4 stars
Another awesome adventure from Graley and Purenins! This one follows Donut, the child of notorious villains who just wants to be a hero. While attending Lionheart School for Heroes, Donut makes new friends, learns what it takes to be a hero, and must confront a friend from the past, Ivy, who wants nothing more than for Donut to turn back to the dark side. (Side note: Ivy’s power is so cool! It definitely lends itself well to evil and mayhem. I’d be curious to see the ways it could be used for good. Such a cool idea for a power!)
One of the things I absolutely love about this book is how supportive Donut’s parents are. They don’t really understand why Donut wants to be a hero and make it very clean villainy is always an option, but they let Donut choose and support their kid regardless. It’s so adorable and awesome to see parents doing what they can to be there and support their kid even if it’s something they can’t relate to. Likewise, Dr. Thorn looks past Donut’s family history and recognizes and encourages Donut’s hard work and progress. Donut finds friends who are absolutely amazing and supportive. While there are characters who try to steer Donut a certain way, it was awesome to see so many other supportive characters in the cast. I loved seeing the various relationships between characters and how they worked together.
As always, the artwork is adorable, fun, and lovely. Great coloring, fun action scenes, and plenty of humor. Graley and Purenins’ style never disappoints.
The story itself was very engaging. The reader dives into the action right away. It was fun being introduced to a world in which everyone has a power and gets to decide whether they use it for good or evil.
Not sure if there are plans to continue this into a series, but I would love to see more set in this universe. Loved all the dynamics at play and the characters were so fun.