Scan barcode
whatcassiedid's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this one! I was hopeful there would be less transphobia than the first book but unfortunately Graywytch decided to double down on being a terf
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Transphobia
lily1304's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I read this on a whim because I liked the first book but not THAT much - I actually liked this one more! Danny, Sarah, and Doc are all really good characters and I love them as heroes. The villains are exaggerated, sure, and some of the fight scenes are hard to follow, but that's the superhero genre. Fav moment is probably when a hero explains to the team that the villain is technically not a fascist but a "neoreactionary" ahaha
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, and Medical content
Discusses opioids, not in an addiction contextlipstickitotheman's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Transphobia, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Medical content, Addiction, Child abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Alcoholism, and Hate crime
myriam's review against another edition
5.0
So good! I was concerned at first because of how much Danielle was enjoying fighting but the book actually acknowledged it. There’s even a plan to address her issues by the end.
All around a good book.
All around a good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse
wynterwonderland's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Confinement
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Emotional abuse
grapehead's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Danny's story continues as she faces new and old threats. She has gotten the hang of caping and is really starting to enjoy it, maybe even a little too much. The most compelling part of the book is this struggle of a superhero who, despite being meant to be a noble savior, finds herself reveling fighting and violence.
Other parts of the novel really fall flat. The villains were a bit silly.Sovereign straight up admits to Danny he wants to do away with democracy and somehow expects this well known hero to agree to help him achieve it. Of course she doesn't. Graywytch's plan is to eradicate all people with a Y chromosome, without for one second thinking about the consequences of that. You can't take out half the human population and expect the other half to suffer no casualties as a result.
Another issue I had was the romance. There was zero romantic tension. No sweet moments of realizing feelings and acting awkward or shy. No yearning.The reader is told Danny has a crush on Calamity. Then we're told by another character that Calamity clearly likes Danny back. Then Danny is already rushing over to talk to her and boom, they're together. There was no proper build up to make us root for them.
All in all, the book is an easy read that lacks substance. Not bad if you want a quick story about superheroes, not great if you want characters that matter to you.
Other parts of the novel really fall flat. The villains were a bit silly.
Another issue I had was the romance. There was zero romantic tension. No sweet moments of realizing feelings and acting awkward or shy. No yearning.
All in all, the book is an easy read that lacks substance. Not bad if you want a quick story about superheroes, not great if you want characters that matter to you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Violence
littlebutton's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Rating this was kinda hard for me, just like with the first book. Love the diversity, fantastic. But there's other stuff that....really didn't work for me.
On the one hand, I liked this better than the first book. There was less of the constant "Danny is hot in these super stereotypically feminine ways and everyone who's not those things is bad" than there was in the first book (although it is certainly still present). The worldbuilding was fun. Really, it's a great romp of a story, and there were fewer things that took me out in the moment.
But, like the first book, the more I thought about it, the more there were things that bothered me. There isn't a ton of character development for anyone other than Danny (and a little bit for Doc Impossible). I was really disappointed in that for Sarah/Calamity. She was great in the first book, but is really reduced down to "love interest and badass in a fight" throughout the whole story.
Also...what was up with (minor spoilers)that moment where Danny used he/him pronouns for Greywytch? I mean, she's a TERF asshole who's been constantly misgendering Danny, so I get it. But it seemed like a strange thing to toss in and never mention or examine again? I expected it to be a point later on, especially since it confused Calamity who didn't know what "he" Danny was referring to. I expected a conversation later on about taking the high road, about how you shouldn't misgender someone even when they're an absolutely massive transphobic dick. But instead, we got (ending spoilers) told that Greywytch is intersex so HA FUCK HER actually??? Were there just...were there no sensitivity readers for this? Did no one during the editing process say, "hey so using intersex people as karmic retribution against your TERF villain when you have no other intersex representation or references in the series is maybe not great actually???" Like, maybe you shouldn't tokenize intersex folks down to a "REVERSE" card to play against transphobic bigots.
It also didn't make much sense to me that (major spoilers)Doc Impossible and Calamity were so butthurt about Danny almost killing Greywytch. It didn't make any goddamn sense to me. Yes, vigilante justice is bad in the real world where there are no superpowers. But also, Greywytch went on to murder 3 million people (although, sidenote, it seems that absolutely no male characters we've met were killed? Like, just generic faceless men. Weird choice imo) so actually it would've been GREAT if Danny had killed her when she had the chance. And instead Calamity just let Greywytch get away?? After she'd been imprisoning and torturing Danny for days?? And they knew she was doing something that could impact everyone on the planet?? That's some cheap ass ethics they've got going on there.
