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.
Series: Nemesis #1
Author: April Daniels
First off, can we talk about the cover of this book? I think it is absolutely beautiful.
This was such a great read! I loved Danny as a main character. She was a really strong character. The confusion and angst she felt over both her gender identity and her newfound superhero status was portrayed really well. There were a lot of confusing, morally grey characters in the book, which I loved.I also really liked how Danny’s troubled relation with her parents was portrayed. We often talk about how YA books usually have really shitty parent figures in them, but I’ve personally come across very few instances of awful parents who actually live with their kids and are a part of their lives in YA. So I’m really glad such an instance has been shown in this book without sugarcoating. I am not really aware enough about trans issues to comment on how it was dealt with, though as far as I could tell, it had been done pretty well. There’s been a lot of talk about diversity lately, so I’m really glad I got an opportunity to read a great diverse book.
I also really enjoyed the plot. It was really interesting and kept the pages turning. The world-building was done nicely, and the book had a few really cool plot twists. There was no romance in the book, which was refreshing . I definitely would recommend this book to anyone looking for a great action-packed diverse read.
