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readwithrhys 's review for:
Dreadnought
by April Daniels
I gave myself a little bit of time before I decided to write a review because I wanted to think about it for a second.
Overall, this was a fun superhero book with a lesbian trans girl MC. It starts with a bang and just keeps going. It was never boring, but there were a few things I didn’t like that will be in spoiler warnings below:
1.There are 3 types of coloured capes characters can be part of; whitecapes (good people), greycapes (neutral/okay people), blackcapes (evil people). I feel like, even in 2016, it should be obvious to NOT use white and black to signify good versus evil. The colours could’ve been anything else, but of course they weren’t.
2.Danielle’s (Danny for short) father is the typical transphobic person you’d think of when you imagine what a transphobic person would say. That being said, you can make a character transphobic WITHOUT using ableist slurs. Danielle’s father refers to her as his “r-word son” at one point. Don’t rely on slurs to try to ‘hit home a point’ that someone is a jackass. The stuff that her father has said was bad enough that it got the point across he is not accepting/supportive.
3.This is 100% personal opinion, but the way Danielle was first written as being trans felt weird/off. She was in the mindset that to be a ‘real girl’, she needed to medically transition fully (bottom surgery included). I did really enjoy her eventual character growth and growth as a young trans girl who realizes that you don’t need to medically transition to be valid, but I felt like it wasn’t contested as much as it could have been. I feel like this is still something that is a misconception that you NEED to medically transition to be “valid”, but you don’t. This is probably a product of the time this book was published, but I still think this way.
I am interested in how the second book goes, so I may pick it up!
Overall, this was a fun superhero book with a lesbian trans girl MC. It starts with a bang and just keeps going. It was never boring, but there were a few things I didn’t like that will be in spoiler warnings below:
1.
2.
3.
I am interested in how the second book goes, so I may pick it up!