Scan barcode
A review by littlebutton
Sovereign by April Daniels
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