School of X

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review

School of X is an anthology collection of short stories of the lives of the new young mutants training to learn how to defend themselves and protect their kind.

Each story focuses on one student, showing their journey. How they battles with doubt that affected their control over their powers.

Most of their doubts arises from each mutant searching for redemption from their past mistakes and failures.

While reading the first 6 stories, it seemed like getting a glimpse at what each of these mutants training under the famous X-Men Magneto and Cyclops.

But at the last story, there's a summary of how each of these students learn to put their differences aside and stand up as leaders and hero's to protect their secret existence from the world.

Each story was written by different authors. It was nice to experience these characters through different writing styles. It kind of showed that people are different regardless of our common goals and objectives.

Thank you Netgalley, Aconyte Books and Marvel Entertainment for an advanced reader's copy of School of X.

#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2020 MARVEL

I think that all the authors do a excellent work adapting a Marvel's Comics! 5 stars!
While i was reading, I was veeeeeeeery hooked.
X men is one of my favorite groups of heroes, and this book come to check my fanatism.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Oh fans of Marvel stand up and cheer. XMen are back with the franchise and we're all great.

This is the story of some of our favorite characters as well as some new ones. Join us on the ride. Cannot wait for these stories to hit the big screen.

“School of X”, edited by Gwendolyn Nix, the latest book in the Marvel - Xavier’s Institute series, consists of seven short stories set in the new Charles Xavier Institute which is located inside a disused underground Weapon X facility. It features the exploits of the next generation of X-Men under the tutelage of senior mutants including Emma Frost, Cyclops, and Magneto. The stories are written by, among others, the authors of the previous books in the series. These new X-Men must fight alternative versions of themselves, battle psychic visions, vengeful cyborgs and more, whilst also coming to terms with their own powers and identities.
The first story, “Your Fifteen Minutes” by Jaleigh Johnson, takes place on movie night in the Institute. After watching the exploits of a cinematic hero, Fabio Medina longs for his fifteen minutes of fame in which he can be the hero and save the day, and gets it. The story is fast-paced and twisty, with a surprising, feel-good ending. A solid start.
“Call of the Dark” by Robbie MacNiven is a tense, redemptive tale as Graymalkin strives to conquer his fear of the dark, which may also mean conquering himself, in the deepest, darkest parts of the underground Xavier Institute. It’s dark and brilliantly written, with hints of the larger X-Men lore. MacNiven also wrote the previous novel “First Team”, and this story has references to it as well as some recurring characters.
The third story is “Uncatchable” by Cath Lauria, and features one of the Institute’s oldest students, David Bond, AKA Hijack, who is able to control vehicles, wanting some “me-time” away from the Institute by taking part in a road race that turns out to be much more than it appears. This is a fun and exciting story with some great banter between Hijack and Alisa Tager, AKA Cipher, and well-written action.
In “Eye of the Storm” by Amanda Bridgeman, Iara/Shark Girl and Sooraya/Dust, under the protection (kinda) of Santo/Rockslide, are building a dam in a river at risk of flooding and exposing the Institute when Shark Girl’s curiosity leads them into a battle for their lives. This is very much a traditional story, solidly exciting and action-packed with a boo-able villain.
Fifth story “Of Dirt And Bones” by Pat Shand stars the so-called Stepford Cuckoos, psychic triplets Celeste, Irma and Phoebe. This is more of a visceral horror story than the rest, as Phoebe and Benjamin Deeds/Morph face nature fighting back. It also touches on the fact that mutants are seemingly born to fight their entire lives.
“Kid Omega Faces The Music” by Neil Kleid is narrated by the powerful but fun-loving and rebellious psychic mutant, Kid Omega. Attempting to steal the ultimate piece of memorabilia from his favourite actor, he instead finds himself transported to pivotal moments in X-Men history. But will he be tempted to change it? And is he really having a crisis of conscience? It’s a fun romp yet also a profound and redemptive journey and one of the longer stories in the book, along with the final tale, “Depowered” by Carrie Harris.
Left on their own while the teachers attend a meeting, the students have the worst party ever in the Danger Room which is interrupted by the arrival of unexpected guests who have a plan to fix the catastrophe of M-Day when many mutants lost their powers. Soon, however, an outside threat forces the students to finally bond as a team. This is a cracking story, with blistering action and strong character moments.
All the stories in this collection are very good while some are really excellent; they don’t drag and just get on with telling the story. The tales feature callbacks to earlier novels in the series but can be read and enjoyed as standalone stories; indeed, they invite the reader to check out the other books which will enhance these stories even further. Obviously, this is a vastly different experience from watching an X-Men movie, but shorn of glossy visuals, the stories are more character driven and are much better for it. As with all the novels in Aconyte’s Marvel range this book is well-written, pulse-pounding fun.

