#april daniels

[reedreadsbooks]

Book Review: Dreadnought by April Daniels ✨🏙️⚡️

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

(5/5)

After Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero, is killed in combat, closeted trans girl Danny Tozer inherits his powers and is transformed to have the body she’s always wanted to have. Now she has to deal with having superpowers and being an out trans woman, all the while hunting down the supervillain who murdered her predecessor.

This book was phenomenal, and I’m kind of at a loss for words to describe how much I liked it.

To start, I love the world of this book. This is such a classic superhero story. Daniels uses the conventions of the genre without making things feel like a parody and subverts tropes just enough to make the story distinct.

I also really love Dreadnought as a trans narrative. This book doesn’t shy away from transphobia. Between Danny’s parents, kids at her school, and other heroes she meets, we get a pretty broad and realistic representation of the types of abuse a young trans woman might face. There’s also so much trans joy in this book. It was really nice to see Danny come into herself, and it was cathartic to watch her realize that no one could take her transition away from her. This is the type of story that will give trans kids hope for the future.

I would recommend this book to literally everyone. In fact, I plan on recommending this book to literally everyone. But because that’s not helpful, I’ll be more specific and say I highly recommend this book to fans of Andrew Joseph White. Obviously, it’s very different from his work, genre-wise, but I think the themes are really similar. If you like Hell Followed with Us and The Spirit Bares It’s Teeth, I can definitely see you liking Dreadnought.

#trr24 #reed reviews books #dreadnought #april daniels #book review #queer book review #5 star reads #trans books #queer books #queer book recs #book recommendations #book recommendation #queer ya #young adult books #superhero #reading #books #bookish #book blog #bookblr

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Achilles- Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Zhu Chongba- She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Danny Tozer- Dreadnought by April Daniels

Nina Zenik- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

#Achilles #Song of Achilles #TSOA #Madeline Miller #Zhu Chongba #the radiant emperor #tre #She Who Became The Sun #Shelley Parker-Chan #Danny Tozer #Dreadnought #sovereign #April Daniels #Nina Zenik #Six of Crows #SOC #Six of Crows Duology #Grishaverse #Leigh Bardugo #lgbt books #polls #queer book character tournament 2.0

[cmdrvaneia]

I know that the line work and certain other features (the face especially) could certainly use some work, but I finished this piece in autodesk sketchbook based on my recently favourite book series :)

(also pls read these books, especially if you're trans but also if you're not usually a fan of superhero media or YA, both of which I was and now I love love love them) @msaprildaniels

#dreadnought #dreadnought fanart #april daniels #amateur artist #autodesk sketchbook #autistic artist

[beyond-a-name]

So I keep seeing that post about critiques of superhero narratives going around, and while it sounds really good, something about it rubs me the wrong way.

The best thing to do with power is to give it away. That is not what superheroes do.

They use their power to help people, but it's never a redistribution of power. Even in settings where power can explicitly be granted to basically anybody, it is kept with a select few because that is integral to what makes it a superhero story.

Take Spiderverse for example, maybe my favourite ongoing franchise. In the Spiderverse, it is explicit that the powers of spiderman can be granted through a uniquely irradiated spider. There is an entire organization wholly devoted to connecting with other spider people across dimensions, but the story, even in the comics, never explores what would happen by putting all that funding and research into replicating those spiders.

Now, a big theme of every Spiderman retelling, and indeed almost every Superhero narrative, is what those characters lose to keep their city, their world, and their (remaining) loved ones safe. These superhuman characters go through exceptional sacrifice and loss because they have power, a kind of noble suffering, all for the good of those around them. This makes for a very compelling story, but that eternal martyrdom is also how abuse gets justified. If power is some noble burden, then it is both justified to give power to as few people as possible (to prevent suffering) while also to venerate those that have it (for their sacrifice and kindness).

This same justification, of course, extends to how real world government systems are justified. Really, it's quite tragic that our leader president king leviathan superhero has all that agency, they have to make all the "hard choices". Look at how strong they are for doing that, for taking care of everybody, even when people don't know what's best for them. And of course they don't, not always, because only the people with power have the ability to know. With great power comes great responsibility, after all, but it is the with-holding of responsibility that is precisely the problem.

