I LOVE XMen, it is very nostlagic for me.and this was lovely to read! Sabretooth is not my favourite character but the writing was lovely, i loved all the other characters AND i feel so bad for Cyclops. I need to read more books like this!!! A solid 3!

Eva and Christopher are X-Men-in-training, impatient to get into the real world. But when a training exercise goes astray, they are about to be tested for real.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first X-Men novel by Carrie Harris, and the first X-Men story in a new set of Marvel novels by various authors.
I thought this book was good at starting a new story following Eva and Christopher, but its does benefit from familiarity with the X-Men COMIC world.
I've watched all of the films, which helped with the supporting characters; but I was lost as to what timeline it was.
The characters keep referring back to this big event, where they got pulled into this different plane, and it had a huge impact on their lives... it was kinda frustrating to not know what happened.

Anyways, this story follows Eva (Tempus), an Australian girl who can create time bubbles that freeze her enemies.
Her current roommate at Xavier's Institute is a teenage Jean Grey who has been thrown out of her own timeline.

It also follows Christopher (Triage), an American lad who can heal himself and others. Despite being very useful, Christopher often bemoans not having a flashier gift.

The two of them are the most driven in the group (some of the trainees are still pratting around), so they team up together when it's time to start flying practise.
During this first flight, they come across a mutant's request for help. Feeling very keen to take off the training wheels, and arguing that they could help quicker than reporting back to base first - they go to help a certain Sabretooth.

This was a fun story about Eva and Christopher trying to find their feet, as they get to use their powers in real-life situations. They learn their limits, and try to conquer their fears as they fight in an uncontrolled arena for the first time.

I liked the character of Sabretooth, after only knowing him briefly in the films. I thought he was fun, and he came across as confident in himself and his abilities. He's not afraid to scare people, and takes joy in this. But you also get the feeling that he's taking the trainees under his wing and will do anything to keep them safe.

I thought the writing was light and easy to follow. Once the story moves away from the Xavier's Institute it comes alive on its own, not being hampered by a massive backstory of X-Men expectations.

The not-so-good.
As I said before, I think I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read what preceded this story.

My only other issue is that I found it all quite slow and repetitive.
Our main characters are constantly spinning their wheels, first at the Institute; and then at the Museum.
I thought the story was very drawn out in places, and could easily have been compressed. I couldn't help thinking that some parts would have suited being a nice visual comic or film, rather than a novel.

Overall, this was OK, but I'm not interested in reading the rest of the series.
Maybe I'll give the comics a try.

Carrie Harris’ Liberty & Justice For All kicks off the new series of Marvel: Xavier’s Institute novels with an action-packed adventure featuring a pair of young mutants determined to prove themselves as X-Men. For Tempus and Triage, otherwise known as Eva and Christopher, life as trainee X-Men isn’t quite what they expected. When they set out together in the X-Copter for their first solo flight, their delight at simply getting out of the school and away from their instructors quickly fades when they receive an SOS call from Sabretooth of all people. What they think will be a straightforward pickup, and a good opportunity to give their powers a quick workout, ends up becoming a battle that tests them beyond what they could have expected.

Opening with Christopher and Eva still getting used to the realities of life at the school – which is nothing like the Xavier’s Institute of the movies – it quickly becomes clear that this is going to focus on the youthful priorities of life behind the superhero scenes. As they grumble about the standard of food on offer and the unorthodox approach of their teachers, then go on to form an uneasy alliance with Sabretooth and his unlikely companion (no spoilers), the underlying themes are of building friendships and confidence, and figuring out who they want to be. There are plenty of opportunities for the exercising of cool mutant abilities as the motley group face suspicious cops, robot Sentinels, magically-animated creatures and the anti-mutant prejudices of the general population, but the focus throughout remains on Eva and Christopher learning to trust themselves and each other.

Harris puts a lot of work into showing the two main protagonists as relatable, human characters, and crucially they both come across as people first and mutants second. Worries over whether their powers (time bubbles and healing, respectively) are flashy enough to make them ‘real’ superheroes, or the difficulties of dealing with hate simply by virtue of being born different, are instantly relatable, and likewise their struggles to figure out how to fit in. Sabretooth makes a great foil for them, almost stealing the show with his insouciant sense of humour and casual disregard for pretty much anything that stands in his way, offering up an interesting (and, frankly, more fun) alternative to the stiff and rule-bound instructors back at the school. He plays a key part in the story, and while knowledgeable X-Men fans may recognise his role in the plot alongside that of his companion, for anyone coming into this without in-depth knowledge of the canon it’s interesting to see his relationship with the youngsters develop.

