New from Marvel Heroines: Super Hero mercenary Silver Sable takes on Doctor Doom in a high risk heist where success or failure will change the fate of a nation
Doctor Victor von Doom holds Symkaria in his despotic grip, selling its treasures to pay off the country’s exorbitant debt. Yet patriotic heroine Silver Sable desires its freedom. Doom doesn’t do favors, so he offers her a track down the Clairvoyant – a device for seeing the future – and he’ll erase her homeland’s deficit. Sable soon discovers she can’t outwit someone who can predict her every move. She needs the help of someone wild and unpredictable. Someone like Black Cat… Together they must chase down the Clairvoyant’s creator, pull off the ultimate Vegas heist, survive backstabbing exes, and outsmart one of the most powerful people on the planet. All they need now is a little bit of luck.
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Aconyte Books for an advanced copy of this book from the Marvel: Heroines series.
As a long, long time comic book reader I have seen a lot to different ways that the Big Two, Marvel and DC tried to expand their characters into the world of prose novels. Some of them were good the Batman books, and the X-Men stories even the one meeting Star Trek are especially. Many however lacked consistency. The not understanding the character, the way that the action has to be told more in words than pictures, they were ok in many cases, not good. Oh and the distinct lack of female characters. That was always obvious. This is why I look forward to Aconyte Marvel books so much. The characters seem real, even better than in the comics, the stories are always very good, and honestly they are just rip-roaring adventures. Cath Lauria is one of my favorites. Lauria's previous book Black Cat: Discord was one of the best portrayals of that character in quite a while, and was probably my favorite. Till I read this one. Silver Sable: Payback is story about a mercenary, her team, her country, Super villains, politics and both the past that holds a person down, and a future that has way too many possibilities.
Silver Sable, mercenary leader, proud daughter of the country of Symkaria is beset by quite a few problems. The country she loves has been misruled for years, controlled by super villains owes millions upon millions of dollars in debt. Symkaria's neighbor, Latveria under the benign leadership of Doctor Doom has taken over the country, and is selling parts of Symkaria to pay of debts, something that Sable seeks to stop. Doom makes an offer to Sable, Sable and her Wild Pack must find the Clairvoyant, a device that can not only see the future but all possible futures, and the man who has this, and bring it to Doom. If Sable does this, Doom will assume the debts, and Symkaria will be free. Sable agrees but finds that tracking and capturing a man who can see all the ways that Sable is coming for him is close to impossible. Sable decides to make her own luck, and her own future, by recruiting Black Cat to help her. However what happens when a tool that can see all futures is given to a person like Doctor Doom.
Great fun and a wonderful read. This should be a miniseries with Steve Epting doing the art. Everything makes sense including the characters, which is rare, even in their own comics. Doom, Sable, Black Cat, Spider-Man for his brief appearance, even the minor characters who people might not be familiar with, make and do things that fit that characters. That is so rare. The stories are exciting, funny, and full of heart. Lauria has an ability to do humor, action and have it mean something, and yet be exhilarating all in the same paragraph. That's not easy for readers used to watching their heroes in comic or in live action motion on TV or movie screens. The story is good, Doom is scary, but reasonable, Sable is brave, but thinks ahead and Black Cat, is well awesome. The book goes from the first page, to the bittersweet end. These books always make me remember why comics were so important to me as a child, they are just so much fun and I love reading and recommending them.
Cath Lauria is really an author to watch. I've enjoyed everything that I have read by Lauria, and look forward to a lot more stories, novels anything. This whole series is really quite good, full of good stories, great characterization and a feeling that comics sometimes lack a lot of today. For fans of comics and just great adventure stories.
Silver Sable: Payback by Cath Lauria will be released on March 21, 2023. Aconyte Books provided an early galley for review.
Lauria is no stranger to Marvel fiction; she has previously written two other tales for Aconyte's Marvel Heroines line - one with Elsa Bloodstone and one with Black Cat. Given how much I enjoyed her work on both of those, I was confident that she would deliver again on this one. I was not disappointed at all.
I remember when Silver Sable made her debut in the comics in the mid-80's. She started out as a supporting character, popping up in Spider-Man titles before eventually branching out into her own stories. While familiar with her, this novel really helped me to get to know her and her team a bit better. Lauria balances the personal interactions with the action very well.
