Dinah Lance lives in a Gotham City where all the heroes are gone, and the villains now rule with a misogynistic iron fist. When Batman finally died decades ago, Oswald Cobblepot rose to power with the aid of the Court of Owls. He enacted the great Silencing where he exposed all women to a chemical that stole their ability to sing to remind them of their place in society. Women are required to adhere to strict dress codes and are only allowed to pursue a small list of approved careers. Anyone who dares to resist is terrorized by the Owls.
Dinah has always tried to fly under the radar, but after an encounter with the Owls, things start to change. She loves music and has a secret stash of images from the time before, but she's never heard a woman sing, except for the ghost of a memory from her childhood. When the Owls begin to terrorize her personally, she can no longer stay silent.
In addition to her budding rebellion, there's also a new guy at her school, Oliver Queen. She shouldn't want anything to do with him since the Court of Owls is trying to recruit him with his money and influence, but there's just something about him.
When Dinah meets Barbara Gordon, an old friend of her mother's she learns the truth about her mother and her death. Dinah is no longer content to meekly live in oppression. It's time for her voice to be heard.
Alexandra Monir's entry in the DC Universe Icons series is...interesting. If I suspend my disbelief completely, I mean pack it in a box and hide it under the bed, I can passively enjoy this story. If I'm being honest, though, there were just so many things that didn't make sense. Gotham City is a city, not a country. How are the Owls empowered to enact all these crazy oppressive laws and prevent people from leaving the city limits? Also, singing voices? Really? That's cruel, but it would make more sense if the women were silenced completely. Losing the ability to sing is really only a punishment for a small percentage of the population. I get the symbolism and the whole Black Canary thing, but it just seems a little silly to me.
I love the cover; I wish I liked the book more.
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