While not exactly a Young Adult novel (Eva and Christopher come across as young, but they’re in their early 20s rather than their teens), this definitely leans a little more towards that end of the fiction spectrum. Harris’ writing is clear, straightforward and to the point, with little extraneous detail or description, and alongside the ‘coming of age’ angle and the protagonists’ somewhat insular worldviews this lends proceedings a pace and perspective that should definitely suit younger readers. That’s not to say this will only appeal to a younger audience however, but the great thing about Aconyte’s growing range of Marvel novels is that there should be something for everyone! For anyone looking for a fun and relatively light tale of lesser-known X-Men finding their place within the team, this is definitely worth checking out.

Carrie does an amazing job of creating a fun coming-of-age story about 2 lesser known X-Men on their first outing.

Really love Triage and Tempus and the dynamics created in this story.

Aconyte’s first foray into the X-Men proper was always going to be a fairly high priority on my reading list, which is probably a good thing, as the title of Carrie Harris’s Liberty and Justice for All gives off the sort of sickly-sweet vibes that normally see me keeping a healthy 2m+ distance from Superman comics. Fortunately, the actual novel that gets delivered is something sufficiently complex and thought-provoking to be worth spending the time on.

Unlike Aconyte’s previous Marvel titles which have taken place in fairly broadly-defined eras, Liberty and Justice for all, sits at a very specific point in the X-Men time-line, and can be placed with a fair degree of precision in the 2013 Bendis run on Uncanny X-Men. Shortly after the events of Avengers Vs X-Men (2012) Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Magneto have set up a school for mutants in the abandoned Weapon-X facility. Harris’ exposition in the early chapters feels a little shaky, seemingly conflating the events of M-Day (House of M, 2005) with the far more recent and relevant entanglement of the X-Men (particularly Scott and Emma) with the Phoenix Force (AvX, 2012). They are small details, but I definitely felt concerned as to whether this writer with a background in YA and Romance really had a handle on the long-term X-Men canon.


Christopher and Eva are the two in the top left
The two leads of Liberty and Justice for All, were introduced in that 2013 comic as “a young Australian girl mutant named Tempus, and a young man who hasn’t picked his mutant name yet – bet he’s a healer. Heals people.” Liberty and Justice for All gives us a slightly fuller introduction to Eva Bell and Christopher Muse, AKA Tempus and Triage. I was a big fan of this run, so was interested to see what a novelisation would look like. Understandably they wanted to narrow the cast down a little, so they chose two characters to focus in on.

First up is Eva Bell, who felt like a great choice – a Punk Australian teenager who has spent years idolising Captain America, she discovers that she is a mutant, only to have the police immediately try to arrest her. As if that wasn’t enough, when she goes back to tell her mum she’s ok, Captain America and the Avengers turn up to arrest them all! At this point in time, she can create short-term bubbles in which time is frozen, but her power level (if not necessarily her control over those powers) will increase massively over the coming months and years, to the point where she can time-travel, and even enlist the help of a past version of Professor X to prevent the first meeting between 2 people whose mutant son would one day go on to destroy the world! In 2020, she is firmly established as one of “The Five” a group of mutants who can resurrect any mutant who dies. All of that is still in the future at the time of Liberty and Justice for All, but there’s clearly a whole load of potential to work with.

And then there is Christopher. By the time the book starts, he has at least chosen a mutant name – Triage – but, as Christopher himself laments at various points in the story, a healer character often just isn’t that interesting. His power is entirely reactive, simply allowing others to keep doing their thing. Harris does a fantastic job of taking this rather blank premise and creating something that is both interesting and relevant in 2020. The treatment of Mutants in X-Men stories have long focused on issues around prejudice, but as a young black man, Christopher is forced often bitterly, to recall the double challenges he faces: where they can both conceal their mutant powers for a time, Christopher provides a world-weary experience which provides a strong contrast with Eva’s naivete, the privilege of a white girl used to having people think the best of her.