This is the core of the power fantasy that superhero media presents. That you, dear reader, can be that hero. That you get to help people and be universally loved for it, and that all of your suffering is noble and justified. That even if your suffering is due in large part to the fact that you shoulder this burden alone and do not (or cannot) ask for help and thereby extend agency to those around you, you are right to do so. That even if you won't be outright revered, you will still be able to rest easy that it was you that made The Hard Choice instead of someone else, and that you're Keeping People Safe.

So let's go back to Spiderverse. As it stands, even though I think it could go farther, it's obviously (at least partially) a deconstruction of the superhero genre. Whereas Into The Spiderverse shows its greatest thematic strength in the power of community in the face of tragedy, Across the Spiderverse goes a step further to start asking why we have to keep making all these damn tragic decisions in the first place. Into the Spiderverse assures you that you're not the only one making hard choices, actually, and shows how nice that actually is. But Across the Spiderverse asks why anyone has to suffer in the first place. Across the Spiderverse resonates so strongly because it takes a look at the trolley problem and does what everyone who sees the trolley problem reflexively does, which is to start asking who tied all these people to the tracks and why do we take people dying by trolleys to be such a given? The film, in actively questioning the implicit assumption of tragedy and "noble sacrifice" is directly undermining part of the core superhero power fantasy. Whereas abuse and oppression are preserved in maintaining systems of power as necessary hardship and noble suffering, change is pioneered in questioning those power structures and recognizing that suffering is not a virtue. If suffering isn't a virtue, how noble are these sacrifices, anyway?

While I'm deeply excited to see the next Spiderverse film the moment it releases, like I stated earlier, the series doesn't go as far as it could. While it partially recognizes that the distribution of power is entirely arbitrary (who gets bit by that spider is effectively random), it doesn't ask why we aren't then redistributing it. Spiderverse, at least thus far, does not fully embrace actually giving that power away.

And it is here, dear reader, that I present to you a book recommendation. If what you've read here resonates with you and you're curious to see a work take that final step, then I'd like to direct your curiousity to the Nemesis series by April Daniels.

The (currently unfinished) trilogy begins with Dreadnought, in which Danny, a young, closeted trans girl, watches the world's greatest superhero die in front of her, before inheriting his powers. But with Dreadnought's abilities, Danny also gets her ideal feminine body, rendering it impossible for her to remain closeted any longer. While the book is obviously a trans narrative first and foremost, and a profoundly impactful one at that, the book also criticizes the centralization of power and touches on how deeply traumatizing all that "noble suffering" really is. The other superheroes are deeply traumatized and living in a state of constant vigilance, and everyone is of course bickering over who gets to benefit from Danny's powers and to what end. All the while, mind you, while telling a transfeminine narrative so archetypal that I could directly match it to my own lived experience, one for one: transphobia, homelessness, even her friend's perceived entitlement to her newly feminine body.

The second book, Sovereign, much more directly confronts the authoritarian fantasy at the heart of the genre (while also keeping it delightfully queer). In Sovereign, it is eventually revealed what is increasing the number of all these super- people, and casts its titular villain as a grossly rich man who seeks to keep that power as selectively distributed as possible. Not only does the book have Danny explore what heroism looks like outside of the corrupt, state-sponsored "White Cape" framework, but Danny also consistently reflects on just what it is she is actually getting out of all this violence.

Book 2 concludes with the forward expectation to redistribute this power much more freely, but book 3 isn't yet out to follow up on it. I personally suspect that this is largely due to the core challenge of redistributing power in a genre where the centralization of power is so integral to its telling. (I mean, it's not like anything else of note since 2017 could have had any sort of impact on the writing and publishing of a queer novel). Still, the series even thus far does a much better job of deconstructing the power fantasy and martyrdom that superhero media relies on than many mainline works before it, and its two finished books already stand on their own beautifully. Also it's trans, which rules. (It's one of my all-time favourite series, if you couldn't tell).

