Sovereign by April Daniels

Sovereign by April Daniels

Review by Lauren

source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own

Official Summary (add on Goodreads): Only nine months after her debut as the fourth superhero to fight under the name Dreadnought, Danny Tozer is already a scarred veteran. Protecting a city the size of New Port is a team-sized job and she's doing it alone. Between her newfound celebrity and her demanding cape duties, Dreadnought is stretched thin, and it's only going to get worse. 

When she crosses a newly discovered supervillain, Dreadnought comes under attack from all quarters. From her troubled family life to her disintegrating friendship with Calamity, there's no trick too dirty and no lever too cruel for this villain to use against her. 

She might be hard to kill, but there's more than one way to destroy a hero. Before the war is over, Dreadnought will be forced to confront parts of herself she never wanted to acknowledge. 

And behind it all, an old enemy waits in the wings to unleash a plot that will scar the world forever.

Review: Sovereign is the second book in the Nemesis series, which follows the transgender superhero Danny Tozer. Danny is male-to-female and when she was granted the powers of Dreadnought, her body finally mirrored the way she felt on the inside. Danny is great at her job, but she has a lot of anger for a teenager. She's been through a lot, even with superhero powers, and everything seems to be mentally and emotionally catching up to her, even if her physical strength just gets better.

I loved the first book, Dreadnought, so I was really excited to read the sequel. I thought this one was just as good. I love the intricacies of superheros, the villains, and everything that goes into making these books. Daniels has an amazing imagination. While this series is fully developed, with a lot of great information, there are never any info dumps. Things are revealed as needed and it works! As for Sovereign, I really loved the journey that Daniels takes Danny on in terms of her anger and past traumas. I felt it was handled well, and as realistically as possible when dealing with super humans.

If you haven't read Dreadnought yet, please do, and if you have, then I hope you'll continue with Sovereign. 

Dreadnought by April Daniels

Dreadnought by April Daniels

Review by Lauren

source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own

Official Summary: Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of the world's greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, she was trying to keep people from finding out she's transgender. But then her second-hand superpowers transformed her 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 between her father's dangerous obsession with curing her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he's entitled to date her, and the classmate who is secretly a masked vigilante, Danny's first weeks living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. 

She doesn't have much time to adjust. Dreadnought's murderer, a cyborg named Utopia, still haunts the streets of New Port City. If Danny can't sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.

Review: In simple terms, this YA novel is about a transgender superhero. Doesn't that sound fantastic? It was that premise that immediately had me agreeing to review Dreadnought. This is just the first book in the Nemesis series and I can't wait to see where Daniels goes next.

Danny Tozer has always known she was a girl, even if everyone else thinks she needs to "man up", especially her overbearing, verbally abusive father. When the current superhero, Dreadnought, dies in front of Danny, she is given his mantle. Not only does Danny have superpowers, but she is also turned into the girl she always knew she was, and that's how Danielle Tozer comes to be.

It's not easy being Danny and you definitely appreciate the character as she's hit with challenge after challenge. Her dad is determined to turn her back into a boy, and while her mom seems to slowly accept the change, she's afraid to go up against her husband. During this time, Danny meets the other Legion superheros who worked with the previous Dreadnought. Danny is given throwaway colors to wear so she can practice her powers, instead of wearing Dreadnought's colors. While Danny loves her powers and wants to keep her new body, she's not sure she could ever live up to the original Dreadnought. I think most of us would feel the same way as a teenager, even if we weren't transgender like Danny.

One of the more prominent secondary characters is Calamity. She doesn't have superpowers, but she's a teenager like Danny, and she goes caping at night. Caping is essentially looking out for bad things to happen - like a robbery - and stopping them. She enlists Danny to help, and she loves it, but she's not really sure why Calamity hates the Legion so much.

All in all, this was a really enjoyable read. It could feel a bit long at times, but in general, I didn't want to stop reading. I was curious to see what obstacles Danny would have to face and how she worked through them. The ending is especially suspenseful and exciting!

Want to read Dreadnought? Check it out on amazon (I'm an affiliate- I get a small percent of any sales).