As before, I’ve loved this series of books, but just couldn’t get on with this one. Too many new characters that I didn’t know - I still feel a little background on the cast would be useful with the lesser-known Mutants. I’ll likely research and return, but it felt overwhelming right now.

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new School of X book The Siege of X-41, written by Tristan Palmgren, 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 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 School of X novel series is focused on the heroes that attend Xavier’s Institute 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
This story picks up a few threads from previous books, specifically, Liberty & Justice for All by Carrie Harris (still need to read this, missed it on Netgallery, but I have bought it since), First Team by Robbie MacNiven, and Outlaw: Relentless by Tristan Palmgren (interestingly part of the Heroines series instead of School of X/Xavier’s Institue, so a nice shared universe being built up).

So this is kind of the culmination of those stories, with things like Anole adjusting to his new arm, and Josh, now known as Elixir, dealing with his fellow students knowing that before he discovered his powers, he was an anti-mutant thug.

These two are the main characters, and to be honest, there is a huge acknowledgement of the fact that their experiences in the previous stories, has left them with mental trauma and struggling to deal with the emotional fallout of kidnapped family members and being held as a slave.

The story sees a team of students, being sent down to X-41, a deep-sea outpost built to assist in the relationship between the Atlanteans of Namor, and the mutants under Charles Xavier. The outpost has been out of use for a while and needs maintenance.

Shortly after arrival, they find themselves under attack by a group of vampiric Atlanteans who relentlessly attack the station, eventually leaving them stranded and trapped at the bottom of the sea, with no way to return to the surface, or communicate with the X-Men.

But things start to go wrong, and it seems like the team is being sabotaged from within!

Conclusion
There is a great continuity in the Aconyte Marvel novels, and I think that good planning and excellent editing, has created a tight, consistent feel to the universe that Aconytes, sadly now former, publicity referred to as Earth 616-Aconyte, just slightly removed from the main Earth 616 with a few differences to make the novels work as a series.

So I am gonna hope that this level of attention of detail is kept up and maintained, because something that Marvel has failed at over the decades, is prose novels, and I really think they are on to a good thing here.

I just listened to The Extinction Key and now listening to Hostile Takeover, and if I am frank, the quality of these video game tie-in novels, is a huge world apart from the Aconyte books.

So turning to this specific book, and its a really cool idea, take two characters, who, frankly hate each other, force them into a small confided space, and throw in some horror!

This story, reminded me greatly of The Thing, in the way the isolation and hostile environment play such a major part in the story, its a really good mix.

The protagonists start off as fairly unlikable, Josh in particular was hard to sympathise with, and Anoles deep hatred of Josh combined with his trauma made him difficult to understand, but as the story wore on, and the situation became more dire, they are both forced to work together and overcome their mutual hatred.

I am gonna give the story 5 stars, its a really good plot and an awesome reward if you have been reading the other novels!

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

This story features Joshua Foley, a mutant student at the Xavier Institute who operates using the codename Elixir. Josh is attending the Institute in lieu of finishing out a jail sentence resulting from event in Palmgren’s earlier Outlaw: Relentless. Elixir is studying how to use his powers to be a healer, but is aware that he has other mutant abilities of undetermined strength.


After it becomes known throughout the school that Josh formerly belonged to an anti-mutant group, he is assigned with a small group of other students to go to the underwater research station X-41, where the crew will be tasked with performing repairs and maintenance on the little-used outpost. While at the station, the group comes under attack from underwater creatures with an unknown agenda. Josh will have to convince the other students of his change-of-heart regarding mutants while also learning how to harness his entire power set if the group is going to survive.

I gave The Siege of X-41 five stars. It’s a nice story of redemption and personal discovery, though the undersea setting made me a bit claustrophobic.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review from Aconyte Books via Netgalley.

I'll be honest, I'm one of those marvel fans who got into the fandom through movies and not comics. So I have a lot of catching up to do.