Loved comics all my life, and in particular, the colourful adventures of the X men with all the larger than life characters that sprang off the page like a movie on paper. But I've always loved reading, so this was a bit of an experiment, to see if reading about those adventures without the visuals to go with it would be the same.

It wasn't.

However, as with all good books, good visuals come in the details, in the prose, and so it was here. It's been some years since I was collecting the comics every month, so some of the characters were new to me, but I didn't need to know them to enjoy their adventures. Each of these was like opening a new comic at the end of the month and devouring the contents within.

Cheerfully, the focus of the stories wasn't just mutants beating on each other, as it often had been in years past, where "Good" fought "Evil" while the whole world continued to hate them both, these were interesting tales in and out of time, with teamwork and care for one another uppermost. I can't help but wonder if the direction of comics would have gone another way entirely if stories like this had been around at the beginning.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free advance copy in return for the review.

Overall, the book is a fun romp with various anthology stories worth picking up. The stories deals with the Xavier School of Mutants at an indeterminate time when Magneto, Scott, and Emma are running the school. The format of multiple short stories comes with positives and negatives of providing many different short well written vinaigrettes that comes at the X-Men from different vantage points. A positive is that often neglected characters are able to get time in this anthology series. The negative is that the characters in any single story lack the development an novel about one set of characters can provide. The book unlike many anthology series is well written and edited. Carrie Harris' story Depowered deserves a special mention for the clear, concise writing, and story. Thanks to Netgalley and Aconyte books for the advance copy for early review.

Review: School of X A Marvel: Xavier’s Institute Anthology edited by Gwendolyn Nix and featuring stories by Jaleigh Johnson; Robbie MacNiven; Cath Lauria; Amanda Bridgeman; Pat Shan; Neil Kleid; Carrie Harris

This is the latest brilliant installment in the range of fantastic novels featuring characters from the New Charles Xavier School of Mutants. This plethora of new characters are guided and trained by classic X-men characters such as Magneto and Kitty Pryde. This series of novels are the perfect introduction for a new generation but are also sure to appeal and entertain older fans. Filled to the brim with Superhero Action, new and unexplored dangers, coming of age stories and triumph in the face of adversity there is truly something for everyone. With a cast that is perfect for the modern reader and true of the classic X-men story lines of ‘found family’. This is the perfect introduction to the expanding series and just some of its diverse citizens.

Each story contained within itself but all focus on a wider whole. The New Charles Xavier School for Gifted Mutants isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s cold eleven out of twelve months of the year, the food is so-so, the teachers can be annoying and not to mention the whole creepy bunker vibe with the school being based in a disused Weapon X Facility. Still for the latest Mutants wanting to take on the mantle of X-men it is home. Under the guidance and watchful eye of X-men such as Magneto, Emma Frost and Cyclops these new mutants learn to control their powers and stand up against villainy. What happens when danger lurks within and it’s not just the usual monsters or evil geniuses? We follow these fresh X-Men as they take what they’ve learnt and put their unique powers to the test against unexpected adversaries – including cyborgs, the undead, temporal chaos and even alternate versions of themselves.

