Review: Sovereign by April Daniels

Hey all, Dani here.

I so enjoyed the first book of this series, so I jumped at the chance for an early copy for the sequel. Thankfully the publisher and NetGalley granted my request, and I got to continue the adventures of Dany Tozer, a transgender superhero. As always, receiving this book did not influence my rating or review. I will say that I’m sorry it took me so long to get my review up. I’ve been juggling a lot of books and a lot of blog posts lately.

Summary

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.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

Starting this book off on the way to a superhero convention made my nerdy little heart happy. I love going to conventions and it was clear that Danny was excited to go. Being that she basically is a fangirl, her getting to see all sorts of heroes and such just roaming around this hotel/convention center in Antarctica was just amusing. Then again, that pleasant mood did not last for too long.

This was a book that I was looking forward to reading, because I knew there would be some interesting issues explored in the story. Having a transgender superhero as our leading lady allows us to follow her life and see firsthand how her life has changed and how she is affected by the treatment of those around her.

It is also interesting and from my perspective is fairly unique to have a superhero who struggles with rage and violence issues. Numerous times Danny refers to how much she enjoys beating up the bad guys, and how she sometimes holds back in the fights so they’ll last longer and she can fight more. I am so used to most of the heroes being such moral upstanding characters that this is actually a refreshing angle to explore. And considering everything Danny has gone through in her life, especially the past several months, it is actually a bit understandable why she acts this way. I just hope that April Daniels continues to explore this and also have Danny find a way to work through her issues and find some resolution in the future.

Basically this book did what I wanted it to do. There was action and complication, and character development I could understand. There were a couple characters that we met at the convention that I would have liked to be in the story more, but there’s always hope for the future.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to reading the next installment.

Where to Buy

You can pick up a copy of Sovereign from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore.