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A review by domtheknight
Dreadnought by April Daniels
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was going to give this book less than a 5 but I was thinking about what else I'd want from it, what could have been better, and I could not come up with anything.
I really liked this book. It made me cry several times. There's some heavy stuff and at the bottom of my review I've put some additional explanations of the content warnings I listed in spoiler tags; they're probably not spoilery per se so they're safe to read if you have questions about the content and don't want other kinds of spoilers. I'm not sure if there's a way to message on this site but if there is and you want to ask me any questions about the content warnings, I'd be happy to answer.
The characters in this book were very polarizing for me. Some of them I loved and wanted to hug all the time and cried because I loved them. And others I hated and wanted to shout at or put in time out or just... vanish them from Danielle's life. She's just a kid, and she saves the day several times, and she's perfect. She's got these really strong morals and her uncertainty and hesitations are so real - sometimes those kinds of things feel fake like they're just inserted to draw the story out but her self-discovery on the page was fantastic.
The pacing worried me a bit, but that's because a) there was a pretty big preview for book two at the end of the book I read, about 12% of it, and also b) the story built differently than I thought it would so the actual climax was bigger and in a different place than I was expecting. I like it when a story surprises me by being better than I thought it was.
I'm not sure I'd reread this because parts of it were really hard to read (emotionally... see content warnings) but I am real excited about the sequel.
I put some content warnings on about transphobia, abuse, and some others - these are verbal threats and not physical assault. Some of them are graphic in nature and go on for a long time and the character has very serious emotional reactions to them. Some of them come from close family or friends. There is physical violence in this book but it's all super hero fighting. The main character has plenty of superpowers and could immediately take out anybody who tried to assault her, and nobody actually tries physical assault. But there is definitely emotional trauma and the effects are explicit.
I really liked this book. It made me cry several times. There's some heavy stuff and at the bottom of my review I've put some additional explanations of the content warnings I listed in spoiler tags; they're probably not spoilery per se so they're safe to read if you have questions about the content and don't want other kinds of spoilers. I'm not sure if there's a way to message on this site but if there is and you want to ask me any questions about the content warnings, I'd be happy to answer.
The characters in this book were very polarizing for me. Some of them I loved and wanted to hug all the time and cried because I loved them. And others I hated and wanted to shout at or put in time out or just... vanish them from Danielle's life. She's just a kid, and she saves the day several times, and she's perfect. She's got these really strong morals and her uncertainty and hesitations are so real - sometimes those kinds of things feel fake like they're just inserted to draw the story out but her self-discovery on the page was fantastic.
The pacing worried me a bit, but that's because a) there was a pretty big preview for book two at the end of the book I read, about 12% of it, and also b) the story built differently than I thought it would so the actual climax was bigger and in a different place than I was expecting. I like it when a story surprises me by being better than I thought it was.
I'm not sure I'd reread this because parts of it were really hard to read (emotionally... see content warnings) but I am real excited about the sequel.
I put some content warnings on about transphobia, abuse, and some others - these are verbal threats and not physical assault. Some of them are graphic in nature and go on for a long time and the character has very serious emotional reactions to them. Some of them come from close family or friends. There is physical violence in this book but it's all super hero fighting. The main character has plenty of superpowers and could immediately take out anybody who tried to assault her, and nobody actually tries physical assault. But there is definitely emotional trauma and the effects are explicit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Child abuse
Minor: Rape and Suicidal thoughts