I requested to read The Siege of X-41 by Tristan Palmgren because of the cover. Please that is one beautifully designed cover that foreshadows the plot of the book without you even knowing it.


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 its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2020 MARVEL
#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review

The Siege of X-41 was radically different though no less enjoyable than the last Marvel novel I read: The Shadow Avengers. Whereas Shadow Avengers was pretty much nonstop action, Siege had a deliberately slower pace, which was completely fitting with the nature of the story. Avengers was an action story, I view Siege as more of an intense psychological/horror story. In a way it was very much like what I was hoping for from The New Mutants movie, though I’m pleased to say I think Siege was far more successful executed.

In Siege, Karma (originally from the New Mutants now an X-Man and teacher at the new Xavier School) escorts a small team of students (mostly made up of students from Xavier, but also included is a student from Jean Grey’s school and a mutant Atlantean) to an old underwater station X-41. It’s supposed to be a learning experience, but what they encounter is like nothing they could have expected. First off, aside from Crosta, the Atlantean mutant, none of the team members have powers seem optimal to a deep sea mission. Secondly there is severe animosity between numerous members of the ‘team’, namely our two main characters, Vic and Josh, aka the mutants Anole and Elixir. Josh was formally a member of the Reavers, an anti-mutant hate group, before discovering he himself was a mutant. And before long what was to be a routine mission to service the old base becomes a struggle for survival when the base comes under attack from Aqueos (basically undead/vampiric Atlanteans) The base is claustrophobic, flooding, has serious power issues, and the constant threat of new attacks from the Aqueos gives the story a wonderfully disturbing horror feel to it. In a way parts of the book reminded me Aliens, how Ripley and her team knew the Aliens were out there and coming for them even if they didn’t know where or when. So everyone is constantly on edge…and as a reader, so was I.

There are several strong themes woven throughout the story. One of them of course being bigotry, a staple theme seen ever since the X-Men first hit the comic world. Also is self-discovery and learning to accept oneself. The story is well told, and though there are a fair number of characters on the mission, the decision to focus mainly on Anole and Elixir and jumping back and forth between their points of view works great. I’d like to thank Aconyte Books and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review an eARC of The Siege of X-41.


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Super hero comics are a lot of fun. I've been reading them for decades and have always found a lot to love within the medium. It's something that has also translated to film and television well, in both animation and live action. They also make for good video games. But one area where sometimes this genre comes up a bit short of reaching its full potential is in prose novels. Sometimes authors try to give comic novels the same kind of structure as comics, trying to throw in lots of action and spectacle every chapter, and it never really feels right. Aconyte books have been avoiding this, in large part due to the fact that they've been combining their heroes with other kinds of stories. Whether it's giving us a heist story like Black Cat: Discord, or western survival stories like Outlaw: Relentless, Aconyte have been putting these heroes in situations outside their norm. And The Siege of X-41 is no exception, throwing a handful of heroes into a tense horror story.

The Siege of X-41 is kind of a sequel to Outlaw: Relentless and First Team, and follows Josh Foley and Vic Borkowski after their own individual adventures in those books. Both young men are carrying a lot of trauma from these events. Vic was being hunted by mutant haters, had his parents kidnapped, and even lost one of his arms (though it did grow back thanks to his mutation). Josh, on the other hand, used to be a mutant hater. Part of a mutant hate group, he went to anti-mutant rallies and supported the idea pf mutant eradication; until he became one. Ever since then he was held prisoners by the same people he used to support, was tortured by the again and again, and was forced to fight his way to freedom.

After helping the mutant mercenary Outlaw, Josh was arrested for his part in the Reavers. Instead of going to prison, however, he was signed over to the Charles Xavier Institute for the duration of his sentence. Knowing that if he were to try and hide his past it would come out eventually anyway, Josh plans to come clean about his past; but is prevented from doing so when student telepaths revel his secret to the school. Now Josh is an outcast and pariah, hated by his peers because of his past. One student who particularly hates him is Anole, Vic Borkowski.

