Black Canary: Breaking Silence ~ YA Yes Way

This was the novel I wish I had when I was growing up.

I will forwarn you this post will be very heavily centered on a feminist perspective of growing up as a young girl in the early 2000s. Although I recognize that men also deal with stigmas within the realms I will be discussing; I want to focus on the female perspective, much like this book does.

As many women from my generation can probably recall, we grew up in a period where admitting you enjoyed things such as comics and video games was a reason to be slandered and called less than appropriate names.

For those of us who enjoyed playing video games, we found ourselves constantly fighting off the "Gamer Girl" stigma. The "Gamer Girl" stigma essentially pushes an idea that women do not actually enjoy, or even play, video games, and if they do, it is because they are trying to flaunt to their boyfriend or even to find a potential husband. It was during my early years of gaming that the argument, "You cannot play a woman in Halo, because that body build avoids shots easily," was formed. While this stigma has slowly begun to fade, the safety-triggers of using male-builds and avoiding chats are still habits many use.

Comics were another realm often seen as more masculine. While more movies began releasing, capturing the Avengers, and many more heroes, on the big screen, the quote, "Women only watch these films for the hot men," began to circulate. At least where I grew up, you had to prove with comic book knowledge that you enjoyed the characters past their appearances. So many of my friends and I would spend time studying lore and backgrounds to prove our abilities. However, this idea reached far past just rumors as superhero shirts were rarely even available in the girl's section. Many of my friends and I recall a distinct bubblegum pink colored Supergirl logo shirt, but our eyes always wandered to the boy's section filled with more options than we could ever desire. Once again, times have thankfully changed, and superhero shirts are now more gender-neutral, and women and girls are more openly accepted in the realms of comic-book lovers and movie goers.

Nonetheless, this book is a wonderful gateway into the world of comics and superheroes that I wish had existed when I was growing up. Dinah Laurel Lance is a beautiful character and an extremely strong-willed feminist whom any girl could easily look up to. In the comic books, she is typically found fighting side-by-side or taking on the mantle of her mother's superhero alias "Black Canary," a superhero who is best-known for her weaponized voice. In a version of Gotham City where most superheroes are either dead or incapacitated thanks to the Court of Owls, this book arises with surprises and twists in every turn.

I loved the character dynamics, the growth, the desire to fight and be heard, and not to mention one of my favorite heroes, Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), plays a significant role within the story. I was absolutely squealing when he was finally revealed to be Green Arrow.

I know a lot of people read this due to the catchy slogan of how it is similar to The Handmaid's Tale. While there are correlations between the outfits and inabilities to listen to music without being threatened to death, I believe these works should not be compared but kept separated.

Overall, I found a happy home within this novel. It reminded me of my youth, a bunch of songs by Against the Current, Icon for Hire, and Jen Ledger, and even brought a lot of smiles and happiness to my life. My final rating is 4/5 stars.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52239859-black-canary?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=4WjfLLQnYH&rank=2

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/52239859

Warning to Parents of Kids/Preteens (This is something I add for parents who like to monitor what their children read):

- Romance (*Spoilers* Main characters kiss, and there is a mention of desiring more sexualized actions without being too descript).

- Sexualized Superhero Costumes (Like most superheroes, it is impossible to escape the commentary of sexualized costumes such as leather descriptors, but nothing gets too overly descript to the point of being too sexual. Rather it's just more along the lines of calling the outfits "sexy.")