEGAN BRIGGS

Megan Briggs is another member of Team Alpha and the final member of the "trio" she forms with Evan and Adam. Megan is the person who waited their whole life for their Hogwarts letter and follows superstitions for that infinitesimal chance that some magical destiny might spirit her away. Megan was, in short, born for this, although she's a natural in anything she throws her passion behind. Due to her interests and said affinity for what she does, everyone close to her has a tendency to idolize her as this pure symbol of everything good and unappreciated in the world while the rest of the world has a tendency to underestimate her as some mousy nerd chick.

Neither of these attitudes are healthy for her.

AMANDA SCOTT

Amanda is a member of Will's team, Team Omega, and is unarguably the team powerhouse. Amanda's zeal for art is only matched by her passion for the subject of that art, that is, the fantastical. As a former LARPer (alongside Megan) and a self-proclaimed nerd, Amanda is immediately and loudly on board with all the shenanigans Will gets into. Amanda is not without her insecurities and can be overbearing, but she genuinely cares about everyone around her and never does anything halfway.

I just included a picture of Anthem, but both the Alpha and Omega teams are accompanied by telepathic beings known as Cherubs (Team Omega's cherub is named Shiloh). Cherubs are psychic projections of shards of Diosite, the same element that has recently been found in the real world and is corrupting regular humans through its lure of power alongside the addictive, psyche-fracturing siren call of the shard. Cherubs are tasked with seeking out these 'rogue shards' that enter the hands of humans and hunting them down to ensure that humanity doesn't perish, but they can not enter our world as physical beings, so they must give pieces of their own shard to trustworthy individuals to enlist in the fight.

For unknown reasons, Cherubs prefer to recruit teenagers...

At its heart Deja Vu is a story about relationships, especially found families, strained friendships, and abusive relationships. It's also deeply involved with the idea of escapism. I would hesitate to call it a dark, gritty look at these themes, as the story is character-driven and is primarily invested in teenagers riding a high, but I try not to sugarcoat... much. There were some things I touched on less due to my inexperience (this was my first book with humans) but nonetheless I have to say this is one of my favorites. I'll be posting a lot of art for them, but a lot of it will have spoilers, so I highly recommend you check the book out.