It’s no secret that I love superheroes. Very much. I used to appreciate a good one every once in a while, and a bad one a little too often that I would like, but this past year that appreciation blew up. (I blame my friends and the DCEU. Thanks assholes.) I found out about Dreadnought while I was on a animated teenage superheroes high and, well, you can all probably guess what happened.

Dreadnought takes place in a world not unlike ours – it IS ours, just more scientifically advanced and with superheroes. Danny is transgender and her primary worry is how to deal with being a girl when everyone is convinced she’s a boy. It’s definitely not dying-in-her-arms superheroes who aren’t supposed to even be able to die, nor are they fending off supervillains with incredibly powerful weapons that threaten to destroy the world. But as the current Dreadnought dies, he gives Danny his powers and with that comes the best gift she could ever receive – her outside finally reflects her inside. But her family just can’t seem to accept that Danny is a girl. Along with that, she now has to deal with her newfound superpowers, the Legion of superheroes who aren’t all positively inclined towards her, all the while balancing school, prejudice, her vigilante classmate, and her best friend being a douchebag. Oh, and a cyborg supervillain who wants to take over the world.

Listen, if you don’t want to rush off and read this book after reading the synopsis, well, then you’re wrong. (Or just not a fan of superheroes? Which I guess is okay. To each their own.) I definitely did want to do that. Granted, it took me longer than necessary to get to this book, and my expectations where through the roof, and while I can’t say I inhaled it, I can’t say I hated it either.

The writing itself was pretty good. It was engaging and easy enough to follow, except for the actions scenes but I’m not going to blame the book too much for those because I tend to struggle with those on a regular basis. It’s the world-building I had a problem with. I feel like there isn’t enough introduction to the world and how it all works. I get that there are more important issues and the author probably wanted to have more space to explore them. Understandable. But it would’ve been nice to have a little more exposition.

The main characters were a delight. I love Danny, my heart goes out to her. There’s so much rawness to her character, so much pain, but she’s also such a strong force. (And not just physically.) She doesn’t back down. Her strength is something to admire and aspire to. Calamity is also a really strong character and a perfect co-pilot for Danny. The two make an incredible team. I did feel like the rest were a bit too good-guys-bad-guys, I do tend to like my heroes more morally ambiguous and less black/white. Still, Utopia was an interesting villain. I wish we’d gotten to explore her character a little bit more.

But, in the end, Dreadnought isn’t all about superheroes and supervillains. This book shines a light on some of the ugly sides of society and its extreme narrow-mindedness. But it also radiates empowerment. Danny is a transgirl, living in a society that is still largely prejudiced, despite living among advanced technologies and metahumans. But she still stands strong. She owns her gender, her identity and doesn’t let anyone take it away from her. It’s an important lesson to teach, to learn, to accept.

There are a thousand things more to be said, but it isn’t my place to say them. I can say, however, that this book, despite the small issues I had with it, is a good book. An important book. A quick, enjoyable read that you get so much out of. I really loved going on adventures with Danny and Calamity and I can’t wait to see where the second book will take them.

As someone who is genderqueer, I'm still not sure how I feel about 'transforming bodies.' I came into it with hesitation but excitement at the idea of a trans superhero. I wasn't let down. It balances being a book that addresses trans issues without becoming an issue book. I'm all for books that allow queer adventures!

Before I delve into my thoughts on Dreadnought I want to scream from the rooftops that this book is about a trans superhero. HELLS TO THE YES.

1) Danny is precious.

I wanted to protect Danny throughout this entire book. My mother hen most definitely reared its clucky head because I cannot help but want to protect people who are being treated like shit. Which Danny was for the most part in this book. And that made me want to dive in and be the person that she needed – the one that supported her no matter what, and loved her for everything that she is. Danny does make a friend in Calamity, but I also wanted someone else for her, someone who was soft and loving. I hope that that person comes along at some point in the series.

Danny starts off the book as a normal human, who is then endowed with superpowers from the superhero Dreadnought. And even though she gains superhuman strength and thus becomes incredibly strong physically, I think her standout quality was her emotional strength. She goes through a lot in this book, and even though at times she feels helpless she never gives up. I had such pride and admiration for her because of that. Not everyone would be able to cope with the shit that is piled on Danny in Dreadnought.