Liberty and Justice for All starts off at the new school that Cyclops and co have established, with the characters dealing with fairly mundane teenage problems. Christopher struggles to deal with his roommate’s taste in excessively loud music, whilst Eva is running late, try to get out of bed and her hair sorted in time for class, all whilst trying not to freak out over having a teenage version of her idol, Jean Grey, for a roommate. After a few bits of expository reminiscing about the time that Magik took them to Limbo and they fought Dormammu, plus a rather terrifying class with Emma Frost, Christopher and Eva are sent off on a mission, and the story proper can begin.

Part way through what should be an entirely routine training flight, Christopher and Eva receive a call from Sabretooth, requiring an extraction from himself and unnamed companion(s) and object(s). Rather than send all the way back to base for back-up, they decide that they can handle a simple taxi-job, and set down in Chicago. What could possibly go wrong?


definitely no clues as to what might go wrong in this promotional image…
Sabretooth is a big part of what makes Liberty and Justice for All work. Although a long-time enemy of the X-Men, he appears here as probably an ally, but even beyond the harsh realities taught to them by Scott, Emma, and Magneto, Sabretooth offers a picture of the harsh realities of life as an X-Man. He represents not simply an older, more experienced mutant, but also a wilder, angrier one, with few moral qualms about doing whatever he feels is the best thing in the moment to accomplish a short-term goal. This is a good eye-opener for the young trainee X-Men, and perhaps the first real learning point for them on the mission.

The fourth central character of Liberty and Justice for All is probably the trickiest one to write about without giving away more spoilers for the book than I really want to. It’s someone who was completely unexpected (although not unknown) for Christopher and Eva and, perhaps even more than the brutal pragmatism of Sabretooth, it is the dilemma of what to do about this character that makes the young X-Men question what exactly it is that the X on their badges requires them to do. Thankfully, it turns that rather cheesy-sounding book-title into a slightly uncomfortable question for them.

Overall, Liberty and Justice for All is an entertaining read. If you want to learn more about Eva (or just if you like X-Men stories) I’d probably recommend the 2013 Uncanny X-Men series (available on Marvel Unlimited), but for Christopher at least, this feels like required reading, and a great starting point for the character.

I think that a large part of the ‘twist’ in the story relies on the reader not knowing Sabretooth’s real name which meant that, like a lot of people, I saw it coming a mile off. The story still basically works, as viewed through the eyes of the two protagonists, but it definitely felt like you were supposed to be more surprised than I ever felt. However uncertain the story feels within the larger X-Men canon, the three main characters are strong enough to carry it through, and it manages – as the best X-Men stories have always done – to raise questions about prejudice and equality in the real world through a lens which seems fantastic until you start to spot the all-too-obvious parallels. I hope that there will be better X-Men stories to come from Aconyte, but this is a decent way to pass the time for now.

Comics can be hard to translate into other mediums, especially into prose novels, largely due to the very visual nature of the types of stories they tell. It can be easy to make huge battles with super powered beings look big and bold and entertaining in a comic, but sometimes that kind of action can be dull when it comes to prose, and stories can drag. This is why it's great whenever you can find a writer who's able to translate the characters and stories in ways that manage to keep the excitement of the source material; and Carrie Harris' Liberty and Justice For All is definitely a case of it working well.

Rather than trying to adapt a preexisting comic story, Harris has chosen instead to craft her own tale, one that focuses on two of the newer characters in the X-Men canon. Set after the events of X-Men: Schism, the book follows a number of the students in the New Charles Xavier School For Mutants in the old Weapon X facility in Canada. The book fits neatly into a definable time period in the myriad X-Men events and status changes, yet doesn't step on the toes of any pre-existing story, allowing it to do its own thing.

The book focuses on two of the newer X-students, Eva Bell and Christopher Muse, who would take on the mutant code names Tempus and Triage respectively. Despite the two of them going on to play big roles in the Marvel universe, especially Eva as a member of The Five, this is still early days for the two young mutants, and they've only been with the X-Men for a relatively short period. Having been cooped up in the gloomy Weapon X facility for weeks, except for a brief adventure in Limbo, the teens are beginning to go a little stir crazy, resulting in some of the students failing to survive a Danger Room session.

Despite this, Eva and Christopher have been working hard, and quickly latch on to each other as partners for the upcoming X-Copter evaluation, knowing that they're the two most likely to take the test seriously. It also means that they'll get the chance to leave the facility for a while, even if it is just to fly the helicopter for a few hours. Whilst on the test the two of them receive a distress call from the former villain Sabertooth, requesting their assistance.

