Cover Image: The Unstoppable Wasp

The Unstoppable Wasp

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Member Reviews

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. I always enjoy Marvel books and graphic novels. This book had a good writing style, and Nadia was an interesting character to follow. She's so intelligent, brave, and kind.

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This book immediately made Nadia Van Dyne’s Wasp one of my favorite Marvel heroes. Nadia’s charming, lovable voice takes the reader through her busy life defeating supervillains, juggling her relationships with friends and family, running her lab, and dealing with her mental health and long-buried grief. The story brings Nadia to life, reflecting real and relatable struggles behind the adventure of her latest intrigue.

The plot was a little predictable at points, but I was won over by Nadia’s character. In addition, the discussions of science and ethics and “Nadia’s neat science facts” that pop up throughout the book make this an especially great read for young girls with an interest in science. I would have loved to have a role model like Nadia at that age.

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I love Sam Maggs, I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I LOVED THIS BOOK!!

I'm going to be honest, I'd never heard of Nadia Van Dyne before (Hope and Janet, yes. Nadia? Not so much). But, as a huge "ANT-MAN AND THE WASP" fan looking to extend my Marvel mythos, I knew I had to pick it up.

Best decision I ever could have made.

The "Science Facts" interludes were SO much fun, and adds a bit of lightness and education to a wholly entertaining story. The girl power is ever-present (!!), and the characters just leap off of the page.

Plus, if you've seen 2021's "Black Widow," the Red Room callbacks hit just that liiiiiitle bit harder, adding even more to the (great) reading experience!

Maggs has made me fall in love with this character, one I'd never heard of before. There's not much else to say, other than that this title is, undoubtably, quite *MARVEL-ous*. :)

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Nadia Van Dyne navigates through the Avengers world, trying to work between that and school.
She has a lot to learn, and unlearn thanks to the red room. But will she get through it? Only time, and this book will tell.

I really enjoyed this a lot more than anticipated. I appreciate that Disney is doing great things with characters and letting them live amazing, awesome, and multi-faceted lives!

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I don’t exactly know why, but I had a hard time getting into this one. First, I wasn’t familiar with Nadia or G.I.R.L.S. From the comics, so when I picked it up I thought it was going to be Hope Pym’s Wasp and was confused. I think it took me awhile to recover from that. Plus, I get the sense that it is intended for readers who already know these characters (because a lot of the plot hinged on Nadia acting out of character, but as a first-time reader I didn’t get that - I spent much of the book thinking she was just kinda a jerk, which also obviously turned me off). Lastly, I found the plot very predictable with no surprises, although the intended young adult readers will probably enjoy it more.

On the pro side though, I thoroughly enjoyed the breakout “science facts”, and I appreciated the important representation of a superhero with a mental illness.

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I'll admit I'm a little behind on my comics lore, the last time I caught a current issue back in 2016, but Nadia's backstory is one I'd never heard before but am definitely interested in continuing with it. This was fun, the action packed book I was expecting it to be with an underlying really good energy about mental health. That being said, though, I'm not sure of the age group this is posed to after reading it. The book itself reads solidly middle teen, a 16 year old protagonist and everything, but the interstitial parts of "Nadia's Science Facts" reads younger to me, and I feel as though it hits more of a 13-15 year old range. That's the only thing that keeps it from hitting 5 stars for me, if this is really aimed at that 16-17 audience, it feels almost childish to have these interstitials included. The characters are awesome, though, and the story itself is definitely what I'd expect from a Marvel book! I loved it!

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Musings:

I adored ‘The Unstoppable Wasp”! It caused me to nerd out completely throughout. I loved every part of it. It’s definitely perfect for that young Marvel lover in your life.

What I loved:

The fun facts! I find it really adorable how every once in a while Nadia would nerd out and explain a concept about science or technology to the reader. It felt like she really and truly adored science and enjoyed sharing little tidbits with the people around her.

The diversity of the cast. Nadia is Russian and gives little tidbits about Russian words and foods and each member of G.I.R.L. are all from different backgrounds and lend a bit of their culture through who they are throughout the story.

Nadia’s struggle with Bi-polar disorder. Everyday is a time-management struggle for Nadia. Managing her mood, being a cool American teen, connecting with the mother who died before she could meet her, coming up with ideas for her like-minds project. Nadia has so much on her plate at all times and managing her mental health at the same time is overwhelming and causes her to struggle with her personal relationships.

How real Nadia feels. Nadia may be a super hero, but who she is inside and her struggles, wants, and desires make her feel like a girl doing her best to follow her dreams and also just enjoy being alive even with life feels overwhelmingly hard.

All in all:

‘The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope’ is a wonderful read that made my nerd heart very happy. It’s beautiful to me. Nadia isn’t 100% succeeding in every area of her life she’s doing her best and she wants to do great for the world. Sometimes you got to rely on the G.I.R.L.’s around you who only want you to succeed. Everyone in this book feels like a family.

As a side note: I super nerded out hard talking for the longest time to my boyfriend about the version of Hank in this novel. I got so much out of this book and it‘ll live inside my heart as one to remember.

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The Unstoppable Wasp was an incredibly fun, action-packed book with beautifully fleshed out characters and full of friendship goals. One of my favourite books I've read in a while, I absolutely recommend this one for your next read!

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Listen, I'll admit part of me is biased by reviewing this 5 stars. I love Nadia, and I really love the Unstoppable Wasp series. I really am not enjoying this recent trend of novelizations of comic characters, but I appreciate it if they're trying to find a new audience for characters that I genuinely think are amazing role models.

I read this right before moving back to Atlanta last year, and it still sticks in my head. It was hard to start - anything with an overall positivity was hard to start last year. This book picks up where the comics left off, and I think Maggs does a decent job of giving Nadia a voice where so far it's only been really one other creator doing so. (I really do love Jeremy Whitley's comics. And yes I know others have written Nadia, but that's *my* Nadia.)

The story is a little overdone at this point - we need to find a reason to address why Nadia keeps getting enamored with mentors and role models that aren't her step-mom, Janet. I think I'm mostly bitter they keep cancelling the comic rather than letting it flourish. Anyways, I enjoyed Nadia's journey to get to know her mom better, especially as a way to not only rely on her father's flaws.

This book isn't going to work for you if you haven't read Jeremy Whitley's comics, which are SO WORTH THE READ and the tears. So yeah, I am overall biased, but I am happily so.

Also - I am seeing a lot about Nadia being ace, which I LOVE, and now want to reread everything to catch those hints. It isn't a storyline anywhere in the books, but it is something that's been known about Nadia since issue one apparently!

Thank you Netgalley and Disney/Marvel for an advance copy in exchange for a review!

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Sam Maggs is the perfect author to write this book. It is perfect for any fan of Marvel and Ant Man & The Wasp or even if you are just getting into the MCU or Marvel Comics (though it is more based on the comics than the movies). This story is fun and filled with exciting characters, adventure, heart, and girl power. If those things sound appealing to you then I urge you to pick this novel up now.

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Plot: This was such a fun, well thought out plot! There were fun moments, exciting ones, and of course some heartfelt moments, too.

Characters: Nadia is my favorite superhero (I love the Unstoppable Wasp comics!), so the moment I saw that a YA book about her was releasing, I was so happy! Personally, reading a book with a superhero who has mental illness, just means so much. The side characters were all great (and very diverse)! I loved all the references to Marvel universe characters in it. And two of my other favorite Marvel characters (Janet and Bobbi!), were in the book a lot, which was great!

The Cover: I like it!

Overall: I loved this book! As a fan of the comics, I think this was a great adaption of the character into a YA novel, and I hope we get more of them! And I think even if you haven't read the comics, you could still read and enjoy this book, because they have a great introduction towards the beginning, talking about all the main characters, to get you familiar with them. Overall, I loved this book and I know it's going on my best of 2020 list later this month!

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Can I just say how absolutely EXCITED I was for this new YA Marvel series to come out I was? & that it was ALL ABOUT A FEMALE? && that I am such a fangirl of Sam Maggs? Because then I was given an advance reader copy thanks to Netgalley & Disney Book Group and I basically felt like I won at book life.

& this book did NOT disappoint.

Nadia Van Dyne is new to this. New to being a Super Hero, new to being a real friend and stepdaughter (to one of the founding Avengers, no less), new to running her own lab, and new to being her own person, far, far away from the clutches of the Red Room-the infamous brainwashing/assassin-training facility.

