If X men is your thing then this is one not to be missed.

As a casual marvel fan these stories were engaging, funny and fast placed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aconyte for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The School of X: A Marvel Xavier's Institute Anthology was full of surprises, with a mix of short stories and a novella that kept me entertained. But it also contained one story that made me want to throw the Kindle across the room. Overall, it was a fun read.

"Your Fifteen Minutes" by Jayleigh Johnson was fun, giving us a glimpse into a character's dream of becoming an action star with a dark twist. The imagery and the different types of action movie dreams in this story kept me hooked from beginning to end. On the other hand, "Call of the Dark" by Robbie MacNiven was a bit lackluster for me. It centered around self-discovery, but the twist didn't make an impact strong enough to make it stand out.

"Uncatchable" by Cath Lauria was a pulse-pounding ride with exhilarating car chases that had me on the edge of my seat. The action-packed scenes and the adrenaline rush made this story one of the anthology's highlights. We need more car chases in stories. (Good ones). "Eye of the Storm" by Amanda Bridgeman felt like a comic book filler issue, which was enjoyable but didn't leave a lasting impression.

"Of Dirt and Bones" by Pat Shand delved into the individuality of one of the Cuckoo sisters, adding depth to the character and giving readers a better understanding of the team dynamics by delving into the psyche of the sisters. It was a well-written and engaging story that left me wanting more.

On the flip side, "Kid Omega Faces the Music" by Neil Kleid missed the mark for me. It's one of those where the character is telling you the story. Now usually I'm ok with these. They aren't my favorite, but they're a great way to tell a story. However, the protagonist's tone toward the reader was so annoyingly condescending, that I couldn't finish it.

Finally, "Depowered" by Carrie Harris tied everything together in a fantastic novella that brought most of the characters from the previous stories together. The challenge they faced and the development of the new X-Men team kept me engrossed until the very end.

Overall, I'd give this anthology three stars—the mix of great stories, okay ones, and one single miss made for an entertaining read. The standout stories made it worth the journey, and I'd definitely re-read them in the future. I think Marvel comic book fans will appreciate the unique takes on familiar characters and the fresh perspectives brought to the table in this anthology.

3 stars out of 5.

I do enjoy this series of books (and their authors), but these stories felt too ‘unknown’ for me. Too many characters that I didn’t know and found it hard to connect with.

I may do some research and come back in future. But for now, DNF.

Each of these seven original short stories feature a different student. I was familiar with a lot of them, since I’ve read some recent New X-Men comics. But I enjoyed each unique story which varied from psychological thriller to action-packed. I’m not usually a reader of many anthologies, but this was a lot of fun, with engaging, super-powered characters. And while each story is from a different mutant’s point of view, they all attend the same New Charles Xavier School for Gifted Mutants with teachers Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Magneto showing up at times – which gives the anthology cohesion. The story that was most memorable for me was a Kid Omega story involving time travel and some personal reflection that the extremely powerful mutant must face. Fans of this generation of young X-Men will enjoy this exciting book.

It was an experience to read about new mutants, not only about their powers but also about the context they live in, the problems they have and how it affects their behavior and develop. While reading I was imagining how it would be to watch this stories in a movie. It was great

I an unable to review this title, as it was archived before I had a chance to download and read it. This feedback is only to stop this title from adversely affecting my netgalley feedback rate. If in the future I have the opportunity to read this title, I will post a proper review here.

Superhero stories aren't usually my favorite genre to read about. I prefer to watch the stories come to life on the big screen. However, School of X provides the exception. Foddder for one's imagination.
I have one phrase to sum it up , ' It's more than just a school , it's a family of misunderstood superheroes saving the day even while the world watches skeptically."
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

While I was expecting a graphic novel when I first picked up my copy of School of X, I found the prose anthology format to be very engaging and enjoyable! As a long time fan of the X-Men, I was instantly drawn in by the various stories in this book, and will definitely be recommending it to my friends! This book would be great for hard-core fans of comic books or more casual movie-going X-men fans!

