Batman: Nightwalker-Book Review

Batman: Nightwalker (DC Icons #2)
By Marie Lu
Genre: YA Action/Adventure
Recommended For: Ages 15+ and superhero wannabees

Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy.

The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list.

One by one, the city’s elites are being executed as their mansions’ security systems turn against them, trapping them like prey. Meanwhile, Bruce is turning eighteen and about to inherit his family’s fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Enterprises and all the tech gadgetry his heart could ever desire. But after a run-in with the police, he’s forced to do community service at Arkham Asylum, the infamous prison that holds the city’s most brutal criminals.

Madeleine Wallace is a brilliant killer . . . and Bruce’s only hope.

In Arkham, Bruce meets Madeleine, a brilliant girl with ties to the Nightwalkers. What is she hiding? And why will she speak only to Bruce? Madeleine is the mystery Bruce must unravel. But is he getting her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees? Bruce will walk the dark line between trust and betrayal as the Nightwalkers circle closer.

Top Thoughts:

Fun origin story for a beloved action hero
Intriguing character development and look into a young Bruce Wayne
Loved the multi-layered villain
Fairly predictable plot

The Review:

Bruce as a teenager in Batman: Nightwalker was true to the character created from the comics, but Marie managed to add a new depth to him, especially when his parents were mentioned.

I found the character of Bruce as a teenager very relatable and realistic. He was simply a new billionaire 18-year-old trying to figure out how to best protect the people and things he loves. He had moments of irrational behavior, which we all do so I appreciated that, but none of it was drawn out or over the top. It was also refreshing that even as a teenager in this book, we see many of the characteristics the adult Batman exhibits: courage, philanthropy, loyalty, etc. Not mention his irresistible pull to dangerous and complicated women. Classic Batman.

Madeleine was one of the more intriguing villains I’ve read about recently. She had a Sherlock Holmes quality to her, both in her astute observations and deductions, and in her complicated moral code. These kind of morally grey characters are what make Batman stories so interesting.

I must admit I’m not sure what the goal of these DC Icons origin stories is. If it is to showcase the DC Super Heroes before they even thought about become the heroes we know and love, then I’d say Batman: Nightwalker was a job well done. However, if that isn’t the goal, then I would have liked to see more mention of Bruce’s fascination with bats, or him interacting with more of his cool gadgets. Yes, we drove a hella awesome car, but that’s about it until the very end. Without the gadgets I just didn’t see him as a kid tech genius like he was suggested to be.

Also on that note, I was surprised I didn’t read more about Bruce contemplating doing this vigilante thing more frequently. There was no hinting that he would ever become batman, that he’d continue to pursue a life keeping criminals off the street. For me, that’s a major priority in an origin story.

A lot of the other characters fell flat for me. Diane and Harvey’s roles in the story was uneventful and it seemed to me they were just added in as recognizable names.

The plot felt fairly predictable to me, but the main characters and story were interesting enough that I didn’t mind knowing where the plot was going.