Wildcats: Nemesis
Grade 10 Up—Nemesis was a member of the Coda Sisterhood on the planet Khera. As part of this elite warrior class, she went on dangerous missions, including one in which she pretended to side with its enemies. The plan worked well until she was betrayed by her lover. That happened thousands of years ago on a primitive but strategically important world called Earth. Nemesis and the other Kherans are invulnerable to most injuries and age much more slowly than humans, so these characters appear in scenes from 995 B.C.E. to the present day. Much like the Endless in Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series (Vertigo), they interact with other figures throughout history. One of the highlights is when Nemesis teams up with Sherlock Holmes. (While her fashions change over time, her attitude and her cleavage remain the same.) The fight scenes are kinetic and explosive, and there's a lot of blood, most notably in the breathtakingly cool image of Nemesis with both her sword and the hem of her dress dripping red. This book would be best for mature readers, both because of the tendency of female characters to be almost but not quite naked and because of the intricacies of the plot. It will find an immediate audience with teens who enjoy lots of intrigue and even more action.—Andrea Lipinski, New York Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.