Salvation: Book 3 (X-Men: Mutant Empire)

Rating:
Summary: A solid conclusion, if lacking a few things
Review: (If you'd like to know where I'm coming from, I explained my familiarity with the X-Men in my review of Siege, the first installment in this series.)

Ah. This is the novel I've been waiting for in the Mutant Empire series - the climax. Christopher Golden has been masterfully building suspense in one of the most powerful series I've ever read, detailing the X-Men's almost hopeless endeavor to prevent Magneto from taking control of New York City forever.

Just why is it hopeless? This is classic X-Men, where the team is so far overmatched that you want to cry. Not only do they have to face Magneto, who can give the team a run for its money by himself, but they also have to contend with his Acolytes, a city full of mutants, and then the Sentinels. Plus, the American government is tight-lipped about its plans, offering only a seven-hour window to solve the crisis.

The novel begins with one half of the X-Men captured, and the other half going into New York. That half splits once more, with three people trying to disable the Sentinels, while the other half rescues the X-Men.

There's relatively little time and advancement of the team that tries to disable the Sentinels. They basically traipse around New York, trying to identify the Alpha Sentinel to reprogram it (and why is it called the Alpha Sentinel if it has an Omega symbol on its back?).

The other team, however, has more than its share of the action. Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Rogue try to sneak into the Empire State Building to free the X-Men - and meet up with the Juggernaut. In a bizarre twist of events, the Juggernaut joins up with them, helping to even up a still one-sided fight. But Golden knows his X-Men history, and he does an excellent job of explaining Juggernaut's psychology and motivations so that long-time X-Men fans won't be offended by what may seem like an implausible move.

The past subplots, namely those involving Henry Gyrich/Val Cooper and Professor Xavier, slowly fade out as Salvation brings in its own subplots. This novel helps to develop Trish Tilby more, as she questions her ethics and principles. As she reports the story directly from New York City, she begins to question the morality of her actions as the X-Men are chained up. She eventually helps them escape, but not without a price.

As a minor quibble, I find that there are several scientifically implausible points in Salvation. I know, I know: it's all fiction, so there's no real science here. But still. First, I hate the idea of "disabling" mutant powers. You should no more be able to do that than to "disable" someone's motor skills with a special collar. Second, Professor Xavier fools the Sentinels by making them think that Valerie Cooper is a mutant - HOW is this possible at all? The Sentinels are robots, and can't be fooled by a simple illusion like that. And it's not even that necessary to have Valerie there, really. So these two points are momentary irritations in an otherwise excellent novel.

Some fans may complain that Mutant Empire, while doing a great job of building suspense, has had little in the way of action so far. Well, no more. Christopher Golden rewards us with nearly half a novel of the biggest brawl ever, as the X-Men and Juggernaut team up to take on the new mutant population in New York City. Of course, the odds are still daunting, but Golden brings in some extra help that make it a fairer fight.

The action was great, but what made Salvation rewarding, in my opinion, was the change in the characters. It's not a change that we'll see in the comics, since this is written "out of continuity" (although Golden makes references to specific events and suggests that this took place just before the Fatal Attractions crossover). But some of the characters have evolved by the end of the novel - Senator Kelly has begun to turn, Trish Tilby's faith in mutants has been reinforced, Major Ivan Skolnick (created exclusively for this series) realizes that there's only one way to fight for equality. Even the Juggernaut's hatred for the X-Men has lessened.

Unfortunately, that leaves the X-Men struggling for growth. To be honest, there wasn't much of it. Xavier's opinions didn't change. The Acolytes still side with Magneto, and the X-Men agree with the latter. But Magneto comes to a startling revelation that impressed me greatly, although Golden sort of backpedals over that catharsis in the epilogue. So he leaves open the possibility of future conflict, but he does so by leaving the X-Men right where they started. It's not at all a problem for me, but I understand that some people want that, so I want to point out that this series won't give that to you.

