Dreadnought

trigger warnings for: transphobia, lesbophobia/homophobia, rape mentions, multiple secondary character deaths, amputation, physical violence, emotional abuse

An #ownvoices novel with a teen trans lesbian superhero protagonist!! Sign me up.

Honestly it was the protagonist that completely drew me to this book, and I have come out the other side adoring Danny.

Dreadnought follows Danny Tozer, a 15 year old transgirl who witnesses the death of Dreadnought, the strongest superhero in her city, and inherits his powers as a result. The story then follows her immediate transition (being given Dreadnought's powers gives her her ideal body), her navigating what it means to be a superhero, and subsequent investigation and battle with the novel's Big Bad.

Dreadnought definitely felt like a decent premise for a comic (and I got the feeling that April Daniels might have a little bit of a preference for Marvel), but it also totally works as a book. I LOVE that trans superheroes are coming to the forefront as central characters, with Alters (again those comic leanings) last September, and now with Dreadnought.

Another one of the strong points of Dreadnought, that I wish we saw more of, was the relationship between Danny/Dreadnought and Sarah/Calamity. I loved that they learned things from each other and that Danny finally had someone in her life who she could trust and be safe with, even if she usually seemed to be in the most danger she'd ever faced with Calamity. Their friendship (though I really wouldn't mind if it developed into more) was definitely one of the most enjoyable parts of the story for me.

I think the world building was good, as were the two ending battles. The idea of Danny being able to see a lattice as part of her powers was interesting to me because I haven't read anything like that before, and I'd love to see Danny exploring her powers a bit more in the future.

One of the reasons why I didn't give this book five stars, is the sheer amount of transphobia and homophobia that Danny experiences. It really really made me uncomfortable, but I know that this is probably realistic. Danny receives it from almost everyone she encounters in the book. After coming out to her friend and rejecting him, he says he hopes she gets raped, which is frankly disgusting.
Honestly most of the men in this book are absolute garbage, and the ones who aren't as bad as the rest end up dying, which ended up making me feel tired and distressed on Danny's behalf.

I also think some parts of the story weren't given enough time, like Danny's interactions with the Legion (I thought they'd play a bigger part), Danny discovering and developing her powers, Utopia's motivations, and some of the secondary characters. Some of these may be addressed later but I'm not entirely sure.

The difference between the majority of the female (I'm including Doc Impossible in this) characters and the majority of the male characters really highlighted how strong the female characters were, and I loved it, but I would've liked it better if Danny had some support from some male characters too, or just more support from the ones who did support her.

Whilst Dreadnought isn't perfect, it is mostly a fun read and I am really looking forward to the sequel which is out this July.

Read this book for Danny (and Sarah).
Read this book for on page trans and lesbian rep, with those words being used multiple times.
Read this book for the ending.

Honestly I was never going to like this book. Never in my life have I felt the need to read trigger warnings for a book but I should have read these. The  amount of slurs and transphobia in this is ridiculous. I picked this because it said it was inspiring. Fucking how. 

It's also just really bad writing. The characters are all very one dimensional and I couldn't empathise with them at all. The main characters whole thing is being trans and that's basically all she thinks about all the time. This book isn't about superheroes, its about a girl who has no friends or hobbies or a life and is only trans. 

Not to mention she gets multiple choices to get away from her parents and be safe and she takes none of them. The dialogue is cringy as fuck and the story is boring. I was never going to finish this book. 

This is both the ultimate transgender wish fulfillment story and a horrific family drama, striking a balance between superheroics and rough scenes in Danielle's private life. Yes, the antagonizing voices surrounding her gender identity are harsh and unfortunately realistic, but as affected as she may be, she never backs down when it comes to knowing who she is. It's rare for me to feel this represented by a novel. It touched me deeply from the very start, and the capeshit is just a bonus specifically invented for me. What more would you need in life than a trans superheroine?