Knowing that Sabertooth has been a vicious mercenary and killer in the past, and that they're only supposed to be proving that they can safely pilot the X-Copter, they're reluctant to help, but eventually decide to land in Chicago so that they can provide assistance. However, they soon discover more than they bargained for when they find Sabertooth with an injured Graydon Creed, the former presidential candidate who campaigned for mutant extermination, as learn that they're being hunted by mutant killing machines, the Sentinels. Working alongside the two former enemies of the X-Men, Eva and Christopher must try to get to the bottom of the mystery and survive long enough to get back to the school.

I've been a fan of the X-Men for a long while, but have to admit that I've found myself drifting away from many of the X-Men books in recent years, and as such this was my first real experience with both Eva and Christopher. Being introduced to any new heroes can be a bit daunting if you've been out of the loop for a while, but Harris made it so easy to get to know both of these characters, and I had a good understanding of who they were, and what motivated them way before they even ended up getting involved in their mission. They were written so clearly, and with enough care that not only did I never feel like I was having to play catch-up with the comics, but I left the book wanting to spend more time with the two of them; I even went and researched which comics I could find them in.

It wasn't just the two leads who had a chance to shine, however, as both Sabertooth and Graydon Creed were written incredibly well. I've had a soft spot for a good Sabertooth since reading the Age of Apocalypse and Exiles comics, so the fact that the 616 universe Sabertooth has been given the chance to walk closer to the line of being a hero, and is allowed moments here where he gets to do the right thing, and creates a friendship with the two younger mutants was incredibly well received by myself. The scenes where he would be scolded by Eva for being a grouch, or took the time to make sure that Christopher was feeling okay after using his powers, or even just making jokes with the two of them were easily some of my favourites in the book.

I was also surprised that not only did I not end up hating Graydon Creed, a man who's always been portrayed as an out and out bigot, a person who would gladly march mutants into extermination camps, I actually kind of came to like him. I know that the character has gone through a lot over the more recent years with their constant cycle of death and resurrection, but to see him showing humanity, and basic decency was a big surprise for me, and made him one of the more interesting characters in the book.

The characters and their interactions are definitely the highlight of the book, and take focus over the action sequences which are fewer and further between than if this story was made in comic form. Yes, there are some big moments of the team having to fight against some cool opponents, but that's not really what the focus of the story is about. Instead, its about these two young heroes learning that being an X-Man isn't always just flashy costumes and big adventures, that sometimes they'll be tested in extreme circumstances, and can be left deeply effected by it.

Liberty And Justice For All isn't your standard X-Men adventure, it's one that focuses more on the human (or mutant) journey that happens to these characters, it spends quite moments with its characters and lets the reader get into their heads and see the effect this life would have on someone. It might not be what you'd be initially drawn to an X-Men book for, but it's what you'll come away loving and wanting more of.

I really wanted to love this one as I love all things Marvel and X-Men but I just could not get into this story and found myself struggling to connect with the characters. I sadly found myself skim reading before dnf-ing.

This might have been a case of just reading it whilst in a wierd headspace so I'll be interested to see if my thoughts change if I pick it up again in the future.

Prose novel Liberty & Justice For All plucks two of the more obscure X-students (Tempus and Triage) from a very specific point in time and runs them through their first (albeit unintended) missions away from the nest. Tempus (Eva Bell) and Triage (Christopher Muse) were introduced by super-creator Brian Michael Bendis as part of a group of teens recruited by Cyclops (and his Emma Frost/Magik/Magneto team), when (after a series of mega-crossover events) Cyclops was playing mutant revolutionary out of an old Weapon X base in the Canadian wilderness. This was a fairly unconventional setting and modus operandi for the X-Men, with the more traditional school setting being occupied at the time by Wolverine and a much larger group of X-characters (although the team in hiding teleporting around the world as needed harkens back to the time the X-Men spent in the Australian Outback in the 1980s).

