2021 EDIT: Reread, after shamefacedly forgetting everything that happens in this book: It's a spectacular, deceptively simple Carol Danvers - not Captain Marvel - children's/YA novel. Full of brilliant, life affirming lessons to take away from, especially for girls and women. Female empowerment, friendship and thrills are taken to the skies, where there are no limits. Feel what it's like to fly, to work terribly hard, to be exhausted (physically, emotionally and mentally), to be exhilarated (like an inexperienced teenager), and to make lifelong friends and "let yourself learn", from reading these pages.
'Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster' is not a superhero book; it is meant to reflect real life; but it is super.
Carol and Maria would make a great, soaring, revolutionary team and power couple, of any kind.
Read my original review for more.
Final Score: 4/5
Original Review:
'Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster' - a middle grade/YA companion piece to the movie, about Carol Danvers' first year at the US Air Force Academy. A girl born to fly, she is determined to make her dream come true and mark her name in history, as the first US female fighter pilot, in a world that won't give her a chance even when she's done everything and more to earn it.
'Higher, Further, Faster' - the title reminds me of Kelly Sue DeConnick's comics run, and good grief how I miss that. After the disaster that is 'The Life of Captain Marvel', I'm currently boycotting Marvel (again!), or at least their 'Captain Marvel' run, until I know for sure that that retcon is, well, retconned. At the same time, I didn't want that comic to possibly be the last time I read about Carol Danvers, so the 2019 YA novel seemed a safe bet; as a product of the excellent movie, and not the comics.
'Higher, Further, Faster' is set before Carol becomes Captain Marvel, before she is involved with any Kree in fact, so the title is mostly brand recognition. Still, the book is an enjoyable, inspirational flyby for a day. Preferably on a sunny day in a California desert, or near an airbase (how I wish I could've read it on any of my trips to America!)
This accessible novel is highly inspirational for young girls, and boys. It is about believing in yourself and overcoming challenges and obstacles on a micro as well as major-aggressive level and so on (even the dialogue comments on how cheesy and after-school special this sounds). But it goes deeper than that.
Carol Danvers is complex and likeable here. In a narrative told from her POV, her dialogue and attitude are a hoot, and her internal monologues peel back her brash confidence and reveal her insecurities and uncertainties. She's as physically fit, capable and determined as you can get. I loved reading about her relationship with planes of all kinds, and her exhilarating descriptions of flying. I felt like I was experiencing it with her. However, like any human, she houses doubts that she's both consciously and unconsciously aware of.
At the beginning of the book, before she sets foot at the flight school, Carol is almost arrested for chasing down and cornering a guy in a Jaguar, after he did a hit-and-run on a female driver. Upon hearing her ambitions, a female state trooper, Wright, gives Carol a piece of advice - literally written on a piece of paper in place of a ticket - "Let yourself learn". These three deceptively simple words work to thread the events and themes together throughout the book, for Carol's character development. It's clever, and quite deep and teary.
But the biggest highlight of 'Higher, Further, Faster' is the friendship Carol has with Maria Rambeau. They hit it off almost right away, as roommates. They work so well together. Their banter is funny, they are practically inseparable, are consolable, and have each other's backs. The two best friends are just so lovely together, it's yet another inspiration. It's beyond touching. Far substantial and better explored than in the film, even.
As the academy's two of its very few women members, it's easy to get very lonely and isolated; and Carol and Maria, their friendship is more than what one could have hoped for.
Greatest female friendship read in 2019 has a contender.
Oh, and there are a few men on their squadron who they also grow close to. These boys listen to and learn about the inner workings of the patriarchy from Carol and Maria, and become better people as a result. The book has some good POC diversity. It's nice that Carol has a tight-knit group of friends, who are genuinely there for her, at the intimidating academy and its extremely strict, physically, emotionally and mentally taxing regimes. Estranged from her own family, Carol unwittingly becomes a part of this family of literal high fliers.
Fantastic platonic male and female relationship rep, too. Like in the blockbuster film, there is no romance here! Yahoo!
Could have used more of Carol making other female friends, like Zoe Noble, who dreams of being an astronaut.
'Higher, Further, Faster' is well written, fast-paced and atmospheric. It maturely deals with themes of sexism, how the patriarchy works and thrives, and the endless self-doubt that is drilled so often and deliberately into women and girls with big dreams.
It isn't overt when dealing with racism, disappointingly - in fact that issue can generously be chalked down to barely existing. There also isn't a plot so much as a sequence of events that Carol goes through - hardworking, passing with flying colours, stubbornly unobserved by her male superiors - in order to achieve her goals her first year as a flyer. And to find out what she really, truly wants out of life, for herself and no one else.
It's purely coming-of-age. So anyone looking for a world-saving superhero adventure might want to stick to the comics (or not, since, as I've said, those have been terrible recently *cough* fuckyoulifeofcaptainmarvel*cough*).
Officer/Captain Jenks is the closest thing to a villain the novel has. He is a horrific, passive-aggressive sexist bastard who makes Carol's life hell because she's a woman who dares to exist at the Air Force. In his way, he is a megalomaniac; one of the persistent, vile, vicious tools of the patriarchy determined to keep women down and out of the spotlight. He refuses to change and grow, unlike Carol. It doesn't matter how high Jenks outranks her and will continue to do so no matter what either of them do, she will always be better than him, and she knows it.
A man's world is outdated, and together Carol and Maria will make their own world. They will keep progressing, moving forward, and flying higher...
So, good book. Awe-inspiring, funny and touching. Read it if you are a 'Captain Marvel' fan, or you just like the movie.
Let girls and women be proud. Proud of themselves as well as others. Let them know that they are great. That they are the best.
Okay, one more thing.
Takes deep breath:
IT'S GREAT TO HAVE YOU BACK, CAROL DANVERS! YOUR SASS AND WIT AND HUMOUR AND CONFIDENCE WERE MISSED!
Final Score: 4/5
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