But, on the other hand, it did bother me how bloodthirsty Danny was during the book. I wasn't super a fan of how it was addressed either. She just didn't kill some people who really probably should've been killed (given their extreme power levels, both personal and sociopolitical, that would both exponentially elevate the harm they could do compared to anything in the real world, and also make it far easier for them to escape custody), but then also never addressed how much she enjoyed punching bad guys in the face. Which is exactly how this sort of trope is commonly handled and I really really don’t like it. Call it a genre pet peeve.
I really, really, really want to like these books. But they've consistently been a miss for me.
On the one hand, I liked this better than the first book. There was less of the constant "Danny is hot in these super stereotypically feminine ways and everyone who's not those things is bad" than there was in the first book (although it is certainly still present). The worldbuilding was fun. Really, it's a great romp of a story, and there were fewer things that took me out in the moment.
But, like the first book, the more I thought about it, the more there were things that bothered me. There isn't a ton of character development for anyone other than Danny (and a little bit for Doc Impossible). I was really disappointed in that for Sarah/Calamity. She was great in the first book, but is really reduced down to "love interest and badass in a fight" throughout the whole story.
Also...what was up with (minor spoilers)
It also didn't make much sense to me that (major spoilers)
But, on the other hand, it did bother me how bloodthirsty Danny was during the book. I wasn't super a fan of how it was addressed either. She just didn't kill some people who really probably should've been killed (given their extreme power levels, both personal and sociopolitical, that would both exponentially elevate the harm they could do compared to anything in the real world, and also make it far easier for them to escape custody), but then also never addressed how much she enjoyed punching bad guys in the face. Which is exactly how this sort of trope is commonly handled and I really really don’t like it. Call it a genre pet peeve.
I really, really, really want to like these books. But they've consistently been a miss for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Violence
ok7a's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Police brutality and Torture
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Vomit
liddrose's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I love how this book builds on Dreadnought! Danny is growing into her powers, but not necessarily in wholly positive ways. It’s really interesting how she sees her own thoughts reflected back to her from someone she knows has bad intentions and it gets her to start questioning herself. But she needs her friends to push her all the way to where she needs to be.
I really appreciate the way she talks things out with the people she loves and trusts. Danny loves the challenge of fighting bad guys, but it’s really the way her friends challenge her to do better that helps her be the person she wants to be, and I just LOVE that! The relationships are so meaningful!
She also needs the support of her friends to get through the superhero gig period. She’s incredibly powerful, but the book is clear that she canNOT do it all alone. She needs emotional and physical support.
The story is exciting and intriguing. Love the additional worldbuilding we get about the world of meta humans and their interactions with baseline people (people without super powers). The balance of plot and character work is really strong. And fight scenes usually drag a bit for me, but I felt these were very strongly executed. If you like super hero stories or you just wanna read about an awesome trans girl kicking serious butt, I highly recommend this book!
I really appreciate the way she talks things out with the people she loves and trusts. Danny loves the challenge of fighting bad guys, but it’s really the way her friends challenge her to do better that helps her be the person she wants to be, and I just LOVE that! The relationships are so meaningful!
She also needs the support of her friends to get through the superhero gig period. She’s incredibly powerful, but the book is clear that she canNOT do it all alone. She needs emotional and physical support.
The story is exciting and intriguing. Love the additional worldbuilding we get about the world of meta humans and their interactions with baseline people (people without super powers). The balance of plot and character work is really strong. And fight scenes usually drag a bit for me, but I felt these were very strongly executed. If you like super hero stories or you just wanna read about an awesome trans girl kicking serious butt, I highly recommend this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Deadnaming, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence
melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I am so sad by the amount of Transphobia in this book. It is seriously disheartening. But I love Danny and Calamity so much! I also love Doc. I thought it was really interesting to see what was going on in the aftermath of the first book, and how things have developed for Danny since then. There is still so much going on in this world that needs to be solved and looked at. It's really sad how corrupt everything is. But I thought this book was really good!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Confinement