As she did before, Lauria takes advantage of the larger Marvel catalog by including a number of cool guest appearances by both heroes and villains. She also manages to tie in to her earlier Black Cat novel from 2022 as that is a character she very much appears to enjoy writing. This story leaves open a few plot threads that I would not be surprised to see picked up in future novels.
I also want to add some praise to Bastien Jez for the very attractive cover. The red background is the perfect contrast to his gorgeous shimmering image of the book's star.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
Silver Sable: Payback: A Marvel: Heroines Novel (ain't that a mouthful) had one important job that it had to do right away; make me like her (spoilers, it did). I'll be the first to admit that my Marvel lore game pales by light years in comparison with DC, so to better acquaint myself with Silver I went back and read through a trade paperback featuring her various team-ups with Spider-Man. While I enjoyed those stories, I don't think Silver came off the best in them, and that made me a little hesitant to start reading this one. Like I spoiled above though, I needn't have worried. Cath Lauria really made her likable and she really shines when we get into her head. The plot itself was a great Marvel version of a Mission Impossible story. I really do think the novel really shifted into high gear when Black Cat arrived in the story and I would love, love, love to see an entire book of just the two of them going on a huge, adventure together (please Marvel and Cath give us that Silver & Black). I hope we continue to get great stories like this from Aconyte and Marvel, and I think at this point the comics could learn some great lessons about exactly how to take on these great female leads.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Aconyte Books and Marvel Entertainment for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review. About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
This review was originally published on NetGalley.com. I was given an ebook freely by NetGalley and the book’s publisher in return for a voluntary and honest review.
This was my first modern Marvel fiction book and it was a blast. I’ve been reading comics for a good twenty years now but only recently have I started diving deeper into Marvel. I have yet come across Silver Sable in my comic reading. However after reading this I will definitely be hunting the back issue bins for more of her.
Silver Sable is a mercenary with a heart of gold for her country. War torn and currently under the thumb of Dr Doom. She is an orphan and has a claim to her countries throne. But she doesn’t want to be another in a long line of failed attempts of pulling her country together again.
Dr Doom invites her over for dinner and offers to help her beloved homeland if she would be willing to work for him…
Cath Lauria is great. You can tell the author is a fan and it shows in the writing. Silver Sable and her team go on a hunt for a predictive machine and with a few guest appearances, plenty of action, heart and humor an adventure ensues.
I don’t want to give too much away about the story because there’s some fun twists. But for anyone interested in reading a great comic fiction book try this. I really hope this isn’t the last we see of Silver Sable and Cath Lauria.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
Fresh off her excellent book about Black Cat, Cath Lauria shows us what she can do with Silver Sable. It's about Silver going after a gambler who has the Clairvoyant, a device that allows you see possible futures. It's pulled straight out of Nick Spencer's run on Amazing Spider-Man and Silver Sable's time at the end of Dan Slott's terrific run is referenced as well. I do love how this fits in not only with the comics but the other Aconyte novels as well. Dr. Doom hires Silver's Wild Pack to hunt the Clairvoyant down and references David Annandale's Dr. Doom novels along the way along with using a couple of characters from those books in small roles. Lauria smartly brings Black Cat and her team into the book because Silver Sable is very stodgy and only cares about helping her country which can make for a boring read. Adding the Black Cat allows her to come out of her shell some and certainly livens up the book. It's not my favorite book in this growing list, but it is still a good read.
Received a review copy from Aconyte Books and NetGalley
I was given a copy to review via Netgalley and Aconyte Books. My reviews are always honest and all opinions are my own. #SilverSable #MarvelEnt #Marvel #Netgalley #AconyteBooks #BookReview #CathLauria
I have to be honest that Silver Sable is not a heroine I know a lot about in her own right. But that said the Marvel Heroine lines by Aconyte are wonderful at introducing some characters who may have not had as much time to shine in the spotlight and that, for me, is exactly what Silver Sable Payback did.
In Payback we see Super Hero Mercenary take on Doctor Doom in a high risk heist. Holding Silver Sable’s homeland, Symkaria, in his grip Doom is selling its treasures to pay off the countries debt but the patriotic Silver Sable desires freedom from the tyrant. Doom is not know for favours but does offer a deal. Track down the Clairvoyant a device for seeing the future and he can erase her homelands debt. Pitted against someone who can predict her every move Silver Sable realises she needs help from someone who is unpredictable and wild – someone like Black Cat. Together they need to track down the creator of the Clairvoyant, pull off the ultimate Vegas heist, survive backstabbing exes and outsmart one of the most powerful people on the planet.
As I already said I wasn’t sure what to expect but the fact that we have Doctor Doom and Black Cat in there I was sure it was going to be good and Lauria does not disappoint. It is clear that she knows the characters and enjoys bringing them to life on the page. In fact as soon as I finished this I actually went off to find out more about Silver Sable and have found a new heroine to follow. We have all the elements that make a good Marvel story, witty banter, guest appearances, impossible odds, and also extras that just make it all the more special; a Vegas style heist, mayhem and action. Add to this characters with strong morals although sometimes a little grey and you have more than enough to keep you entertained.
With lots of re-read potential this is one installment in the heroines line I didn’t know I needed until I finished it.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
Silver Sable: Payback continues the Marvel Heroine series in another winning tale of a lesser known character brought to life in a big way. Silver Sable makes a deal with the devil himself, Dr. Doom, to free her home country from the debts he owns in exchange for the Clairvoyant, a device that shows the wearer the future. Over estimating her team’s ability, Silver is on a time limit to catch a bad guy who always sees her coming. Working with the Black Cat, Silver and her team go on an action packed, snarky adventure that will leave Silver winning over the toughest of hearts. The book is another fun, page turner from Cath Laurie sure to thrill Marvel fans. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.
This is really more like a 3.5 stars. That’s mostly because the ending sort of degenerates into something of a Keystone Cops sequence.
Anyway, this book has some great character moments for Sable. If you’re interested in her character I’d recommend it. She’s quite likable. Black Cat was great too. Most of the side characters are mostly two dimensional, unfortunately. They don’t really get a chance to stand out until the very end.
I would say this book is fine. Not the best of the Aconyte Marvel books. But still quite enjoyable.
This book has all the characteristics I like from Marvel - characters with flaws but also a moral compass, fast paced mayhem, witty banter and a setting that could almost be believably real world. Silver Sable rocks in this story, along with Black Cat and their respective back up teams. A definite good read for Marvel fans, and all fantasy/heist/mayhem fanatics. Thank you to Aconyte Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.
I’m so loving these books from Marvel/Disney and reliving my youth , I really loved Catholic Lauria’s story and writing, you can tell she has a love for the character and I was reading the same character I loved all those years ago, just in fiction rather than comics. I love these books and their focus on great female characters, more please
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I did enjoy this book, as with most of the Heroines series - but I found it a bit difficult. I'm not familiar with Silver Sable, and while her difference to the usual ladies was refreshing, I also found myself a bit lost sometimes. I love stories with Dr Doom (there's so much more to his character than people think!) and enjoyed that aspect of the plot a good deal, but this isn't one of my favourites. Sorry!
Silver Sable works for Doctor Doom to retrieve the Clairvoyant in return of saving her hometown. She partnered up with Doom because of her love for her country. I enjoyed the story but I have no idea who the characters were, well maybe except for Spiderman and Doctor Doom. I do love Black Cat. She was a refreshing character. Overall, the story was okay. 3 stars.
Thank you Netgalley and Aconyte for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.
I didn't know anything about Silver Sable before reading this besides that she had associations with Black Cat and, therefore, Spider-Man. Now I'm actively seeking out her comics! I really enjoyed this in-depth look at her character, and I loved the further characterization of Felicia. Honestly, I think Black Cat might be Marvel's most interesting character in a dramatic, cinematic context.
I honestly would love more stories like this! Female heroes taking the stage whether they are morally good or not are so entertaining. I really enjoyed this and Cath Lauria did a great job with it.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.
This was a great story. I love learning about this new to me marvel characters. I missed out on all the comics growing up, but I feel I really connect more with the stories. Plus, you don't need to know the characters beforehand to enjoy the series. I really enjoyed all the smaller details in this story it really helped me set the scene. The story was interesting, and I enjoyed the action scenes a lot. It certainly had me entertained that I just couldn't put it down, and I had to finish it in one day. I definitely recommend giving this book a go, especially if you love all things Marvel. So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating such an enjoyable story.