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X-Men: A Novelization

X-Men: A Novelization

List Price: $6.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not that good for hard-core addicts
Review: This book was okay, for a book. If anyone who reads books was to pick it up they would probably like it. Actually it's quite a good book if you don't know much about x-men in general and just saw the movie, or something like that.
However, for people who actually read the comics, like me, it seems to be poorly lacking information and using members of the team like Storm and Cyclops as characters who's backgrounds are very skecthy.
Over all I didn't care for it very much, but that doesn't mean that everyone will feel this way. As I said before the book itself is very well writen, but the facts of the x-men seemed not nearly as good as they should have been.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great adaptation of the soon to be released movie!
Review: This novel adapted from the soon to be released 20th Century Fox movie is a wonderful book and is sure to be a delight to even the die-hard X-Men fan. The character development of Wolverine is especially well done, although I would have liked to have had more information on Sabretooth, Toad and Mystique.

I had one small problem with the book in the fact that the writers need to get their technical information correct before putting their books in print. Wolverine has three claws per hand for a total of six, and each claw measures 12 inches in length not nine. He does not have four claws per hand as was described on page 39 as follows.

"Nine inches of metal shot from each knuckle. Eight razor sharp claws stabbed through cloth, skin and muscle ..........."

And on page 215 where it says, "Then, gauging exactly how much force he dared use, he stuck all four claws from his left hand..."

These may seem trivial to the average person, but to a true X-Men fan they are important.

In closing I would like to add that I am even more anxious to see the movie and my money is on X-Men to be the summer blockbuster of 2000.

Long Live the X-Men (and decent non-Batman like sequels)!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Average
Review: This novelisation of the popular X-Men movie was probably only a 'must-have' in that drought between the cinema and DVD release of the film.

I've read several books by Kristine Kathryne Rusch in the past and enjoyed them, which was my sole reason for picking up the novel. As a die-hard fan of the X-Men series, I'm also a purist, and my opinion of this novel may be a little jaded.

It is of course, well written. Kristine Kathryne Rusch is an excellent author, and one can definitely see it here, with her excellent descriptions. Unlike the X-Men movie, she also tries to delve into the character's minds, giving them far more motivation for their actions than the movie did- though I still have problems here, and will touch Wolverine's character later.

You may be thinking by now, 'What's the problem with it then?' Well, like I stated above, I am an X-Men purist. The comic series has been running for over forty years, and in this time, character backgrounds have been well and truly established. Logan's (Wolverine's) past was kept to faithfully- unfortunately, the same can not be said for Scott and Ororo. Ms. Rusch attempts to give a brief background for this pair, and unfortunately, to fans of the comics, these backgrounds are sorely lacking.

The reader must remember though, that the writer has been constrained by the movie. As a result, there is not a lot she can do about the plot-holes that you could drive a truck through, or the awful portrayal of Wolverine. (Any good X-Men fan would have told you that when Logan woke up in the X-Mansion, he would have gutted good ol' Jean Grey and gone on a berserker rampage, rather than apologising to her.)

It is a good, mindless read, and if you're going to be a passenger on a long plane or car trip then I would suggest it. However, if you are looking for a quality read that will give you insight into the world of X-Men, then I suggest running down to your nearest newsagency and picking up a few issues of the comics. The plot is fine- in movie form. As a book though, well it just doesn't cut it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awsome
Review: Well i know a lot of charactors were left out, but this really didn't change the way i think oof the book. A whole buch of people were young that weren't suposed to be but i loved this book!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If this is any indication, the movie will be great!
Review: When I started this novel, I wasn't sure what to expect. I've never read any of the X-Men comics, but I'm into science fiction and the trailer looked good. Anyway, I really enjoyed this novel, and I'm looking forward to the movie. There really isn't much point in summarizing the book since most of you probably already know the plot, at least to some degree. My favorite character is Rogue, probably because she's only a little older than me, so I could sort of relate to her (although I'm glad I don't have her power, since it sounded awful). I'm looking forward to seeing the movie a lot more after reading the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: my review of x-men
Review: x-men has got to be the best book about x-men ever written, hats off to Kristine Rusch and Dean Smith.For people who are knew to x-men,this is a great book to get started out with,as I know,I've never had an X-Men comic in my life!(I Live in England see).And even for people who are all ready in to x-men,the info at the start of the book gives a great insight on how some of the mutants first used,and learned they had,their powers. I really would give it 6/5 stars.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Books based on Movies just do cut it
Review: X-Men The Book tried to hard with word play and description. Coming off just short of the stuff your english teacher use to make you write. It also so spoiled the movie I suggest you wait for the movie. I'm sure the movie will be incredibly better. I am a huge X-Fan and I went out and bought the book the first day. I was disappointed.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nothing here that isn't in the movie. Skip it.
Review: X-Men, the long-awaited big screen debut of the world's most popular comic book series, was a great film. It succeeded largely because it remained so faithful to its successful source material. Ironically, the novelization by Rusch and Smith fails largely for the same reason: it so faithfully reproduced the film that there is little reason to read the novel.

The X-Men film brought familiar pulp characters to new visual heights and presented an entirely original story. Utilizing the strengths inherent in the medium of film, it brought viewers a new, rewarding experience. But the film's novelization does very little to draw on the potential strengths of a novel. Unlike novelizations which are compelling literature, such as Greg Bear's Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantome Menace or Orson Scott Card's The Abyss, Rusch and Smith's X-Men adds very little depth, insight or background. This novelization seems to be little more than a prose-form screenplay with some set and costume descriptions thrown in. There are three or four short scenes in the novel which weren't in the movie, but those were probably part of the screenplay, and simply ended up on the cutting room floor. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if every additional scene and bit of dialog found in the novel will be found in the director' cut DVD release.

The degree to which the novelization simply describes what the reader has already seen on screen begs the question: Why bother to read the book?

Well, if you're a big fan of the film and can't get enough of it, by all means, read this novelization. It's a fairly quick read -- 240 pages of moderately large typeface. It's not a big investment of time. But if you're an X-Men fan in general (not just a fan of the film), you'll probably find more reading pleasure in one of the original novels.

Most of the few "new" scenes in the X-Men novelization are soap operatic discussions between the main characters: Logan and Jean, Jean and Scott, Scott and Logan. There's little there that Days of Our Lives doesn't do better. The only significant extra scenes detail the emergence of Storm's and Cyclops's powers as young people. These are moderately interesting. The book provides some additional understanding about Scott's character, explaining how even with his ruby quartz glasses his power requires him to maintain constant physical and mental control. This color his whole personality and helps explain his somewhat stiff demeanor.

But characterization generally seems like a missed opportunity in this novelization. Even characters as fascinating as Magneto and Charles Xavier are rendered almost one-dimensionally. Mutant-hating Senator Kelly actually comes off less interesting in the book, which strips him of some of his onscreen complexity and paints him as a stock character: a simple bigot and political opportunist without realistic nuance or worthwhile motivation. The comic book version of Senator Kelly is much more readable and compelling.

The novelization even has some bizarre and annoying gaffes. Wolverine is frequently referred to as having four adamantium claws on each hand, instead of three. The location designated for the Canadian scenes is "British Columbia, Alberta." What is that supposed to mean? British Columbia and Alberta are both Canadian provinces. This makes no more sense than saying Rogue was born in "Georgia, Alabama."

If you've seen the X-Men film, then you pretty much know what you'll encounter if you read the novelization. Plotwise, there's not much more, and not much less.


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