2) It is so obviously #ownvoices.

And, of course, I mean this in the best way possible. There are so many traps that cis writers fall into when writing trans characters, and there’s always that feeling that you get when you read them where you’re just like: this is so obviously a cis writer writing about being trans. And it was so completely the opposite in Dreadnought. WE NEED MORE TRANS BOOKS WRITTEN BY TRANS AUTHORS OMG.

The authenticity of Danny’s experience as a transgirl felt so incredibly real, and it really just spoke to the heart. If you’ve ever wanted to pick up a book with a trans MC please make it this one.

3) I didn’t like a lot of the superheroes.

I liked Doc Impossible, although she did mess up quite a bit, and that resulted in pain on Danny’s behalf so I find it hard to forgive her. I did like Valkyrja, because she was sweet and Danny’s crush on her was ADORABLE. But the rest of them were assholes. And that was quite interesting because it’s like … just because you save the world doesn’t mean that you’re a kind person. So many of the Legion Pacifica (this book’s Avengers-like group) were super un-accepting or just silent in the face of the transphobia that Danny was facing, which was not okay.

The superhero that I disliked the most was Graywytch. I absolutely despised her and her transphobia. Also the way she constantly misgendered Danny and called her “young man”. Mother hen = activated. I really hope that she is taken down a notch (or, you know, a thousand) because I don’t want to see that person hurt Danny anymore.

4) So much exploration.

I guess that point doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but I’ll try to explain.

When Danny is given the powers of Dreadnought, her body transforms from male to female (I apologise if this terminology is shit, I don’t know how to explain it any other way). So people immediately assume that she IDs as a girl (which she does, but let us all remember that femininity =/= identifying as a girl), which leads to Danny experiencing sexism in a way that she mightn’t have faced before e.g. people assuming she can’t do certain things because she’s a girl.

One of the superheroes in the group is a cis gay guy, but isn’t supportive of Danny. I felt like this was a great thing to include because the LGBTQIA+ community isn’t perfect, and there are cis people who are queer but not supportive of transgirls (or any people who aren’t cis). It was sad to see Danny get excited about not being the only non-cishet person in the group, but then get let down by the guy.

Danny’s best friend, a cishet guy, suddenly assumed that Danny will date him when she comes out to him as trans after her Dreadnought transformation. He was a total asshole and we will never speak of him again.

There was absolutely zero support from Danny’s parents, even though in the beginning it looked like her mum might be supportive. But neither of them were, and both were very into the “let’s fix you” mindset, which was hard and sad to read about because dammit I just wanted Danny to be accepted and loved by her own parents.

5) It balanced action and development.

Don’t think that Dreadnought is 100% all about being a superhero and fighting the bad guys. There is quite a bit of that stuff, but there’s also a lot of Danny figuring out what life is like now that she’s out as a transgirl, and also trying to figure out if she really wants to be the world’s best superhero. I liked that Danny didn’t just dive into being an amazing superhero out to save the world because people die that way and she’s only fifteen. The balance between the two was pretty well handled.

~

Overall, I really enjoyed Dreadnought. There is literally no other book like it out there, and I highly recommend it if you want to read a book with a trans MC, an LGBTQIA+ book that isn’t contemporary, or an awesome #ownvoices book.

© 2017, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

This book was imaginative and touching. It features a transgender protagonist and really delves deeper into her mindset. By using her transition to a superhero to form the background for her gender transformation, Danny's challenges are multiplied and multi-dimensional. The world building is fantastic and rich, the characters diverse, and Danny is a joy to read. At times she will make your heart hurt, and at other times you will be fist pumping along with her! I highly recommend!

I tried reading this book and its a DNF - sorry I'm not feeling it.

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!

I did enjoy this book. I liked the characters, and parts of the story were really interesting to me.

But, I something about this book felt a little "gimmicky". And I'm not sure which aspect was; the Superhero aspect, or the Transgender aspect.

