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ladytiara's review against another edition
4.0
Superheroes: check. Supervillains: check. Dystopian future: check. Moral ambiguity: check. Fiendish plot: check. Excellent read: check.
This book is chock full of awesome. Set in a dystopian early 22nd century Chicago (now known as New Chicago), it's the story of two former friends: by-the-books superhero Jet and budding supervillain Iridium. Once the closest of friends, they're now bitter enemies. Jet is the adored superhero, and Iridium, once a superhero in training, is now on the other side of the law. In this world, the so-called extrahumans have had superpowers for a few generations, apparently the result of fertility treatments gone wrong (the how and why are left somewhat unanswered, but I get the feeling it could be important in future books). Superheroes are sent to the Academy as children for intensive training. A mysterious corporation controls the Academy and the superheroes' lives. When the heroes graduate from the Academy, they vie for corporate sponsors. The superheroes are revered by some segments of society and loathed by others, especially the regular human police and the Everyman Society, a group dedicated to ridding the world of extrahumans.
Alternating chapters switch between Jet and Iridium's points of view. The book also switches back and forth between the past and present, so we see how the two protagonists first met and how it all went horribly wrong. Like so many superhero stories, the villain is a touch more interesting than the hero. But although I preferred Iridium, I still found Jet to be a multifaceted character. Her particular power, shadow, is a dangerous one, and she's constantly worried about staying sane.
The story moves at a quick pace, and I had a hard time putting this book down. Although it's written by two authors, the writing never felt disjointed or awkward. There are two different voices, but the voices belong to two very different characters, so it really works. The plot is intriguing, and it leaves a lot of potential for future books. There are lots of fun nods to the superhero genre. Kittredge and Kessler have built a compelling world.
My only complaint about the writing is a small one: there are a few scenes between Jet and her potential love interest that veer into romance novel clichés (weak knees, fluttering stomachs, etc.). It's only a few paragraphs, but these bits stick out in what is otherwise a gritty, dystopian superhero tale.
Overall, Black and White is an absorbing, entertaining read. I'm definitely looking forward to future volumes in the series.
This book is chock full of awesome. Set in a dystopian early 22nd century Chicago (now known as New Chicago), it's the story of two former friends: by-the-books superhero Jet and budding supervillain Iridium. Once the closest of friends, they're now bitter enemies. Jet is the adored superhero, and Iridium, once a superhero in training, is now on the other side of the law. In this world, the so-called extrahumans have had superpowers for a few generations, apparently the result of fertility treatments gone wrong (the how and why are left somewhat unanswered, but I get the feeling it could be important in future books). Superheroes are sent to the Academy as children for intensive training. A mysterious corporation controls the Academy and the superheroes' lives. When the heroes graduate from the Academy, they vie for corporate sponsors. The superheroes are revered by some segments of society and loathed by others, especially the regular human police and the Everyman Society, a group dedicated to ridding the world of extrahumans.
Alternating chapters switch between Jet and Iridium's points of view. The book also switches back and forth between the past and present, so we see how the two protagonists first met and how it all went horribly wrong. Like so many superhero stories, the villain is a touch more interesting than the hero. But although I preferred Iridium, I still found Jet to be a multifaceted character. Her particular power, shadow, is a dangerous one, and she's constantly worried about staying sane.
The story moves at a quick pace, and I had a hard time putting this book down. Although it's written by two authors, the writing never felt disjointed or awkward. There are two different voices, but the voices belong to two very different characters, so it really works. The plot is intriguing, and it leaves a lot of potential for future books. There are lots of fun nods to the superhero genre. Kittredge and Kessler have built a compelling world.
My only complaint about the writing is a small one: there are a few scenes between Jet and her potential love interest that veer into romance novel clichés (weak knees, fluttering stomachs, etc.). It's only a few paragraphs, but these bits stick out in what is otherwise a gritty, dystopian superhero tale.
Overall, Black and White is an absorbing, entertaining read. I'm definitely looking forward to future volumes in the series.
beastreader's review against another edition
5.0
Many years ago, Callie Bradford aka Idridium and Joannie Greene aka Jet were best friends. They were room mates during their academy days. That all changed.
Jet is now a super hero helping the city of New Chicago take down the bad guys. Jet battles the bad guys using her abilities to manipulate shadows. Idridium went in the complete opposite direction and became a villain. She has these deadly globes that when they burst cause some serious damage.
