Batman: Nightwalker

DC Icons, Book 2

By: Marie Lu

Narrated by: Will Damron

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

This dark and twisty Batman in the blockbuster DC Icons series is an action-packed thrill ride from number one New York Times best-selling author Marie Lu.

An instant New York Times best seller

Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy.  

The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list. Bruce is turning 18 and inheriting his family's fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Industries and all the tech gadgetry that he could ever desire. But on the way home from his birthday party, he makes an impulsive choice that leads to community service at Arkham Asylum, the infamous prison. There, he meets Madeleine Wallace, a brilliant killer with ties to the Nightwalkers. A girl who will speak only to Bruce. She is the mystery he must unravel, but is he convincing her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees?  

Bruce Wayne is proof that you don't need superpowers to be a super hero, but can he survive Madeleine's game of tense intrigue and deception?   

"Masterful.... A great story for any Dark Knight fan." (Den of Geek)

©2017 Marie Lu (P)2017 Listening Library

Not for Batman fans

Bruce is so out of character in this story that this could just be about any rich teenager. The plot is so cliche and the characters are completely one dimensional. I was hoping it would be like a long comic, but it's just awful.

No Batman

This story is just about Bruce Wayne way before he became Batman. I don’t even know why they put Batman on the cover.

5 Stars for Young Bruce Wayne!

Batman is one of my least favorite superheroes. But Marie Lu’s Batman: Nightwalker has changed my mind about the caped crusader. I loved this book!

Why did I love this book?
• Batman: Nightwalker is an interesting glimpse into the teen years of Bruce Wayne. We see his loneliness and isolation due to the death of his parents and his wealth. Everyone befriends him for favors or hate him for his money. But Bruce does have close friends who have become his family – his butler and guardian, Alfred Pennyworth, and childhood friends Harvey Dent and Dianne Garcia. Just like any teenager, Bruce makes impulsive decisions that lands him in trouble with the law. His passion for justice is clear and I got a better understanding of who Bruce Wayne really is. It was fun seeing the early connections he makes with Lucious Fox (CEO of WayneTech) that will ultimately make him into the legendary crime fighter.
• Marie Lu’s writing captured the gloom of the franchise and the story had action and suspense. I also enjoyed her introduction of new characters Dianne Garcia and Madeline Wallace. Both young ladies are of Asian descent, so I appreciate that the author always includes diversity in her writing. Madeline was a fascinating character, with her knowledge of technology and her spot-on perception of people. I was constantly questioning if she was a villain or an ally, which made the story even more interesting.
• Will Damron did a great job narrating this story. I loved his voices for the characters and he brought emotion to the story. He made the actions scenes come to life and even more exciting.

Overall, I thought this was an entertaining addition to the DC Icon series. This is a creative look into the teenage years of Bruce Wayne and has the action and suspense Batman fans will enjoy. I can’t wait to read the next books in this series.

A Surprising Delight

I was happily surprised by this book. I enjoyed it very much, Definitely Recommend! AWESOME!!!!

Good until the end...

The ending became more predictable and cliche the more it went and was ultimately not as satisfying or meaningful as it could've been.

The narrator's tone got a little stale and melodramatic in the last half as well, but that may have just been the writing. Not sure.

The first 60% of this book was quite enjoyable, however. I don't agree with every detail of young Bruce Wayne's portrayal but for the most part, it was great to see this side to his character's timeline that we often don't get to see (18 years old). I personally don't mind the lack of Batman at all but I know others might.

Bottom line, if you want a 'Batman' book, look away. If you want/are interested in Bruce Wayne, this can be pretty interesting up to a point. I wouldn't spend money, but maybe a credit if you have a few to spare.

SJW Preaching under a Batman Mask

The not so subtle SJW messages really take away from the story. Yes it is terrible that women get cat called, but I don't need a chapter about it in a Batman story.

Amazing

Would you listen to Batman: Nightwalker again? Why?

I would not only because it onse you get the plot twist it would no longer be fun.

Amazing!

I loved this book, the 250 pages were fulled of back to back action and it didn’t needed to be longer. Love Marie Lu and she has surprised me again.

Enjoyable Adventure

I really enjoyed this book so much .. it was fun and action packed and it gave the vibe of the Legend series by the same author ..
for the entire story we follow Bruce Wayne a wealthy 18 years old as he tries to bring down the NightWalkers which are a group of people who are terrorizing Gotham City, and he meets Madeline who seems to have a connection to the NightWalkers
I liked how the plot progressed, and though we didn't get to see much of "Batman", we did get to see a story about justice and the power of friendship and trust :)
liked this one way better than the first book in the series

The narration was nice too .. although he could use some more voice ranges but I didn't have any problems with the narration

An amazing book with a great narrator. I highly recommend this book and audiobook.

I would like to thank Penguin Random House International for including me in this global blog tour and for providing a finished copy for me to read.

This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Also, my review format is this: First few paragraphs would be my thoughts on the book, whether I like it or not. The second half would be a little bit of discussion on what happened in the book but not to the point that I spoil something.

If you know me well, or if you're following me on my social media accounts, you know that I'm a huge fan of Marie Lu. She's one of my favorite authors and The Young Elites (along with The Rose Society and The Midnight Star) are my favorite fantasy books of all time. I also loved Warcross!!! Batman: Nightwalker - her newest book, is my first book of 2018 and I'm happy to say that I also enjoyed it! Marie Lu can do no wrong.

Batman: Nightwalker is fast-paced, a page-turner for sure, and very entertaining read. From Lu's writing to the story of a young Bruce Wayne, all kinds of factor made me really enjoy reading this book. I mean it's a book about one of my favorite superheroes written by my favorite author??!! What could go wrong? That's just crazy and amazing to think that Marie Lu got to write a novel about one of the DC's icon and that is the Batman.

A few pages in, and I'm already hooked. Marie Lu's writing never fail to make me interested by just reading a few pages from the beginning. Bruce Wayne's story in this book is very intriguing since I don't really know about his story when he was just a teenager. I don't really read comic books that often.

I love the characters. I really like that Bruce is always ready to help even though he's not really the perfect guy for the job, but then he succeeds in the end because of his bravery and determination. But he's stubborn too which makes it balanced. Alfred, on this book, is still the same Alfred I know and loved from different stories out there. He's always there for Bruce no matter what and he's a really great father figure to him. I just love their relationship as a family you know. With Madeleine Wallace, I didn't like at her first as a character and her growing relationship with Bruce. I mean Madeleine is a murderer, so how can she possibly like her? But as the story progresses and we got to know the backstory of this mysterious girl, I appreciate her more as a character. Richard started out as a very annoying character, but as I got to know his story, I really don't hate him. Dianne and Harvey are such great friends to Bruce Wayne. I love them. Also, Dianne is a Filipino character in this book and that made me really happy since I'm Filipino.

This book is fast-paced and full of page-turner moments. Well, I don't get to finished this book in one sitting. I actually read it for days based on my goodreads but I'm not actually reading it every single day since I'm very busy with school works. But when I got the chance to read it, I managed to read it fast, at least in that manner. Anyway, I really love Marie Lu's take on a young Bruce Wayne story. It was very intriguing and fresh. I would love to read a sequel though. I mean another batman book by Marie Lu would be great.

Also, I bought the audiobook format of this book on Audible and I'm pleased. The narrator, Will Damron, did a fantastic job narrating the book especially with the Alfred dialogues! The way he talks as Alfred really do sound like Alfred from the movies. Well at least the Alfred from the DCEU. I had a fun time listening some parts of the book when I don't really have the time to read the physical copy.

Kudos to Marie Lu for another great book and congratulations because it's another bestseller!!