I wasn’t able to finish this before the publishing date which sucks because I was so excited to read this.

I got this as an advance release copy for my child who really loves graphic novels and superheroes, was trying to help branch out into more words less pictures. I didn't succeed in my attempt however was curious about the book myself being a big Marvel and superhero fan.

I didn't have any specific expectations going into this book, the summary I had read sounded very interesting and something my child would love. This was in my opinion very well written and perfect for the target age. Storm, main character, isn't exactly how I pictured her to be but I think one needs to keep in mind what audience the author is really targeting. It was a very easy detailed read, and I was quickly pulled into the story telling. The pace was good however the end felt a little rushed, but overall I would definitely suggest it on your TBR shelf!

Traditional novels are an underrated gem in the world of Marvel. The comic giant can pack so much emotion and action into the written word that readers are practically transported into the characters' minds. Jackson has captured the very essence of the iconic X-Woman and has brought the character to life.

In Storm: Dawn of a Goddess, New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson reimagines the origins of one of Marvel's most beloved characters, Ororo Munroe, better known as the X-Men Storm. Set within the exciting backdrop of Cairo, Egypt, the story picks up after Ororo loses her family and finds herself surviving on the streets. She hides in plain sight, blending in with a gang of local street kids. Ororo’s unique powers—manipulating the weather—are beginning to manifest, and she struggles to keep them under control while hiding her striking blue eyes and white hair.

This novel is more than just an origin story; it's a coming-of-age tale where Ororo begins to understand her powers and herself. As she tries to suvive the dangers of the streets, she encounters the sinister Shadow King, a villain capable of stealing souls. The Shadow King forces Ororo to question her worth and her place in the world, chasing her along the streets of Cairo.

Along her journey, she also crosses paths with T’Challa, the prince of Wakanda, and their budding romance adds a tender layer to the story.

Author Tiffany Jackson delivers an entertaining and action-packed narrative, balancing moments of romance with intense battles. The tension between Ororo and the Shadow King is realistic, making him a worthy adversary in her journey toward self-discovery. Jackson has crafted a story that has a mix of adventure, minor romance, and the exploration of Ororo’s powerful heritage.

Storm: Dawn of a Goddess is a must-read for X-Men fans and anyone who enjoys superhero origin stories. This novel brings a fresh perspective to Storm's legacy, making it a thrilling addition to Marvel's universe.

I am obsessed! I loved how this brought in T'chala and really showed Storm coming into her own. I immediately wanted more.

"Storm: Dawn of a Goddess" by Tiffany D. Jackson is a powerful and exhilarating reimagining of mythological themes with a contemporary twist. Jackson crafts a gripping narrative that follows a young heroine's journey as she grapples with her divine powers and a destiny that could reshape her world. The novel’s rich world-building, dynamic characters, and emotional depth make it a compelling and immersive read. Jackson’s storytelling prowess shines through, making this a standout addition to the fantasy genre.

As a huge fan of the X-Men, I thought this was such a well-written and beautiful origin story for Storm. I admired seeing her journey of self-doubt and trying to make herself small for others which ultimately led to a shift in her confidence and embracing who she is. I thought the bond that she formed with T’Challa was so sweet and organic especially because it tied the X-Men and MCU together. I can tell this author really did her research when it came to Storm and they did not disappoint at all.

I thought TD Jackson only wrote urban thrillers, but apparently she also writes banger superhero origin stories! A fresh look at Ororo Monroe before she became Storm of XMen. Born in New York, grew up in Cairo, but hails from Kenya, Ororo becomes an orphan at age six and spends 9 years living on the streets with a gang of thieves. She runs into the Shadow King and starts an epic journey to find herself- where she comes from and who are her people. I wanted her to find her family so bad- is she truly alone? She meets T'Challa (Black Panther), Professor Xavier, and Night Crawler in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and got my teenage son to read this too.

Ebook received for degree through NetGalley

I didn’t get the chance to finish this book (only got 37% in) but from what I read I loved it and wished I had read more before it timed out.

I love marvel so I was super excited to read this one. I loved the evolution of the characters and reading about them in different settings than we've seen before in films. The writing was really well done and there was Heartbreak, humor and so much action!

