DC Icons #7: Harley Quinn: Ravenous
Rachael Allen
Amazon Summary:
When Harleen Quinzel wakes up in a hospital bed with no recollection of the past few months, she scrambles to pick up the pieces of her life.
As she starts classes at Gotham University and an internship at Arkham Asylum, Harleen is determined to make her mark, getting paired with the most high-profile female inmate at Arkham—the notorious Talia al Ghūl. Talia is brilliant and fascinating, and as they spend more time together, the lines between good and bad begin to blur for Harleen. When she starts to see Talia less as a patient and more as a mentor, all of Harleen’s dark and dangerous pieces begin finding their way to the surface again. The only way to stop the terror that haunts the halls of Arkham Asylum may be to let her darkness out. . . .
Follow Harleen’s rise from anxious college student to ravenous, chaotic feminist icon in the second installment of the Harley Quinn origin story.
My Review:
13/10
I wanted to start by saying thank you so much Random House for letting me read an early copy of this title. As I said in my previous review, I absolutely love Harley Quinn (any version of her) and was so excited when I found out there was going to be a second book in this trilogy, I was ecstatic. I had read the first book, Reckoning, a long time ago. I only recently found the document where I keep all of my drafted reviews. So in perspective, there was approximately a 6 month difference between me reading book 1 and book 2.
I have nothing negative to say about this book, except that it is torture that I have to wait for the final book in this trilogy! I need to know what happens. This book had such an open ending that perfectly set up book 3. This is the perfect transition for me to talk about what made this book the roller coaster ride it was.
I don’t want to give anything about the circumstances that caused Harleen to become ghostly pale, but we FINALLY get to experience it first hand. We start the book in the hospital, before it turns into a backstory, and by halfway through the book, we are back officially in the hospital. The way it was written was so clever because in the second half, she is trying to recover from her amnesia, whereas in the first half, it is more detailed.
On the topic of writing, there was something else I wanted to talk about. This story was jam packed with action. I was reading this book in the car, and whenever something good or exciting happened, I screamed “LET’S GO” and my dad almost crashed the car. He was mad. There was one point in the story where I was so happy I couldn’t control it; that is when the readers get to meet Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy).
In this story you can really see into Harleen’s psyche, and can observe how torn she is when making big decisions. There were many moments in this story where I could literally feel like I was in her skin. When she got anxious or something big was happening, my hands were sweating. That’s some good writing.
This book was far better than the first one, and I can only hope book 3 will find a way to outdo book 2. If you are a fan of Female led stories, with non stop action, this is a must read. I would recommend reading book 1, but it isn’t required to enjoy this book. If you are a fan of
Harley Quinn: the Animated Series
DC villains
Justice League
You will become obsessed with this book.