Natalie Recommends "Black Canary: Breaking Silence"

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The fifth installment of the DC Icons series, and with one of my favorite female heroes.  In a dystopian Gotham where Batman has passed and the Court of Owls rule Gotham, things have always been challenging for seventeen year old Dinah Lance.  Since their take over, women singing has been  outlawed and silenced in what was known as The Silencing.

Dinah has always had a fascination with singing, every since she heard a girl singing in an off limits opera house when she was eight.  When she tries to sneak into the  opera house years later, she and her friends Ty and Mandy  are caught by the Court's enforcers known as Talons.  After her police chief father, Larry Lance, brings her home, her senior year will become even more complicated. As Dinah finds herself pulled into trouble and a fight against the Court, she starts to learn more about herself and her late mother Dinah Lance (If you are unfamiliar, Dinah Lance was the original Black Canary back in the Golden Age of comics and was succeeded by her daughter Dinah Drake in the Silver Age onwards).  This novel shows us life in Gotham from the perspective of Dinah, who loved music and is trying to find her voice.  Along the way, she will make a new friend, find love, and powers she never knew she had. We also get to see some familiar faces, most notable an older Barbara Gordon who now is going by Oracle and was a close friend to Dinah's mother.  Along with faces like Lady Shiva, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), and Rory Regan (Ragman).

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and is probably my favorite of the DC Icons novels (I have read Batman: Nightcrawlers and the graphic novelization of Wonder Woman: Warbringer).  This does not require you to read any of the other DC Icon novels to understand what is going on.  This is a great book for Young Adult audiences.

Martin recommends "Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics"

Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics provides an in-depth look at a decade-long period of the music and cultural scenes of Britain. Author Dylan Jones zooms in on the period from 1975 to 1985 and the second invasion of British music. This study goes from the heyday of punk to the peak of new-wave, through the birth of MTV and the culmination of Live-Aid.    

Written in a style reminiscent of a documentary script,  Jones presents the reader with an eye-witness account of this period by those who were key to it.  Through interviews, the reader hears from the likes of David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Adam Ant, Martin Fry, Malcolm McLaren, Sade, the members of bands like Culture Club, Duran Duran, the Eurythmics, Heaven 17, Spandau Ballet, and so many more.

For someone like me who is a music-nerd that came of age during this particular decade, this book is a fascinating read.  Even if you think you know a lot about these artists and their albums, I can guarantee you will find a number of interesting nuggets of trivia within these pages.  It might even inspire you to revisit some of your favorite music from this period.

Adult / Nonfiction