As if Danielle Tozer didn't have enough drama to worry about in the first book, in Sovereign we see her fighting lawyers to obtain her emancipation from her unsupportive and emotionally-damaging parents, protecting the whole city pretty much alone after the devastation of the first book, still fighting someone from the first book who just doesn't know when to quit, and then also a new character that's like Tony Stark gone bad.

As if that's not enough, she has girl troubles, back-stabbed by people she thought were friends, and then loses something that's literally the only thing that's keeping her going...

So to say this book is action packed is almost understating it. We have a wide range of characters you can't help but love, and you have to keep reading to make sure they all make it through okay in the end. You can follow the fight scenes as faultlessly as if they're a movie playing out in front of you, and everything makes more sense than most with how they need to recover afterwards - this isn't a book where it's like they get shot a dozen times but somehow keep moving. Even though they're superheroes (and villains), they still bleed.

What I really loved about this book (the difficult second book), was how much the characters have grown, and continue to grow in front of us. They're not all faultless and they make mistakes, yet they also don't overreact over their drama - they hurt, but they sort it out like actual humans. For a superhero book, these characters are more real than we usually see in literary fiction somehow.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait for more!

I'm in the middle of university exams, so I haven't had the chance to write a full review. However, the following brief note is my Goodreads review, and I'll try and expand on it during the summer if I can!

I think I liked this better than the first one, though, possibly because I knew what to expect and wasn't caught out by the tone the way I was the first time. In the first book, transphobia is a major theme, and I'd been expecting a much more lighthearted story, so it totally caught me out. This one had less of a focus on that side of things, though: while Dreadnought/Danny still has to face up to transphobic bigots, it's a more minor part of the narrative, and also I knew to expect it so wasn't caught out. I liked that the book featured a brief discussion of being intersex with regard to chromosomes, and the fact that many people have no reason to know they're intersex, but gender's not as clear cut as it seems. That was a nice touch.

There is SO MUCH going on in this one tiny little novel, and it is just so good. Okay, so maybe it's not one tiny little novel, but I managed to read it all in one sitting, so it seems really short. Maybe it's more that it's really good, so I found it impossible to put down until I was finished.

So this is the second novel in April Daniels' 'Nemesis' series, the first one being the equally amazing Dreadnought. Some would find it incredibly difficult to follow up such an amazing first novel with another of such calibre. Not April, apparently! Danielle/Dreadnought comes back just as powerfully from the very first pages of this new novel.

We start with a conversation between Danielle and her media representative, Cecilia, going over an interview and how she can do better. This is important for a number of reasons. First, it sets up that she's been interviewing, so that when we meet Kinetiq, a nonbinary superhero that Dreadnought has accidentally managed to rile up, it doesn't come out of left field. Secondly, it means that when she's trying to adopt a straight face and give nothing away in various interactions with the media, in court and with supervillains, it's convincing, ALL BECAUSE OF THIS SCENE.

Following that is a Comic Con for superheroes, located down in Antarctica (how cool is that conceptually, though??). This is actually where we meet Kinetiq. There is some stunning dialogue around here that manages to be both funny and serious as well as propelling the plot forward. If people are unsure about whether they are going to like Sovereign, this is probably around the time when they're going to decide, wholeheartedly, YES.

Can we also just talk about the cover art for this book, though? I know that's not technically something that a lot of authors have power over, but it's actually great because it sets the scene for so much about the way Dreadnought thinks about herself, her powers, the world, and is relevant to not just one but two incredibly important plot points that unravel throughout the story.

I think I'm doing pretty well talking about the story without spoilers so far, so let's get straight onto the character of Danielle/Dreadnought herself. First of all, everything is written in 1st person, so it's really hard not to feel like you are right there with her the whole way through. And she talks about some really intense things, like how she enjoys beating up people essentially for money. Several times, with a lot of analysis into the ethics of this. It's incredible, and not something that often gets brought up in superhero writing.

And if that wasn't enough, it then went into the consequences of where such things can lead for the second half of the story. I mean, this was just as perfectly built up as the plot points. April was very clever in her writing. It never seemed heavy handed, but things never seemed like they came out of nowhere for convenience sake, even if point A and point B weren't perfectly and directly linked. Reading this, I felt like I had a lot to learn as a writer, and I was definitely jotting down notes.

All in all, a fantastic follow up to Dreadnought. Just like last time, the TERF character of Greywytch was difficult to read, but I have high hopes that we won't be seeing her in book 3. Regardless, you better believe that's going to be on my shelves as soon as it's announced.

3.5 stars. While the ending was worth it, this is definitely not book one. No one is sadder than I am about the fact that this sequel does not quite live up to book one. I liked book one a lot, but I think this one feels like the same thing repeated and I'm not into superhero novels enough to really care.

Pointless sequels are honestly an epidemic that needs to stop. This entire book felt pretty pointless. Yes, there were a few loose threads after book one, but Danny had a great character arc and got some good friends. Here, it's as if she barely developed in book one. The entire arc is sort of new, but it all feels like a bit of a rehash.

