DC Icons Book 5: Black Canary: Breaking Silence by Alexandra Monir

DC Icons Book 5

THE HANDMAID’S TALE meets the DC universe in this breathtaking, thrilling origin story of Black Canary. Her voice is her weapon, and in a near future world where women have no rights, she won’t hesitate to use everything she has to fight back.

Dinah Lance was seven years old when she overheard the impossible: the sound of a girl singing. It was something she was never meant to hear—not in her lifetime, and not in Gotham City, taken over by the Court of Owls. The sinister organization rules Gotham as a patriarchal dictatorship, all the while spreading their influence like a virus across the globe.

Now seventeen, Dinah can’t forget that haunting sound, and she’s beginning to discover that her own voice is just as powerful. But singing is forbidden—a one-way stop to a certain death sentence. Can she balance her father’s desire to keep her safe, a blossoming romance with mysterious new student Oliver Queen, and her own desire to help other women and girls rise up and finally be heard? And will her voice be powerful enough to destroy the Court of Owls once and for all? 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52239859-black-canary

*********

My Review: 5/5 Stars 

I've been loving the DC Icon series. Each book and each author bring a new story to some fantastic DC heroes. And this book has brought to life some of my absolute favorite DC heroes. This story follows Dinah Lance aka the Black Canary. And she isn't alone. For where there is a Black Canary there is a Green Arrow. Dinah and Oliver are brought together when Gotham City is at one of its worst points. To set the scene, Batman who was the original guardian at Gotham is gone from old age before Gotham falls down one of its darkest paths. But the Gotham Dinah is growing up in is one where the Court of Owls has taken over. The Court rose to power and the age of superheroes was taken down as well. One of the cruelest things done was to the women of the city. Their voices were silenced in every way. A gas was released that physically took their voices away and any rights women had gone. It's a patriarchal dictatorship, but things are changing. Years ago, Dinah heard the impossible: a girl singing. Her obsession with music grew as the years passed. Her wish to sing, stronger than anything. And change starts when Dinah and her friends get caught by the Talons, the assassins of the Court of Owls, when they enter a place that is forbidden for all. Dinah has to keep her head low after her father, a police officer, makes a deal with the court to leave Dinah alone. And when new student, Oliver Queen, transfers to her school things really change. 

What I loved about this book was the twist that came to Dinah's story. We learn that her mother was of course the original Black Canary and she worked closely with two other women heroes before she died. Which I won't say who! But they are definitely great ones. We even get some other great surprises of heroes that are mentioned and seen. We get a new origin story for Dinah and Oliver. Dinah, finding her voice and abilities and stepping into her mother's footsteps. Oliver's journey into how he becomes the Green Arrow. Dinah and Oliver's relationship of course. The twist that is the Court of Owls. I also loved that this was set in a later way. It's like the generation after the original heroes, yet we know that other DC works that sometimes these characters were the same age as others. I loved every moment of this book. It had the action and strong female character that was Dinah. And women standing up for their rights in every way. The heroes and plot twists of some great story lines. This story doesn't disappoint. It's another great addition to the DC Icons series.