YA LGBT Books discussion

Our May 2017 Book of the Month (by 1 vote) is Dreadnought by April Daniels

Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero.

Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.

It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.

She doesn’t have much time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.


This thread is for discussion of this book - there is no specific reading schedule and you may post at any time. There may be spoilers in the comments, so be aware if you have not yet finished. Especially if you are posting early in the two months, please try to put real plot spoilers into a spoiler-hiding tag - write <*spoiler> before the text and <*/spoiler> at the end of it - with both * removed to make it work, and it will be hidden, revealed only (view spoiler)[ to those who choose to read it. (hide spoiler)]

I look forward to seeing what the group thinks of this one.

I just started this - it's an interesting set-up for a story with a trans character. I look forward to seeing how the author walks the line between fantasy and reality...

Well, that was fun and an interesting effort. I definitely enjoyed it. I will be interested to see how trans readers feel about the compromises chosen to take a book of magic transformation, and yet keep it true to the issues and feelings of being trans. I thought the author did a pretty good job of walking the line between wish-fulfillment and reality. I liked that the trans character was also a lesbian, and that her potential love interest is a kick-ass vigilante girl who is smart and capable.

The superhero part worked better than I expected, with removing both the invulnerability, and the lack of bystander casualties. All in all, what I consider a successful, fun and imaginative melding of genres and characters, and I will definitely read book 2.

I haven't done my review yet, but I'll link it when I do. I'm wavering between 4.5 and 5 stars.

I posted my review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just started reading it!

Kaje wrote: "Well, that was fun and an interesting effort. I definitely enjoyed it. I will be interested to see how trans readers feel about the compromises chosen to take a book of magic transformation, and ye..."

I don't see how Danielle's "magic transformation" is in any way a compromise. Not every trans story has to be about the nitty gritty of hormones and surgery to be true to the experience of being trans-- in a way, Dreadnought is made truer by doing away with all those superficialities.

All in all, this was a fun, quick read that did justice to its interesting premise. I really liked that Danny's transness wasn't the main focus of the story, and the main characters of Danny and Calamity were both well-written. However, some of the plot events seemed a bit too convenient (view spoiler)[like with the crashing plane that Danny gets to save towards the beginning,
plus Utopia's treatment of Danny at the end (hide spoiler)], and a lot of the supporting characters weren't really as fleshed out as they could've been, especially the more negatively portrayed ones. For all the talk about moral ambiguity with white/grey/blackcapes, there's a distinctive lack of actual moral ambiguity with most of the characters.

Yes, a fair number on the poles of the good/bad axis, although that felt less surprising in a superhero world. Some of the few ambiguous characters disappeared through the climactic action, I guess. There were definitely coincidences (like in the bar scene too.)
I'm glad if the magic transformation didn't feel like it needed to be balanced to you - not over-simple wish-fulfillment but rather as a way to just take the most obvious physical aspects off the table. (By "compromises" I was referring to the fact that the physical transformation was incomplete, and that the author made choices of what to change magically and what to leave to be addressed. I guess simply "choices" would have been a better word.)

This is on the kindle store right? It sounds really cool

Luxemburgers ~W㊉NÐERGIRL~ wrote: "This is on the kindle store right? It sounds really cool"

Yes - this is on most e-book sellers, including Amazon. I really enjoyed it, and it got a good reception from a couple of trans readers whom I know.

That's awesome. Can't wait to read it.

Has anyone read the sequel Sovereign? I’m undecided since I didn’t love the first one...I wasn’t interested in the superhero vs super villain drama for some reason. :(

I hadn't seen it was out. I probably will, but not right away.

I liked the new take on the villain front. Utopia was a little different than your average villain. I liked how she set out to meet her personal gain because she felt like it was a gain for everyone else, too. She reminded me of Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War because they both were trying to play God and do what they thought was in the best interest of the world. I wish we would have seen her character more, though.

I liked that she represented that set of villains who are so sure they are right that they do evil in the name of what they see as good.