Title: Dreadnought
Author: April Daniels
Series: Nemesis
Genre: YA Diverse Fantasy
Publication Date: Jan 24th, 2017
Pages: 276 (Paperback)
Publishers: Diversion Publishing
Rating:
Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero.
Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.
It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.
She doesn’t have much time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.
I really like this cover! It’s simple and I love the colours of it. The sunset in the background is gorgeous but I’m a sucker for a good sunset.
I really enjoyed the writing. The world building in this book is amazing. It’s a short book and there was a lot packed into this book but the info was never overwhelming or info-dumpy. This book is also OwnVoices which is amazing! I love going into OwnVoices books because you aren’t trying to guess whether the diverse rep in the book is accurate or not.
The plot of this book is a fairly basic superhero story. But it was different enough to not be boring. The plot twists were a bit obvious because they do follow the normal tropes. The whole plot of the book was amazing!
Okay, so this section is the reason the book didn’t get a higher rating. I do like the diverse rep though! Transgender, LGBT & Race diversity is all present.
I’m not actually sure if I like Danny, to be honest. I think it is because her personality is the polar opposite of my own, so the way she reacted to things frustrated me a lot. But that doesn’t make her a bad character. I know heaps of people love her from reading other reviews.
Most of the other superhero type characters I didn’t like that much really.. Doc was probably the most enjoyable but the bit of a plot twist at the end about her was just odd and confusing and I really hope they explain that more in book 2! Magma & Chlorophyll were okay but we didn’t see that much of them for me to form a solid opinion. Valkyrja, firstly, does anyone know how to pronounce this because I don’t even have a guess! She was also an okay character, but again, no solid opinion as we see so little of them except Doc. Carapace was just annoying and grumpy and Graywytch is just a transphobic ass.
Sarah/Calamity just straight out annoyed me. She was so demanding and controlling. so many people have said that she and Danny are together in a way, which I hate.. I’m already not a lover of romance but she would be going from one problem to another. Her father is always trying to control her and now that she is free of him she is under another controlling wing! Like god forbid if Danny suggests something that isn’t Calamity’s plan! I seriously hope she is better in book 2.
Overall for me, the characters need work or just need to be more present in the book so I don’t just feel like ‘yep, they are there’. The world building is really good, the writing was enjoyable and the plot was crazy action packed! Also, the rep and diversity are fabulous!
HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT?!
IF YOU ARE GOING TO SHARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS THEN PLEASE WARN IT SO OTHERS DON’T GET SPOILED!
Dusk Angel Reads 
You must be logged in to post a comment.