Rate: 4/5

Medium: Kindle

Overview (No Spoilers):

I’ve been anticipating Maas’ version of Catwoman ever since picking up the modern take of Wonder Woman by Leigh Bardugo over a year. I have a confession, I bypassed the second book in the series Batman, based on the YA author behind the read. I admit that my grudge against Lu should probably be reassessed as so many people enjoy her work, however I had a hard time willing myself to read her again due to my frustrations with the one dimensionality of her Legend series. Ultimately, knowing I was going to pick up Catwoman, I should have made the effort to read Batman as characters overlap, but I was able to piece together the important pieces I missed and will be reading Lu’s take on the Dark Knight in the near future. As a fan of Maas’ due to her Throne of Glass series, it was an easy novel to want to pick up, with curiosity blooming as to how Catwoman will be portrayed with growing up seeing this character in the various Batman remakes. In Maas’ aforementioned series, she excels at bringing to life strong, independent and intelligent women, as such it should be no surprise this trend continues in Catwoman. Selina Kyle and Aelin (heroine of the Throne of Glass series) seem cut out of the same cloth and would likely be fast friends. I pondered if they were in fact too close in overlapping personality traits, however couldn’t come to a consensus as my last ToG book was read over a year ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the supporting cast of Ivy and Harley who added added depth to the overall story line, although I would positively love a book based on the former mad scientist to fill in the gaps left in this narrative. The battle scenes are intense, making it impossible for the reader to put down, while being dazzled by Selina’s intelligence over and over again almost to a flaw. Overall, both Catwoman and Wonder Woman in this DC Icons series contain wonderful, resilient female characters that are a fantastic addition to the YA genre.

Additional Insight (Spoilers Abound):

• What will Batman think of Luke Fox cuddling up with Catwoman? Or the state of Gotham when he returns from whatever mysterious mission he is on?
• Will it come to haunt Catwoman or Batwing that they know each other’s identities?
• Is Batwing supposed to be an updated Robin?
• Everyone is this book was so incredibly smart that it was seriously just too much.
• Now that Selina called in a favor with the Leopards will Falcone know who she is in real life?
• I enjoyed Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn’s relationship, however will Quinn forgive Ivy from betraying her? Will Quinn be able to move past the Joker and his threats? What is actually going on with Ivy with regard to her ‘powers’?
• Why did it take so long for the assassins to come after Selina?

Vocabulary Builder:

When reading it is common that I encounter words that I’m not privy to the exact definition, however it is easy to infer the meaning of the aforementioned word based on the context of the sentence and story. As such, relatively new to the Critiquing Chemist, you’ll find an additional section that includes vocabulary words that I encountered upon reading the book being reviewed and either had to look up the definition or it is a word in which I would like to add to my repertoire. This endeavor is easier when in the Kindle format, and potentially impossible with audiobooks, however I’m going to attempt to continue this section for all future book reviews. I’ll be using the definitions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Emcee: to act as master of ceremonies of

Veritable: being in fact the thing named and not false, unreal, or imaginary —often used to stress the aptness of a metaphor

Parquet: a patterned wood surface (such as flooring or paneling)

Vapid: lacking flavor, zest, interest, animation, or spirit