Ororo was not always the goddess known as Storm minor a member of the X-men. This is a breathtaking story of her early life as she seeks out secrets from her past while being stalked by the dreaded Shadow King, stealer of souls and villain supreme. What makes a hero? They is a fun and powerful coming of age story about a beloved and powerful female icon who must face her own demons as well as those hunting her to become who she is destined to be. Fast paced, well written, Greta book for any Marvel fan.

Combine a true Marvelite and one of the best YA writers around and you get the perfect choice to write the origin of one of the founding X-Men - Storm.

Ororo Monroe has searched for her ancestors since the loss of her parents. This search leads the youngster to Nairobi, Egypt and Kenya. Making her money by pickpocketing tourists may not be admirable, but it is necessary. She excels at staying in the shadows, always hiding her trademark white hair from her “brothers”. But she still hears a voice calling her “home”.

Her decision to leave is fast-forwarded due to an attack by the Shadow King, Amahl Farouk. He attacks Cairo, and tries to get in Ororo’s head with his telepathy. Ororo goes on the run through Africa, trying to get rid of her “curse”. She just wants to be normal. But beyond that, she wants her family back. And this is where Jackson excels.

Jackson is a master of detailing the struggles of young women. I have read her other works, starting with the excellent “Monday’s Not Coming”. Her writing makes a young mutant just a young struggling female.

Ororo stifles her grief, her identity, and her other emotions. And then she meets the future king of Wakanda, T’Challa. I knew that they were married in Marvel lore, but to see their bludgeoning romance start was enjoyable. (Even a future king has butterflies!) Not one for romance though, this is my only criticism. I thought the romance was too drawn out and could have been shorter.

The climax of the story was wonderful! It paced just like a sixth issue of a comic mini-series. I could see the art in my head. It was cinematic. The open ending leads exactly where it should - due to an intervention from you-know-who. It shows Storm as the strong, capable leader we all know and love. But having Jackson write this novel shows how that all started from a devastated young girl.

I have mixed feelings about this origin story. I love Storm, but reading this was very similar to watching X-Men: Apocalypse. While I understand origin stories have similarities, I felt like there were several liberties in this version that painted a very different picture and deviated. I wasn’t looking for an exact retelling, but some of our heroine’s demeanor didn’t feel right. Overall, enjoyable and I would recommend for an entertaining read.

Ororo Munroe is a thief on the streets of Cairo, hiding her blue eyes and white hair beneath a scarf. She must be stealthy, as strange things happen whenever she loses control. Sudden rainstorms and mysterious winds form, attracting attention to her. The Shadow King steals people's souls and is coming after her. With nowhere to turn, she listens to the inner voice she ignored and searches for her heritage. As she does, her powers grow stronger and the Shadow King comes closer. Can she outrun the shadows that chase her?

Storm is a powerful mutant, able to control the weather, but long before that, she was an orphan running the streets of Cairo. We see how that happened, and how she survived as a child. The bulk of the story is her life as a teen, long before she joined the X-Men. She tries to escape the Shadow King when he comes to Cairo to find her and hopes to make her way to Kenya based on a memory of her mother's background. Others once had blue eyes and white hair like her, and she hopes these women would be able to teach her how to control her emerging powers. She meets and develops a connection with T'Challa of Wakanda, who is doing a walkabout to learn about other African countries, as well as people of other villages. It's the farthest she'd ever been from Cairo, and the journey itself is fraught with dangers outside the risk of the Shadow King.

Ororo's journey is one of self-discovery. She sees her powers as a problem, an alien thing to get rid of so she can return to help the group of boys she considers her brothers in Cairo. They're problematic and flare in times of strong emotion or when she has nightmares of past trauma. We know it's not a curse or the mark of a goddess, but Ororo is still discovering that. Any talent can help as well as harm, and she has to face her multiple fears before she can even begin to meet the Shadow King head-on. This is a great look into Ororo's origin, and we understand where she's coming from. She's approachable and troubled and learns that doing the right thing is worth the cost.

I liked the X-men and Storm is one of my favorites. This is a really good book telling the character's origins. I have never read the comics, so I don't know if this is accurate or not based on them. Well written coming of age, self-acceptance and the beauty that lies within each and every one of us.

