Review: Batman Nightwalker

Batman: Nightwalker
Rating: 4/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Returning home from his lavish eighteenth birthday party, Bruce Wayne stops a criminal's getaway - disobeying the police and crashing his car during the chase. 

Sentenced to community service in Gotham City's Arkham Asylum, he encounters some of the the city's most dangerous and mentally disturbed criminals. Among these, Bruce meets the intriguing Madeleine who has ties to the Nightwalker gang that is terrorizing Gotham City.

She's a mystery Bruce has to unravel but can he trust her? The Nightwalkers target the rich, and Bruce's name is next on their list.

First thing's first, I loved the art style for this graphic novel adaptation! The art is just gorgeous, the character designs are wonderfully drawn and I really liked the aesthetic of them, but I loved the colour palette for this entire graphic novel the most. It's all black, white and grey with yellow being the only colour but it's only used for certain things...to accent things you could say and I really loved that choice! I also particularly liked the way the expressions were drawn on character's faces and the emotion that you could see in their eyes where brought across so well with the art, like the snide looks Bruce got in one particular panel. 

The beginning of this is intriguing, and there's action from the start including a nice and tense car chase. After that it's not long before we're presented with a mystery in the form of the Nightwalkers and then we're getting up close and personal with Arkham Asylum. Bruce is adjusting to life as a billionaire now that he's 18 and like Madeline says...he sees everything in black and white. Good and bad. He's also a little bit too nosy for his own good in this case! 

Madeline is suitably mysterious, she seems to relate to Bruce and you can empathise with her past. But you can't really trust her and I was constantly torn between wanting to trust her...but not quite being able to bring myself to. You could never really be sure if she was telling the truth or if she was lying and she's very manipulative but she certainly kept you on your toes.

As someone who's read the original book, I have to say this was nicely paced and we move through the story wonderfully from point to point with action, tension and suspicion throughout before everything wraps up perfectly. The key plot points and most important scenes have been picked out to be brought to life in the graphic novel, with the characters expressions getting across a lot of the emotion as well as adding to the tone and atmosphere of the scenes. None of the plot or feeling behind it is lost with this adaptation, and you can see the beginnings of Bruce becoming Batman with his need to solve mysteries and crimes. By the end of the volume Bruce has been set on his path to truly becoming Batman. We also get cameos from Alfred, Lucius, Harvey Dent and James Gordon as well.

Review: Batman Nightwalker

Batman Nightwalker
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy.

The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list.

One by one, the city's elites are being executed as their mansions' security systems turn against them, trapping them like prey. Meanwhile, Bruce is turning eighteen and about to inherit his family's fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Enterprises and all the tech gadgetry his heart could ever desire. But after a run-in with the police, he's forced to do community service at Arkham Asylum, the infamous prison that holds the city's most brutal criminals.

Madeleine Wallace is a brilliant killer . . . and Bruce's only hope.

In Arkham, Bruce meets Madeleine, a brilliant girl with ties to the Nightwalkers. What is she hiding? And why will she speak only to Bruce? Madeleine is the mystery Bruce must unravel. But is he getting her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees? Bruce will walk the dark line between trust and betrayal as the Nightwalkers circle closer. 

I'm so pumped for the DC Icons series, and Wonder Woman Warbringer was freaking brilliant, so I've been anticipating this one like mad! Especially since I recently read Warcross which was basically my first book by Marie Lu ever! I'm so thankful to Sarah at Penguin for sending me a review copy of this book, because I got to read it in one sitting on holiday and it made my life complete! 

The opening is dark and ominous and it had a very Gotham vibe, meaning the TV show! I was immediately thrown in to a dark and gritty version of Gotham City and my interest was piqued straight away. I'm not going to lie to you guys, I kinda felt like this was a bit Criminal Minds crossed with Batman! 

Bruce.....I can so relate dude. Lu brings him to life so well, his thoughts and feelings are relatable and you can see his point of view easily, even if I did want to smack him or shout at him about Madeleine more than once! I got what he was feeling and going through and why he was acting like he was, and I did admire his determination to find the culprits. Dianne I completely loved and I wish we'd gotten to see more of her! When I saw Harvey Dent was in this book, I immediately perked up because you know....spoiler alert, but in the movies/tv show/comics, Harvey becomes Two Face, one of Batman's enemies and I was like...okay this is gonna hurt. Seeing Bruce and Harvey's friendship kicked me right in the feels. I really liked how Harvey was portrayed, it was very in line with what makes him eventually become Two Face. 

There's such a great friendship between Bruce, Dianne and Harvey, it's such a shame Harvey will go all villain later. I could totally read a series with these three I'm not going to lie! Like I said, Dianne was a lot of fun and I so want to see some more of her, and I'd be interested to see how Lu makes Harvey go all villain! I enjoyed the bond and the banter between the three of them and how they where there for Bruce, and helped him. 