Jet is used to working alone but this time she has a partner. His name is Bruce Hunter. He isn’t a super hero but he does make Jet long to kiss him
Iridium mission is to take down the academy and every one with it, including Jet. She has some help in the form of a vigilante named Taser. Can Jet stop Iridium before it is too late?
If you are a fan of comic books then you will really by flying high for Black and White. This book has the best of both worlds with fantastic super heroes and cool villains. Authors, Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge do a great job co-writing this book. I couldn’t tell who was writing which parts. I am a fan of Mrs. Kittredge but haven’t had the honor of reading Mrs. Kessler’s work before now. After reading this book, you bet I will be checking out more of Mrs. Kessler’s stuff.
Instantly, I was transported to Jet and Iridium’s world. I would hate to become an enemy of either Jet or Iridium’s. These women can kick some serious butt. The layout of this book was smooth and easy flowing. The chapters would alternate between Jet and Iridium. Also the story would flash back to the academy days. You had better pick up a copy of this book today before they soar off the shelves!
Jet is now a super hero helping the city of New Chicago take down the bad guys. Jet battles the bad guys using her abilities to manipulate shadows. Idridium went in the complete opposite direction and became a villain. She has these deadly globes that when they burst cause some serious damage.
Jet is used to working alone but this time she has a partner. His name is Bruce Hunter. He isn’t a super hero but he does make Jet long to kiss him
Iridium mission is to take down the academy and every one with it, including Jet. She has some help in the form of a vigilante named Taser. Can Jet stop Iridium before it is too late?
If you are a fan of comic books then you will really by flying high for Black and White. This book has the best of both worlds with fantastic super heroes and cool villains. Authors, Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge do a great job co-writing this book. I couldn’t tell who was writing which parts. I am a fan of Mrs. Kittredge but haven’t had the honor of reading Mrs. Kessler’s work before now. After reading this book, you bet I will be checking out more of Mrs. Kessler’s stuff.
Instantly, I was transported to Jet and Iridium’s world. I would hate to become an enemy of either Jet or Iridium’s. These women can kick some serious butt. The layout of this book was smooth and easy flowing. The chapters would alternate between Jet and Iridium. Also the story would flash back to the academy days. You had better pick up a copy of this book today before they soar off the shelves!
jacquelinec's review against another edition
4.0
I won this ARC a few weeks ago from Jackie Kessler and I'm just now getting around to reading and reviewing it. There's not much that I can say about it without giving away the plot so I'll try to sum it up in a word - amazing.
Given the facts that this novel is written by two authors, features two main characters and jumps back and forth from the past to the present, it's amazing just how seamlessly this story flows.
Jet and Iridium together make the ideal heroine. If the story was just about one of them, it would feel incomplete. Add to that the fully realized backstory, the great pacing and the well drawn characters, and you have an almost perfect beginning to what promises to be an amazing series...
...To continue reading this review, visit my blog Undercover Book Lover.
Given the facts that this novel is written by two authors, features two main characters and jumps back and forth from the past to the present, it's amazing just how seamlessly this story flows.
Jet and Iridium together make the ideal heroine. If the story was just about one of them, it would feel incomplete. Add to that the fully realized backstory, the great pacing and the well drawn characters, and you have an almost perfect beginning to what promises to be an amazing series...
...To continue reading this review, visit my blog Undercover Book Lover.
lisaps's review against another edition
4.0
REVIEW SUMMARY: This complex story explores the good and evil in all of us, even superheroes. The characters in Black and White are relatable and flawed despite their extra-human status. I enjoyed this new take on superheroes with the two main characters being female and best friends - and of course later archenemies. Without taking itself too seriously, this Justice League-meets-Harry Potter novel offers some valuable insights into the nature of being human.
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Experiments in fertility treatments inadvertently led to the creation of "extrahumans" with special powers. Shadow power Joannie "Jet" Green and Light power Callie "Iridium" Bradford were best friends all through their Academy days until their worldviews finally clashed too much. Fighting evil from opposite directions, these two superheroes must meet in the middle to fend off an insidious nemesis.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: I loved that this superhero story had two women at the center of it. With Black and White, Kessler and Kittredge definitely filled a void for me by creating female superheroes who stand on their own and aren't connected to existing male superheroes. I also enjoyed how Jet's and Iri's fatal flaws are what simultaneously pushed them together and drove them apart. Their characterizations were consistent and their differing worldviews makes sense based on their life experiences.