As the Unstoppable Wasp, I felt that the voice Maggs created for Nadia was an incredible addition to the Marvel family, the perfect teenage drama mixed with events and cameos from the Marvel Universe that kept this fan super happy. With a great mix of the amount of detail needed for the backstory for those new to the character, with a focus on mental health and how even a superhero has her struggles.

& I have to say, it doesn’t often happen that there’s a character with my name (Shay) so that was fun too - although I’ve never been a black lesbian before LOL The supporting characters and friendships could have had a bit more depth to them for me, but I felt like it was a great introduction, 4.5 stars from me.

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3.5 stars. I had mixed feelings on this - things I loved and things that were a struggle. I pushed through the struggle spots and the ending was good.

A few examples of things I struggled with: The AI plot was almost non-existent for the first third of the book which gave a lot of character development time, but I was distracted waiting for the plot to kick in. There were some stylistic things - name dropping from the Marvel universe, calling Nadia and a 20-something character "girls," which felt weird and jarring. (The teens, sure, but this woman with her own company who is at least 23 or 24, maybe older, didn't feel like someone who should be called a "girl," especially in a book about empowerment,) Nadia's Neat Science Facts were intrusive and interrupted the flow of the story almost every time they came up. (The only one that felt right was one that occurred at the start of a chapter. They aren't footnotes - there are plenty of those, too. These just dropped right into the flow of the story.)

Things I enjoyed: Nadia's found family. The AI plot once it got going. The author's descriptions of the action sequences was exceptionally well-done. (I have read lots of other superhero books, and this isn't always the case. This author is very good at it!) Diversity - race, sexual orientation (F/F romance), and a character with cerebral palsy. The integration of Nadia's mental illness, bipolar disorder, into the book, and the normalization of her going to therapy and taking medication was excellent. The emphasis on women in science.

This was my first introduction to this character - this is NOT the same timeline/universe as what you will find in the MCU. Nadia comes across as naive in this story, but she has a support system that, when it is working well, can protect her and foster her growth.

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BOOK REPORT for The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope by Sam Maggs

Cover Story: Fan Art
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Swoonworthy Scale: 0
Talky Talk: Adaptation Without Enough Info
Bonus Factors: Marvel, Girl Squad
Relationship Status: Missed Connection

Cover Story: Fan Art
This cover looks like something an artist would create as fan art for the comic (which this book is based on/inspired by/an extension of). And not in a bad way—this is a lovely depiction of Nadia and a step up from the comic style!

The Deal:
Nadia Van Dyne wants to DO ALL THE THINGS that come with being a superhero, a part of an all-girl superhero squad, a scientist, and a friend. But spreading oneself across too many things can mean that none of them get the attention they deserve … and some things might even (inadvertently) fall through the cracks. When Nadia's given an AI assistant that promises to help her organize her life and keep from missing anything, she's sold. But is the AI all it's promised? And is it really all that great to be able to do everything all the time?

BFF Charm: Big Sister
Although Nadia's an "I can do it myself" kind of girl—and I absolutely applaud that—and though she has a lot of great older women in her life, too much of Nadia's life was going unchecked for my liking. She spent much of the book trying to do way too much and missing a lot because of it, and she really needed a person to tell her to slow down, to take a step back, and to look at the larger picture. The lack of guidance in her life, the lack of support, really stood out. Girl's got plenty of mentors, but what she needs is an authority figure!

Swoonworthy Scale: 0
There are relationships in this book, but none of them are Nadia's. (At least, none of the romantic ones.) Like I've mentioned a couple of times now, she's far, far too busy.

Talky Talk: Adaptation Without Enough Info
The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope is an expansion of the world created for the Marvel comic series. As someone who learned a lot of what she knows about Marvel from the Cinematic Universe (I know, I know), and who hasn't read any of the Unstoppable Wasp comics, I was … confused. In the book/comic universe, Nadia is Hank Pym's daughter, who didn't know about her father until she was a teen. She was also trained in the Red Room (where Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow was also trained at some point), but now lives in her deceased father's old house (alone?) and spends much of her time at Pym Labs, in the Genius In Action Research Labs (G.I.R.L.), a group of super-smart young women who are also part-time superheroes. Janet Van Dyne is her stepmother and Jarvis is still around, serving as a defect grandfather. I love all of this in theory, but in practice, I needed more backstory before diving in. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be the only person going into this book blind or with knowledge that's directly contradicted by the story within.