As always Aconyte and their authors have done a wonderful job at representation in all terms. It is so refreshing to see a broad spectrum of characters that represent those found in real life. More so when this is done so naturally. The authors never make a big show of their inclusivity because it is just there, as it should be. You don’t feel they do this because they need to for the books to sell but rather because it is natural. I find it so refreshing each time and it always makes me smile. I really wish more authors did this in such a natural way.

I will not give away too much of each story but here is the general outline and line up of wonderful mutants we get to meet or for veterans of the Charles Xavier’s Institute prose series remit.
Your Fifteen Minutes by Jaleigh Johnson
With a love of movies and wanting to be a true undisputed Hero Fabio Medina aka “Goldballs” get his chance when his consciousness is swept up into a series of vivid hallucinations after telepathic training goes awry. As each situation becomes more and more dangerous Medina must work with the Stepford Cuckoos to break free from the telepathic prison before he not only learns how it feels to be a hero but how to die like one too.

Call of the Dark by Robbie MacNiven
When your mutation is strongest in the darkness it doesn’t help to be afraid but Graymalkin is. Struggling to deal with the high-intensity darkness training sessions, Graymalkin tries to fight his fear by entering forbidden rooms and caverns underneath the school. What waits for him in the dark? An evil doppelganer and a Weapons X device. Soon Graymalkin realizes that everything and everyone has a dark side and he has to come to terms with his to face his own fears.

Uncatchable by Cath Lauria
Looking for some R&R Hijack takes to a street race but when Cipher ends up tagging along and accidently uncovers a cartel gun-running operation it seems that Hijack’s dream of being part of The Family in the Fast and the Furious style might come with some of the bad as well as the good. The X-men don’t just fight Sentinels and stop world-enders, so now it’s up to this duo join forces and the help local Mounties to keep the community safe.

Eye of the Storm by Amanda Bridgeman
A terrible storm is threatening to flood a local town which would not only be bad for the town but would risk exposure of the school as well. Enter Shark Girl, Dust and Rockslide to save the day. What should be a simple mission takes a terrible turn when a secret tunnel is found which leads the trio to a diabolic foe bent on destroying organic life in favour of a mechanical cyborg-drive future.

Of Dirt and Bones by Pat Shand
When animals start crawling from the forest it’s like the New Charles Xavier School has been transported to the infamous novel Pet Sematary. Morph, Phoebe Cuckoo and Triage must team up and use their unique powers to investigate the causes of this macabre reanimation.

Kid Omega Faces the Music by Neil Kleid
School can be boring so Kid Omega and his BFF Glob skip a day to fangirl over Wonder Man, what could possibly go wrong? Caught up in a botched case of time-travel kidnapping the pair are sent shooting through some of the greatest moments in X-Men history. Will Quentin Quire embrace the heroics in chaos and learn friendship? And will her score an excellent Simon Williams souvenir along the way?!

Depowered by Carrie Harris
Dani Moonstar and Polaris seek out the New Charles Xavier School to hopefully find a solution for losing the mutant powers after M-Day. Unfortunately they accidently bring Sentinels down on the institute! Now Triage, Tempus, and the rest of the students must work together and put all that learning to the true test keeping the school safe and it’s location secret. Are they ready to use their experience and powers when it matters most?

As always with X-Men we have a cross section of characters and I am so happy that Jonas Graymalkin, Polaris and Lara Dos Santos on the roster. Shark-Girl is one of my favourite X-Men and seeing her portrayed in prose form and so perfectly made my inner fangirl do a happy dance! Every short story was fantastic. Sometimes with Anthologies you will find one or two stories fall short or are easily forgettable (although I haven’t found Aconyte to do so) this was not the case. If I take away my bias of loving Graymalkin and Shark Girl I cannot honestly say I had a favourite or least favourite in this collection!

A definite must read for fans new and old. It contains all the good things we have come to associate with the X-Men throughout the decades and presents them in beautiful, vivid and action paced prose that makes you unable to put this down.

As always thank you to Aconyte and Netgalley for giving me access to this advanced reader copy for an honest and fair review. I know it may seem that all my Aconyte reviews are glowing but I simply cannot express the skill and mastery the authors have at crafting and building on established worlds and bringing them to life.