This book was received as an ARC from Aconyte Books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am familiar with the X-Men franchise and the characters with all their special abilities which is the reason why they are among the elite in the Xavier School of Gifted Students. Then the new students are not impressed with the layout of the school and it's not what they seem. however, it's their new home and must learn from the very best how to defeat evil. Then the plot thickens, when an inside source is actually an undercover spy for the evil side and it's up to the X-Men and its new recruits to unlock the truth and save the school. The plot was nothing different from the superhero franchise but, what made this book unique were the creative illustrations that grab the attention of the readers.

Another adaptation of the classic franchise told from another perspective. This book gets 4 stars.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

School of X: A Marvel: Xaviers Institute Anthology is a short story collection comic book that focuses on many X-men characters (mutants) than ones I'm more familiar with but which I enjoyed just the same. I also enjoyed how the various authors who wrote this Anthology made reference to the comics made previously that these episodes slot between which makes the stories more understandable if you've read the previous comics first. If not it gives you the incentive to go back and read them to fully understand each story better. The stories in this book are: Fifteen Minutes, Call of the Dark, Uncatchable, Eye of the Storm, Of Dirt and Bones, Kid Omega Faces the Music and Depowered.
The illustrations are excellent as always with Marvel comics and I look forward to exploring more about these characters in the future.

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 it's character franchises in Entertainment, licensing, publishing, games and digital media. For more information visit Marvel.com . c 2020 MARVEL .

I really loved how this book had so many different authors and how different each of their writing styles was. I also loved that we got to see stories of some of the X-men that we might not normally get to see. I thought it was fun and hope marvel continues to do book series like this.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. I really enjoyed the different stories and the focus on the newer school. I would recommend this book to marvel and x-men fans alike!

This is an anthology about the next generation of the X-Men super heroes. It is definitely not what i expected because I thought it was a comic book, but it was very enjoyable nonetheless. I definitely recommend this to marvel fans that are already familiar with the stories (at least the most famous ones).

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Xavier’s Institute anthology School of X edited by Gwendolyn Nix, and published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.

So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.

I also a, friends with one of the authors, Robbie MacNiven on Facebook, although for him that connection is probably more about interacting with fans than anything else, but I did once interview him for Edge 0f Empire!

I am going to try my best to not let these things cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.

What is Marvel
Look at this point I would bore you with a bit of background to the game/universe, but lets not, you all know the Marvel Universe, if you don’t have you been living under a rock!

The Xavier’s Institute novel series is focused on the heroes that attend this school and their adventures and the books in the series thus far have focuses on what would very much be considered b-list heroes, which is good because it allows the authors to do a lot more with the characters than they would be able to do with more established heroes.

The Stories
As this is an anthology I will break down the individual stories and give a few thoughts about them.

Fifteen Minutes by Jaleigh Johnson
A story in which Goldballs and the Stepford Cuckoos get to take centre stage.

Trapped inside their own minds after movie night, Goldballs gets to act out his fantasies about being a silver screen hero, but to break out of it, he needs to get through to Celeste who is finding themselves drifting apart from her sisters.

This is a solid story, very short with barely a wasted word, really enjoyable and a great opening story.

Note, don’t refuse a Stepford Cuckoos desire for karaoke!

Call of the Dark by Robbie MacNiven
Robbie gets to revisit Graymalkin and Anole after the events of First Team, and in the aftermath Graymalkin has developed a fear of the dark.

Forced to wander the depths of the insitues lower levels, he finds himself in a tussle with his darker self, but is he going mad, or is something more sinister going on.

On this story I have mixed feelings, at times I feel its the best story in the collection, and at others I feel its the least. Its the one I have reread the most and I struggle to really figure out how I feel about it.

That’s probably a sign of good writing, but its one I cannot make my mind up over, its likely I will buy the eBook so that I can dissect this story a few more times.

Uncatchable by Cath Lauria
This is a super fun story in which Hijack and Cipher go out for a midnight illegal street race, but discover a hidden secret to the meets.

Finding themselves having to take down a criminal gang in the middle of a street race, the pair save the day.

This is a simple story, but a great one, its very much something that I could picture as a one shot issue with a great premise, X-Men have some fun, but end up taking down the bad guys!