CONS: While I was a little surprised about one of the characters with the reveal at the end, another character's actions seemed specifically manufactured to suit the arc of Jet and Iri. I was able to look past that aspect and enjoy the story, however.
BOTTOM LINE: I would recommend this book to friends, especially those into comic book superheroes. Kessler and Kittredge clearly love the superhero mythos and several elements in the story pay homage to it.
Those homage elements include the "skinsuits" every hero wears and the nicknames every hero is given before graduating from the Academy. The authors had fun playing with the powers and names given to secondary characters like giant Samson and the blue-haired Frostbite. We're also shown the dark side of extrahuman powers and the repercussions -- some are kept from going "rabid" through "Therapy," an experience that seems similar to brainwashing. Jet may be the protector of New Chicago, but she ultimately answers to Corp-Co, the company who purchased the scientific experiments that created the heroes as well as runs the Academy and heroes-only Blackbird prison.
Both protagonists must overcome the reputations of their fathers. Jet's father went too crazy even for Therapy and murdered her mother in a fit of psychosis while Iri's father sits in Blackbird prison for going AWOL from Corp-Co. Jet fights against the dark voices that drove her father crazy and Iri finds herself a queen of sorts of her father's supervillain underworld. Both characters want to do the right thing; they just disagree on the correct way to achieve their ends. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment in this series, Shades of Gray, to be released in 2010.
Full review: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/09/review-black-and-white-by-jackie-kessler-and-caitlin-kittredge/
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Experiments in fertility treatments inadvertently led to the creation of "extrahumans" with special powers. Shadow power Joannie "Jet" Green and Light power Callie "Iridium" Bradford were best friends all through their Academy days until their worldviews finally clashed too much. Fighting evil from opposite directions, these two superheroes must meet in the middle to fend off an insidious nemesis.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: I loved that this superhero story had two women at the center of it. With Black and White, Kessler and Kittredge definitely filled a void for me by creating female superheroes who stand on their own and aren't connected to existing male superheroes. I also enjoyed how Jet's and Iri's fatal flaws are what simultaneously pushed them together and drove them apart. Their characterizations were consistent and their differing worldviews makes sense based on their life experiences.
CONS: While I was a little surprised about one of the characters with the reveal at the end, another character's actions seemed specifically manufactured to suit the arc of Jet and Iri. I was able to look past that aspect and enjoy the story, however.
BOTTOM LINE: I would recommend this book to friends, especially those into comic book superheroes. Kessler and Kittredge clearly love the superhero mythos and several elements in the story pay homage to it.
Those homage elements include the "skinsuits" every hero wears and the nicknames every hero is given before graduating from the Academy. The authors had fun playing with the powers and names given to secondary characters like giant Samson and the blue-haired Frostbite. We're also shown the dark side of extrahuman powers and the repercussions -- some are kept from going "rabid" through "Therapy," an experience that seems similar to brainwashing. Jet may be the protector of New Chicago, but she ultimately answers to Corp-Co, the company who purchased the scientific experiments that created the heroes as well as runs the Academy and heroes-only Blackbird prison.
Both protagonists must overcome the reputations of their fathers. Jet's father went too crazy even for Therapy and murdered her mother in a fit of psychosis while Iri's father sits in Blackbird prison for going AWOL from Corp-Co. Jet fights against the dark voices that drove her father crazy and Iri finds herself a queen of sorts of her father's supervillain underworld. Both characters want to do the right thing; they just disagree on the correct way to achieve their ends. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment in this series, Shades of Gray, to be released in 2010.
Full review: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/09/review-black-and-white-by-jackie-kessler-and-caitlin-kittredge/
trike's review against another edition
3.0
I've had this book on my to-read pile for years. It's a pretty big pile.
Anyway, it gets 3 stars because I neither loved it nor hated it. The characters, plot and situations are all fairly generic, reflected by its generic title, but on the positive side the world-building is quite interesting and the writing is very good.
Some of the twists are tremendously obvious, but I liked how they treated the world as a given, without over-explaining the basics. The structure feels like a medieval Fantasy novel, where you're just thrown into it and expected to piece things together rather than have everything explained to you via infodump.