Anyway, you started this post expecting a thorough response of a specific rebuttal of leftist critique of superhero media. Namely, that rebuttal argues that superhero media, at its core, is about helping people. This is partially true, but it is almost never about empowering people to help themselves, which is precisely the problem.

I agree, the best thing to do with power is to give it away. Really be nice if it did that lol

#long post #superhero media #superhero stories #dreadnought by april daniels #april daniels #spiderverse

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Dreadnought by April Daniels

goodreads

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.

Mod Opinion: It‘s been a while since I read this book, but I remember liking it :)

#dreadnought #april daniels #polls #trans books #trans lit #trans literature #lgbt lit #lgbt books #lgbt literature #superheroes #fantasy #ya #trans woman #own voices

[localgaypanic]

Well I started Sovereign

#Dreadought #Sovereign #Nemesis trilogy #April Daniels #Danny Tozer #Danielle Tozer #she's still Literally Me

[eliza-azaleaisinprogress]

Re-listening to the Nemesis audio books again for the heck-thousandth time and I really have to applaud Daniels's ability to write from the perspective of not just a flawed protagonist, but specifically a teenager.

Danielle Tozer notes in a scene towards the end of the second act that when she got along well with the other girls at her school as a child and gradually drifted away when she got older, but wondered if she drifted, or was pushed out because they saw her as a boy.

Towards the end of the first act Danni has a falling out with her childhood best friend because he was a shitheel acted like she belonged to him because she was cisgirl-shaped and they were friends. Later, her new best friend explained that her old bestie was practical ly the most notorious incel in school. Danielle never connects these dots. Partly because she's too busy figuring herself out to consider the world around her, partly because she's trapped under the pillar of stress from her abusive home life and pathological averse to confrontation until she's pushed just hard enough. Seriously, read Dreadnought and Sovereign they're both really good (but skip chapter 15 of Sovereign, it's pretty goshdang brutal)

#nemesis #dreadnought #shower thoughts #april daniels

[circe-pendragon]

Love how absolutely moronic Graywytch sounds whenever she’s misgendering Danny, like. Myra, hun, that’s a whole ass girl in front of you. You’re embarrassing nobody but yourself.

#but then I also remember that that’s literally just what TERFs are like #i love how totally unfazed Danny is by it too #dreadnought #April Daniels

[queer-books-bracket]

#they drown our daughters #dreadnought #nemesis #Katrina Monroe #april daniels #books #lgbt books #polls

[dragonatthedinnertable]

Book Review: Dreadnought

—by April Daniels

Superheroes aren’t really my preferred genre, and I haven’t read a Young Adult book in a while, so I wasn’t entirely sure if I was gonna like this. But honestly when I heard “trans superhero” I knew that I had to read it.

The first three pages blew me away. Before all the superhero stuff shows up, we just get three pages of what it’s like to be a closeted trans girl. It is vivid, poignant, and honest. It is heart-breaking. It made me feel that if I’d read this a decade ago I might have cracked my egg much earlier, because it resonated so strongly with me. I actually had to put the book down, it was so much.

The story is strong and well-paced, with great action scenes & imaginative supers all over. The climax goes hard, and I couldn’t put it down for like a dozen chapters. But through it all, there’s the constant threads: Danny is dealing with transphobia at home, at school, with the supers. She feels euphoria, freedom. She meets people who see her & respect her.

And reading this, I just viscerally miss that this kind of representation isn’t more widespread. It was the same kind of feeling I had when I read On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis, which has an autistic protagonist, and felt seen for the first time.

This book is amazing, and I need more of it.

