I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – Out Now

Price – £18.99 hardback £9.99 kindle eBook

NB this novel uses current Marvel comic-based characters not that of the Marvel Cinematic Universes

Marvel’s most powerful super hero, Captain Marvel, must battle an old enemy in this brand-new original novel with help from her friends Tony Stark, Spectrum, Hazmat and Spider-Woman!

CAPTAIN MARVEL IS ASKED FOR A SIMPLE FAVOR, BUT SHE SOON MEETS AN ADVERSARY WITH UNPARALLELED POWER.

Tony Stark wants Carol to keep an eye on brilliant grad student Mara Melamed, who is struggling to find her feet at Empire State University. Although reluctant at first, Carol meets Mara and is soon impressed by the young woman.

But trouble quickly finds Captain Marvel in the form of a controversial operating system from DigiTech―whose mysterious CEO only appears as a hologram. To make matters worse, one of Carol’s closest friends has been framed for murder. And Mara Melamed is at the tangled center of it all.

Carol is driven to her darkest edge as she questions her identity and sense of belonging in the world. With her allies at her side, Carol must face her self-doubt and protect the world from impending doom.

Providing heroes with a challenge is often a case of making their opponent bigger and nastier. Inevitable fight then leads to inevitably the hero wins. Another more interesting idea though is take your main character and throw them into the deep end; a situation that doesn’t fit their strengths. In Gilly Segal’s Captain Marvel – Source Code Carol Danvers gets a mission that isn’t her usual battlefield and places her and her friends in great danger – and may end the world too.

Just when Captain Marvel thinks she has time to cross the galaxy for an important personal trip she is recalled back to Earth by none other than Tony Stark. He asks Carol to help investigate an unusual newly world breaking Tech firm that is now used by all major companies and governments and yet seems to have had some suspicious impacts on its previous managers who either died or vanished. A young woman also thinks it has kidnapped her mother. Carol agrees but is soon up against a clever opponent who is very resourceful and will bend the truth to suit their purposes.

This is an unusual book where the idea of putting Carol out of her comfort zone is fascinating and yet I don’t really understand this story’s approach. Captain Marvek is not who I would think of being great at espionage or investigation. Indeed, she finds her herself offloading that aspect to her friend Jess aka Spider Woman. The plot runs fairly mechanically with a neat piece of plotting beneath it all but overall, it just followed the path you would expect; and it didn’t sadly make a great deal of a character I tend to enjoy reading about. It is ok but not one I feel destined to be a classic Captain Marvel tale.