Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Dreadnought by April Daniels

15 reviews

tamarant4's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The dirty little secret about growing up as a boy is if you’re not any good at it, they will torture you daily until you have the good graces to kill yourself. [loc. 82]

YA superhero fiction. Danny, fifteen, has gone to the shopping mall to buy nail polish and is hiding out in an alleyway painting her toenails: it's the one way she can rebel against being stuck in a boy's body. Then a superhero, Dreadnought, falls out of the sky. Dying, he passes his 'mantle' -- his powers -- to Danny. And part of that mantle is changing the recipient's body to match their self-image. 'That is not the chest I woke up with', observes Danny.

She's finally herself: but her transformation is only the start of the novel. It's not easy being a fifteen-year-old superhero, but it's even harder being a girl with an abusive father who could never have accepted Danny's transgender identity, and refuses to believe that Danny can be happy about her new body. Danny quickly discovers that her best friend David is actually a complete jerk: but she makes a new friend, Latina vigilante Calamity. Calamity's a 'greycape', morally ambiguous: blackcapes are villains, and whitecapes are the good guys. The local whitecape chapter is the Legion Pacifica, who contact Danny and invite her to Legion Tower. Not all of the Legion are cool with the new Dreadnought, and TERFy Graywytch questions her gender. Danny's happier hanging out with Calamity and fighting crime, but their ambition is greater than their ability: going up against a major blackcape is not a smart move.

I enjoyed this a lot, though did feel that most of the characters could have done with more backstory, and indeed more personality. I'd have liked more world-building, too, though there are some intriguing snippets of superhero history: 'In the last great gasp of radio journalism, the whole world stayed glued to their sets to listen to the live reports as [the original] Dreadnought and Mistress Malice savaged each other...' But this gave me a warm glow and a nostalgic affection for the MCU in its heyday (the Legion are reminiscent of the Avengers: a super-strong fighter, an android, a Norse deity, a guy in a suit of armour, a witch...). Not sure I'll read the sequel just yet, but I'd recommend this as a fun read.

I bought this in DEC 2020, and finally read it as part of my 'Down in the Cellar' self-challenge, which riffs on the metaphor of to-be-read pile as wine-cellar rather than to-do list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, and Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Death and Suicidal thoughts

sillygaylilly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book single handedly made me go from "shit I don't know if I'm trans or not" to "she is just like me fr fr" and got rid of most of my impostor syndrome about being trans, so if you have any doubts, highly recommended
oh and there is superhero stuff and it's great but come on trans stuff takes the came

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

lyncolonbracket's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

i kinda hate superhero action scenes but the ones that are just people talking are amazingly well done and made me love this book so much more

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

shae_purcell's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Violence, Vomit, and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Fatphobia, Genocide, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

phantastic's review against another edition

I didn’t like how one-dimensional some of the antagonistic characters were. Also, it felt like the book was misandristic in its effort to support trans women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, Rape, Vomit, Death of parent, and War

booknerdbetty's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

zoepagereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I am happy I didn’t bail like I was planning to. After about 80 pages of casual references to suicidal thoughts and a nonstop parade of dreams getting crushed I was about done. But I kept going and after about 100 pages, the book got a lot better. Though I have to say, having a villain’s plan be a almost carbon copy of an Agents of SHIELD season really took me out of it. Even though the book came out before that season, it was still disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Violence, and Outing

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content

Minor: Grief

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Genocide, Self harm, Slavery, Vomit, and Gaslighting

brassmonkey's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.25

Not good. Also kind of insane that a book that looks and reads like it was written for middle schoolers says tranny so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Transphobia, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Fatphobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder