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A review by restless
Scatter by Molly J. Bragg
5.0
I stayed up until 4am reading this and do not regret a single second.
What it's about: Danny's career as a US marshal is over when she's transferred onto the support detail for Focus - America's biggest superhero. Danny's pretty miffed about the change until she learns that Focus requested her personally - and no-one knows why...
What I thought: this is the most fun I've had with a book in a long time. Bragg's worldbuilding has all the OTT vibes of a Power Ranger flick - it's action-packed, funny, creative, colourful and super queer.
FACT: if they ever film this it'll definitely be a musical.
The central romance was cute. It's a bit insta-love (which was the only drawback) but the rest of the book was so interesting I'm going to forgive it. Also, Focus and Danny are a mixed human & not-at-all-humanoid couple, so this def. takes their relationship off the beaten path. In fact, I can't think of a single romance trope that fully applies here, and...
TW: if you need your ships to be fully human / human-passing 95% of the time, stay clear.
There's also a good discussion of "passing" for human when you aren't, and what that might cost you. I thought that Focus' interactions with Danny were especially touching in this regard.
The supporting cast were all super. Like Focus and Danny, they were a mixture of human & not-at-all humanoid trying to "pass" in human society - with many having wildly different motivations for trying to do so. Some of these characters were of the same species (others weren't) and all of them felt very unique - which made the whole thing even more interesting.
There's plenty of action (all kinds) and I can't say much more for fear of spoiling the story, but -
TL;DR: definitely recommend.
What it's about: Danny's career as a US marshal is over when she's transferred onto the support detail for Focus - America's biggest superhero. Danny's pretty miffed about the change until she learns that Focus requested her personally - and no-one knows why...
What I thought: this is the most fun I've had with a book in a long time. Bragg's worldbuilding has all the OTT vibes of a Power Ranger flick - it's action-packed, funny, creative, colourful and super queer.
FACT: if they ever film this it'll definitely be a musical.
The central romance was cute. It's a bit insta-love (which was the only drawback) but the rest of the book was so interesting I'm going to forgive it. Also, Focus and Danny are a mixed human & not-at-all-humanoid couple, so this def. takes their relationship off the beaten path. In fact, I can't think of a single romance trope that fully applies here, and...
TW: if you need your ships to be fully human / human-passing 95% of the time, stay clear.
There's also a good discussion of "passing" for human when you aren't, and what that might cost you. I thought that Focus' interactions with Danny were especially touching in this regard.
The supporting cast were all super. Like Focus and Danny, they were a mixture of human & not-at-all humanoid trying to "pass" in human society - with many having wildly different motivations for trying to do so. Some of these characters were of the same species (others weren't) and all of them felt very unique - which made the whole thing even more interesting.
There's plenty of action (all kinds) and I can't say much more for fear of spoiling the story, but -
TL;DR: definitely recommend.