The ebook will be available from the 7th December along with the Paperback in the US with the UK paperback following on the 17th February 2022

Aconyte Books are the novel division of Asmodee Entertainment. Asmodee Entertainment is based in an amazing building in Nottingham, England. The Star Brewery opened in 1852, producing beer for Shipstones until 1991.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
For more information visit marvel.com. © 2021 MARVEL

I was ecstatic when I received my copy of the School of X and it did not dissapoint. The story kept me engaged the whole time I was reading it and I felt like I was on an adventure I can't wait to read more works by Jaleigh Johnson.

I loved the different writing styles and the different X-characters highlighted! I'd definitely read more of these, or more individual stories.

Where to start with this chaotic brilliance? At the beginning? No, I know, at my favourite story of course.

Of Dirt and Bones is the fifth out of seven stories contained in this anthology, and it's the best one. I am 100% biased since the Stepford Cuckoos are among my favourite characters, but honestly, the story was so good.

My second favourite is Call Of the Dark, followed by Eye Of the Storm. Those two were also very exciting to read.

Your Fifteen Minutes was a bit on the shorter side while Depowered was the longest in the book.

I don't have a lot of feelings about them, but the former was ridiculous (in the best way), jumping from scene to scene, you're not sure what's going on, and neither is poor Fabio.

In the latter we got to see Polaris, who's yet another one of my faves. In every version she's cool, and this one was no exception.

Uncatchable meanwhile, was the funniest story. Being inside David's head was a riot.

Kid Omega Faces the Music is the only story that I didn't really connect with, but I'm also not huge on Kid Omega by default so that might have something to do with it.

All in all, I had a really good time reading this and if you're a Marvel fan so will you.

4.5 stars

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2020 MARVEL

#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This is a collection of short stories set in the New Xavier's Institute, written by various authors and many dealing with different characters and stories.

1. Fifteen Minutes by Jaleigh Johnson

I had recently read Triptych by Jaleigh Johnson and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to see her featured within this book. This story opens during the younger X-Men having a movie night and of course a debate. Fabio Medina loves movies so when Celeste, one of the Stepford Cuckoos, triplet clones of Emma Frost, suggests karaoke, he dreads the thought. He notices Celeste is upset at being shot down but he decides that's a problem for another time. Then he wakes up in a detective movie. Then a zombie movie. And so on and so on. He keeps waking up in different stories with the triplets and he can't work out what's going on. Eventually, he deduces that Celeste's emotional state the night of the movie get together has something to do with why he and her sisters are trapped in a psychic simulation, she feels like she's being left behind by her sisters and she can't get a grasp of the simulation. Working together, they get out and they are better friends for it in the end.

This is a nice story, well written, well rounded and it is a nice introduction to Fabio and the triplets because I don't know any of them very well.

2. Call of the Dark by Robbie MacNiven

Before I start the synopsis, this is my favourite story in the book.

Graymalkin, or Jonas, is stronger in the dark. After his homophobic father buried him alive 300 years ago, he has always had stronger powers in the dark, it strengthens him and yet, he's terrified of it. Throughout this book, we see him exploring deeper and deeper into the old Weapon X facility that is currently housing the new mutant school and the deeper he goes, the darker it gets. He finds himself being faced with something worse than he could have thought, himself. In the dark lies an evil doppelganger who stalks him, even in the light, and even in class and throughout his daily activities, Jonas feels the looming presence of his evil darkness. His fear of the dark gets worse and worse and his best friend, Vic, gets worried about him. When Cyclops finds out that he's been exploring the abandoned facility below the school, he suspects what is causing this breakdown of Jonas's sanity and why Jonas can't help but continue to explore it.

I loved this story. I like Jonas as a character, again he's a new character to me and I loved getting to see his and Vic's friendship throughout this short story and how Vic is willing to follow Jonas into the dark.

