Superman – Matt de la Pena

Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Pena

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Although Superman is not one of my favourite superheroes, I did want to see how his origin story would play out. I’ve never read any of Matt de la Pena’s books before, so I had no expectations about his writing style or how that would translate into Clark Kent’s voice. Overall, it was very reminiscent of the tv show Smallville but just didn’t quite capture the charm and fun of the show.

In Dawnbreaker, Clark seems to generally lack any personality or essence that would make him memorable. He’s too perfect and too passive most of the time, which is why his random outbursts of anger (either mentally or otherwise) were a little offputting. They just seemed so out of character for him based on the description that the author crafted of him. Too perfect – so he has to pretend to get B’s on his report card and wear fake glasses because his classmates tease him for being too good. Yes, Superman is generally labeled a goody-two-shoes, but he can still have dimension and he didn’t in this iteration. I just wanted some character development, growth, and depth to his character – but I didn’t get it.

I found the plot to be predictable and not particularly engaging. To be honest, some of the plot points just felt forced into the story to hit on modern political issues, rather than being seamlessly woven into the narrative in a way that affects the reader without them even realizing it. It just ended up being a bunch of different plot points thrown into a pot, half stirred, and then Dawnbreaker emerged – not quite cohesive or interesting. The ‘plot twists’ were predictable and as a result, didn’t draw me into the narrative with wonder and curiosity.

I had high hopes for this series, but so far none of the books have blown me away. They’re enjoyable, but not impressive. This is my least favourite book in the series.

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