amysutton's review
4.0
I was so excited to read this! Based on real events, Kate Warne is America's first female detective who uses stealth, acting, and costumes to get information about one of the first plots against Abraham Lincoln's life in 1861. With views toggling among several time periods and characters (including Kate and Mary Todd Lincoln), this tells the story of women empowerment and agency during the late 1800s.
I think the various perspectives made this more difficult to follow. I really loved the sections showing Kate Warne doing her sleuthing and finding information about the assassination plot. I wish that the whole story followed that one linear plot line. Instead, the story is bookended with a reflection of Mrs. Lincoln after her husband's death as she retells the story. It also flashes among several points in Warne's timeline including her childhood to beginning work as a detective to the present detective assignment.
I want to know even more after reading this! What an interesting moment in history that we seldom hear about.
I think the various perspectives made this more difficult to follow. I really loved the sections showing Kate Warne doing her sleuthing and finding information about the assassination plot. I wish that the whole story followed that one linear plot line. Instead, the story is bookended with a reflection of Mrs. Lincoln after her husband's death as she retells the story. It also flashes among several points in Warne's timeline including her childhood to beginning work as a detective to the present detective assignment.
I want to know even more after reading this! What an interesting moment in history that we seldom hear about.
adelaideofthehollow's review
4.0
I want to know more of her life, more of what's she's done. I want to know about Hattie, more of what happened to the women in the boarding house! I hope more are made~
jkenna90's review
4.0
This took me forever to read. But, the story was really great and I loved that there were so many women doing jobs that would be typically done by men in that day and age. I really enjoyed the story but the artwork wasn’t my favorite. It wasn’t bad, the style just wasn’t something I liked. Overall though, this was a fun graphic novel and I would like to read more stories set in this universe.
ljrinaldi's review
3.0
I love the concept of this book, telling the story of the first female secret service agent, who saved President Lincoln's life.
The problem is, that the book doesn't take off until half way through, when we see the plot against Lincoln, and how the women of the force plot to get around it.
Up until that part, which is exiting and fairly straight forward, we are going back and forth in time, to Mary Lincoln being worried about her husband, to Kate going by cart and horse somewhere with her mother.
I swear I almost didn't finish the book, half way through, it was so confusing, and had *nothing* important to say to the plot. Once we got past all that, it was quite exciting how the women acted as spies, because men and women didn't suspect that they were being listened to.
I suggest reading the second half of the book, for a great story, but skip the first half, or you will not enjoy it at all, and be thoroughly confused.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
The problem is, that the book doesn't take off until half way through, when we see the plot against Lincoln, and how the women of the force plot to get around it.
Up until that part, which is exiting and fairly straight forward, we are going back and forth in time, to Mary Lincoln being worried about her husband, to Kate going by cart and horse somewhere with her mother.
I swear I almost didn't finish the book, half way through, it was so confusing, and had *nothing* important to say to the plot. Once we got past all that, it was quite exciting how the women acted as spies, because men and women didn't suspect that they were being listened to.
I suggest reading the second half of the book, for a great story, but skip the first half, or you will not enjoy it at all, and be thoroughly confused.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
oddree13's review
3.0
3.5 stars
Meet Kate Warne - a trailblazing working woman trying to make a living and do some good in a tumultuous, sexist age, and who uncovers one of the first plots to assassinate President Lincoln making her America’s first female detective. Upon reading the summary I thought I was picking up a piece of historical fiction, and was delighted to find out it's a true one!
The graphic novel cuts between the past and future and centers around Lincoln's train ride from Illinois to Washington DC, as he stops between cities trying to endear himself to a divided nation. Kate, and her group of women detectives, uncover a plot to harm the would-be-president by using one of the biggest tools at their disposal - the underestimation of women.
The book does a great job of presenting how these women cultivated their skills and fought the confines society placed on them. By the end I was googling the biographies of these heroines, lamenting this sort of book wasn't in my school library when I was of book report age.
Meet Kate Warne - a trailblazing working woman trying to make a living and do some good in a tumultuous, sexist age, and who uncovers one of the first plots to assassinate President Lincoln making her America’s first female detective. Upon reading the summary I thought I was picking up a piece of historical fiction, and was delighted to find out it's a true one!
The graphic novel cuts between the past and future and centers around Lincoln's train ride from Illinois to Washington DC, as he stops between cities trying to endear himself to a divided nation. Kate, and her group of women detectives, uncover a plot to harm the would-be-president by using one of the biggest tools at their disposal - the underestimation of women.
The book does a great job of presenting how these women cultivated their skills and fought the confines society placed on them. By the end I was googling the biographies of these heroines, lamenting this sort of book wasn't in my school library when I was of book report age.
lachelnreadingbookss's review
4.0
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review
Set in 1861 the story follows Kate, a young woman on the run trying to outrun her past and find herself in the present. Kate discovers love that is soon taken away from her leaving her broke. She is forced to take up menial jobs to earn.
In the 18th century America, Kate Warne realizes that the world isn't full of opportunities for someone, a woman like her. She offers her skill to Mr Pinkerton to work as his undercover detective and train other women and girls like herself.