This is the first time I've read a book about a Transperson, and to be honest, that was the main reason why I picked up this book. I've read many books featuring Gay and Lesbain characters. But I'd never encountered one about Transpeople. I wanted to understand what it's like for them better. But the way this one was done, honestly left me more confused than I was when I started. I don't know if the author wanted to write a book about superheroes and then decided to make the MC a Transperson, or Visa-Versa. The flow of the two story aspects didn't really feel like they flowed together all that seamlessly for me. And I am legitimately confused at how a person can be Trans, and be attracted to the gender they identify as. I didn't know that was a thing. (Forgive me if this review comes across as insensitive, I honestly don't know anything about Transpeople) Danny's parents were some very believable characters, the best friend character less so. I didn't really buy his reaction to Danny's change. It felt like a forced and unneeded subplot.

The book is very well written, and as I mentioned the characters are great. I do recommend this to people who want to read more diverse books. I know my previous paragraph makes it sound like I don't really like this book, but I do. It has issues, beyond my confusion on Transpeople (as that isn't the book's fault but mine.)

The world is very interesting but needs polishing and maybe some better explanation. Some of it felt a little like an info-dump at times. While I did enjoy this book, I don't know if I will be continuing the series. It depends on my mood when the book comes out.

4*!

First of all, this is a great book. Just had to get that out there. I'm not overly a fan of first person present - it has to be handled well with lots of personality for me to lose the feeling of "this is a script!" - but in April's hands it was expertly done. I was immediately immersed in Danny's story.

Secondly, but no less importantly, this is an OwnVoices, LGBT+ book. The main character is trans, and as April herself has said, a lot of the trans in media, when you can find rep, involves the transition and what the person goes through rather than the afterwards and focusing on their life / character in general.

Here, we have someone who clearly identifies as trans from the first page - Danny's identity is extremely important throughout as it should be - but it's not centered around that alone. Danny gets to have an adventure, she gets to have superpowers, she gets to save people! And STILL try and get used to her new body, and both new roles in society.

Of course it's not that simple. As is unfortunately the case in real life, not everyone accepts that Danny is trans, including her parents and best friend. It's somehow easier for them to accept her superpowers than it is her gender identity. It's part of what makes this truly grounded in reality rather than "I'm changed and everything is fine!" because as truly wonderful as that would be, it's not a common occurrence.

Danny herself is a truly likeable character with wit and I understood her moments of weakness or dispair wholeheartedly. I never doubted why she chose what she chose, the reasons were there. She reacts as you'd expect a 15 year old would, having the same doubts and defiances against oppressors who would rather shake her identity than have her happy as she is.

As for the others, I enjoyed Doctor Impossible, and the (majority) of the side characters. I didn't warm to Calamity at first, as my suspicions were raised (is she a plant!?) but her interactions with Danny were a good foil for showing how responsible Danny is. Her sense of right and wrong, going to school, doing homework - that doesn't go out of the window just because she's now practically invincible.

It's not without its faults - some of the chapters didn't flow as fast as others with some scenes slowing the pace, and David, the best friend, wasn't as well developed in my opinion to make me feel more upset when he pulled a total dickbag move. But I was still pissed with him, and my heart stayed with Danny throughout.

All in all I thoroughly recommend people to pick up this book. We need more books like this; fresh and original, and having taken lots of care.

Thank you Netgalley and Diversion Books for giving me a copy of this important novel!

Oh my. This was fun! Danny is such a loveable and strong character, you just can't help yourself and love her. It's a fun and light superhero story but at the same time it's serious and thought-provoking.

The story follows Danny who is a girl in a boy's body but after the superhero Dreadnought dies in front of her and passes his power to her, Danny's body transforms into that of a girl. Now Danny has two lives to struggle with: her normal life and her superhero life.

In her normal life, Danny has to deal with the consequences of her body being transformed. Her dad is transphobe and tries to "make a man out of her", yells and screams at her and insults her. Her mom doesn't speak up for her either. Apart from problems at home, school life is also not easy. Her best friend David thinks just because she has a girl's body now he's entitled to date her but the fact is, Danny is gay and it's awesome.

