Actually if you read the first three chapters of the Mecha Gene it looks like a pretty stereotypical YA story, You assume Rider and Burn are going to be forced into a relationship with each other like most leads are, they’re running from some people called “the pack” so it looks like a “destroying the ultimate evil” story, and then there’s the “Change” which sounds like a cliche in it’s self. Burn is a “bullet proof super ninja” and doesn’t have any flaws, riders’ snarky and sarcastic and you’re just waiting until he’s “revealed” as the “chosen one”
Burn had issues, and I mean issues. the way she talks about her past and her insomnia makes you wonder what happened to her before she met rider, she fights with a certain style which makes you wonder who trained her, even before the plot twist you know she’s more than just what you see. She always wearing her gloves, she tugs on her necklace and curses in Italian.
Rider doesn’t ever flirt with Burn, he doesn’t stare at her *romantically* when she isn’t looking, he doesn’t make fun of the fact that she’s a girl and doesn’t feel emasculated when she saves his life. in fact it’s never even mentioned that the characters don’t conform to traditional gender roles. He’s scrawny, a wimp and hates the fact that he can’t fight, not because he wants to show off nad be buff, but because he wants to protect those around him, and what happened to him before he met burn? who knows?!
Though he does dream about cliffs
And when Lilly’s introduced? A tiny gay afiracan amercian lessiban artists who plantes flowers nd his searching for her long lost brother, you read that right.
So bascilly you think it’s about a; cliched roamtic subplot, a strong male and wimpy femal, and just a normal YA novel in the first paragraph. Bu then no. Burn saved Riders life, they don’t date, turns out Burn has an unspoken but spoken thing going on with a Lesbian names Lilly, Riders last girlfeined is asexual and it’s only mentioned once and is not a big deal. The pack is corrupt, some people in it are good. Nothing is black and white.
The boks more than what it seemes at first glance.