Well, the books from last year haven't arrived yet, but that's no reason to delay reviewing a comic from this year. Besides, with Snowmaggedon 2025 readying its assault for this weekend, who know when anything will arrive?
Shiva is trying to get Cassandra to trust her by actually talking to her, albeit in a manner that doesn't so much extol Shiva's virtues as it does dismiss Cassandra's connections with those she insists are her family (meaning, the assorted Bat-crew.) You know the spiel."They don't see the real you, not like I do. My blood is yours, etc."
What might have been more successful was Cass seeing train cars full of people who follow and worship Shiva's teachings, not simply as a destroyer, but as a protector and healer. Shiva leaves that mostly to one of her adherents, Jayesh, who treats Cass's wounds while explaining all the different faces he's seen of Shiva. Which is probably meant to get Cass to start seeing her mother beyond the simplistic deceiver viewpoint she's adopted thus far, especially as the conversation takes place during a walk through the train cars full of people who smile at her and go on about their lives and apparently love her mom. There's a nice panel where two kids are playing and as they run past, Cass pulls her cape in close so they don't get tangled or tripped by it.
All the while, Cass is searching for a threat and not finding it, until one poor ninja steps in and she's off to the races. We get five full-page splashes of Batgirl beating League of Assassin asses, while internally insisting there's nothing of her mother in her (rather, she's parts of all of her friends, like 'Barbara's will and Stephanie's heart.') Meanwhile, Shiva's chasing her down the train - and defending herself from the assassins, trying to reason with Cass. That the fight ends at a car with Nyssa Al Ghul and two people I don't know, and these are still more allies, doesn't do a lot to help Shiva's case.
Also, Jayesh's brother died when Cass and Shiva reached her temple, and Miyazawa draws both of whom looking like the guy that called out Batgirl, only to get beaten by Spoiler, in Cassandra's first series. I'm not sure if either of them is meant to be that character - Jayesh doesn't mention that fight, so it'd have to be his brother - or it's just a particular look some of her followers adopt.
I assume the point of the train fight is that Cass is behaving the way she claims her mother does. She doesn't protect anyone with that unnecessary attack, she only hurts people. I doubt these chumps would do much against the Unburied, but they might protect some of the non-combatants in the other cars.
Still, it's hard for me to take Shiva at face value, even before we found out she teamed up with an Al Ghul. She claims the Unburied were coming after Cassandra whether Shiva showed or not, but doesn't explain why. Has never explained why any of them are considered threats to the Unburied, though I'm starting to assume Brombal is going for some "mystical plant" explanation for Cass's skill. Shiva got some of the plants, and the gain was passed to her daughter. It would explain all the insistence on blood Shiva's doing (beyond her trying to assert her connection with her daughter.)
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