Her superhero life is not all rainbows and sunshine either, unfortunately, as the members of the "Legion Pacifia" (the "good" superheroes) dismiss her because Danny is too young with her 15 years or because they are also transphobe, for example Graywytch. While the others are nice, like Valkyrja (whom Danny has a crush on) they don't take her really seriously.

Now, I've made it look like this book is very dark and while it has its dark aspect, it's also lighthearted. Danny has a fantastic friendship with Calamity, I love them together and each on their own. Calamity's Western persona is really cool and funny, the stuff she says had me laughing.
Another character, Doc Impossible, is awesome, too, and the only memeber of the Legion who really respects Danny and Doc Impossible is very cool for herself, too, she is one of the best.

As this is also a superhero novel, you would expect some action and you'll get it. But the most of it is towards the end of the book. And while I didn't mind the scenes without any action it was just a bit unbalanced in that aspect, so the pacing of the book was a bit bumpy, too.

Overall, this was an empowering and diverse ownvoices book, very enjoyable!

I really loved how the synopsis gives almost nothing away. I enjoyed how Danny dealt with learning to become Dreadnought as well as navigating having the body she always wanted. Danny experiences a bit of transphobia, but the support system Danny gains overtakes any feelings that she isn’t really a girl. Obviously, I’m not intending to spoil anything, but I really appreciated the ending of the story as it felt like a real superhero story ending. I’m excited for book two. Overall, this book is a superhero story that happens to feature a trans-main character and I love it for that.

This book is a welcome and wondrous addition to the superhero genre.

Danny is a fresh and wonderful voice to add to existing science-fiction heroes. Trans, lesbian, and a superhero. She was powerful and weak, brave and utterly terrified, and she was so deeply sympathetic. Her journey was compelling and allowed her trans identity to be so central to what was happening her. In such an unlikely scenario for her to be able to have the body she has always wanted, her journey comes across as so honest in both its positives and negatives. I appreciate that she has fierce support in her corner, while also highlighting how those who are transphobic can be even more threatening as villains in some ways than actual supervillains.

The experiences Danny has with transphobic parents and friends, along with the horrible TERF that is Graywytch, were villainous enough to make the story compelling, but this book also had the strength of a villain like Utopia. Utopia is mysterious and seemingly carries some kind of morality within her, which makes her a villain able to hold her own in a story already so jam-packed with characters. Not only that, but I appreciate the fact that there was no shirking of diversity for side characters. Having read so much YA that features a single diverse main character and just assuming that that is enough, this book embraces the diversity around Danny and calls attention to it in specific and authentic ways. Sarah's experiences with her latinx family in particular were supremely well written and only allowed me to love her more.

What was immediately apparent about this book was the strength of the worldbuilding as well. April Daniels crafts a new history, one that is fairly seamlessly incorporated with our own, and while you never feel lost within all of the terms and characters being thrown your way, I also don't think we are ever talked down to as readers. We understand what we need to know, and we adjust to knowing everything we don't over time. It was a great mix of telling and showing, and it made the world one of my new favorites in YA.

Overall, I loved so much about this book. I loved Danny, the complex personalities of those within the Legion Pacifica, the ways Danny struggles to be who she wants to be after years of hyper-masculine socialization, and so much more. I was left wanting more, and wanting more as soon as possible. Good thing the sequel is only a few months away.

I love that Dreadnought is a thing that exists in the world more than I actually enjoyed reading the book, though I did rather like it. It's being marketed as great for fans of last year's The Heroine Complex and Not Your Sidekick, and both of those were titles that I just never did quite manage to get around to reading, mostly because I'm not super into super hero stories. Like these other books, Dreadnought centers around an unconventional protagonist, in this case a fifteen-year-old closeted trans girl named Danny who has to quickly come to terms with her identity when she is unexpectedly gifted with both superpowers and the body she's always known she should have. Danny is a smart, plucky, relatable heroine who I expect will be an education for some readers and a much-needed bit of representation for others. Nonetheless, Dreadnought is a book that I read with the constant awareness that it wasn't for me. Danny's story of self-discovery and actualization is one that will be compelling for any reader, but I imagine it will resonate most deeply with readers who share more of Danny's experiences as a trans girl.