Additionally, there's a whole lot of inclusion in this book—races, disabilities, backgrounds, cultures, sexual orientations—which is a good thing … until it begins to feel like it's thrown in the book for inclusion's sake, and just muddies the larger plot with side plots that aren't given near enough time to play out properly.

I've followed Maggs on social media for a while, and I know she has a really strong voice. I missed that in this book, and look forward to reading something by her in the future that isn't constrained by its source material.

Bonus Factor: Marvel
I am a Marvel Stan with, yes, a capital S. Although I was confused by this book, it made me want to learn more about Nadia and investigate her comic run. It feels a little backward at this point, but the more Marvel, the marvelous merrier!

Bonus Factor: Girl Squad
I am wholly in love with the idea of an all-girl, always scientists, sometimes superheroes team. Especially when they're as brilliant as Nadia and her friends are, because—wow. They're so well-rounded, and we don't get to spend nearly enough time with them in this book.

Relationship Status: Missed Connection
I was looking forward to our date, Book. On the surface, we had a lot of shared interests and a lot of promise to investigate! But our date didn't go that well and the chemistry I'd hoped for was totally missing. And, sadly, in this case, I'm not going to be seeking a second date.

Literary Matchmaking:
● Julie Murphy's Faith: Taking Flight is a great example of a comic adaptation that really stands on its own.
● As an aforementioned Marvel stan, I'd be remiss not to include Mackenzi Lee's Loki: Where Mischief Lies here as a recommended read.
● And since we're mixing comic companies all over the place here, definitely check out Leigh Bardugo's Wonder Woman: Warbringer for another take on a young superhero that doesn't quite match the movie version.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Marvel, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope is available now.

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This was a great book! I don’t know much about The Wasp prior to reading this book but I enjoyed her story and her character development.

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If you love Marvel and superheros in general, this is the book for you! I love that we're getting more YA Marvel books! There are a lot of references to different marvel characters in this, so if you aren't a huge fan or even somewhat casual this might be a confusing read! This book brings major girl power to the table - I loved it!

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BOOK REVIEW | UNSTOPPABLE WASP: BUILT ON HOPE (YOUNG ADULT)
JUNE 19, 2020 MELISSA VILLY LEAVE A COMMENT
The Unstoppable Wasp is back in this all-new young adult adventure from Sam Maggs

After growing up in the Red Room, Nadia Van Dyne is trying to be a Cool American Teen. She’s learning to drive, dealing with her recently diagnosed Bipolar Disorder, working on her project for Stark Industries Like Minds initiative, and having fun with her friends at G.I.R.L. – that’s Genius In Action Research Labs, and becoming a young superheroine. That’s a lot to keep track of. So when Nadia’s step-mother Janet gives her a new Artificially Intelligent assistant named VERA, Nadia decides it’s the answer to all her problems. With the “do less, experience more” motto, Nadia thinks she can do everything on her to-do list. But when she starts becoming obsessed with making VERA better, her friends and family become concerned. Could VERA be the next Ultron?

Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope | Written by Sam Maggs
Set after the events of the second Unstoppable Wasp comic series, Nadia is trying to learn to fit in in America and deal with her recent diagnosis. Nadia’s manic and depressive moods were depicted well. The author does a good job of showing a young woman struggling to come to terms with her diagnosis and not wanting it to define her, which is something I can definitely relate to.

The other G.I.R.L. characters all make an appearance, but this story was more about Nadia’s journey towards managing her diagnosis and learning to trust and rely on her newfound family. While she is a superhero and does use her superpowers on a few occasions, this was more of a personal story that teens can relate to rather than a full-on ‘save the world’ story even though she and her friends do, of course, end up saving the world.

G.I.R.L. Power
Nadia and her friends are great role models for young women interested in STEM fields as they depict positive idols in various fields of study from botany to robotics. They come from all ethnicities, sexualities, and walks of life, and one of them even has cerebral palsy. Showing children and young people with medical diversity is something really important to me as a former kid with medical issues, and it’s great to see that included here.

