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A review by bluejayreads
Sovereign by April Daniels
5.0
After the difficult but absolutely fantastic story that was Dreadnought, I got my hands on this book as soon as it came out … a month ago.
I actually had to take a several-week break in the middle of reading this book. Remember how I said Dreadnought was “difficult” with all the transphobia? This book is worse.
So, if you remember Graywytch from the last book, she’s a major player in this one. With all of her TERF transphobia and man-hating. And I’m really trying to avoid spoilers here, but there’s a point about right in the middle of the book where really really bad things happen and there was so much pain and hatred and transphobia that I just had to put the book down and back away for a while. So heads up if transphobia is an issue for you – that section is going to pack one hell of a punch.
Once I came back to it after that, though, it was much easier and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of the greatest things it has going for it:
The master plot was fantastic and there’s a massive twist and you don’t find until AFTER the final battle what the actual evil plan is.
Relationship issues between Calamity/Sarah and Danny. Pros: Great tension in the story and they’d-better-figure-this-out tension for me reading it. Cons: You don’t get as much Calamity epicness in this book.
Character development! Danny grows SO MUCH in this book and it’s amazing watching her mature.
Superhero/law enforcement politics – yes, it’s a thing, and it’s kinda cool.
A superhero secondary character who’s genderqueer/nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
My only actual plot problem with the book was all the legal stuff. Danny gets involved in a lot of legal battles, and they wrap up a little more conveniently than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind – I was dreading getting through all the superhero action and then having to deal with frustrating legal stuff – the resolution just seemed to come out of the blue.
This book was really difficult, even more so than the first book. I kept anticipating transphobia around every corner, and it was hard when it showed up and a relief when it didn’t. But it came out to a happy ending with some cute romance and I’m glad I finished it. Sovereign wraps up neatly, but if there is an upcoming book three, I certainly wouldn’t object.
I actually had to take a several-week break in the middle of reading this book. Remember how I said Dreadnought was “difficult” with all the transphobia? This book is worse.
So, if you remember Graywytch from the last book, she’s a major player in this one. With all of her TERF transphobia and man-hating. And I’m really trying to avoid spoilers here, but there’s a point about right in the middle of the book where really really bad things happen and there was so much pain and hatred and transphobia that I just had to put the book down and back away for a while. So heads up if transphobia is an issue for you – that section is going to pack one hell of a punch.
Once I came back to it after that, though, it was much easier and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of the greatest things it has going for it:
The master plot was fantastic and there’s a massive twist and you don’t find until AFTER the final battle what the actual evil plan is.
Relationship issues between Calamity/Sarah and Danny. Pros: Great tension in the story and they’d-better-figure-this-out tension for me reading it. Cons: You don’t get as much Calamity epicness in this book.
Character development! Danny grows SO MUCH in this book and it’s amazing watching her mature.
Superhero/law enforcement politics – yes, it’s a thing, and it’s kinda cool.
A superhero secondary character who’s genderqueer/nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
My only actual plot problem with the book was all the legal stuff. Danny gets involved in a lot of legal battles, and they wrap up a little more conveniently than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind – I was dreading getting through all the superhero action and then having to deal with frustrating legal stuff – the resolution just seemed to come out of the blue.
This book was really difficult, even more so than the first book. I kept anticipating transphobia around every corner, and it was hard when it showed up and a relief when it didn’t. But it came out to a happy ending with some cute romance and I’m glad I finished it. Sovereign wraps up neatly, but if there is an upcoming book three, I certainly wouldn’t object.