This was an amazing prequel to one of my favorite villains in the DC universe! I absolutely loved it! ( )

DNF.

Got to page 113 and gave up, absolutely nothing interesting happening, just a drawn out story of Harley working in Arkham.

Also, what year is this set in? When Harley is young at the start of the book, if going by the comics, it should be the 80's, but one of the thugs has a camera phone?

Was really hoping this would be a fun read but just ended up being boring and pointless, I would definitely not advise reading this instead of the comic. ( )

Paul Dini and Pat Cadigan’s Mad Love: A Batman Novel retells Harley Quinn’s origin. Dini and Cadigan begin with Quinn as a child, seeing her happy world shatter when police arrest her father after a wonderful day on Coney Island, thereby giving Quinn an early distrust of authority. They follow her through her gymnastics training and college, before showing how Quinn was a rising star at Arkham Asylum until she grew fixated on the Joker. The story follows Dini’s original one fairly closely from there, but expands on it so that Quinn’s time at Arkham and her growing dependency on the Joker develop gradually. Dini and Cadigan also demonstrate how Quinn’s early distrust of authority led her to distrust Batman, viewing him as someone who harms the sick patients that end in Arkham. Here, too, they break from many portrayals of mental illness in Batman by avoiding the common tendency to equate mental illness with violence in the Batman mythos. The story also has a different ending than the original, with Harley undergoing treatment at Arkham after her arrest in order to accept that any relationship with the Joker is abusive and to develop strategies to overcome her dependency.

The story itself has appeared several times. Mad Love first appeared as a one-shot comic from Paul Dini and Bruce Timm in December 1993, tying into Batman: The Animated Series and exploring Harley Quinn’s backstory. Dini later adapted the comic into a teleplay for Butch Lukic’s January 16, 1999 episode of The New Batman Adventures, also titled “Mad Love.” In October 1999, Dini again adapted parts of his “Mad Love” story with Yvel Guichet for the Batman: Harley Quinn one-shot comic that introduced Harley Quinn into the mainstream Batman comics continuity. Since then, elements of the story have appeared in Karl Kesel, Terry Dodson, and Rachel Dodson’s Harley Quinn comic series that ran from December 2000 – January 2004, Dini and Guillem March’s Gotham City Sirens series that was published between August 2009 – October 2011, and in Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s Harley Quinn series that began in January 2014 and have been part of the New 52 and DC Rebirth. Finally, Dini’s story also played out in the 2016 Academy Award-winning Suicide Squad film. In September 2019, Stjepan Šejić began his own take on Harley’s origin in Harleen for DC Black Label.

Dini and Cadigan’s latest retelling includes all the story beats fans expect, but also offers the greater character development and sense of pacing of a prose novel. They update the story for 2019, with modern technology and a better understanding of domestic violence and mental illness. Fans of Harley Quinn looking for a serious, yet familiar, take on the character are sure to enjoy Mad Love: A Batman Novel. ( )

Disappointing read for me. I was hoping to get a great psychological novel when I saw that Pat Cadigan was one of the authors. I haven't read the comic this novel is based on but it reads like a blow-by-blow retelling. Good for a lazy read but suspect only Batman fans will really get anything out of this novel. ( )

I purchased this book from Amazon to read. All opinions are my own. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟Harley Quinn: Mad Love by Paul Dini and Pat Cadigan. 5 stars because well, Harley Quinn. Yes I wanted to love this book and it was a fast paced read with adventure on every page, but truthfully I wanted a different story. Wonderfully written and everything a comic book should be. Harlene Quinn grew up in Brooklyn with a father for a criminal and a mother that pushed her to be something more. Harley studies gymnastics and prepares for a scholarship to go to college, attends medical school, and becomes a successful psychiatrist and this is where everything becomes complicated for Harley. Her revenge she's been seeking since childhood grows into a complicated love story with Puddin and a strange hatred for Batman. Until one day she realizes Puddin isn't what she really needs to get to her revenge. Review also posted on Instagram @borenbooks, Library Thing, Go Read, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Amazon, Twitter @jason_stacie and my blog at readsbystacie.com ( )