Black Cat Discord is the newest addition to the Marvel Heroines line by Aconyte Books. A line I have enjoyed to date and have to say this one is certainly tied with Outlaw Relentless and Rogue Untouched. Felicia Hardy has always been a favourite of mine in the marvel universe, sassy, snarky, confident and part of the growing open LGBTQ+ roster of heroes it’s hard not to love her. Cath Lauria manages to capture Black Cat and Felicia Hardy perfectly in a tale that has action, suspense, humour and even some heartfelt moments!
The novel follows Felicia Hardy who always puts her own interests first, but the appearance of a mythical golden apple in New York has everybody with a hint of power scrambling for it. And of course that means everyone expects the Black Cat to nab it for them. But this isn’t the only job on Felicia’s radar. When a smart-aleck kid turns up demanding her help, Felicia finds herself caught between the mob, her morals and some very insistent supervillains. It’ll take all nine lives to wriggle out of this one intact, but Felicia has more than one trick up her sleeve.
As always I don’t want to ruin the plot but I will say this novel was fantastic. The numerous well and lesser known marvel characters showing up throughout and remaining perfectly in character was a treat. Also one tiny spoiler but bonus points for Amora making a small appearance! It is clear Lauria knows her source material well from Felicia and her henchmen’s interactions to the history with Felicia and some of the other characters who appear. The book is full of backstory and anecdotes but it never feels heavy or too much and you certainly don’t need to know the character in depth to gain access to this fantastic story. Bonus points to the natural way Felicia’s bisexuality was referenced within the narrative. It was natural, normal and no big deal or show was made. It might be a silly thing but it meant so much to me and I am sure it will to many others as well.
The other thing Lauria does extremely well is introduce lesser known characters for those who may not know everything there is to know about a character. It was fun to see some villains who can get overlooked and to see some team ups as often happens in the comics. It made the story more believable and gave an element that sometimes even the comics and definitely some of the movies in the past have missed out on. It was lovely to see Black Cat team up with old allies and to see her at work.
In terms of pacing and action this book is brilliantly balanced. You have all the comic book action you could want but paced well and written marvelously. You don’t go from epic fight to fight or heist to heist but see the bits in between including some rather tender moments between the smart-aleck kid who I actually adore and Felicia. I actually started this and finished it in one night, staying up a little too late on a work night but it was so worth it.
In short this novel ticked nearly all my boxes, a strong arguably morally grey female lead who is sassy and can look after herself, brilliant bickering and banter between Felicia and her henchmen (although really they are more like family!), a young protégée who has her own tricks up her sleeve, fund and reunited family, epic team ups and fights and representation done in a natural way.
A full five star read and will definitely be re-read again and again!
As always thank you to Aconyte Books and Netgalley for the ARC of this and to Cath Lauria for brining Felicia to life and confirming my love for Black Cat and writing this fantastic book!
Black Cat: Discord will be available on ebook from March 1st 2022 with the paperback version being released on the 15th March for the US and 9th June for the UK!
CATH LAURIA is a Colorado girl who loves snow and sunshine. She is a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, suspense and romance fiction, and has a vast collection of beautiful edged weapons.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
For more information visit marvel.com. © 2022 MARVEL
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