Overall, a solid entry in the superhero fiction genre. There is a sequel, which hopefully avoids the generic pitfalls of this one, but I suspect there will be more on the whole "good v. evil = black v. white" thing going on, since it's entitled [b:Shades of Gray|8534551|Shades of Gray (The Icarus Project, #2)|Jackie Kessler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328338937s/8534551.jpg|6805695]. (Seriously ladies, try to come up with original titles. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a specific book with these titles? Maddening!)
Anyway, it gets 3 stars because I neither loved it nor hated it. The characters, plot and situations are all fairly generic, reflected by its generic title, but on the positive side the world-building is quite interesting and the writing is very good.
Some of the twists are tremendously obvious, but I liked how they treated the world as a given, without over-explaining the basics. The structure feels like a medieval Fantasy novel, where you're just thrown into it and expected to piece things together rather than have everything explained to you via infodump.
Overall, a solid entry in the superhero fiction genre. There is a sequel, which hopefully avoids the generic pitfalls of this one, but I suspect there will be more on the whole "good v. evil = black v. white" thing going on, since it's entitled [b:Shades of Gray|8534551|Shades of Gray (The Icarus Project, #2)|Jackie Kessler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328338937s/8534551.jpg|6805695]. (Seriously ladies, try to come up with original titles. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a specific book with these titles? Maddening!)
randalm's review against another edition
3.0
Grrrl powers. A by-the-book hero with shadow abilities takes on her friend-turned-enemy, an anti-hero who projects light and heat (as well as lots of attitude). "Black and White" plays more with the shades of gray between lawful and unlawful than truly explores good and evil. It's an entertaining enough read with a less-than-super ending.
crankyraconteur's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. It started off very interesting, ing me right away. Then somewhere along the line, it turned into Dawson's Creek with superheroes. I lost interest. Towards the end, it picked up a little more, but the ending was so beyond trite that I just was really glad to be done with it at that point. There was no big, shocking ending, though the author seemed to intend it to play out that way. I'll most likely pick up Shades of Gray just to see how that plays out, if anything gets better for these characters, but at this point I'm not really holding my breath.
beckylej's review against another edition
5.0
It’s Heroes meets X-Men in the style of classic comics as authors Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge team up to put their own spin on the superhero genre in Black and White, the first of the Icarus Project series. Jet, a Shadow power and official superhero of New Chicago, is a by-the-book gal who always follows the rules as set forth in her Academy training. Once, she and Iridium were the best of friends. Now they are powerful enemies. But neither of them truly understands the pieces that have been set into play. Jet believes that they are on opposite sides, that she fights for good while Iridium has followed in her father’s footsteps along the path of anarchy and misrule. Jet will soon discover that the line between good and evil is not as clear as she once believed, and it could tear apart the fragile control she maintains over her power. Excellent, excellent read. Kessler and Kittredge work together with seeming ease and have created a tale that is addictively readable.
theteenidol's review against another edition
2.0
I was recommended this book nearly ten years ago, but didn’t actually read it until now. I thought my expectations going in might have been a little high since it was recommended to me by more than one person, but after thinking about it, that’s not really the case.
It’s all just too much. Its’s set in a weird, cyberpunk world, there’s a superhero academy that’s sponsored by a corporation (I think?), and every hero’s powers fall into one of several categories and each category has their own “fatal flaw”. Superheroes that graduate from the academy can get sponsors and endorsements from cities and corporations, and if they don’t they can be mercenaries or rogues, or rabids, or whatever else. Or they can just get normal 9-5’s, which the book suggests most of them do.
I didn’t really find any of the characters relatable and they all talk on the same snarky, sarcastic tone that just annoyed me after a while. Even in normal conversations.
The two plot twists that come along in the last hundred pages or so were completely obvious. Then, Bruce/Tazer turning on Night at the end was lame and felt like a cop out. Also, why did Night let Iridium keep talking to Jet at the end? He should have just knocked her out so she couldn’t talk Jet out of shadowing the sun. Plus, there’s the ol’ villain-explaining-their-entire-master-plan cliche. And every Shadow power ends up going crazy? Why don’t they do something about that? It makes no sense. The world building is just bad and incomplete.
Trying not to rant too much here, so I finish up. The flashback scenes are okay and it’s kinda cool seeing some of the other powers in action, but even that is just eh.
It’s all just too much. Its’s set in a weird, cyberpunk world, there’s a superhero academy that’s sponsored by a corporation (I think?), and every hero’s powers fall into one of several categories and each category has their own “fatal flaw”. Superheroes that graduate from the academy can get sponsors and endorsements from cities and corporations, and if they don’t they can be mercenaries or rogues, or rabids, or whatever else. Or they can just get normal 9-5’s, which the book suggests most of them do.
