YA: Fallout (Lois Lane), by Gwenda Bond

Fallout (Lois Lane) 
Gwenda Bond
ISBN: 9781630790059
Read April 28, 2015

Lois Lane often gets relegated to the shadows in Superman stories.  Or, even worse, exists as a victim to rescue, or a sacrifice to fridge to up the angst points in our Man of Steel.  It's about damn time we hear from her in her own voice, and man, what a strong vibrant voice this is.

Bond starts with a teen Lois finally landing in Metropolis, after a string of moves and a dismal career of getting into trouble at various schools, all with the best of intentions.  Now tho, she has great resolutions, and she's going to be scholastic, invisible, and stay out of trouble.  That lasts for the literal minute it takes before she overhears her new principal haughtily rebuffing a loquacious young lady pleading for help; she's being bullied by the school super-stars, a freaky synchronized gang of youngsters who are part of a pilot collaboration between the school and a local technical and development company.

Before Lois can even get her class schedule, she's made enemies of the principal and the gang (the ominously named Warheads), and even the bullied girl wants her to just go away and leave her to her inevitable fate.  But our heroine is nothing if not tenacious, and she'll get her story, and save the girl while she's at it.

Everything about this book is lovely.  The sweet but still-innocent txt relationship between her and SmallvilleGuy in Kansas, the contrast between Lois' foolhardy and courageous exterior and her worried and insecure feelings, the tentative developing friendship between the debut members of The Daily Scoop (the Planet's teen-run online offshoot).

I especially like that Lois is willing to admit that she needs help, and to accept it from people (although grudgingly) but she is also more than willing to do what needs to be done on her own, and to shield her friends and companions from her reckless actions.  On that same note, it was nice to see certain super-powered persons relegated to a chatroom window, some text-messages, and a couple of instances of nerfed avatars in an online multiplayer game.  Lois deserves the chance to be seen standing on her own, and in this book, she does just that, and does it ferociously.

I really hope there's a sequel.