By Marie Lu

Penguin, out now

Bruce Wayne may have turned 18 and gained access to his trust fund – but he still has a lot to learn about the world, and who to trust…

It’s probably an advantage coming to this quartet of novels about the superheroes without a huge amount of in depth knowledge about the characters featured – after all, as is clear from both this and the earlier Wonder Woman book, these are genesis stories with a degree of crossover with established continuity, but very much charting their own paths.

It’s very much a coming of age story for Bruce, as he discovers the hard way that people can and will manipulate him, even if it’s for the right reasons. It’s set in a recognisably 2018 Gotham – none of the pseudo-anachronisms of the Gotham TV show – but one that hasn’t suffered a plague of costumed clowns… yet. The villains use state of the art technology and aren’t above killing to make their point, emphasising the danger that Bruce and his friends are potentially in (although we know full well that young Master Wayne is not going to get killed in this sort of story!).

I won’t spoil the plotline, but there are plenty of clever allusions to other parts of the DC multiverse, as well as the odd bit of foreshadowing. I’m intrigued as to whether this quartet are set in the same world particularly with a Selina Kyle tale on the way – and it won’t surprise me in the least if a “Defenders” style team-up were to happen at the end…

Verdict: A clever and fun contemporary take on Bruce Wayne. 8/10

Paul Simpson