I honestly really struggled with listening to this audiobook, not because of the narrator, but because of the writing style. Phoenix's narrative voice did not feel authentic to me, reading as somehow distant from the character I know and love from the comic books. Additionally, the writing felt stilted, beyond even what I would expect from a comic prose novel.

This is a short retelling of a beloved X-Men character Jean Grey's (The Phoenix) transformation after being possessed in space. This was a very well thought out modernization of probably one of my most beloved comic characters. I feel the journey of Jean to master her powers and ultimately exercise the Phoenix force was Excellent.

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect in this crossover from the comic to a written and audio version (as well as knowing that it would be modernized I realized other adaptation would need to made).

I was pleasantly surprised and feel it was well done.

I deffinatly recommend it! It is a very enjoyable adaptation.

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga is the perfect read for both new Marvel fans – and old. Written by Stuart Moore, this is an experience not to miss out on. Though I should mention that I took advantage of the audiobook version (narrated by Nancy Wu) to enjoy this tale.

Jean Gray takes center stage for this tale (though any longstanding Marvel fan probably already knew that!). She saved the X-Men, but doing so came at a cost. When she came to, she found herself possessed by one of the most powerful forces in the Marvel Universe – the Phoenix. Naturally, that is around the time when everything gets utterly insane for Jean Gray. Her world has been turned upside down, all while she's struggling to adapt to and control these powers.

This is one of those iconic Marvel moments that every fan needs to experience at least once in their life. It's dramatic, intense, and fun all at the same time. Nancy Wu's narration brought even more to the table, as she really did capture Jean Gray's voice. Pure perfection.

In this extensive audiobook, we get the many trials of Phoenix-imbued Jean Gray. I enjoyed the ability to hear these stories captured all-in-one but wish the audiobook had been labelled and divided per trade paperback/chapter in order to better keep track of where I was in the storyline.

I’ve been an X-Men fan since I was a kid. I watched the original animated series and practically every animated spin-off and reimagining that has come out. I’ve watched all the films, good or bad, and will always say Hugh Jackman is my Wolverine and Jean Grey is my favorite character.

But can you believe I’ve NEVER read The Dark Phoenix Saga? I’ve never had the chance until now! Before I continue, I have to state that the audiobook version that I am reviewing is the novel form (by Stuart Moore) of the original comics (story by Chris Claremont and art by John Byrne). It has been updated to reflect more modern times, most noticeably the use of cell phones and computers.

I enjoyed the story very much. Being a Jean Grey fan, I loved getting to know a character that has been pushed into the background for many years despite her having incredible powers. In fact, this “modern” version of the story has Jean acknowledging and becoming frustrated at being controlled by the people around her, especially Scott. Which I always thought was a reason he wasn’t a good match for her. Scott himself even has an “aha” moment where he realizes Jean is her own person with dreams and wishes he didn’t know about (Really Scott? It took you that long?). He does try to change his ways, but I feel that it wasn’t even a priority to “update” Scott. He has moments of reverting to his old behaviors and never really makes a true effort to be a better man.

I loved being able to take a more thorough walk, so to speak, with Jean as she becomes more assertive, more dangerous, and more accepting of her powers. I think that the story had more potential to delve into Jean’s psyche than it actually did. I also think that there were a tad too many X-Men and far too little for them to do. It took up time in the story that could have been used elsewhere.

Overall, though, I enjoyed finally getting to know the Phoenix Force’s story and a little more about Jean herself. I think there’s room for improvement, of course, and I’d love to read the original comics someday. Narrator Nancy Wu does a good job bringing the story and Jean herself to life and reminding me why I love the X-Men so much.

Novelization of the Dark Phoenix Saga.

I am not familiar with the XMen, but it is one of my husbands favorite comic properties. Even with my limited knowledge of the XMen I recognized some of the names. The book has the same feel as a comic.

I wasn't a huge fan of the narrator, but only at single speed. I usually listen to books on double speed. It matches my reading speed a little closer. Listening to the narrator at that speed helped, they were just really slow.

The book is fast paced and a lot happens. I am curious to see how this compares to the original comic.

I've read the Phoenix Saga during its comics run and it's one of my fave X stories ever. This book does a decent job of it. I can't say I fell in love with it but considering that it is my fave stories, I enjoyed the book. The narrator is probably the biggest part of it.