3. Uncatchable by Cath Lauria

David, or Hijack, is our machine X-Man. He is older than his fellow students, his mutation becoming clearer later in life and he's bored by being treated like a kid. He's in his 30's for christ sake. Sneaking out in his Golf GTI, he plans on going to a street race and coming back as if he hasn't left...Until he's interrupted by Cipher materialising on his front seat asking questions. He tells her what he's up to and decides she can come along as long as she stays invisible but she's suspicious when they arrive that the street race is actually a front for a dangerous gun-running scheme. They work together to compete in the race and attempt to draw the police to the guns to bust the ring.

This is a nice story. Simply X-Men saving the day. As they should.

4. Eye of the Storm by Amanda Bridgeman

Eye of the Storm follows three mutants as they attempt to levee a river in the eye of the storm to prevent the downstream towns from flooding and unwelcome guests making their way up the river and towards the school. Things are going well until Iara is kidnapped by a cyborg who hates humans and mutants alike, soon her colleagues are kidnapped too and they have to battle their way out of the cyborg's facility while also thinking of ways to protect the town downstream.

I don't think I have many thoughts about this story. It was fun, interesting and I enjoyed it.

5. Of Dirt and Bones by Pat Shand

We're back with the Stepford Cuckoos in this go, only this time we're focused on Phoebe. Following a weird dream, she wakes up in her diamond form, something her sisters are quick to tease her about until they find out they have yet another brutal training season in the courtyard under the eye of Emma Frost. When they get there, they are in no ways eager to take part. The training has been getting more and more traumatising and yet, Emma doesn't seem to care and this time is no different. Except it sends Phoebe over the edge when she realises she has been psychically cut off from her sisters and in the end, the overwhelming of it all manifests her telekinesis into a physical form and she wins. In doing this however, she kills a goose that was flying over head and in guilt, she buries the animal and curses Emma for pushing them so far. When on a walk with Morph, they discover basically zombie animals all over the woods who follow them and the instructors at the institute are soon in shock when not even Triage can help. Phoebe soon works out perhaps she caused this and tries to fix it.

Honestly, in my opinion, it was about time someone shouted at Emma. I get why she does this, she is after all responsible for these young mutants as their teacher, but man she is brutal sometimes. Also, these instructors are 100% inept at providing a good, safe learning environment for their pupils, I'm just saying...

6. Kid Omega Faces the Music by Neil Kleid

Kid Omega is like every annoying stereotype you can think of for the main character but in a loveable scamp kind of way. Quintin starts this story by being shouted at by Scott who is furious at him and demands to know what he was thinking. Well, turns out Quintin was thinking of himself, which he soon explains is nothing new. This story is written like a conversation between the character and the reader. Basically, he goes to Akron-Con to meet Wonder Boy and steal his glasses. His plan is somewhat simple but then Kang the Conqueror shows up and time gets all messed up. We follow Kid Omega as he meets Magneto at various points, looks at his own philosophies on Mutant Supremacy and then meets himself in the future and gets a better outlook on things.

I liked the change of writing style, it really helped this story stand out amongst the others but that being said, if I was Scott, I too would be furious at him.

7. Depowered by Carrie Harris

This is the final, and longest, story in the book. It's the only one split into chapters and we basically start in one of Magnetos classes where Eva Bell is trying to hide that she is not the Eva Bell who was there a week ago. No, she got her powers all messed up and travelled into the future where she got stuck for 10 years before coming back. Not only is she older, but she is mourning the loss of her life in the future that no longer exists. Her husband, her child, gone. And now she is staring at Magneto once again. When the X Men instructors are called out on a mission, the students face their own mission when Polaris and Dani Moonstar show up looking for help with regaining and controlling their mutant powers. Chaos ensues, sentinels show up, Eva and Triage save the day and alls well, ends well.

I loved getting to see Lorna, I feel like she is really looked over as one of Magneto's children so I'm glad we got to see more of her.

Overall, I enjoyed this collection and I'm so happy to have been able to read more from this world.

DISCLAIMER:

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
For more information visit marvel.com. © 2020 MARVEL