Her trauma is also shown poignantly and touched me in a lot places within the story. She has PTSD from years of having an abusive mother and then the abusive training at the hands of the al-Ghūl sisters. She yearns to be loved and kissed and held romantically when she sees two prominent characters being lovey dovey to each other. She is badass, fierce, calm and calculated, but also has a soft, human side and a gray moral side.

I loved how SJM showed her story minus Batman, whose story often shadowed Selina’s own.Īnyway, Selina is one of my favorite YA heroines now. I’ve never read much about Catwoman and saw very little movies featuring her. The surprises and the “click in the place” moments were too good! 02) Characters: Selina Kyle aka Catwoman aka Holly Vanderhees: What made me most happy is how SJM, who is an expert in excellent foreshadowing, kept her flare in this book, something that made me her fan in the first place. I loved the tightly knitted plot and the seamless pacing as well. Selina’s struggle to keep her sister (who is suffering from cystic fibrosis and thus has very little time to live) well-fed, out of any trouble from an abusive mother and an absentee father, from heinous social workers and even from dying too. I mean, I know Catwoman aka Selina Kyle grew up amidst poverty even in the comics and the Dark Knight trilogy movies. But then I began and got instantly hooked in the first two chapters of the lengthy prologue. Seriously, it is!!! Before I picked up this book, I went to check out its GR reviews and some were very upfront about how the plot is slow and clichéd. I hope she will improve on it in her later books.)īut what impressed me most about this book are: 01) Really Amazing Plot: I’m so, so glad SJM is trying to make her books more diverse (though something that made me a bit upset was she still hadn’t relinquished her “kill the PoC” trope much. Most of Sarah’s previous notorious traits were unseen here (maybe one or two but not much). But this book made me so so happy while reading. Reading this book affirmed SJM can write books set in modern days as well (Guess what it means? I’ll be picking up Crescent City, SJM’s upcoming adult urban fantasy as well!). Also, because Catwoman is set in modern day urban setting while SJM is a writer whose books are always set in second world fae settings.Īnyway, my expectations were met to the fullest.

Maas, one of my favorite YA writer, is penning a DC icon book, I had to check it out. I’ve never been a fan of comics, though I enjoyed a lot of films based on them.

Catwoman soulstealer sarah j maas