Superhero narratives have long dealt with issues surrounding identity and marginalization, and author April Daniels has written a novel firmly in that tradition. Daniels' geek credentials are on full display here, and it's obvious that she has a thorough knowledge of genre conventions, which she deploys in a perfectly pitched tale that is both a top notch example of its type and a wholly fresh take on a set of familiar tropes. Dreadnought's fairly straightforward hero's journey structure is a tried and true framework that works well here to provide a foundation upon which Daniels can build a strong, clearly messaged modern superhero story. It's an excellent example of the value of not reinventing the wheel, and Daniels shows a good instinct for when to utilize common tropes and when to subvert or interrogate them for maximum effect.

I love that there's no real preamble to Danny's story. Daniels digs right into things from the first page, with Danny undergoing her transformation almost immediately and being thrust into a vastly changed life by chapter two. The pace of events never does let up, which makes for fast reading. I didn't make it through Dreadnought in a single reading session, but only because I had other obligations that kept me from it. Each scene in the novel feels necessary and has an easily identifiable purpose, moving along the plot, fleshing out characters, or communicating part of the book's message. This trimness is a great asset, especially in the YA market where the fashion for some years now has been great sprawling, meandering fantasy stories with indistinct characters and bland ideas. At an economical 276 pages, Dreadnought is a refreshing departure from that trend.

Trans issues take up a lot of page space in Dreadnought, but I still wouldn't say its a particularly message-heavy title. Danny is a transgender teen, so she's got a lot of stuff to deal with, but Daniels presents it all matter-of-factly and in a naturalistic enough fashion that most of it feels about the same as reading about any other teen drama. It's not that Danny's struggles with parents, friends, doctors, and various associates aren't specific to her trans-ness; it's just that these things seldom feel like the point of the book. While Danny's trans-ness figures largely in the novel and is inextricably bound up with her superhero abilities, being trans is only one part of Danny's character, and many of the scenarios Danny must deal with as a teen with sudden superpowers are pretty standard stuff for the genre. Sure, she has to deal with some blatant transphobia from her parents and others, and that will no doubt be new to many readers, but a lot of her problems are still just versions of the same banal coming of age crap everyone has to deal with as a teenager trying to figure out their place in the world.

In most ways, Dreadnought is a run of the mill teen power fantasy. It's always obvious who the villains are in this book, and while it doesn't flinch away from depicting some darkness, I never felt any real fear that the bad guys were going to win. Even the authorial choice to complicate things by exploring the double-edged nature of super powers as both blessing and curse and the decision to interrogate the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" thing isn't altogether new or particularly noteworthy. It's well done, though, and it's still sadly rare for there to be a book like this written by a trans woman about a trans girl. April Daniels offers a fresh perspective into her topics of choice and has created a great character with whom a disgracefully under-served population will be able to identify. Dreadnought isn't an exceedingly ambitious novel, but it is a well-written, highly entertaining, and ultimately optimistic origin story of a heroine I look forward to reading more about.

This review will be posted on my blog, The Crown of Books on February 4th around noon time EST.

"My name is Danielle Tozer. I am a girl. No one is strong enough to take that from me anymore."

In this coming of age tale, Danny's dream comes true when a powerful hero, Dreadnought, passes his mantle onto her before his untimely death, therefore making Danny the girl she's always dreamed of being.

I am always one for hero tales. They always stand out for me for some reason. When this story came forward to me, I was a drawn in by the cover only. A super hero tale, with a female main protagonist? I had to read it. When I read over the synopsis, I knew story this was going to be different. I have never read a story that involved a transgender person and I was curious of how this was going to be different than other stories involving heroes and powers. This story is also an #OwnVoices story, which is also a first for me.

In this world, there are heroes everywhere and they have been around for hundreds of years. They call these heroes Capes. The good heroes are called the White Capes, and the evil villains are called the Black Capes. There are Gray Capes as well, and these are the heroes that like to bend the rules (mostly towards the greater good). The Legion Pacifica Team, the main group of heroes in the story, are White Capes. The cyborg villain, Utopia, is the ultimate Black Cape. Danny wants to help the greater good, but struggle if she wants to be an official White Cape.

