Title: Lois Lane: Double Down
Author: Gwenda Bond (Twitter)
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Young Adult, Superheroes (sort of), Mystery, Science Fiction
Release Date: May 1, 2016
Publisher: Switch Press

Purchase Links: AMAZON | AMAZON KINDLE | BARNES & NOBLE

I love Gwenda Bond’s Lois Lane because she exhibits all of the traits that make Lois one of the longest lasting and most beloved “civilian” characters in comics. (I use quotes around civilian because Lois is capable of throwing down just as easily as a costume wearing hero would be.) She’s a freaking brilliant badass and I adore that Gwenda Bond shows her as multifaceted in so many ways.

Double Down picks up after the first book Fallout and deals with strange occurrences happening to Melody (the twin sister of her Metropolis best friend Maddy) and the corruption infecting Metropolis’ government. It’s a really good main plot and it’ll have you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

I think that this book is a little darker than Fallout in terms of content. Yeah, the bullying/hivemind stuff was freaky, but what we get here in Double Down with stuff like corruption, cloning, and conspiracies is kind of well… lowkey terrifying because it makes Metropolis look a bit darker than it did before.

Which is okay and in fact awesome because the progression adds so much to the characters, the city, and the overall world.

This book introduces readers (and Lois!) to Metropolis’ Suicide Slums and does so in a way that really fleshes out the world and shows Gwenda’s world building skills.

Also: here’s just so much in this book to love! I am trying so hard not to go into serious spoilers here because this is a book that is best experienced without spoilers, but it’s just so good. The continuity between books (and the prequel stories Gwenda wrote) is airtight. The connections to other aspects of Lois’s past in comics are vivid. The mystery is extra mysterious.

What a good book!

Aside from the main plot which is amazing, Double Down also has several subplots and little moments/tidbits that I enjoyed:

• Strengthening familial relationships (specifically and largely between sisters and then there are a few moments between Lois and her mom that I really loved)
• Something funky is going on with the message board that Lois and Clark use and the government trying to flush out the flying man that Lois saw (aka, the catalyst for her joining the message board and meeting Clark)
• The mysterious A character introduced (who runs/moderates the board Lois and Clark use) in the previous subplot who I’m pretty sure is a character I both love and loathe (we’ll see how that goes).
• CLOIS!! BABY STEPS TOWARDS BABY CLOIS!! (Look, I’ve been shipping Clark and Lois since I was born and this is so important to me how Gwenda develops their relationship. I grew up with so many different versions of these characters falling in love and being perfect and there’s something so sweet about them finding each other as teenagers. GOSH!)

It’s a really good book so go read it, okay?

Because the more people buying (and loving) this book, the higher the chances of us getting MORE of Gwenda Bond’s unique take on what’s basically a Lois Lane origin story. I need this to happen, folks.

MAKE IT SO!