About the book
Title: Catwoman
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: DC Icons #3
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Comics, Retellings
Publication: August 9th, 2018
Pages: 384
Read: October 2020
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: DC Icons #3
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Comics, Retellings
Publication: August 9th, 2018
Pages: 384
Read: October 2020
My Copy
Publisher: Illumicrate Special Edition in collaboration with PenguinEdition: Hardback
Purchase Location: Illumicrate
I received a copy in a subscription box back in 2018
My Rating:
When the Bat's away, the Cat will play. It's time to see how many lives this cat really has. . . . Two years after escaping Gotham City's slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Batwing is left to hold back the tide of notorious criminals. Gotham City is ripe for the taking. Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove he has what it takes to help people in his role as Batwing. He targets a new thief on the prowl who seems cleverer than most. She has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, and together they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman may be Batwing's undoing. In this third DC Icons book--following Leigh Bardugo's Wonder Woman: Warbringer and Marie Lu's Batman: Nightwalker--Selina is playing a desperate game of cat and mouse, forming unexpected friendships and entangling herself with Batwing by night and her devilishly handsome neighbor Luke Fox by day. But with a dangerous threat from the past on her tail, will she be able to pull off the heist that's closest to her heart? |
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My Spoiler Free Review
Wow, just wow! I haven't read a book this fast since I picked up Cinder at the beginning of the Corona lockdown back in February/March of this year. I am really absolutely thrilled about this book. I've read a lot of comments and reviews of people I know that don't feel the same way though, and I can understand them. This book is great, and for people who don't usually read comics or aren't very into the DC world, this is a perfect start to get into the story of one of Gotham's famous characters. But for people who read the comics and have followed DC for years this might not quite meet their expectations.
To be honest, I haven't read that many Catwoman specific comics yet. Sadly! I think she's a great character and has a lot to offer, but I honestly know most about her from the TV series Gotham. That's the Selina Kyle I know. And who I compared this book's Selina to the entire time. So, I know the series might also not have depicted Catwoman's story in alliance with the comic origin story, but I feel like the general background of the character stayed true to the comics. Now, comparing Sarah J. Maas's Catwoman it gets a bit more abstract…
First things first! I LOVE Sarah's writing and I'm so glad that she picked up this story arc! I love all her books and think she has a fantastic way of bringing a story to live and the characters closer to the readers. So I knew I had to read this book anyway just because she's the author. My love for DC just made this point better. Luckily, I can separate books from tv shows and comics so that I see them all as different entities, therefore I was not offended at all about anything, although a lot of readers take things like this very seriously. For me it doesn't really matter. If I read something and I think it's great even though it's different to what I already know, then I'm still happy about what I've read. That’s the great thing about comic characters: every author can take their own view on them and tell a different story and it doesn’t matter if that’s in form of a comic, graphic novel or a literature novel.
The story is told from 2 perspectives: Selina Kyle’s and Luke Fox. Oh, and here’s another interesting character! The Luke Fox that I know so far, is the one from the tv series Batwoman. That version also has another totally different character background then in this book. Sadly, I don’t really know Luke’s background from the original comics either, so this was a nice surprise and a totally different take on his person. But the story being told from these two protagonists’s view gives it a lot of energy and Sarah maintains a great reading flow. Never at one point was the switch of POV inappropriate or gave me halt. Selina and Luke’s relationship / character developments on point! Their behaviour and relationship with their alter egos and then the parallel superhero vs vigilante entanglement was fun to follow and to see develop. Sarah brought up some really important topics like the impacts of PTSD and how Luke dealt with it (or didn’t manage to) and how it impacted his behaviour as Batwing.
One point that probably bothered me a tiny bit was that this version of Catwoman seemed a bit power hungry. Not that that’s uncommon in Gotham, but the Catwoman I know (or imagine to know) would not want to be “The Lady of Gotham City” as in rule over the other lords of Gotham like for example Falcone. This just really seemed a bit out of character for me, but who knows, maybe this actually also happens in the comics? I need to find out!
To be honest, I haven't read that many Catwoman specific comics yet. Sadly! I think she's a great character and has a lot to offer, but I honestly know most about her from the TV series Gotham. That's the Selina Kyle I know. And who I compared this book's Selina to the entire time. So, I know the series might also not have depicted Catwoman's story in alliance with the comic origin story, but I feel like the general background of the character stayed true to the comics. Now, comparing Sarah J. Maas's Catwoman it gets a bit more abstract…
First things first! I LOVE Sarah's writing and I'm so glad that she picked up this story arc! I love all her books and think she has a fantastic way of bringing a story to live and the characters closer to the readers. So I knew I had to read this book anyway just because she's the author. My love for DC just made this point better. Luckily, I can separate books from tv shows and comics so that I see them all as different entities, therefore I was not offended at all about anything, although a lot of readers take things like this very seriously. For me it doesn't really matter. If I read something and I think it's great even though it's different to what I already know, then I'm still happy about what I've read. That’s the great thing about comic characters: every author can take their own view on them and tell a different story and it doesn’t matter if that’s in form of a comic, graphic novel or a literature novel.
The story is told from 2 perspectives: Selina Kyle’s and Luke Fox. Oh, and here’s another interesting character! The Luke Fox that I know so far, is the one from the tv series Batwoman. That version also has another totally different character background then in this book. Sadly, I don’t really know Luke’s background from the original comics either, so this was a nice surprise and a totally different take on his person. But the story being told from these two protagonists’s view gives it a lot of energy and Sarah maintains a great reading flow. Never at one point was the switch of POV inappropriate or gave me halt. Selina and Luke’s relationship / character developments on point! Their behaviour and relationship with their alter egos and then the parallel superhero vs vigilante entanglement was fun to follow and to see develop. Sarah brought up some really important topics like the impacts of PTSD and how Luke dealt with it (or didn’t manage to) and how it impacted his behaviour as Batwing.
One point that probably bothered me a tiny bit was that this version of Catwoman seemed a bit power hungry. Not that that’s uncommon in Gotham, but the Catwoman I know (or imagine to know) would not want to be “The Lady of Gotham City” as in rule over the other lords of Gotham like for example Falcone. This just really seemed a bit out of character for me, but who knows, maybe this actually also happens in the comics? I need to find out!
Have you read Catwoman by Sarah J. Maas? I’d love to hear what you think about the book! Does anybody have any Catwoman comic recommendations? I know have to urge to read more about Catwoman and I might just have picked Catwoman with Halle Berry for the next movie night!! |
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