If you thought this was going to be tale of everything going smoothly for the main protagonist, think otherwise. Everything was not as easy for Danny as she would have liked it to be. She had to keep being a girl a secret from everyone, especially her father, who is the manly man type of guy. After receiving the mantle and the transformation, Danny's father views her new transformation as an illness and keeps promising her to find a "cure" to fix her. As Danny's father tries to find a cure, their relationship struggles more as her father's transphobia shows more in the form of disrespect and transphobic slurs. Danny really wants to stay her true self, but her father wants none it. Even one of the heroes in the story still calls her a boy on purpose and offers no support.

In this story, you really get to know Danny and you can't help but love this character. I found myself supporting this character throughout the entire journey she had. I wanted nothing but the best for her and I was glad to see that she formed a new friendship through Calamity, a Gray Cape. Their friendship was one for the story and was exactly what Danny needs for everything she struggled with.

The only suggestion I had was there were areas that could have used a little more information, world building the most. We did learn the history of the superheroes and where they came from, but we could of used a little more world building for the current day.

There is nothing I can do, but to recommend this book to everyone. I can't wait to see what else happens in Danny's journey (ever since that ending happened) and to hope the best for her. This has definitely opened my eyes and I hope to find more #OwnVoices and read more of them.

Dreadnought: Nemesis By April Daniels
ACR thru Diversion Books
ISBN: 978-1-68230-067-1

Summary: Sometimes hero's are born, some are made by accident, and other are gifted with their powers. Daniel “Danny” always knew he was trapped in the wrong body. He fought hard to keep it a secret from him family and best friend, but he could not hide it from Dreadnought, the worlds best super hero. As Danny held his dying body he transferred his power, or his mantle, to him transforming him in to Danielle. Danny could not believe that he was what he always wanted be, a girl! Danny is thrust into a world that she is not ready for, but is she ready to give up the one thing that she has wished all her life for? Danny was not sure wither or not she could live up the Dreadnought name, but knew she wanted to help others and she wanted to make a difference in the lives of people around her. Can she fight her fathers' constant need to get his son back, and her mothers tears to make her dreams and wishes come true.

RAVES: This is a wonderful book, this is what young Trans-Gender teens are looking for, their own superhero! This book was wonderfully written and it was heart breaking as well. I enjoyed reading it very much. The plot line and theme of the story was strong. It was easy to understand what exactly was going on. Even though I am not trans-gender I did fill a connection to the main character. My heart broke for her as she fought for her independence and her identity.

RANTS: I would have loved to read more about what the relationship and how it progressed once Danny took on the persona Dreadnought. Hopefully April will give us more explication in her next book.

STARS: I give this book a 5 out of 5 star review. This book is a great book for young boys and girls who are fighting to find their sexual identity.

HOW TO GET IT: If you want to read about Danny and our newest superhero then connect with Diversion Books on twitter @DiversionBooks; on facebook.com/DiversionBooks

With a classic superhero fix that would do Marvel proud and a protagonist that speaks from the heart, Dreadnought is the book you didn’t know your soul needed, but it answered just the same.

Sometimes the world is a bleak and terrifying place and so much seems hopeless. All we can do is fight through the darkness and stand strong in our convictions. Dreadnought is that quintessential story. The world can be a cruel place for those who are different and humanity can leave a lot to be desired. Dreadnought is a story of strength, hope, and perseverance, of embracing what you know in your heart and not letting anyone tell you different, despite the adversity and fear.