Eye of the Storm by Amanda Bridgeman
Sooraya, Shark Girl and Rockslide get kidnapped by a cyborg who hates humans and mutants alike, they are forced to fight animal robots.

I hate to be negative, but this story is the weakest of the bunch, I think this would have worked better as an individual short story release. I can’t put my finger on it, but it feels out of place here.

Of Dirt and Bones by Pat Shand
Phoebe Stepford starts to break away a bit from the other Cuckoos, having nightmares that force her into her diamond form whilst asleep.

Traumatised by Emma Frost increasingly brutal training sessions, she is sent over the edge and cut off from her sisters.

She ends up accidently killing a goose, and wracked with guilt she buries it in the grounds of the school, but soon the area is overrun by zombie animals!

This is a great story with lots of wonderful horror inspired elements and really takes a look at the trauma that training to be a member of the X-Men can cause.

Kid Omega Faces the Music by Neil Kleid
This is a really funny story and a very different one to the others, and as the last “short” story in the book is perfectly placed.

The story telling mechanism is fantastic, Kid Omega, who as a character, I really dislike normally, is forcing the story into the head of a random person, because he can’t tell it to anyone at the school, so why not subject a random stranger to a telepathic barrage.

Its written as a conversation between Quintin and the reader, and tells how after sneaking off to a film convention, to steal Wonder Boys glasses, Kang the Conqueror turns up and sends him on a merry journey through time.

But the trip has a purpose, as Quintin sees the evolution of another Omega level mutant, Magneto, and gets a deeper understanding of his teachers journey and the evolution of his belief in mutant supremacy.

This story is one of the real highlights of this book, and to be honest makes it worth the cost all on its own!

Depowered by Carrie Harris
This is more of a novella and sees Carrie return to Triage and Tempus, who she wrote about in Liberty and Justice for All (Not yet read this, I missed its eARC on Netgallery and I have struggled with funds for new books recently).

The Schools teachers leave for an urgent mission leaving the students alone, but not for long as Polaris and Mirage turn up seeing the help of Triage and Tempus to try and regain/control their powers after the Scarlett Witch’s muttering of the words “No More Mutants”.

Unfortunately the powers that Polaris still have are out of control and in the chaos caused by a demonstration, they attract a squadron of Sentinels, who invade the school and attempt to apprehend the young mutants.

It also strongly references the time that Tempus spent in the future in which she married and started a family in the Uncanny X-Men, before being flung back to the present destroying that future forever.

This is a great story, a good mix of action, character development and a focus on plenty of characters giving good screen time to several of them.

Makes me want to go any buy Liberty and Justice for All next time I have the pennies!

Conclusion
Overall this collection is worth the money, yeah some stories stand out more than others, but that’s inevitable with any anthology.

It flows well and other than the one story, all fitted quite nicely together, with most characters making an appearance in the final story.

The ones that stand out, Eye of the Storm and Call of the Dark do so because the characters don’t feature in that last story, I can’t even recall them being mentioned in them.

And I think that’s why they don’t flow as well, the others build up to an almost Avengers style final story where most of the characters come together to face down the big bad.

But yeah this collection is solid, and I can see it as being something I could easily recommend to someone, its got a lot of characters that see less focus in the comics and other media.

I am going to give it 4.5 out of 5

as a huge marvel/x-men fan, I loved School of X!
thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for providing me with an EArc of School of X in exchange for an honest review.

A collection of short stories about the students of the New Charles Xavier School for Gifted Mutants from the Brian Michael Bendis era of the X-Men. Most of the stories are written by authors who've written the previous Marvel novels for Aconyte. I like how they reference both the comics they are set between and the previous Xavier's Institute books.


Fifteen Minutes by Jaleigh Johnson
Goldballs and the Stepford Cuckoos get trapped inside their own minds reliving old movies. Solid.

Call of the Dark by Robbie MacNiven
MacNiven revisits Graymalkin and Anole after the events of First Team. Graymalkin has adoped a fear of the dark even though that's where his powers come from and fights his doppleganger. Not great.

Uncatchable by Cath Lauria
Hijack and Cipher take down a gunrunning operation in the midst of a street race. I liked this one quite a bit.

