Livewire DEALS
What happens when you’re the most powerful person in the room… and still feel completely alone?
That’s the question Sarah Raughley throws at us in Livewire, a high-octane YA sci-fi set in the Valiant Universe that smashes tech-powered action into a raw, personal story about identity, belonging, and the cost of trying to save the world.
As a longtime sci-fi fan, I’ve read my share of stories about power, tech, and future worlds. I went in expecting cool abilities and comic-book-level chaos (which it absolutely delivers), but this novel also had a deep emotional protagonist with a love story. This is something that I did not expect to like as much as I did, and it added an extra layer of character development. This ARC took me by surprise in all the best ways.
Thank you to Black Stone Publishing for giving us the ARC for review of Livewire, available September 2nd, 2025!
Livewire by Sarah Raughley Summary
Right off the bat, we meet Amanda McKee, or Andy-P (P stands for Princess!), a teenager from America living in Japan. She is a media influencer with a secret (adoptive) father.
Her father is one of the most powerful people in Japan, leading a major entertainment company. However, that company is just a diversion from her primary goal: to find more psiots in the world. Amanda is the only psiot he’s ever found, so far.
A psiot is a person who has psychic powers, and Amanda’s power is the ability to control technology! She was adopted by Toyo Harada after her parents were “killed” back in Florida, U.S.
Amanda stands out in Japan because she is the only black student in the Academy, a school meant for the wealthy kids of ambassadors and politicians.
Because of that, she is not really accepted by most people and is made fun of and poked at. This is where her psiot powers come in, and she uses them to hack into people’s digital lives and expose them on the social media account she created, called Livewire.
However, her adoptive father has probed and experimented on her all throughout the years in order to further his own company. He wants to use her powers to “better the world” and build bio-suits that will help humanity.
When, during an award show, a man from the 26th century appears named Matsuoka Sho, everything changes. He claims that Amanda and Toyo will destroy humanity and is intent on killing her.
If that was not enough, even more future soldiers appear and kidnap her father into the digital world. Amanda has no choice but to team up with the hot frenemy Sho, set their differences aside, and travel into the digital world to save her father.
This is when Amanda discovers that maybe her father is not all that he seems to be. She must discover her own identity and learn the hard truth about Toyo Harada and the future. Can she handle it while falling for the man from the future and dealing with her own emotional turmoil and identity crisis?
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What Worked For Me
The Story
I loved the story in Livewire! The story of Livewire isn’t just about saving the world; it’s about surviving it when the world doesn’t know what to make of you.
This is a theme that is relatable to everyone, especially to a teenage protagonist. The story in Livewire is rich, well-developed, and a really fun read. It has a mix of sci-fi, drama, and anime tropes. I was not sure I would like that mix at the start, but Raughley is able to blend it all together perfectly.
What do you do after you make out with a boy, but then have to take the same train as him right after? Especially if that boy is a kinda anti-dad terrorist from the future who came back to the past originally to kill you?
The story is action-packed, giving you (and the main character) little time to breathe until something else happens. It is low on spice and the love arc, which is something that I think made a lot of sense and did not take away from the sci-fi action aspect of the story.
If you are like me and want a bit more sci-fi novels, do not let the back cover description with the love story arc dissuade you. I was not sure at the start, but I completely loved how it turned out!
The Characters
Most of the characters were well-developed, and I enjoyed the raw relationship problems between Amanda and Toyo. These are really the most important characters in the novel, as the story and problems revolve around them.
Amanda is not your average superhero who can control technology, which would make a lot of things very easy for her in the technologically connected world. She is a black girl navigating grief, identity, and digital warfare with raw honesty.
For the past several years, before I even entered middle school, Harada has made sure to put my psiot gifts to use … But the greed in my adopted father’s eyes makes me furious.
As I mentioned, the characters are very relatable, their grief and identity issues are very easy to understand and relate to. Sarah Raughley’s writing and emotional involvement with the characters truly shine on the page. Amanda McKee might control technology, but her story is all too human.
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Something that really worked for me is the combination of the sci-fi elements with the tropes in comic books and anime. The story of Livewire is from an existing Valiant Universe comic, and the way that Raughley wrote and adapted existing comic book material into a novel is just perfect.
It was not leaning too much into the comic book aspect, nor did it go too deep into the anime tropes. It was just enough to bring out the comic book aspects of the story to life, but still have its own unique story approach.
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What I Disliked
Ending
Don’t get me wrong, I did like the ending; however, I thought it was too quick. There is a lot of story built up throughout the story, but the ending came way too fast, without a real finishing arc and a final “boss fight” if you want to call it that.
Well, it’s good to know that my dad is a bonafide super villain complete with a kill switch to that activates a societal nuclear bomb.
I wish the ending were more developed and further introduced us to Amanda McKee from the Valiant Universe.
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How Does Livewire Relate To The Valiant Universe?
Sarah Raughley’s Livewire is essentially Amanda’s origin story, reimagined for a YA audience, and you don’t need to be familiar with the comics to jump in.
In the comics, Amanda McKee is a rebel, a strategist, a protector, and at times a controversial figure due to her decisions. She’s complex, principled, and constantly navigating the line between justice and destruction.
In Valiant terms, this book serves as a rebooted backstory, building Amanda from the ground up for new fans, while staying loyal to the core of her character for longtime readers.
Whether you’re deep into the Valiant Universe or have no clue what a “psiot” is, this book works. It’s a standalone intro to Amanda McKee that respects the source material without requiring homework.
Verdict
Livewire is more than a superhero story; it’s a raw, electric reminder that power means nothing if you don’t know who you are, and everything when you finally do.
I personally really liked the novel and the reimagined origin story of Livewire. It made me want to pick up and explore the current Amanda McKee character in the Valiant Universe comics. If you love sci-fi with a touch of comic book anime that is easy to read, Livewire by Sarah Raughley is for you.
*Disclosure: We only recommend books that we love and would read ourselves. This post contains affiliate links, as we are part of the Amazon Services LCC Associate Program and others, which may earn us a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
The Review
Livewire
Livewire is more than a superhero story; it’s a raw, electric reminder that power means nothing if you don’t know who you are, and everything when you finally do.
PROS
- Story
- Characters
- Sci-fi & comic book blend
CONS
- Quick ending
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