Danny (Danielle) Tozer has lived her life in a body she feels betrayed her. I’ve never had such a keen insight into a character and their emotions. Danny’s story reflects the boxes that our sex puts us in, the way that society pushes and crafts each child into perceived ideas of masculinity and femininity. Danny has always known she was female, despite being anatomically male. She talks about how she gradually was pushed out of a circle of girls that she was friends with, how she was pushed into sports, and what she was expected to act like to assume the role of a male. My heart broke a little more with each loss, because that’s what they are deaths. It didn’t matter if Danny wanted to hold her books is a “girly” way, she was criticized for being too feminine and forced to adjust even the smallest of her mannerisms for fear of reprimand, even if part of her was dying inside with each small defeat. It’s eye-opening. How many times are people dismissive? How many times do people say, what’s the big deal, it’s a choice, what’s it matter, just hold your books differently? When you’re hit with Danny’s emotions and how it’s slowly killing her inside to relinquish even the tiniest bit of herself to satisfy society’s need to dichotomize, it cuts deeply. It’s powerful and insightful and will make you see the world differently. A transgender superhero. This makes my heart happy.

Dangerous forms of masculinity and femininity are summarized in Danny’s parents. I felt sick and disgusted by the way Danny’s father treats her and the way her mother cowers. The verbal abuse is gut-wrenching. There are all sorts of abuse and words can be just as painful and damaging as physical blows. I felt rage and hatred, and so sad for Danny. All she wants is to be accepted for who she is and the people who are supposed to love her unconditionally cast her aside.

Throw in randomly gaining a superhero mantle on top of all this emotional turmoil. Obviously the adrenaline and emotions are high. The Legion is full of a diverse cast of superheroes that are both memorable, occasionally prejudiced, and super interesting.

Calamity. I LOVE HER. She’s a little clichéd, but that’s her schtick. She’s funny, reckless, smart, and daring. The way she accepts Danny right off the bat and befriends her is sort of serendipitous and heartwarming.

That being said, the world building was iffy. There were details just thrown in as explanation. Things weren’t clearly defined. They were more broad than anything.

Utopia’s plan for domination is creative and she’s complex as a villain. However, all of these plot points were piled on at once and a little much. There’s not much spacing. The reveal too was so in your face that it didn’t pack the punch it could have. Some of the action scenes were too step-by-step and lasted an abnormally long time. Not in the sense that they dragged, because the description was epic, but you kind of wanted them to hurry up so we could get to the next catastrophe.

#ownvoices trans girl superhero! Woohoo! Loved the concept a lot. Danny was a great MC, and I enjoyed her friendly (maybe more???) relationship with the "gray" caper Calamity.

The book has a loooooot of slurs and emotional violence directed right at Danny for being trans. While I appreciated the story of a girl overcoming the voices who put her down, it made me very frustrated that the ones who supported her ended up being punished and the biggest aggressors walked away scot-free.

Maybe this will be resolved in the next book, but I don't think I will be reading it. Just hurt *me* too much to get through this. Others, including trans girls, may find a lot of hope here.

***e-ARC provided by NetGalley***

Dreadnought by April Daniels

Pros: complex issues, great world-building, transgender protagonist

Cons: a few minor complaints

When the superhero Dreadnought dies in front of Danny, he gives the teen his mantel, which changes Danny’s body from male to female. Now in the body she’s always wanted, Danny’s never been happier, though she feels guilty about how she got it. Her new body also causes her new problems, as her parents and schoolmates finally see the real her, and not everyone’s happy with her transition. The superhero community is different from what Danny’s always believed, and she faces several difficult choices - including whether to go after the supervillain who killed Dreadnought.

The book deals with several complex issues, not the least of which is Danny’s gender transition. I appreciated that the author didn’t pull punches, and showed Danny’s conflicted emotions and real consequences for both long term and short term actions.

It was great seeing a transgender protagonist, and the author showed how difficult things are: from coming out to friends and family, dealing with opposition, and learning to feel good in your skin. I especially appreciated the scenes where Danny learns about make-up and gets her first bra. While the book didn’t make me cry, I did feel for Danny on multiple occasions and was frankly shocked by a lot of the things that happened.

While Dreadnought is described as being invincible - his death notwithstanding, Danny quickly realizes she has limitations and can still feel pain and hurt herself. So there was tension and actual concern during fights that things might not go well for her.

I also appreciated that there was no romance in the book. There were times I thought the author was heading in that direction, but Danny had so much to deal with already, I think a love interest would have been too much. Having said that, I wouldn’t mind seeing a romance develop in later books.