Eye of the Storm by Amanda Bridgeman
Rockslide, Sooraya, and Shark Girl are kidnapped and have to fight animal robots to escape. The weakest story so far.

Of Dirt and Bones by Pat Shand
Phoebe Stepford takes center stage in a story where she breaks away a bit from the other Cuckoos.

Kid Omega Faces the Music by Neil Kleid
My favorite story yet. Quentin Quire gets zapped on a time travel adventure to see Magneto's changing attitudes throughout history. I loved the storytelling device. Quentin had to tell someone his story so he's telepathically putting it in the head of the reader. Quire strives to be a dick but doesn't quite succeed.

Depowered by Carrie Harris
The longest story in the book by far. Carrie Harris returns to write more Tempus and Triage after Liberty and Justice for All. The instructors leave on a mission leaving the students on their own when they are attacked by Sentinels. I loved how all the students step up. Tempus is also dealing with some issues from when she was trapped in the future for several years during Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 3: The Good, The Bad, The Inhuman

Fun short stories about the teens and young adults striving to join the X-Men. The quality of the stories varies widely, but for fans it should still be a nice read.

A Xavier’s Institute Anthology

I received an advance reader copy of this book from Aconyte Books via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an anthology of stories featuring characters from the Xaxier’s Institute prose novel series written by various writers who have authored novels in that series as well as other series from Aconyte Books. Included are stories by Jaleigh Johnson, Robbie MacNiven, Cath Lauria, Amanda Bridgeman, Pat Shand, Neil Kleid, and Carrie Harris.


With this many authors included, there was a great deal of variety in both story-telling and writing styles, some of which resonated with me, and some that did not. My favorite one was the novella-length story by Carrie Harris that was the final story of the collection. It included a large cast of characters, a couple of mutant guest stars, and what was probably the most dangerous antagonists of any of the stories. One thing I found confusing was the several of the stories included the sisters known as the Stepford Cuckoos – but nearly every single story had a different sister as the third sister in the group. This may reflect differences in the group of sisters from the comic books, or if the actual world of the Xaxier’s Institute novels also has different third sisters in different stories.

I gave School of X four stars. There were maybe 2-3 individual stories that I would have given five stars, another couple that would have gotten four, and a few that would have rated three stars.

School of X is one of the latest Marvel/Aconyte novels, and as you might have guessed, it is focused entirely on Xavier's Institute. Better yet, this is an anthology, which means it is full of short stories revolving around beloved X-Men characters.

This School of X anthology includes seven short stories; Fifteen Minutes by Jaleigh Johnson, Call of the Dark by Robbie MacNiven, Uncatchable by Cath Lauria, Eye of the Storm by Amanda Bridgeman, Of Dirt and Bones by Pat Shand, Kid Omega Faces the Music by Neil Kleid, and Depowered by Carrie Harris. Read below to get individual reviews on each!

Fifteen Minutes by Jaleigh Johnson
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Recently I was doing a Marvel novel binge (can you tell by my reading history?), and I was lucky enough to nab Triptych. I'm bringing that up here because Jaleigh Johnson wrote both, and I have come to find that I really like her writing style!
Fifteen Minutes is largely centered around Celeste and Fabio Medina, and it was kind of refreshing to see such a sweet moment of friendship in a world that is so commonly portrayed as being nothing but chaos and pain.

Call of the Dark by Robbie MacNiven
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
For those that wanted to learn a little bit more about the Weapon X program, Call of the Dark will make an interesting read. In this short we see Jonas (Greymalkin) exploring an old Weapon X facility. It's eerie and just the right amount of creepy, while still being quite informative. Making it one of my two favorites.

Uncatchable by Cath Lauria
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
To me, Uncatchable read as a very classic X-Men story – and I don't mean that as a a bad thing. We have Hijack and Cipher doing their thing, which ultimately involves them being amazing superheroes and saving the day. Like I said, classic X-Men story. It made for a fun and quick read.

Eye of the Storm by Amanda Bridgeman
Rating: ★ ★ ★
I'm not going to lie, when I saw the list of short stories, I totally assumed that Eye of the Storm would be a Storm heavy novel. While there is a storm involved,it does not end up going down quite like I expected. However, I appreciate the surprise, so I'm not going to complain.