But for all the other X-Men fans, invest some time to find the series and to read it. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

PS. I couldn't find a proper place to insert these quibbles, so I'll tack them on here. First, where is Colossus? He should have been with the X-Men if this is before Fatal Attractions (and it really can't be after, considering the references to X-Factor in Genosha, which occurred just prior to that crossover). And why didn't the Juggernaut help the X-Men to fight Magneto? I think Golden was trying to avoid the question of what Magneto's power could do to either character (especially Juggernaut - is his mystical armor vulnerable to magnetism?), but it seemed too transparent.

Rating:
Summary: Mutant Empire Finale
Review: A exciting end to a wonderfully done trilogy. Golden does not leave out any facts. He includes many different mutants from the wide spread background of the X-Men. With Manhattan taken over by Magneto and half of the X-Men captured, things look bleak. Fortunately the X-Mens stuck in space are able to get back to earth and devise a plan to stop Magneto from achieving his goal. Amazingly, Juggernaut joins the X-Men in conquering Magneto. After the fierce rescue it comes down to all out brawl between the X-Men and the mutants of new Haven. In the end it is possible this leads to the Asteriod M saga.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent! The best of all 3 books!
Review: Golden brings out the characters personality and emotion in this great book. We get to see in depth what everyone is going through. This added to nonstop action is makes for one great read. If you like the X-Men then you'll love this book too.

Rating:
Summary: X-Men: Mutant Empire
Review: Professor Charles Xavier, the U.S government or Magneto? Who are you for? The good, the bad or the evil? Desicions, desicions, desicions. You though you knew the real story behind these fictional characters, but you had no idea. Take a journey with me inside the real truth. Mutation-(1) act or process of changing; alteration (2) Change within a gene or chormosome of living organisms resulting in the appearance of a new, inheritable feature or character. This book if you have not yet noticed is about the superheroes with mutant powers and abilities. This story is basially about the dispute of good mutants versus bad mutants. Though in between there are the humans who despise the mutants whether they are good or evil. Which places the humans under bad. It is also about fighting and destroying groups of people. Which is why it makes it a really good book for people who are into Marvel comics and fictional type war. Though not to be sexist or anything but guys might like this type of book more that girls because guys are more into these types of books. So, I would recommend this book to anyone above the age of 12 with a really creative mind. This book, if it were to be graded on a scale of one through five, would be and should be given at most four. Because as you get into the habit of reading this book you would begin to notice that it does get a bit too "wordy". That would have to be its numberone and only weakness. At timnes it can bore a person though that's when it really begins to pick up. One minute you are bound to sleep but as you go on and on it gets better and better. Do you know why? Because it is greatly detailed and that is where this book covers uyp for its weakness. I mean that it is so detailed that as you read you can image yourself right there side by side with the characters and this is exactly why I have recommended this book for anyone above 12 years of age with a creative mind. so as they are reading they can imagine themselves in one of the characters places and be side by side with the other characters. And honestly I think that this is a really great book.

Rating:
Summary: The conclusion....
Review: The final conclusion to a very good trilogy. This book can be quite brutal, and to be honest, it is refreshing to see someone take risks with the characters they are writing about. This book will be great for all X-Men fans, as it has non-stop action, character dilemma, and numerous guest-appearances by Marauders, Tusk, Blob, Toad, Pyro, etc. Not to mention Juggernaut teams up with the X-Men, and he is written FAR better than his other book we'll get to much later. A good read for all! Here's the score:
1) X-Men: Mutant Empire (series)
2) Daredevil: Predator's Smile
3) Hulk: What Savage Beast
4) Fantastic Four: To Free Atlantis
5) Ultimate Spider-Man
6) Spider-Man: Carnage in New York

Rating:
Summary: non stop action
Review: this episode in the series was non-stop action. also, i liked the humanization of magneto and the ethical dilemma of Xavier (though Golden didn't develope it enough)

Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: this has to be one of the best series ive read, golden doesnt leave out a detail about anything and brings new and wicked mutants into the fold, anyone who reads this will thourouly enjoy it.

salvation is extremely well written and when the x-men are in their final battle for manhatten and freedom itself u cannot tear your eyes away from the book.