If you’re new to the world of Batman, bump this up to a 3 star. But if you already know and love the Batman world and characters and canon, this may not be for you.

Maas, who I generally love as an author, took a lot of liberties and either did very little research on the universe or just disregarded so much of the canon. I’m not saying everything has to be exactly as the creators and OG writers intended- but she invented characters that were almost mirrors of characters that ALREADY EXIST in the existing canon, and changed very key personality traits in some of our favorite characters to suit her story. In short, it read like a very fun fanfiction. I love fanfiction (sometimes), but I had hoped for more from the author who clearly has the capacity to write and understand very deep and complex worlds. She just didn’t take the time to get to know this one.