The only “new” thing in this book was the romantic arc. No one is more shocked than I am, but I found Sara and Danny underwhelming here. While they made for a shippable dynamic in book one, I found their romantic buildup here so instantaneous. One minute they're fighting, next they're together. It was so disappointing. I really wanted the tension to be drawn out in a better way, even with just one more angsty scene before they got together, because their getting together was so anticlimactic and boring. They are still cute, and I have to admit, it was awesome to see Danny get a gf. There are SO few trans wlw in media. I think Nomi and Amanita from the Netflix show sense8 are probably the only other example I can think of. I can't think of any in YA lit.

Okay, we need to talk about Graywytch's entire character and inclusion. Graywytch is a transphobe and a villain. The fact that she's a villain does not bother me at all; I can totally understand and appreciate her being villainized by the narrative. My issue is that this very human, true-to-life villain talks like a comic. She comes off as a comical plot device rather than a very real threat to trans people. Using transphobia as a plot device just really rubs me the wrong way. I don't know how to word this, exactly, but I really dislike the fact that a real threat talks like a comic book villain. I feel like she's in here to tell cisgender people “hey, Danny's life sucks” and I appreciate that, but I don't think it's executed well. I feel like she'd be more terrifying and educational to cis people if she felt real, and right now, she feels like someone's parody of a comic book novel.

It's not really bad; Danny's still funny, the concept is still great, the action scenes are still pretty well-written, I loved the inclusion of an nb character. And the ending was fantastic; in fact, I think the ending may have been worth the struggle. All in all, the book was still good. But until the last 15%, I couldn't shake the feeling that book one should've been a standalone. Get Danny and Sara tentatively together at the end of book one, leave it there. Perfect. This lukewarm sequel isn't doing anyone favors.

Danny is trying to pick up the pieces after her big fight with supervillian Utopia. She's getting a contract with the city that'll make her financially independent, she's going to court to win her independence from her mentally abusive parents, and she just might have a way to revive the Legion. She couldn't have seen this problem coming.

Ultra rich guy Richard Garrison contacts her about a project he'd love to involve her in--and she's stunned when she finds out what it is. When she flatly turns him down, he and an old nemesis of Danny's hold her hostage and do terrible things to try to forward their agenda.

Escaping and saving the world are both paramount, but Danny also needs to make sure her friends are ok--after all, one of her closest friends in an identity crisis, and the other has Danny feeling inadequate despite her superpowers.

Sovereign is the second book in the Nemesis series, and this plucky little series about a trans superhero keeps moving along at pretty fast pace. We get some great character development from Danny, who is learning to live with PTSD and a demolished personal confidence. We see all the day to day life issues she has as well as her becoming stronger and dealing with them, making friends and healing.

The second novel is every bit as good as the first, and I really hope another is on the way soon.

The Following Review will be posted on my blog, The Crown of Books on June 24th around Noon EST.

Back in January, I came across the first book in the series, Dreadnought, and knew I wanted to read the book immediately. Luckily, I was able to request the book on NetGalley and was approved. I was so happy that I was approved because I knew that I was going to enjoy it. As a matter of fact, I did. When I was done with the book, I saw that there was going to be a sequel and I knew I wanted it then and kept an eye out for it. When it became available on NetGalley, I pressed request right away. After a few days, I was approved. I am just glad that I was able to read and review both amazing books.

In Sovereign, the story takes place 9 months after Dreadnought's debut, first major battle, and its consequences after it. She also becomes across a new super villain that wants to change the world in a better way. Only that "better" may not be the way you think it is. Danny has to solve how to defeat this super villain once and for all while juggling other duties like dealing with her parents and an old enemy.

Between Dreadnought and Sovereign, you can tell that the two books are connected perfectly, even with the time jump. While Dreadnought's life was adjusted and impacted, Danny's life dealt with similarities between the books, namely her parents and a specific former teammate. I liked seeing that we were dealing with new problems and issue but not all the problems were gone. It gave a nice form of continuity between the books.

Sovereign was just as good as Dreadnought, or perhaps even a little bit better. I loved seeing all the characters again, and enjoyed reading about the new characters as well. They added a certain atmosphere in the story that I liked. Even though the second book was just as good, it faced a similar problem. The world building was still kept to a limit although a new setting for the book was created wonderfully and described well. Only New Port lacked a little bit of world building again. More information was added, but I was still looking for more overall.

One thing I also enjoyed was seeing the relationship between Danny and Sarah evolve. In the beginning, you quickly discover that after the first book, tension has brewed between the two. As the story progressed, you would think that the relationship would not survive, but they were trying, or at least Danny was. When a friend reveals an important information, Danny didn't know what to think, or didn't even realize it. When I came to this point, I didn't even realize it either. I just did not see it coming at all. All I can say is that I liked how the relationship came to be.

If you enjoyed the first book, you have to read this book. It is just as good as the first book and introduces new characters that adds to the story. This was the perfect sequel to the original story.

The start was a little bit slow but once the part with the more action in it starts it gets really good. The story shows different parts of Danny and how she can be defeated in different ways - it is a good story about family, love, action and superheroes and super villains. It is not a typical romance but it still has some romantic parts in it.

This was a really great sequel! It had a slower start which made me worried, but once the action got started it didn't stop. We got to see more of favorite characters from the first book, and got introduced to some great new ones too (Red Steel was my favorite.) Overall, a worthy sequel and I can't wait to see what happens next!