The Icarus Project Books in Order

The Icarus Project asks a fun question and then makes it messy: what happens when superheroes are not neatly split into good people and bad people? The series centers on Joannie Greene, called Jet, and Callie Bradford, called Iridium. They were once best friends at a school for young supers. By the time the first novel begins, they are on opposite sides of New Chicago, with Jet working as a rule-following hero and Iridium running the city's criminal underworld.

That setup gives the books their spark. Jet controls shadow. Iridium commands light. Both are powerful, stubborn, and convinced they understand the other better than anyone else. Because they used to matter so much to each other, every confrontation carries history with it. The action is fun, but the friendship gone wrong is what gives the series weight.

New Chicago matters, too. It is a superhero city, but not a bright and simple one. Training academies, corporate interests, rogue metas, and anti-super movements all push on the characters at once. The first book works like a cat-and-mouse chase wrapped around a conspiracy. The second widens the damage, showing what happens when the people who are supposed to protect the city can no longer be trusted.

Good versus evil is not the game here.

Kittredge and Jackie Kessler lean into the gray areas. Public heroics can hide control. Villainy can look a lot like survival. Institutions that claim to protect people may be using them. That makes the books feel closer to urban fantasy or dystopian adventure than to a straightforward capes-and-tights story.

If you want character-driven superhero prose with sharp friendships, uneasy alliances, and a city coming apart at the seams, this series delivers. It keeps the powers flashy, but it is most interested in loyalty, identity, and what people become when the system that trained them starts to rot.