Of Dirt and Bones by Pat Shand
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Of Dirt and Bones makes for the second short story in this anthology with a focus on one (or more) of the Cuckoos. I'm not going to complain, again because the whole point of this anthology is to appreciate individual characters and smaller moments around them. This time the focus is on Phoebe, though her sisters are present as well. This one does an amazing job of portraying how difficult their training was, and ultimately the sheer level of trauma they went through.

Kid Omega Faces the Music by Neil Kleid
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Next up we have Kid Omega Faces the Music, which follows the one and only Quintin. I'm not going to lie, I like the guy more thanks to his appearance in West Coast Avengers (it is difficult to dislike anyone who loves Gwenpool). So it was kind of nice to see him here. This is a fairly introspective story, especially for Quintin. I liked it.

Depowered by Carrie Harris
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Last, but certainly not least, we have Depowered. This is the longest short in the anthology, which makes sense, being the anchor short and all. This one felt like it had multiple threads running throughout each other, which means it is more complex than the rest. That felt very on-point for the comics, where there are dozens of threads going at any one time.
This short features Magneto, Eva Bell, Polaris, and Dani Moonstar, and was an interesting blend of emotion and action that I really appreciated.

When you introduce time travel and multiverses, a story can sometimes be weighed down by the intricacies of the story if the rules aren't properly explained. The DCEU will take its crack at the multiverse with the Flash's first solo film, while Marvel has methodically begun to build out the rules of their multiverse. The comics these universes take their inspiration from, however, have never really cared for rules. What is canon today may not be canon tomorrow, and this has been true for sometime. With that said, there has been more of an effort by DC and Marvel to streamline their timelines over the last few years, and it is in that effort that School of X arrives.

A seven-story anthology edited by Gwendolyn Nix, School of X tells the story of the next generation of X-Men as they train under the watchful eye of Magneto, Emma Frost, and Cyclops. Jaleigh Johnson, Robbie Macniven, Cath Lauria, Amanda Bridgeman, Pat Shand, Neil Klaid, and Carrie Harris each get a story and they deliver fresh takes on the new X-Men as they fight alternate versions of themselves. Nix, in particular, deserves credit for editing together a cohesive story that doesn't relegate the aforementioned X-Men into Dumbledore status, where they are merely just caring for the new mutants. Cyclops, given all he's lost, does come off more ornery than in any other X-book, but it is earned and it feels like positive character development for Marvel's boyscout. Magneto behaves like a surrogate Professor X, though, and I'm not really sure that worked so well, but Emma Frost is really the standout amongst the caregivers in part because she has the most emotional connection to the new mutants.

Each author puts their own spin on the mutants, but what stood out to me was how Emma Frost's triplets (the Stepford Cuckoos) jump off the page every chance they get. This is particularly true in Of Dirt and Bones, the 5th story in the anthology: whereas Your 15 Minutes was on the shorter side, Of Dirt and Bones REALLY gives you what the family dynamic we've come to love from the best X-books. Depowered gives us a fresh look at Polaris, oft-forgotten daughter of Magneto and sister of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, and she continues to be one of my favorite characters in the X-Men mythology. I really hope Marvel brings her in to the MCU because she's been written really well as of late, and remains one of the most powerful mutants.

The only story that doesn't work in the anthology, for me, is Kid Omega Faces The Music. A Grant Morrison creation, I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of him in the comics, but this story also does him no favors. He comes off annoying and arrogant and, even when faced with his demons, doesn't really display much growth in comparison to his peers. For example, in Call of The Dark Graymalkin comes face to face with his biggest fear and ultimately comes out of that encounter on a much more interesting place. The same cannot be said for Kid Omega.

Overall, a strong addition to the X-Men mythology, with particular shoutouts to Amanda Bridgeman for Eye Of The Storm and Pat Shand for writing Phoebe Cuckoo in a really powerful way in Of Dirt And Bones. You get some action-packed stories that really supplement the more familiar X-Men themes (family, teamwork, independence), and you get a Polaris that has to come out of her father and siblings' shadow. All in all, a really good read.