Review: Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge

Black and White (The Icarus Project, 1) Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge

Fantasy/Superheroes

Spectra (June 2, 2009)

464 pages

From Amazon:

It's the ultimate battle of good versus good.

They were best friends at an elite academy for superheroes in training, but now Callie Bradford, code name Iridium, and Joannie Greene, code name Jet, are mortal enemies. Jet is a by-the-book hero, using her Shadow power to protect the citizens of New Chicago. Iridium, with her mastery of light, runs the city’s underworld. For the past five years the two have played an elaborate, and frustrating, game of cat and mouse.


But now playtime’s over. Separately Jet and Iridium uncover clues that point to a looming evil, one that is entwined within the Academy. As Jet works with Bruce Hunter—a normal man with an extraordinary ability to make her weak in the knees—she becomes convinced that Iridium is involved in a scheme that will level the power structure of America itself. And Iridium, teaming with the mysterious vigilante called Taser, uncovers an insidious plot that’s been a decade in the making…a plot in which Jet is key.
They’re both right. And they’re both wrong. Because nothing is as simple as Black and White.

I won this ARC a few weeks ago from Jackie Kessler and I'm just now getting around to reading and reviewing it. There's not much that I can say about it without giving away the plot so I'll try to sum it up in a word - amazing.

Given the facts that this novel is written by two authors, features two main characters and jumps back and forth from the past to the present, it's amazing just how seamlessly this story flows.

Jet and Iridium together make the ideal heroine. If the story was just about one of them, it would feel incomplete. Add to that the fully realized backstory, the great pacing and the well drawn characters, and you have an almost perfect beginning to what promises to be an amazing series.

Don't expect squeaky clean, Superman-type heroes here. The players and settings in this story have more in common with jaded, disheartening world of The Watchmen.

Don't shy away from this one just because it's not a genre you usually go for. Other than The Watchmen, I haven't read anything else featuring superheroes. It's not some cheesy comic book fare. Even I, who had moderately high expectations prior to reading it, couldn't have imagined just how gripping it would be.

Grade: A