The world-building is quite good, with some basic history into where super humans come from and how they’ve impacted recent history. While you don’t learn everyone’s backstories, some of them - specifically Calamity’s - are very realistic. Others are brushed off as comic book style transformations (specifically ones dealing with mythological or mystical origins).

The plot is great. while I saw one or two of the complications that cropped up, I was blindsided by most of the plot twists. The mystery of Utopia’s identity kept me guessing, and I enjoyed seeing Calamity teach Danny the ropes of ‘caping’.

I had a few minor complaints, like Danny’s insistence that her best friend would come around to her new body quickly. Considering the fact that Danny didn’t feel she could share that she was transgender with him, something about her friend must have tipped her off to the fact that she couldn’t trust him with the news.

I also had trouble picturing the action in some of the airplane rescue scenes, though the author did a great job explaining Danny’s powers in other scenes.

This is a fantastic debut and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the series progresses.

Danny lives in a world where superheroes exist right alongside regular folks – the catch though, is that when a hero dies, their mantel is passed on for someone new to step into the role and that’s exactly what happens the day Dreadnought dies. Danny, several cities away from home and crouched behind a building so she can paint her toenails in privacy, is in the wrong place at the wrong time: just as there are superheroes, there are supervillains and Utopia is the baddest of them all. As they’re engaged in a fierce battle, Uptopia blasts Dreadnought out of the sky, sending him plummeting to the ground…and right into Danny’s path.

Dreadnought is teetering on the brink of death and in his final moments, he passes on the title of Dreadnought to Danny – and it’s not what she expected. As she takes on the name and powers, she also takes on an entirely new body – literally. Inside Danny has always felt like a girl, she knew she was a girl, and now she has the body to prove it. Unfortunately for Danny, while she might be over the moon with her new outward appearance, those around her aren’t quite as readily accepting. Not to mention there’s still that nasty business with Utopia to attend to.

I…did not like this book. At all. There’s been such a huge surge lately of LGBT novels in YA (particularly Middle Grade!) and I’m loving it, so right off the bat I was looking forward to this novel about a transgender superhero. Sadly, almost immediately I realized Dreadnought was not the book I had hoped for. Instead of a novel devoted to the trials and tribulations of a transgender character (I really wanted to get inside her head and experience her thoughts and feelings), Danny gets her magical makeover in the first chapter.

Dreadnought felt like a series of barely-connected daydreams. You know the ones where you finally tell your boss what you think of him? Or how you imagine you’re walking down the street and, out of nowhere, a blazing inferno erupts at a hospital – but no fear, for you’ve managed to save every last child and are dubbed a national hero? Those kind of daydreams. That’s exactly what reading this book felt like: a string of fantasies that are held together by the flimsiest plot ever. Danny, now Dreadnought, discovers her body is not only able to withstand horrific injury (she saves a flaming airplane from crashing into the ground) but she’s also in perfect shape and has an amazingly massive chest, which her BFF can’t stop staring at (of course) and, gosh, she practically has to beat him off with a stick because now he wants to date her after years and years of believing her to be male. She comes to huge blows with her father – an absurd character who was only included so the book would have a bad guy, since Utopia didn’t appear again until 72% of the way in, and then promptly vanished once more a few pages later. Danny, 15, and another 15-year-old casually walk into a bar and no one bats an eye. In the middle of a VERY crucial battle, there’s a multi-page lesson on make-up.

Although I really appreciated the message in Dreadnought, it was so heavy-handed and every single character was either wholly good and loving and accepting or absolutely horrid (wildly insulting and prone to hurling every offensive slur imaginable.) There was a bewildering scene involving another superhero (an adult, mind you) who couldn’t accept that Danny was female:

“I’m just as much a girl as you are.”
“Oh really? She leans forward, steeples her fingers. “Do you even know how to put in a tampon?”

Really?

Another quote that got to me was when Danny said “Suddenly, I’m worried about getting fat, which is something that hasn’t happened to me before.” Yeah, no.

Sorry, Dreadnought, I wanted to cheer you on and I know I’m in the minority here, but you just weren’t the book for me.