Most of the characters present in Bendis's Uncanny X-Men book at the time are present, but this is not a team story, just the duo of Tempus and Triage. From the perspective of Liberty & Justice For All, there's really only been one major outing so far for these two, which was a trip to the demonic dimension of Limbo. So we're talking some very fresh faces here. The book opens with stage-setting and an emphasis on how tenuous things are with Cyclops's team. Neither Tempus (power: creating time bubbles) nor Triage (power: healing) is entirely comfortable; Tempus suffering from hero worship and dealing with the presence of the time-displaced original X-Men, and Triage wondering if his power is really heroic. (For those of who following along at home, that means Liberty & Justice For All has to take place in a narrow time frame of a handful of issues starting with Uncanny X-men (vol. 3) #14.)

After some training hijinks, Tempus and Triage head out on a proving run to show that they know how to use the X-Copter. While out, they hear a distress call from Sabretooth, which pulls them in to the heart of the story of this book. Unfortunately, while the setup is solid, and had me interested to see what our protagonists were going to get up to, things went downhill from here. Let's set aside the question of why Tempus and Triage didn't simply call back to base and have Magik teleport the rest of the X-Men in to help out. The central issue is that the characters then spend most of the rest of the book walking back and forth across the park areas near "Gracie Museum" in downtown Chicago. Police show up, then vanish. Sentinels (but not, apparently, mutant-hunting Sentinels) come and go. No one's motivations for what they're doing are ever particularly clear. Further, the company Tempus and Triage are keeping consists of well-known psychopath Sabretooth and mutant-hating politician Graydon Creed. Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but the interactions between our intrepid X-men and these two villains are way too buddy-buddy. Graydon's bigotry is quickly forgotten. Triage starts seeing the murderous Sabretooth as a substitute father figure after knowing him for about an hour. In a world of giant robots, a teleporting age-shifted mutant sorcerer, and a team of X-Men ripped from decades in the past, these interpersonal interactions just aren't believable.

Even if you go into Liberty & Justice For All with no knowledge, these issues pull the book down. The early writing is good enough that the problematic nature of the villains is clear - it's not like I only know about Graydon's bigotry and Sabretooth's murderousness because I'm a long-time X-Men fan. And the sluggish, meandering nature of the plot is entirely independent of genre knowledge.

But there are more problems if you go into the book with a decent knowledge of the X-men. There's a reference to millions of mutants being killed on M-Day, instead of just depowered. And even if I'm getting that bit wrong, I know that someone wandering through a science museum exhibit on mutants shouldn't be running into a display on the Juggernaut, because - while he's a long-time X-Men villain - he's not a mutant. These sort of readily apparent flubs then made me wonder a bit more about the details. Like, was there ever a time when this exact configuration of characters was together at the Weapon X base? How is it that Sabretooth has no idea who these kids are, when at this point in time he's working closely with Mystique, who has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and is part of their efforts against Cyclops's team? Finally, although it's not a continuity error, there's a dramatic problem when the big 'reveal' comes about why mutant Sabretooth has a friendly interest in the mutant-hunting Graydon. I'm not going to say what that is, because I suppose it's a spoiler in the context of this book, but most long-time X-Men fans are already going to know what it is. Don't get me wrong - books like this shouldn't be, and can't be, written only for people who are well-versed in the comic/game/whatever. But people who are well-versed are a real part of the target audience, and building up to a 'reveal' that won't be anything of the sort for that part of the audience seems like a sub-optimal choice.

As you can tell, Liberty & Justice For All ultimately left me cold. I liked that it focused on some lesser-known characters. I liked how it initially presented and developed those characters. But it lost its way once the 'action' started. I don't think it has a lot to offer someone who's new to the X-Men, and it manages to lose luster when seen through the eyes of a fankid.

When the latest Spiderman film was released, a colleague and I took a group of teens to the cinema. Three of our crew were true blue Marvel fans and knew the ins-and-outs of all the storylines and debated the fates, flaws and fantastic adventures of their favourites. I admit I was super confused, so when this book was released for advance reading, I scooped up the chance to see what all the hype was about. (Totally realise Spiderman isn't an official X-man).

In the new-but-old Charles Xavier Institute the latest mutant recruits hone their skills. The students have recently survived a quick and distressing trip to Limbo where their fate depended on the frankly unhinged whims of the evil Dormammu. This sorcerer put the frighteners on all of the new mutants, even the magically gifted X-Institute teacher Illyana. Two of the students, Tempus and Triage fare better than the others on the gruelling coaching sessions and are rewarded with a solo training flight to Chicago on a tetchy X-copter. They are bursting with excitement and try their newfound confidence by broaching protocol and answering a distress call from the roguish Sabretooth, and he's not alone.

