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Dissolution, a Korps novel, is as if a Saturday morning cartoon were written for adults. Specifically, trans adults.

Let me explain.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Korps setting, picture super hero punch-'em-ups and such. Now make all the capital H Heroes almost all incredibly corrupt, even by virtue of them protecting the status quo of rich people fleecing everyone else and suppressing minorities, freely wielding the power of the state and state-sponsored Heroes as super-cops. And picture the Villains as using the trappings of stereotypical villainy to try to make the world a better place by… overthrowing the system in big and small ways, ultimately with a goal, stated several times, to take over the world.

The story begins with Starshade, a cottontail rabbit, raiding a bank's safe deposit complex and stealing stuff. However, she's soon interrupted by way too much fire power from cops and has to evade several teams of government sponsored Heroes. At the end of her rope, out of tricks, and bleeding from a wound, she ends up getting cornered by Slate, a big slab of a horse with super strength and stamina. And to kick off the novel's plot, Slate, being confronted by what could happen to a trans super villain like Starshade, lets her go.

Now, this being a Saturday morning cartoon, even with super heroes, we have our heroes doing heroic things and our capital-H Heroes being corrupt. Also, the story is about as subtle as screaming, jet-powered hammer. Part of what convinced Slate that he should let Starshade go rather than take her in, was her saying that, being trans, she would be thrown into the men's wing of any prison they found her in, with subsequent brutality stated by the narrative. Starshade lectures Slate about how the design of a brand new police station is actually racist, in that it was done to show the surrounding area that the Powers That Be, with the authority to kill and maim, are watching everyone else by purposefully conflicting with local architecture. Starshade has to break into a police computer and the password ends up being "Password1488" (and if you have no idea as to the significance of the numbers, look it up). Hell, the head of the local branch of capital H Heroes that Slate works for goes by Manifest Destiny. Runa Fjord knows people that use subtext and calls them all cowards.

I will admit that I found the lack of subtlety a bit offputting at first. Pretty much the only people that have internal conflicts are the two protagonists, and most of the other side characters have about as much depth as a puddle. Having said that (and with the knowledge of reading the second book which is also out and I also plan to review), this first book in the series very much feels like a place setting novel. Not many of the side characters get a chance to be developed because the narrative is very busy giving the two protagonists plenty to do and several moments of thrilling danger, being cut off from their respective support networks to rely on each other and see the narrative through. The book ends with a cliffhanger confident of a follow up, and I will confess that if the book had ended without a cliff hanger, I'd still be intrigued enough to get the next one. Which, again, I did.

...that being said, I really want to know why a detail about an apparent "precog" who delivers a world-changing prophecy to one of the protagonists is never called as much beyond the narrative calling that minor character a "precog" once, in passing.

Ultimately, Dissolution is a book that is a little rough around the edges and may have forgotten a few minor details to deliver a fast-paced narrative, pitting two characters against the System at large and seeing how they get through it all. I recommend picking it up if you get a chance, especially if you like super heroes or trans narratives.