DC Icons #6: Harley Quinn: Reckoning
Updated: Mar 29, 2023
Rachael Allen
Amazon Summary:
When Harleen Quinzel scores an internship in a psych lab at Gotham University, she's more than ecstatic; she's desperate to make a Big Scientific Discovery that will land her a full-ride college scholarship and get her away from her abusive father. But when Harleen witnesses the way women are treated across STEM departments--and experiences harassment herself--she decides that revenge and justice are more important than her own dreams.
Harleen finds her place in an intoxicating vigilante girl gang called the Reckoning, who creates chaos to inspire change. And when Harleen falls for another girl in the gang, it finally seems like she's found her true passions. But what starts off as pranks and mischief quickly turns deadly as one of the gang members is found murdered--and a terrifying conspiracy is uncovered that puts the life Harleen has worked so hard for at stake. Will she choose her future--or will she choose revenge?
In this refreshingly feminist spin on the story of our favorite villainess, Harley Quinn: Reckoning traces Harleen's journey from precocious, revenge-obsessed teenage girl to a hardcore justice-seeker on her way to becoming the most captivating Super Villain of all time. This is one story that you won't be able to put down.
My Review:
11/10
I just found this review in a stack of reviews that I wrote and never actually posted. So here it is, and sorry for the delay.
Instead of calling Harley Quinn, “Harley Quinn”’, I'm going to call her Harleen Quinzel because that is her real name. I would also like to put this out there that Harley Quinn is better than the Joker! I love Harley Quinn and everything from the animated show, Birds of Prey, Suicide Squad, she is always an ICON! When I found out this is going to be a Trilogy for young adults I was overzealous. I started this book a really long time ago, then took a break. When I realized I had the advanced copy of the sequel, Ravenous, I decided to pick it up again. I got right back into it and didn’t miss a beat.
So on the actual review, Where do I begin? This book was firstly a pre pre backstory. Reckoning is before she even meets The Joker and before she even falls into the acid. This goes all the way back to the beginning. The setting is college. For Harleen, she is not yet a student in college but she has an internship working at a psych lab at Gotham University. She is still living at home though.
Speaking of home, this book deals with very serious topics: alcoholism, physical abuse, psychological abuse, all in relation to Harleen’s dad. This even for the reader is traumatizing, and I know Harleen is a fictional character, my heart still goes out to her. Her house life is so awful, she has to hide her friend in her closet when they are hanging out and her father comes home. Even at school Harley can’t catch a break.
Girls are being taken and experimented on, and there is one individual who leads this monstrosity. Despite the upsetting events described in the story, in response, Harleen and her friends inspiringly become the Reckoning. Whilst they can be classified as vigilantes, their actions are justified and with the intention to spin the narrative. This book was primarily focused on feminism, and that made it even more enjoyable.
The writing is something immaculate I wanted to address. It was fun and colorful. This book was not just about female empowerment, but it was a mystery. For a book I didn’t expect to be a mystery, I was piecing the clues together in my head; that is when you know the writing is fantastic. Every character in this story was extremely well developed; they all had flavor and were their own person.
People make Harleen out to be a villain, but this version of her story sees her as a victim going on a hero’s journey, finding her inner strength.
I loved being able to jump back into the story months later, and being able to pick it up and get lost in the excitement that is Reckoning. This is a given that ANY Harley Quinn fan would love this book, but if you don’t really know who she is, or care about her, if you are a fan of:
Harley Quinn: the Animated Series
DC villains
Justice League
You will fall into a vat of pleasure with this book.
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