Women would be able to hide in plain sight without drawing much attention but also be able to uncover secrets and plots.
In February of 1861, Kate Warne stands at the core of a plot against President Abraham Lincoln. It's up to her and her girls, Kew, Alice and Hattie to stop the plot by going undercover, wearing disguise and gaining trust of the people plotting.
The format of this comic transports you back into the industrial revolutionary age. With the storyline growing from a question of what happened to the women during the assassination plot on president Abraham Lincoln.
Each Character grows from trying to achieve a want to discovering the reason why they act and make Certain decisions.
Thank you Netgalley and Boom! Studios for an advanced reader's copy
Set in 1861 the story follows Kate, a young woman on the run trying to outrun her past and find herself in the present. Kate discovers love that is soon taken away from her leaving her broke. She is forced to take up menial jobs to earn.
In the 18th century America, Kate Warne realizes that the world isn't full of opportunities for someone, a woman like her. She offers her skill to Mr Pinkerton to work as his undercover detective and train other women and girls like herself.
Women would be able to hide in plain sight without drawing much attention but also be able to uncover secrets and plots.
In February of 1861, Kate Warne stands at the core of a plot against President Abraham Lincoln. It's up to her and her girls, Kew, Alice and Hattie to stop the plot by going undercover, wearing disguise and gaining trust of the people plotting.
The format of this comic transports you back into the industrial revolutionary age. With the storyline growing from a question of what happened to the women during the assassination plot on president Abraham Lincoln.
Each Character grows from trying to achieve a want to discovering the reason why they act and make Certain decisions.
Thank you Netgalley and Boom! Studios for an advanced reader's copy
momopeach's review
5.0
This was such an interesting read and I absolutely loved the artwork throughout! A must-read if you have any interest in history!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC which I received in return for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC which I received in return for an honest review.
rebus's review
0.5
I so wanted to like this and be informed, but I then realized that it was written by Jeff Jensen, one of the most conservative propaganda voices in the world (he wrote the cop sucking ode to his father, the detective at the heart of the awful Green River Killer graphic novel, and turned Alan Moore's brilliant Watchmen concept into a faux BLM gesture that was actually cop sucking that crassly suggested it would all be OK if black people just became cops).
So, now he's bending over backwards to tell us that women are all goddesses and the bestest things on earth and that the pro slavery Lincoln was just a decent soul and not acting with political expediency when he freed the slaves. It was fanciful and filled with anachronistic language like "tastes like ass" and "to do list" and "above my pay grade" the former of which weren't heard until the last 50 years and the latter 100 years from the present respectively, while it depicts a very mentally ill Mary Lincoln as a strong willed genius. Not to mention a black female character who was designing weapons to rival James Bond's Q (curiously named Kew). Kate's husband is also depicted as a PC SNAG from the 90s, before he tragically dies young as if he was in an Oprah novel. And since when is Baltimore considered the south?
Jensen is a hack of a writer and an establishment tool who worships police and capitalism and industry and hates to see the people in power victimized by crime, though it is said by a character that Pinkerton merely ran a corporate protection racket, while Kate's own views sometimes veers toward anarchist (her mentor, Elizabeth Oakes Smith wanted the sort of equality that would create a world without police). He said history is a flawed story in the afterword, and he is unfortunately adding to that and not a corrective (as with all of his other horrific work that is a whitewash of history and not a rescuer of the underclass or downtrodden).
The art isn't great, the story telling is incoherent, with bizarre tonal shifts in color to indicate flashbacks, a device that works very poorly because it's scarcely noticeable at first and becomes an irritant later. There are the good moments I mentioned above, and a few others concerning women's rights and the evil of King Cotton, but this is mostly dreck from a boring, ill educated cop sucker.
So, now he's bending over backwards to tell us that women are all goddesses and the bestest things on earth and that the pro slavery Lincoln was just a decent soul and not acting with political expediency when he freed the slaves. It was fanciful and filled with anachronistic language like "tastes like ass" and "to do list" and "above my pay grade" the former of which weren't heard until the last 50 years and the latter 100 years from the present respectively, while it depicts a very mentally ill Mary Lincoln as a strong willed genius. Not to mention a black female character who was designing weapons to rival James Bond's Q (curiously named Kew). Kate's husband is also depicted as a PC SNAG from the 90s, before he tragically dies young as if he was in an Oprah novel. And since when is Baltimore considered the south?
Jensen is a hack of a writer and an establishment tool who worships police and capitalism and industry and hates to see the people in power victimized by crime, though it is said by a character that Pinkerton merely ran a corporate protection racket, while Kate's own views sometimes veers toward anarchist (her mentor, Elizabeth Oakes Smith wanted the sort of equality that would create a world without police). He said history is a flawed story in the afterword, and he is unfortunately adding to that and not a corrective (as with all of his other horrific work that is a whitewash of history and not a rescuer of the underclass or downtrodden).
The art isn't great, the story telling is incoherent, with bizarre tonal shifts in color to indicate flashbacks, a device that works very poorly because it's scarcely noticeable at first and becomes an irritant later. There are the good moments I mentioned above, and a few others concerning women's rights and the evil of King Cotton, but this is mostly dreck from a boring, ill educated cop sucker.