Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Dreadnought

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

shae_purcell's review against another edition

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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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teyn's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

3.75

I would've loved this if not for the gendered fatphobia and ableism that added absolutely nothing to the story.

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nerdbrarian's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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gameoftomes's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Amazing. The book really gives a payoff for its superhero genre, transgender representation, and first person POV. It uses all of these well, and towards a conclusion with physical and emotional stakes involved.

There are good action sequences, a bit of gore, and a good bit of body horror. But none of it overwhelms the novel. The supers don’t feel regurgitated and cliché. It feels like it could fit in with comic book superheroes, yet isn’t weighed down with tropes. The world of superheroes and hypertech is fleshed out without being exposition heavy.

Warning that there is a significant amount of transphobia, including slurs, deadnaming, emotional abuse, and parents kicking out their 15 year old kid. But none of this stops main character Danielle from being super, from being flawed, from being a beacon of hope. Individuals are not a monolith, and I think at the author is transgender herself helps.

This is a first person perspective YA novel that feels like you’re in the head of a real teenager. Danny clearly had reactions with a lot of self-hate because of how actively awful her dad is and how passively awful her mom is. So negative self-talk happens in stressful situations. Her journey as a superhero starts out as finally getting her body to match her gender identity, then fighting crime becomes an escape from reality, and finally starts to become a community, a newfound family.

I honestly came in thinking I would be lightly enjoyable fun, but I’m really blown away with the characters, world-building, and balance of emotional, fun, and tense moments. I might have to break my book buying ban to grab the sequel.

9/10 objectively a good time.

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unluckycat13's review

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The mom is a little too complicit in creating and helping enforce the abusive parent scenario for me. The prose and characterization is also on the worse side of young adult.

Probably will a decent book for a teenager.

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exholalia's review

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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forestfloor's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging fast-paced

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

4.0

I could. not. put. it. down!!

Fantastically engaging read, and satisfyingly fast. I think there was interesting world-building, albeit nothing ground breaking as far as what's typical in terms of building up a world with superheroes. I found the characters really engaging, with strong personalities. The trans rep really hit for me - Danny's experience of her transness and the way other people treat her because of it really rang true.

I was bothered at points by the tones of ableism metahumans (including Danny) have for "baselines" and more so by the way actual disability was treated when some characters acquired it. I get the impression this will be explored more in book 2, which I am interested to read because I wasn't very happy with where the topic gets left in this book.

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nb_alex's review

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. From the beginning Danny was a lovable character who bloomed into her own throughout the story. I found it difficult to read at parts, and did have to put it down every now and then when some characters said or did some…interesting things. But overall I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

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