An action-packed series-starter perfect for fans of The Heroine Complex and Not Your Sidekick. “I didn’t know how much I needed this brave, thrilling book until it rocked my world. Dreadnought is the superhero adventure we all need right now.”—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky 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 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. Gr 9 Up—While many teenagers have a challenging time dealing with school and peer pressure, for 15-year-old Danny Tozer, life is a little more complicated. For starters, she is transgender and living in a world where superheroes and supervillains exist. When Danny unexpectedly becomes the recipient of popular superhero Dreadnought's mantle, the superpowers also transform her body into the female one she has always identified with. Because Danny is not yet an adult, the Legion of Superheroes is divided on how to approach her unique situation. Her father is in denial that his son is now his daughter, and has been verbally abusive toward Danny. A promise of romance adds a further layer when Danny's best friend wants to date her. There are some violent fight scenes when Danny sets off to find Dreadnought's killer. There are also some light moments that offset the deeper questions about establishing identity. VERDICT This first title in the series offers a rich, unusual mix of subjects and themes for fantasy fans.—Vivian Ho, Port Washington Public Library, NY “I didn’t know how much I needed this brave, thrilling book until it rocked my world. Dreadnought is the superhero adventure we all need right now.”—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky “A thoroughly enjoyable, emotionally rich, action-packed story with the most exciting new superheroes in decades. Unmissable.”— Kirkus Starred Review “…A fascinating exploration of gender identity in a fantastical setting.”— Publishers Weekly “This first title in the series offers a rich, unusual mix of subjects and themes for fantasy fans.”— School Library Journal “I’m not normally a fan of superhero narratives, and then I find an exception that grabs me by the throat and makes me love it. Dreadnought is one of those exceptions.” —Liz Bourke, Tor.com “ Dreadnought is a coming-of-age story: it’s all about Danny coming to terms with her own power and her own agency, not just as a superhero, but as a person (and as a person who chooses to be a superhero), and it’s one that doesn’t shy away from consequences, either. People get hurt, sometimes badly—sometimes killed, and it’s this willingness to highlight the fact that standing up doesn’t come without real cost that gives Dreadnought its real heart.”— Locus Magazine April Daniels graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in literature. She completed her first manuscript by scribbling a few sentences at a time between calls while working in the customer support department for a well-known video game console. As nostalgia for the 1990s comes into its full bloom, she has become ever more convinced that she was born two or three years too late and missed all the good stuff the first time around. Dreadnought Nemesis - Book One By April Daniels Diversion Publishing Group Copyright © 2017 April Daniels All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-68230-068-8 CHAPTER 1 This is taking too long. I just want to pay for the shit and go. It's not like I'm breaking the law or anything except it totally feels like I'm breaking the law. It'd be really cool to be able to do this without shame, without hopping on a train to ride halfway across the city first. Finally, I get to the front of the line and drop the nail polish on the counter. The cashier rings me up with a smile that makes me curdle inside. I wonder if she knows. I take my nail polish and get out of there as quick as I can. I make sure not to glimpse my reflection in the mall windows as I beeline for the exit.