April Daniels

In the vein of Perry Moore's Hero, Sovereign is a YA tale of a trans superheroine and the sequel to Dreadnought.

Sovereign

Mathieu Schwab

Absolutely one of the most interesting takes on the superhero genre I've ever read. April Daniels does an amazing job mixing the action with the sociological impacts of superhuman abilities. How do the work with governments? Is it normal to want to beat up bad guys? An excellent read with three-dimensional characters all-around and quite possibly the most diverse cast I've ever read in a YA novel. Can't wait to see what else comes from this amazing author!

Sarah Sammis

Sovereign by April Daniels is the sequel to Dreadnought (2017). It's been nine months since Danny took the mantel of Dreadnought and already she is feeling the stress of being a hero. She's also fighting for emancipation from her transphobic parents.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2018/comm...

Kayla

Danny's story continues as she faces new and old threats. She has gotten the hang of caping and is really starting to enjoy it, maybe even a little too much. The most compelling part of the book is this struggle of a superhero who, despite being meant to be a noble savior, finds herself reveling fighting and violence. 

Other parts of the novel really fall flat. The villains were a bit silly. Sovereign straight up admits to Danny he wants to do away with democracy and somehow expects this well known hero to agree to help him achieve it. Of course she doesn't. Graywytch's plan is to eradicate all people with a Y chromosome, without for one second thinking about the consequences of that. You can't take out half the human population and expect the other half to suffer no casualties as a result.

Another issue I had was the romance. There was zero romantic tension. No sweet moments of realizing feelings and acting awkward or shy. No yearning. The reader is told Danny has a crush on Calamity. Then we're told by another character that Calamity clearly likes Danny back. Then Danny is already rushing over to talk to her and boom, they're together. There was no proper build up to make us root for them. 

All in all, the book is an easy read that lacks substance. Not bad if you want a quick story about superheroes, not great if you want characters that matter to you.

Laura Kehoe

This series brings me so much joy! I love how complex and relatable these characters are. It’s such a fun read!

Sovereign

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