While Nadia’s friends aren’t a huge part of the story, I’d love to see each of them get their own book where they come into their own as young women using STEM to be superheroes. Thanks to a lab accident, Priya, the botanist, already has budding (pun intended) superpowers which she uses here to help Nadia save the day. I particularly want to see what is done with Priya in the future.

While STEM isn’t really my thing, it doesn’t have to be to read this book. Just like in the comic, there are “Nadia’s Science Facts” to explain things to the reader. I really appreciated this and I can’t imagine how much research it took Maggs to be able to successfully pull this off in a way that a non-science-minded reader could understand. Footnotes are also included to translate Nadia’s Russian and explain cultural differences.

Unstoppable Sam Maggs
Sam Maggs is the author of several non-fiction books, including The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy, Marvel Fearless, and Fantastic!: Female Super Heroes Save the World, Girl Squads, and Wonder Women. She’s also the author of IDW’s Marvel Action Comics: Captain Marvel title. This is her first Young Adult book. Her first Middle-Grade novel, Con-Quest! was released on June 23rd. Maggs also works as a game developer.

I’m really enjoying Maggs fiction, and am going to have to check out some of her non-fiction titles. She balances light-hearted humor with action and adventure well without it taking away from the story, and I love the inclusion of the pop culture references. The Sailor Moon references in Unstoppable Wasp were especially awesome, as were the ’90s movie references. I look forward to more from her in the future.

Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope by Sam Maggs is published by Marvel and will be available to buy on July 14th.

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I received an advanced copy of The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope through Netgalley, so that I could share my review with you!

Trigger Warnings: This book contains a discussion of mental illness (specifically bipolar disorder). It is presented and discussed in a very skillful way, but if you are uncomfortable with this topic, you may want to skip this book.

Finding balance is extremely important, especially when you’re a teenage superhero trying to change the world! Nadia has a lot of things to focus on, but she’s sure that she can do everything if she works hard enough. Between thwarting saving the day as the superhero The Wasp and running GIRL (Genius In action Research Labs), Nadia is struggling to keep up with everything in her life. When she receives a special virtual assistant as a birthday present, Nadia thinks she just might’ve found a way to truly maximize her productivity! She might not be able to make more hours in the day, but she can certainly make those hours count. As Nadia becomes more and more lost in her own responsibilities, she beings to struggle to maintain control over her own life. Relying on her virtual assistant only seems logical, but how can your balance life when things keep changing?

You can get your copy of The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope on July 14th from Marvel Books!

I recently attended an Epic Reads Pride panel moderated by the author of this book, Sam Maggs, which was so much fun! I quite enjoyed reading this story, as it was one of the most unique superhero novels I’ve read from the Marvel Universe! Nadia is an interesting character and I thought the discussion of different mental illnesses was very well incorporated into the story. I’ve previously read quite a few comics about The Wasp, and I think that Sam Maggs did a fantastic job capturing Nadia in novel form. I’m always a sucker for girl-power science teams, so this book was a naturally good fit for me!

My Recommendation-
If you have been wishing for a superhero story full of upbeat characters dealing with real world issues, The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope would be a great choice for your next read! If you loved the Ant-man movies, but wished they had focused more on Hope’s story, this book would be a fantastic choice for you!

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OK, so I am not a huge Marvel fan, and I kept getting lost in The Unstoppable Wasp because I didn’t know the backstory or who somebody was or about an event that was being referenced, but my son informs me that that is a me problem, and this is a great book for anyone who loves Nadia in the comics. And I’m going to say that lack of context aside, I loved seeing a bunch of smart girls using science to solve problems — her GIRL (Genius In Action Research Lab) Squad may be one of my favorite fictional team-ups of all time. So if you are a Marvel fan, put this on the must-read list!

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Loved this novel. Nadia was such a likable character and a great role model for readers. This was one of the best continuity advanced from comics to novels and for that alone, it is ranked very highly for me. This level of precision just is usually unheard (or unseen!). This whole novel felt like a little movie going on in my head and I hated that it ended because I want more from her. Nadia is in this stage in her life that she feels nobody understands her and when she finds 'family' it was almost as if she was transformed and it was a great aspect of development for her character. The pop culture references kept this book alive and realistic in it's own way.

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