Customer Reviews

X-Men: The Return

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4 star:		(1)
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Yay! Finally an awesome X-men novel. This one is the best of the recent X-men novels. Chris Roberson does a great job in writing an X-men story that will entertain both old fans and new comers. I'm glad that Marvel is getting better writers on these books and am looking forward to reading Matt Hughes take on Wolverine.

The original rulers of Earth land on the planet and attempt to take it over. These people have the same powers as the X-men, and they can manipulate their servents DNA, allowing them to possess whatever ability their masters think they need.
These original inhabitants of Earth claim that they developed the X-Gene and that they can use it more effectively than the mutants of Earth, but of course, the X-Men and the other mutants of Earth were able to overpower their invaders by using their genious, as well as brute force. This book read just like any other X-Men novel or comic book, and it was just as typical as any other novel or comic book. It was a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the comics.

I really enjoyed this book because it stayed true to the characters and the Marvel universe. The best part, Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) along with all your favorite X-Men are in this story fighting off an alien invasion. I won't give the plot away but the story is smart, action packed and it has some funny moments as well.

I seen better and read better X-men novels. Try any other than this one. BORING! I think that this book should not have been published.

This book is rather sad really. I'm not refering to the actual story or anything but the poor quality in which it is written. Nearly every page has a mistake, not just typos either, but just poor grammar and bad style. I should mention that I am a member of a writer's group, and had I written this and showed it to my group they would have riped it to pieces. I feel the only way it got published was because it had the "X-Men" title and characters.

The author, Chris Roberson, has an "Author's Note" in the back of the book where he tells us that he has "researched" this book for 25 years (meaning he's read every X-Men and X-Men related comic since 1982), but personally I don't think he captured the characters as well as he could have.
Logan loses his temper, always flashing his claws, and even smokes cigars, but his dialogue fell uncharacteristic most of the time--this could be because I'm use to the early '90s Wolverine, this version didn't feel like the Logan I had known then. Cyclops/Scott Summers, however, did seem very true to character, as did Kitty Pryde.

Roberson also reuses a lot of speaker tags and even repeats the same information a lot. Characters are always "scowling", or saying things "ruefully", sticking their hands in their pockets, or just doing random pointless things (Early in the book Logan puts a cigar in his mouth, but then on the next page he puts a toothpick in his mouth....where the hell did the cigar go?)
Roberson also uses the "?!" punctuation in some dialogue. This may work in comics, but in fiction books it is typically frowned upon and a sign of bad writing. (You use one mark and convey the way that the line is spoken by narrative writing, and this is a narrative fiction book so...) As an example characters, when shocked or surprised, might say "What!?" In proper use this could be rendered as-- "What?" he exclaimed in surprise."--
When describing the "aliens" at the first encounter, the author has Kitty describe the alies as not being bug things, monsters,....or insect creatures-- "bug thing" and "insect creatures" are basically the same thing! Come up with something a little more creative; this book is full of bland descriptions and recycled vocabulary.

However, if you aren't the type of person to notice these sorts of mistakes, or if you don't mind the lacking character quality (though some of you may have a different opinion in this regard), this book is quick to read, full of action, and for the most part I guess it was a fun little read. However, you might be just as well off reading X-Men fan fiction posted on the net, the grammar and writing style is probably of the same quality.



If you're an aspiring writer, though, I would recommend this book as a "What Not To Do" example for reading. If this book did not carry the X-Men title and was an all original science-fiction title, it probably would have never been published--at least not without some heavy editing!