This is part of the DC Icons series and the first book that I read of the series. It was okay. I like the story of Batman and I enjoy the Gotham tv show. I watched the original Batman tv show when I was a kid and I've seen all the movies. I also love Marie Lu, but I found this book just ok. It wasn't boring or bad or anything - just okay. I think I've used up my quarantine creativity for today.

I will read more of the series, just to see what they are like and since they are all by different authors maybe I will like others more. We will see. :)

I am not a huge Batman fan. When I read Batman, I read him for Catwoman, the Huntress, Batwoman, or Batgirl. I say this because if this hadn’t been free, I would not have read it.

I can’t tell if it is a good adaptation of the novel or not, but since the creators are the same, I suppose it is. I like the idea of Nightwalkers and how they tie into Batman himself, but I found the story to be meh.

I read this in under two hours and it wasn't bad or anything just not very memorable. I don't think I'll remember the plot in a year or even a few months. 

Marie Lu is a good wrriter, I enjoyed her series but couldn't even finish Warcross-- it bored me. With Batman its just another YA about a teen who lost his parents meets a girl and falls in love with her. Just add Batman to the mix and its a DC series. 

So fun, and a quick read but nothing special. 

I couldn't wait for this book to come out, having enjoyed the first book in the DC Icons series, 'Wonder Woman: Warbringer', and because it was author Marie Lu that would be taking on the task of the story of the origins of the Dark Knight. I think that anyone taking on such an iconic character outside of graphic novels is pretty brave, but massively exciting! After reading 'Warcross' it seemed like Marie was primed to take this on.

First of all, as a reader of a story about such a notorious character as Batman, I needed to remind myself going in, that this wasn't the character with the mask and the cape and the gadgets. This is about a teen called Bruce Wayne, with his teenage friends, who still has the sad backstory of his parents being brutally murdered in an alleyway in Gotham City, and he is primed to now inherit the family fortune. He has barely realized his desire to rid the streets of the 'bad guys' yet, and he hasn't developed the emotional 'shield' that we witness in various popular incarnations of his character. It's like reading a fresh and quite naive version of the young Batman/Bruce Wayne we have all come to know, to the point that we are wondering if it's the same guy...until about the last quarter of the book, where the action picks up for young Bruce Wayne.

The novel seems pretty slow because from most of our recollections of this character, where he's usually busy doing what he does best: hauling in the crooks for the police department in Gotham City. In 'Nightwalker', Bruce Wayne is doing community service work inside Arkham Asylum (as you do), mopping floors, and talking to a mysterious and beautiful criminal called Madeleine (so there's quite a bit of talking and mind games, honestly). You get the sense that Bruce has a lot of personal work on himself to do, and has a long way to go before he's going to be a kick-ass crime-fighter (this girl really knows how to pull a fast one on him). But you see the beginnings of the Batman that eventually emerges and how his personal relationships are a vital catalyst for him. It's fun to read his interactions with his butler Alfred, and I'd love to have seen more of that, but that's probably out of familiarity that I say that.

Overall, it's a fun read, but low on action content (I hoped for more!), and I wanted more insight and a deeper window into his personal and emotional world; there could have been more development with his friends, especially given his age. This fits in pretty nicely after 'Warbringer' and I enjoyed reading the snippet of the Catwoman book at the very end; I have high hopes for that one too, even though I know less about that character. My son's biggest complaint (he's just ten), is that these well-known YA authors (to me!) are not doing his favorite Marvel Icons as well. Captain America, Adam Silvera?

Marie Lu has had a string of hits with her techno-savvy thrillers, so its a good call to give her the lead on rewriting Batman for the new generation. Bruce Wayne and his friends live in the modern world with its terrorism, identity theft, and paranoia. Gotham is currently under siege from a gang known as the Nightwalkers, who aim to execute the city's elite and seize their bank accounts.

When Bruce Wayne, still a teenager, interferes in a police action against the Nightwalkers, he is sentenced to community service at Arkham Asylum. He is drawn to the only Nightwalker captured alive, a girl named Madeleine who is his own age. With her help he may be able to solve this mystery and save some lives, but can he trust her? This was a capable thriller that matches Leigh Bardugo's 'Wonder Woman: Warbringer'.

The DC Icons series is setting a high bar for future licensed novels. It should go over well with younger fans and perhaps win new ones, but I don't know how other entrenched old nerds like me will take it.

DC Icons

Next: 'Catwoman: Soulstealer'

Previous: 'Wonder Woman: Warbringer'