On the Villain side of things we have Madeleine who's cunning, sly and kind of really creepy. I found myself disliking her at points, but then kind of admiring her at others because she's so intelligent. As the book went on, I actually felt for her once her backstory came out and I was torn about what I wanted to happen because you know...she's a villain but I kinda wanted her to get a happyish ending. Richard....sorry but he was a prize a-hole and any sympathy I might have had for him swiftly evaporated and I found it really hard to conjure any up at the end. 

Alfred and Lucius pop up a lot and I forever love the relationship Bruce has with them. We also get a brief visit from Detective Gordon! Metropolis is mentioned too and there's plenty of Batman easter eggs and tidbits, Harvey's coin for example, as well as a view DC one's in general. Hey Lex ;) Nightwalker fits so well in to the Batman cannon and Lu clearly knows what she's talking/writing about when it comes to this book! 

Each scene and setting is vivid and brought to life until you're wandering the streets of Gotham with Bruce. The grimy, gritty streets of Gotham are brought in to sharp relief and the image I had in my mind almost had a vignette over it, making it dim and dark. It's a completely different vibe and feel to the Wonder Woman book and is perfect for Batman. There's a steady pace with a nice amount of action, I got Gotham vibes like I said, but it also gave the vibe of one of the Christopher Nolan Batman films. At least to me! 

Bruce goes on quite the journey through the book and I liked the contrast between the two car journeys at the beginning of the book, and the end! The ending was very satisfying too! All in all it's a perfect addition to not only the Batman cannon but also the DC Icons series in general, and the more books I read in this series the more pumped I get for the rest! 

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Review: Warcross

Warcross
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game - it's a way of life. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships - only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she's going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. Emika's whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she's only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

This is my first time reading a Marie Lu book, I'm not going to lie. What drew me in? The gaming. I'm a bit of a gamer myself to an extent, and I was curious to see what the book was like. Because you know...as soon as I started to read my brain immediately jumped to Sword Art Online. With all the technology regarding the game...it was really SAO-y, without the whole "you die in the game you die in real lief" thing. So unlike SAO I actually really want this tech like...hell yes to being able to translate anyone, anywhere! The more I read the book, the more I drew similarities to SAO. The tech, the virtual reality, it's actually really similar to the SAO Ordinal Scale movie to an extent with everyone getting the tech and using it wherever and various other things. 

I loved Emika, she was so relatable and so genuine. She was strong, intelligent and a hacking badass. She was basically super awesome, and I loved reading through her eyes. She was so determined and she'd been through such a lot and I really admired her. Especially at the end of the book when she stuck to her guns. She was a character you could empathise with and root for one hundred percent. 

Hideo....I shipped him with Emika so bad! And as a fellow sufferer of resting bitch face....I feel you dude. I was loving him so much, I was loving the romance...and then Hideo did the thing and I was just like damn it Hideo. Why did you have to go and do that. I kind of get where he's coming from and his motivations given what's happened to him in the past, but it's still not okay. It's certainly going to be interesting because it's not a black and white situation...you can relate to Hideo and empathise with him. 

I loved all of the other characters, Hammie, Roshan, Asher...they where all so brilliant to read about. They where plenty memorable too and they make quite the team with Emika! I loved how they just accepted her in to their group, and how well they all got on together. I can't wait to see more of them, and I'm so ready for the next book to get to know them all better and to see more of their interactions. 

My one gripe is that with the secondary characters...we didn't get to know them very well. We saw glimpses of them, but we didn't get to know them as well as I would have liked. There where a few other bits and pieces that I felt could have been fleshed out a bit more and a bit more detailed. 

The settings where vivid, and easy to fall in to. If you've ever played a game of any sort, some of the worlds feel a bit nostalgic! Or at least they did for me! The Mario Kart bits where reminiscent of the times I spent playing it with my cousin and other family members too! I loved the gaming aspects basically! They're hardly ever included in books, and not as brilliantly done as in this one! I'm really going to enjoy the coming books if they keep this up! I loved the way she created Warcross and the rules for it, and how it worked. The dark web is a real place you can walk around in too which was a fun way to portray a really shady place! 

The tech descriptions allow you to understand how it all works, without boring you with overly long explanations. Yes, it's all very Sword Art Online buuuutt it's also scarily believable. You can so easily picture technology advancing to this level, and all of the potential horrors that could come with it. SAO freaks me out sometimes for the same reasons! 

Warcross has a great pace, it keeps the book moving forward and keeps you reading. Although sometimes it does feel like things are a bit too fast and time could have been spent fleshing out bits and pieces and getting to know characters properly. The suspense builds up throughout the book, and there are some plot twists thrown in that have you gasping and freaking out. Although I did guess one as soon as the memory scene happened, so I kinda knew who the 'bad guy' was for the entire last part of the book which was a bit disappointing, and I worked out a second bigger one too. 

It's definitely going to be interesting to see what happens and how it's all resolved! I'm eager to get back to the characters and see more of them and this interesting world that's been created. I'm intrigued to see how much of a presence the gaming will have in the next books, given what happens in this one. I feel like this book was a prologue sort of, the warm up for the main event!