Tiffany D Jackson, Storm, Black Panther, and an African journey?! Take my money! The X-Men are my favorite superhero’s in both movies and comics. I am not an avid reader/watcher, but when I am in the mood that is what I reach for. So I was excited to hear about this book. This book did not let me down. Storm, or Ororo, doesn’t know about her heritage and isn’t quite sure who she is. She has trauma to deal with before her powers manifest and the bad guy shows up. So she has to take a journey to get answers about her powers and keep everyone safe from the bad guy. Along the way, she has to deal with her past and start figuring out her future. I really loved seeing her develop from someone who is just getting by to someone who is empowered make decisions for her life. I love novels like this that give me a new way to look at these characters.

This is a book Marvel/X-Men fans will love! It was great to learn the origin story of Storm. It was great to see an unexpected addition of a character (I don't want to give away any spoilers), though I was a bit disappointed at how the author felt the need to rush a relationship between this character and Storm. Characters are well developed and the storyline quickly pulls readers in. The active pace keeps readers engaged. If this book is a great way to introduce possible new fans to X-Men.


Key themes: family (including that which isn't blood relation), loss/grief, learning to be who you are meant to be

Possible trigger warnings: violence, parental death, poverty, grief

First and foremost, thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing me an eARC for an honest review! I am a bit late with that review, but I will give it one nonetheless!

On the whole, I think that this novel was a good Storm story, though at times it fell into some very common tropes. First, I think that allowing Ororo's character to breathe through the pages of a novel was a good decision, because I have always felt that she deserves more time in the spotlight than she tends to get. She is also a character that we often don't get as much of a background on, so having her teenage years being more fleshed out was lovely. The romantic dynamic in the book was fun, and I think that playing with Storm's claustrophobia and tendency to doubt herself at low times worked well for the character. I do think that this book sometimes fell in terms of pacing, as it felt that some of it stretched further than it needed, and the plot towards the end felt a bit rushed. It also utilized a fair number of common tropes, which both played to the strength of the writing and the detriment. At its core, though, I think this book is well-written and genuinely exciting, fitting of the character of Storm.

Storm: Dawn of a Goddess is amazing! It’s an X-Men prequel/origin story for Ororo Munroe, so even though it is part of a greater existing world, you can go in not knowing anything and enjoy a superhero story.

This book is fast paced and pulled me out of a small reading slump. The characters are all very well-written. One of the other things I loved is the world building. With X-Men, I often get overwhelmed because it’s such a big world and the mutants exist within a larger magical/sci-fi structure. However, Tiffany D. Jackson gave this book just enough magic to make sense within the context of the story without going too into the workings of the world.

Thank you Netgalley, Publishers, and Marvel for this ARC. Despite being a quick read. I could not publish my review fast enough and I apologize for that.

As a semi-regular comic reader, I am someone who is familiar with Storm's origin, so this book felt like something that I kind of knew the bones of already while simultaneously being unfamiliar with the meat of it. The supporting characters and locations is something that comics tend to skim over to soley focus on the titular character the comic or storyline is about and that's what I appreciated in this book.

I like that the author named locations, and described things and made it feel like they researched the locale and possible conflict in these different countries. I was suprised that even though the character of Storm expressed feeling othered b/c of her gender and her being foreign born, she never felt othered b/c of her race which seemed like an obvious aspect she would be dealing with since black Africans do face racism in North Africa from Middle Easterns, she would also have been at risk of slavery disguised as indentured servitude especially as an orphan. Now I'm not saying that needed to be in this book, but if we're gonna dabble in children being forced to be child soldiers as a result of deals with villages and militia (or kidnappings) then we could have also dabbled in other obvious and known aspects that Storm would have to deal with as a black child in an North African country.

As stated this was a quick read for me, and for half of it I thought Storm was 13 before I had to recheck again and correct myself, so I could be misremembering things, but if we're gonna pull real life aspects for the book, cherrypicking the obvious ones like feeling othered b/c of her race should have been one of them.

Now in half the book Storm is with T'Challa, and as someone who dislikes the pairing I was hoping he wouldn't be in it since there was a time T'Challa wasn't apart of Storm early life, but I do have to say that after getting over it, I did not mind the character's presence and his dynamic with Storm was fun to read, although his demeanor and how he handled situations kind of emphasized Storm's childish and stubborn characteristics to the point of slight frustrations for me.

Despite the stubbornness of Storm and her essentially not believing her mom when it comes to her heritage and how it manifests physically, I was glad at the growth Storm did display and I was happy with how the story ended with Ororo taking on the name of Storm.