#Nina Reviews #Dreadnought #April Daniels #book review

[alagaisia]

Okay I just finished Dreadnought, on the recommendation of someone from tumblr, and it was incredible. Such an interesting world and vibrant characters and that transphobic superhero left me absolutely seething with rage sitting at my little desk doing my little job. I just went and put a hold on the next one immediately. Once again I don’t have any deep literary thoughts to express but I loved the book and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel :)

#dreadnought #April daniels #mine #2023 reading list

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Danny Tozer- Dreadnought by April Daniels

Humaira Khan- Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Richard St Vier- Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

Rune Saint John- The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards

#Danny Tozer #Dreadnought #Sovereign #April Daniels #Humaira Khan #Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating #Adiba Jaigirdar #Richard St Vier #Swordspoint #Riverside series #Riverside #Ellen Kushner #Rune Saint John #The Tarot Sequence #the last sun #tls #the hanged man #thm #the hourglass throne #tht #KD Edwards #lgbt books #polls #queer book character tournament 2

[waffle-sorter]

Pretty sure “they had it coming” is not what your lawyer wants to hear. Even if it’s “just” about breaking & entering plus assault. And particularly if they’re first hearing about it as evidence for why you shouldn’t be allowed bail for a different charge.

#waffle reads #sovereign #april daniels #i mean i don't have law training #i don't even watch procedurals or court dramas or judge judy #but i have picked up that much

[desdasiwrites]

– April Daniels, Dreadnought 

#book quote of the day #april daniels #dreadnought #transgender #transgirl #trans ya literature #trans representation #book recommendations

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Sovereign by April Daniels

goodreads

Only nine months after her debut as the superhero Dreadnought, Danny Tozer is already a scarred veteran. Protecting a city the size of New Port is a team-sized job and she’s doing it alone. Between her newfound celebrity and her demanding cape duties, Dreadnought is stretched thin, and it’s only going to get worse. When she crosses a newly discovered billionaire supervillain, Dreadnought comes under attack from all quarters. From her troubled family life to her disintegrating friendship with Calamity, there’s no lever too cruel for this villain to use against her. She might be hard to kill, but there’s more than one way to destroy a hero. Before the war is over, Dreadnought will be forced to confront parts of herself she never wanted to acknowledge. And behind it all, an old enemy waits in the wings, ready to unleash a plot that will scar the world forever.

Mod opinion: I've read this book a while ago (by now 6 years ago), but I remember really enjoying it.

#sovereign #april daniels #polls #trans books #trans lit #trans literature #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #lgbt books #superheroes #sci fi #fantasy #trans woman #own voices

[fandomshatewomen]

You know what we need? We need a reboot of First Kill with better plot, better writing, better characterization, better world building, better fashion and a much higher budget.

We need Calliope and Juliette’s romance to be truly fleshed out and feel real enough that we can feel attached to them as a couple. We need to see them break up and then get back together because their love is transcending! We need to see them having other girlfriends even and have favorite pairings!

We need a new hit vampire show that centers Lesbians!

We (LGBT+ People / Of Color) deserve to have our very own high-budget well written shows. We deserve gay pairings that are so interesting that we would care so much about them to the point where we’d be able to scream “Team [X]!” or “Team [Y]!” whenever a Lesbian would be involved in a love triangle. We deserve to have media where Queer characters aren’t reduced to their love life but where it’s still plays a huge role in the plot! We deserve to have trans witch characters that we would love so much that we’d cosplay them, try to emulate their style, buy items inspired by them and create whole fandoms around! And see hot supernatural creatures fighting over who gets the beautiful trans woman’s attention!

Basically what I’m trying to say is, we deserve to have shows that are so well-made that they get worldwide attention. I want to see a show centering LGBT characters doing so good that they make literal events and create shops based on it, like they do for Stranger Things! It’s tiring of always getting crumbs when we deserve so much more!

I totally feel you Nonny! Its so frustrating because aside from Pose we're only given a single trans woman in any media. There's a novel series that I started that I haven't finished yet (I can't seem to find an update on the 3rd novel)

ok so the main character is a trans woman Dani and she becomes a super hero quite suddenly. I wish it would be adapted as a movie and that the author would give us the third book. I can just imagine all the pretty cosplayers being Dreadnought for Halloween or for the movie premiere.

Feel free to recommend your own novels in reblogs I'll try to read them this winter!

mod laina

#dreadnought #first kill #april daniels #trans representation