The action fires off quickly, Sabretooth is guarding a mysterious mutant-hating politician. There are sentinels baying for their blood and it seems the Natural History museum exhibits have come to life. Tempus and Triage find their super skills tested to destruction, but most of all, they must come to terms with some very human dilemmas. Can they trust the vicious Sabretooth? When they lose contact with the X-copter they need to rely on street sense and form some pretty unusual partnerships in order to see off danger and make it safely back to school.

I could tell that this was definitely a fan's book, so I swotted up on my X-knowledge, bought a comic that explained Eva and Christopher's (Tempus and Triage) backstory and set myself up for a film marathon. I was glad I did. All X-men have a disturbing past that makes their fantastic present relatable. Knowing this takes off the schmaltzy overtones of their heroic endings and their drive toward making good. However, Liberty and Justice for All (a quote from the USA Pledge of Allegiance known by every schoolchild in America) can be appreciated without any extra research, but hey, I'm a librarian and relish any chance to hit the books.

The character of Christopher Muse was my fave. He's a self-deprecating steampunk black kid who dresses up to keep out of trouble, and away from the cops. His quest to understand his mutation goes through the stages of denial, anger and acceptance. He grows throughout the novel and gradually discovers his powers are more than he anticipated. The struggle for Triage (he's a healer) is real. Through the application of his abilities and the sensibilities of his human nature, he drives himself forward to hone his capacity as a healer in a unique and supreme way.

The characterisations from Carrie Harris are fab. She describes herself as first and foremost a fan and this rings through. Sure, she puts the poor mutants through their paces, but they earn their stripes and make it through stronger, tougher and, ironically, a bit softer. This is a story of mutants who are, above all, humans. And what's not to like about that?

I really loved the other Marvel book I read from Aconyte Books, so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately it didn't work for me, so I ended up DNFing it partway through. Still, I hope to read more from this collection in future as I'm really excited to see what else comes out. In this one in particular I struggled with the writing style, feeling disconnected from it, and I didn't feel drawn enough to the characters to keep following along with a plot I wasn't much interested in. The characters were interesting and well-developed, just weren't quite enough to hold my attention. I think this may have been a case of wrong-book-wrong-person rather than it being a bad book itself. X-Men fans should definitely check out other reviews and consider reading it themselves to see.

Tie-in novels, novelizations of movies, and so forth are all too often hack-work, poorly edited and relying on coincidence, cliche, and the popularity of the franchise to carry off a mediocre story. Happily, this X-Men novel does not fit any of those stereotypes. While strongly tied into the lore of the long-running Marvel franchise, it's mostly fresh, well executed, and gives some depth to the characters and their relationships. There are some gaping plot holes, but for me they didn't spoil my enjoyment too much.

The protagonists are two new recruits to the New Xavier School, run by Cyclops in the wilds of Canada. We first get some scenes with their roommates and other classmates and teachers that establish not only their powers, but that they are emotionally intelligent, keen to help others, able to take effective action, and more sensible and mature than some of their peers. They're college age, but read more YA than new adult.

Sent off on a training exercise in the X-Copter, they pick up a distress call from the infamous mercenary Sabretooth, and decide to help him. This was the weakest part of the story for me. Not only is there never any explanation of how Sabretooth was able to radio them, but the stupid decision they make to ditch their training mission, not tell their seniors, and help someone untrustworthy with an unknown danger is distinctly out of character for them. Unfortunately, it's also necessary in order for the plot to exist.

Bad decision made, the action moves swiftly, and they encounter hostile police (until they inexplicably stop encountering police where I would have expected them); Sentinels; a dangerous magical artefact reminiscent of Night at the Museum which can kill the living and resurrect the dead (including, apparently, models of the dead such as Neanderthals, who are stereotypically dumb cavemen communicating in grunts); and a powerful enemy they've previously encountered in backstory, who they're terrified of. Throughout, they manage to be courageous, mostly effective, clever, and committed to doing the right thing, and it was this, and the well-handled dynamics between and within the characters, that kept the book its fourth star for me despite the handwaving of some key plot points. All the characters, even a couple of the minor ones, come across as complex people, not flat stereotypes, and the main characters experience satisfying development throughout.

It's a pleasure, too, to get a book from Netgalley that isn't full of basic editing issues. Kudos to the author and copy editor.