I didn’t really find any of the characters relatable and they all talk on the same snarky, sarcastic tone that just annoyed me after a while. Even in normal conversations.
The two plot twists that come along in the last hundred pages or so were completely obvious. Then, Bruce/Tazer turning on Night at the end was lame and felt like a cop out. Also, why did Night let Iridium keep talking to Jet at the end? He should have just knocked her out so she couldn’t talk Jet out of shadowing the sun. Plus, there’s the ol’ villain-explaining-their-entire-master-plan cliche. And every Shadow power ends up going crazy? Why don’t they do something about that? It makes no sense. The world building is just bad and incomplete.
Trying not to rant too much here, so I finish up. The flashback scenes are okay and it’s kinda cool seeing some of the other powers in action, but even that is just eh.
kelseyjobrien's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book, but I think that it could have been written so much better. The book was split up between the do good hero, Jet, and the "rabid, evil genius" that is Iridium. Jackie Kessler wrote Jet's part, and Caitlin Kittredge wrote Iridium's. I've never read any of their writings before, but I found that I liked Kittredge's writing exceptionally more than Kessler's. Iridium was funny and someone I could easily relate to, whereas Jet only cared about the corporation she was working for, and about her gorgeous Runner, Bruce. The reader finds out why, of course, but I didn't buy it. The book is so long that this realization about Jet and the Corp that comes at the end feels like it should be given 100 more pages of explanation, instead of 30. I also don't think the book should have been over 400 pages long. There was a lot of things the writers could have cut out.
I also didn't like that fact that there was really no background or information given about the world the "extrahumans" live in, and that bugged me because I didn't know what half the things were, and if there was description, I would have been ok with the book being over 400 pages long. I don't know why extrahumans are even a thing. Is this new? Is this a world where they have existed since the beginning of humanity? What year is this even set in? We get clips of writing that is dated at 2112 AD, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's the year. What's the Icarus Project? What's Everyman? Everyman was a big part of this book, but there's no explanation or background on them, there's no description about gadgets or anything, so the book kind of confused me a little bit. As sort of stated above, too, the book rushes the ending. There's a huge build up to the "final battle" between good and evil (which was obviously from about half way through who the real evil was) but it's over within forty five pages or so.
My favorite parts of the novel were the flashbacks to the training Jet and Iridium received at the Academy. I thought that, for a first book, they could have just written about that, and kept it at around 200 pages, then for the second book, write about the rift between Jet and Iridium, and the battle that happens at the end. Then a third book could be Jet and Iridium dealing with what happens after this battle. That way, each book could have been 200 pages or so. Instead of one book that was close to 500 pages, we could have gotten more description and background, and it would have made more sense.
With all of that being said, the book was still ok, and it was about superheroes, so I enjoyed it. I have to say that I don't think I would have liked this book if it wasn't about superheroes, but I do plan on reading the next book in this series.
I also didn't like that fact that there was really no background or information given about the world the "extrahumans" live in, and that bugged me because I didn't know what half the things were, and if there was description, I would have been ok with the book being over 400 pages long. I don't know why extrahumans are even a thing. Is this new? Is this a world where they have existed since the beginning of humanity? What year is this even set in? We get clips of writing that is dated at 2112 AD, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's the year. What's the Icarus Project? What's Everyman? Everyman was a big part of this book, but there's no explanation or background on them, there's no description about gadgets or anything, so the book kind of confused me a little bit. As sort of stated above, too, the book rushes the ending. There's a huge build up to the "final battle" between good and evil (which was obviously from about half way through who the real evil was) but it's over within forty five pages or so.
My favorite parts of the novel were the flashbacks to the training Jet and Iridium received at the Academy. I thought that, for a first book, they could have just written about that, and kept it at around 200 pages, then for the second book, write about the rift between Jet and Iridium, and the battle that happens at the end. Then a third book could be Jet and Iridium dealing with what happens after this battle. That way, each book could have been 200 pages or so. Instead of one book that was close to 500 pages, we could have gotten more description and background, and it would have made more sense.
With all of that being said, the book was still ok, and it was about superheroes, so I enjoyed it. I have to say that I don't think I would have liked this book if it wasn't about superheroes, but I do plan on reading the next book in this series.