And there will be more this spring – I can’t wait to tell you about them! But this one just might be my favorite of all of them.After a botched job, teenage assassin Cassandra Cain is on the run in Gotham City with no resources, little spoken language, and extremely limited knowledge of the world. You can also read some of my recent DC reviews – Black Canary Ignite, Diana Princess of the Amazons, Teen Titans: Raven, Wonder Woman Warbringer, Mera:Tidebreaker. You can read my thoughts about the DC book universe here. It was all amazing.ĭC continues to impress me with their non-comic graphic novels for kids and teens. Who is Barbara now if she is not Batgirl? What is Erick going to choose for his life – will he be the man he wants to be or the one his parents expect him to become? Can Cassandra choose to be something other than the assassin she was created to be? I was here for every one of those questions. There’s a small romantic storyline in this and tons of identity exploration. The developing friendship between the three of them was one of my favorite parts of the story. (I’m more familiar with the Barbara Gordon version of the character of Batgirl.) I like the choices made in this with her language development and the relationship with Barbara and Jackie. I did some research on the history of Cassandra Cain in DC Comics. And of course I loved the library setting for this! But I was obsessed with watching this furtive, skittish girl warm up to the two women in this story who could help her so much if she gave them a chance. This was fantastic!! The art style isn’t my favorite – it’s beautiful, but not a style that I gravitate towards – which distracted me at first.

The question is what does she do with this new insight – and her shame over the things she has done? Review She also starts to see her early life in a whole new light. As her literacy skills grow, she starts to seek out the woman’s lessons, reading what she can from articles about Batgirl. She finds refuge in a noodle shop and then at the library.Ī red-headed young woman in a wheelchair named Barbara leads sessions at the library with some kids, talking about Batgirl and what she meant to the city. When her latest target pleads for his daughter, the word catches Cassandra’s attention and she runs. SummaryĬassandra Cain was a trained assassin with no friends, no language and many questions about her past.

Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn