Sovereign (Nemesis, #2) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Feb 04, 2017 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017-read

4.5 stars

Sovereign is an excellent sequel to Daniels' debut book, Dreadnought. Danny has had some time to adjust to her new powers and continues to deal with the fallout of the events of the last book. She and Doc Impossible are in a holding pattern with Graywytch in terms of the continued future of the Legion, but she loves her new job regardless.

The story moves quickly and there are some nicely written fight scenes. In addition, Daniels continues to keep a level of humorous dialogue which lig ...more

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Feb 06, 2017 Lindsay rated it it was amazing

It's a while after the first book and Danielle Tozer aka Dreadnought has taken over the protector of the city role from the now nearly defunct Legion. But it's not all good news. Graywytch is making Danny's work and personal life difficult, things are really strange with Calamity after the events of the first book and Doc Impossible has become a raging alcoholic. And on top of all that, maybe Danny has issues of her own that maybe can't be dealt with just by punching people.

While not explicitly It's a while after the first book and Danielle Tozer aka Dreadnought has taken over the protector of the city role from the now nearly defunct Legion. But it's not all good news. Graywytch is making Danny's work and personal life difficult, things are really strange with Calamity after the events of the first book and Doc Impossible has become a raging alcoholic. And on top of all that, maybe Danny has issues of her own that maybe can't be dealt with just by punching people.

While not explicitly calling it out this entry in the series has a strong mental health sub-theme, with Danny struggling to deal with her not-all-that-long-ago child abuse as well as whether it's a great idea for an recent abuse survivor to be super-punching people for a living. There's also whatever is going on with Calamity/Sarah as well as Doc and her issues. There's also no neat solutions here and the book is very much about the heroes keeping on going while dealing with their damage.

But more than in the first book, this really does feel like a love letter to the whole super-hero genre. Like the first one, a lot of work has been put into the world-building along the lines of what it would take to have an Earth like that of the modern DC or Marvel universes. How do super-heroes pay for themselves? Where does the law stand around them? If a world has super-heroes then why has technology and society developed so similarly to our Earth?

There's also a lot of thought put into why people with these sort of abilities would actually be super-heroes or villains and a lot of that comes through in the characters. Not least of that is the sheer joy that Danny derives from being Dreadnought. And some of that may not actually be all that healthy and that's addressed too.

There was really only one sour note for me and that's the way that the author has taken the character of Graywytch. Graywytch as an embodiment of Germaine Greer and her anti-trans attitudes is one thing, but (mild spoiler) (view spoiler) feels a bit much. Her attitude is already nuts which makes the overt step here feel unnecessary.

One final thing: Dreadnought had some great incidental characters. This one follows that up with even the villains being great fun, particularly Princess Panzer and Red Steel.

If it was possible I'd give this 4.5 stars. As it is, I'll bump it to 5 just for the entertainment value if not for the serious well thought out look at superheroes. ...more

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Aug 11, 2017 Veronique rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourites, read2017

4.5

Having loved Dreadnought, I couldn't wait to read this sequel. Once more Daniels delivers an incredibly packed, complex, superhero story, full of breath-taking action of course, but much more than that too. Danielle not only has to deal with the 'usual' tasks from her job as sole active protector of New Port, stopping super villains, but also the emotional and psychological effects stemming from it, especially when you take into consideration the years of abuse she suffered at the hands of he ...more

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