Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J Maas

Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas
Series: DC Icons #3
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers
Published on 7 August 2018
Genres: Action & Adventure, United States, Young Adult
Pages: 384
Format: eBook
Source: my local library
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RRP: $18.99

Sizzling with action and suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author SARAH J. MAAS delivers a coming-of-age Selina Kyle who will steal readers' hearts in a new, highly anticipated YA blockbuster: CATWOMAN!
When the Bat's away, the Cat will play. It's time to see how many lives this cat really has.
Two years after escaping Gotham City's slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Gotham City looks ripe for the taking.
Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove that as Batwing he has what it takes to help people. He targets a new thief on the prowl who has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Together, they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman is clever--she may be Batwing's undoing.
In this third DC Icons book, Selina is playing a desperate game of cat and mouse, forming unexpected friendships and entangling herself with Batwing by night and her devilishly handsome neighbor Luke Fox by day. But with a dangerous threat from the past on her tail, will she be able to pull off the heist that's closest to her heart?

This was not a good book… But I kind of liked parts of it.

The first half was super boring, and I had to borrow it from my library 4 times, which is part of the reason why it took so long to read. (Six months! So why bother? Because I wanted to see three tough bitches to topple Gotham, that’s why!)

Once Catwoman met up with some other recognisable characters, it wasn’t so bad. I just didn’t like these particular points:

It was Batwing, not Batman. Now, I’m not a purist when it comes to AU or retellings or whatever. Go ahead, make it your own. Selina has a sister. Was a member of a gang. Was trained as an assassin. Whatever, I buy it. But Catwoman and Batwing being a romantic thing? That I do not buy. Do not try to sell it to me.

The thing that sucked though?

Batwing.

He got his butt kicked so many times. In pursuit of convincing her readers that Catwoman is the coolest anti-heroine ever (because she’s not really a bad guy!), Batwing got the short end of the stick. He was outsmarted, outmanoeuvred, and outfought on almost every occasion, except when it served to have him come swooping in and saving the day. I get it! Catwoman is awesome! She’s better than everyone, you’re beating it over my freaking head. But you don’t have to make the resident vigilante decidedly… sucky… to compensate.

Ivy was really pathetic. She had some cool moments, but they were rare. Mostly she was a pining, passive, weak little bi-atch. Except… She was also super powerful. Lesbian rep was cool, but this Ivy, this cool, all-powerful Mother Earth Goddess was reduced to begging for a large amount of her page time. I get her internal struggle, but she was very obviously a good guy in bad guy’s clothing.
Speaking of people playing dress-up…

Selina Kyle was basically Celaena Sardothian if she was placed in a modern day story. Absolutely perfect and could do no wrong, everything always works out for her, everyone wants to bone her, or be friends with her, or both. She was absolutely flawless… And so fucking BORING. But at least Maas tried to make her a little different from her fantasy namesake! She was blonde and beautiful and tanned… And hated it! She was privileged and rich and spoilt… And hated it! And every time she did something to get a particular reaction, and then got that reaction, she hated it! Like the time she dressed like a street urchin then hated on the guy that thought she was a street urchin. Or hit on a guy at a gala and he didn’t immediately turn down the hot young thing hitting on him. Hated it! She was so filled with hate and had the biggest fucking chip on her shoulder. She was not an enjoyable character! The Catwoman aspect, that was fun… Except that neither Holly nor Selina were like that at all, so the moments were few and far between.

That being said, I did enjoy the friendship between Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn. Well, not Harley, because she wasn’t redeemable, but I liked that Ivy and Catwoman seemed to genuinely enjoy hanging out.

I did not like how both Catwoman and Batwing largely relied on technology so advanced it almost seemed like magic, nor how they were both, like, the smartest people ever, and super good hackers, and fighters, and were awesome at Jeopardy. I mean, what are they bad at? What are their flaws? Where is their character growth?

Nada.

It was basically a Throne of Glass/Batman crossover fanfic, just spelling Celeana/Selina’s name differently.

And that’s why this book sucked.

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