I grew up on the X-Men as part of my Saturday morning cartoon routine. I read the comics in Middle School and High School. I've watched the movies. My husband and I were Rogue and Gambit for Halloween this year (I even color hair gelled in a white streak!) I've seen the Marvel universe expand past what I could ever have imagined. The old school X-Men hold a special place in my heart. I feel like this audiobook stayed true to the TV series. This played out almost exactly as I remembered it. It was great to revisit old friends and story plot lines.

If you have seen the original X-Men cartoon, this story may feel super familiar. I don't think it strays too much from canon. Jean Grey is mutating into the Dark Phoenix. The power is an ancient one and she struggles for control over past and future events and who she once was and who she is turning out to be. All the familiar faces are there: Storm, Charles Xavier, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Shadowcat.

Recommended for: X-Men fans, Marvel fans, comic book lovers, superhero aficionados, and anyone who watched the X-Men cartoons on Saturday mornings as a kid

Audiobook: great narrator, great pacing, suspense building happened

I was always a big fan of the 90s cartoon of the Xmen and thought this was a great way to find out more about the story of the origin of the Phoenix.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book I was super interested in reading this book and was not disappointed I feel like this book easily transported you into the world of the X-men

The narration was solidly forgettable. There was a lot of "tell" vs "show" and it made listening more daunting than enjoyable. For a story about the X-Men, everything about this story just felt dull and boring. As a reader and listener, I expected a lot more.

An intense and interesting read. Very well preformed and voiced. Slow start but well worth it. Perfect for a long drive. Both I and the teen boy sitting in the backseat really enjoyed this audiobook. Made us want to drive right to the local comic book store!

Narration was decent.

So I come this this story as a fan of the X-men film franchise; having not really read the comics from which it comes (which means that I have no idea how close this comes to the canon). My first impression was that there was way too much drama and self flagellation here for a superhero comic. In addition, the interlaced/switching of Jean's POV/Flashbacks at the beginning was really disorienting and hard to follow (perhaps text instead of audio would have been easier ... or a completely different voice for each PoV). It threw me off enough that I was starting to tune out parts of the story. Fortunately it got a lot better about 1/3 rd of the way through the book. Once I got to that point, I started to enjoy the story. It is worth noting that this story "does not end well ..." So it you are looking for a happy ending ... give it a pass.

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#XMenDreamscapeMedia #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The Phoenix Saga is one of my favorite X-Men storylines but this adaptation really fell flat for me. As other reviewers mentioned there was a tug of war with Jean Grey as a character that made it hard for me to get a read on her or really connect with her as a character.

As far as the audiobook the narration was great and as someone that speeds up their audiobooks, I had to test that with this one and it was extremely frustrating because the narration was clipped and you lost a good chunk of the story if you did listen to it on 2x-3x speed. This might be an issue with the NetGalley software or just an issue with the actual narration, there's no way for me to know for sure, but it was irritating.

At this point I do feel like I would have enjoyed the story more if I did read it physically.

hough I've been wanting to read this book for a while, it was a bit of a letdown, if I'm being honest. I saw what it was trying to do with having Jean feel stifled by everyone in her life and then reclaiming herself, but it was honestly felt so messy and back and forth. Jean was evil and then she was good and then she was evil and then she was good? I needed an actual progression of her going from goodness into the darkness. I needed to see that development instead of getting hints of it and then pulling back again. Her whole character arc over the course of this book was just a mess and could have been handled a lot better.

My favorite character in this book was Kitty Pryde, and when she was such a small character and wasn't around all that often, that's saying a lot about how well this book grasped my attention. I did really like Logan's characterization as well, and loved addressing how everyone always expects him to do the hard things, but how he's actually the most good and loyal member of the team, how even though everyone always looks down on him, he is actually better than all of them. Also, Piotr was just my fave, the sweetie.

I thought the narrator did a really good job giving a voice to all these iconic characters and really helped me get through this book.

As a fan of Marvel and it's large cast of superhero characters, I was looking forward to this. Growing up I was a bigger fan of the X-Men than the Avengers characters. Stuart Moore does a fantastic job bringing this story to life. I had such a great time listening to the audiobook. Moore is such an amazing talent with a long history of writing amazing stories for some of my favorite Marvel characters like Wolverine and Deadpool.

I was a big fan of the X-Men movies when they first came out. I will admit that towards the end, some of those movies were a bit of a let down so it is very refreshing to be able to experience a well written story that has a solid dynamic between characters. The only thing I wish was better was the choice for narration. Nancy Wu does a good job but I just found her read to be a bit flat. I think some more life and excitement in the narration could have made this a better audiobook in my opinion.

I would like to thank Stuart Moore, Nancy Wu, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.