e-ALC, 06:02:12
Narrated by: Ariel Blake
Release Date: February 24, 2026
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: April 3-5, 2026
Boy 2.0, #2
Source: Library’s Libby (I also received a hardcover copy of this book from TxLA 2026. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: N/A
For Readers of: Action, Audio, Sparkly Cover, Middle Grade, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Sci FiThe thrilling sequel to Boy 2.0 , from New York Times bestselling author Tracey Baptiste, perfect for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers and Into the Spiderverse.
Win “Coal” Keegan is starting to get the hang of his new life. He’s come to love his foster family, the McKays, and is getting more confident with his invisibility powers. Almost too much confident. At first, he uses his abilities for small favors. But soon, favors snowball into bigger asks and messier pranks. And when rumors surface about a “ghost” in the neighborhood, Coal realizes it might be best to keep his talents under wraps.
But that gets harder when Coal starts to suspect that someone—or something—might be tracking him. And as the evidence stacks up, Coal realizes he’s not the only one with powers. Is his pursuer friend or foe? What would it be like to meet someone just like him?
As the stakes rise and Coal finds allies and enemies in unexpected places, he’ll have to channel a new level of bravery to protect himself, his family, and his world. Packed with real-world themes of technology, race, and justice, this exhilarating follow-up to Boy 2.0 returns readers to the world of their new favorite superhero.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I didn’t know this was happening, so when I heard it was at TLA, I RAN to get a copy. I missed the first line and barely caught the second one. I WANTED this ok lol And I’m so glad I didn’t miss it!
Ok so this is a sequel. I read the first one way back in 2024. I knew I didn’t remember anything from the original. I went back and read the last chapter and it told me enough to get by. But as it turned out, I didn’t actually need it. This one is all about him getting comfortable in his ability and trying to stay out of trouble and navigating the news about his family. It ended up being mostly it’s own story and for that I was glad.
The plot of this one was just ok. I was expecting more fight from the thing? Like there was this AI thing and this robot thing and they basically deprogrammed it and that was it. It was like they didn’t even put up a fight. There was nothing really to root for. They handled everything like at the very beginning. So after that they were just controlling the robot for the whole rest of the book. And at the end where the climax should have been, it was with that scientist who the robot belonged to trying to control them too. It just handled everything too early imo.
The AI message was my favorite part tho. She basically was trlling the reader its bad and that’s why he had to take over everything. I was glad to see that because I know that those that are reading this are at the age where AI seems cool and like something they want to explore. I’m glad they get to see that it’s not at all what it’s cracked up to be.
For the most part I liked this, but I was really confused on some things. Like it took me entirely too long to realize that Sydney was an adult. And I didn’t like how the book was solved at the very beginning of the book. But even with those weird hang-ups, this was still good and still will be one that I recommend for kiddos going into science fiction.
Overall, I give this