When the two of them, along with fellow students Triage, and Graymalkin, the Jean Grey School exchange student Nature Girl, and their teacher, Karma, are assigned to a field exercise the two boys are both loathed to go; neither wanting to spend time with the other. These feelings are further compounded when they learn that they're being sent to the remote station X-41, a deep sea facility far beneath the ocean. Stuck in these small confines with each other, the two of them are forced to work together. However, when the station comes under attack from deadly vampiric Atlanteans they're forced to put their feelings aside when they're plunged into a deadly fight for survival. With the station damaged, their way home destroyed, and power failing, things have never been so desperate for any of them.

There is a lot about The Siege of X-41 to enjoy. A lot of the book deals with our two lead characters, their trauma, and their inability to move past it unless they're forced to do so for their own survival. This kind of character focus is something that we just don't really get in comics. With so few pages, and with the need to keep readers supplied with action scenes and big moments, a lot of the time we don't get to just sit down with these characters and find out how they're doing beyond a quick surface level glance. This book goes much further than that, and a good portion of the story is given over to how these two young men deal with their trauma.

Vic is the less complex of the two. He's a guy who's visibly a mutant, whose appearance makes him stand out, and as such he can't escape from the prejudice that mutants face. Despite this, he grew up in a loving home, part of a small community who didn't really treat him any different. It's not until the events of First Team that he really had to deal with the horrors that some mutants face. His home life was shattered, his family were put in danger, and he was brutally hurt all because some people don't like the way he was born. And whilst he got to fight against these bigots, got to save his family, and got to deal out some harm to the people who wanted to kill him, he's still carrying a lot of scars from that. This book is where we really see the effect those events had on him. He becomes withdrawn, less outgoing, and starts to struggle with his schooling. And when Josh turns up he becomes the perfect focus for all of that anger and pain.

Joshua, like Vic, carries a lot of trauma around with him. He was part of a group of bigots who were going out of their way to harm mutants. He'd been sold on the lies that mutants were a danger, that they needed to be kept away from 'normal' people, and that people like the Ravagers were doing the right thing. He was indoctrinated and radicalised into a hate movement. That alone would leave someone with a lot of stuff to work through, but then you have to take into account that one day Josh became the thing he'd been taught to hate. Then he was brutalised by people he considered his friends, held prisoner, tortured, used as a weapon. Even his family, who stood by him when he was being a bigot, have turned their backs on him now that he's a mutant. He's lost everything, been a victim of torture for months, and has found himself as the thing he was taught to hate. No wonder he spends so much of this book suffering.

These two characters are a fascinating look into different types of trauma, and how people can be affected by it. Vic becomes cold, and starts to lash out at others, especially the one he sees as being something of a threat because of his past. Josh, in contrast, just wants to retreat away, to isolate himself and keep his head down to avoid everything. They've both lost their way, they don't know what their life has become since these awful events, and don't know where they're supposed to go going forward.

Whilst this would have been enough to focus on anyway, and Tristan Palmgren could have easily has the two of them and their struggles been the main focus of the novel and it be thoroughly entertaining, we get so much more when the book takes a sharp turn into horror. The group that get picked to go to X-41 are chosen in part because their powers aren't useful there. They're being taught that not every situation is going to be one where their abilities are going to help them, and that they'll need to rely on their teammates and their other skills to get by. This is a great lesson to teach, and one that will stand future X-Men in good stead; but it also means that for the most part these young heroes have been reduced to being regular people in a horror story.

The setting of the story, this isolated, old, deep sea station is a perfect place to set a horror story. It takes the group almost a day of sinking down through the ocean, getting used to the pressure in their tiny submersible, to even get there. They can go outside for limited times in bulky diving suits, but they've got a limited oxygen supply. The station itself is cramped, forcing them into close quarters and being unable to avoid each other. It's completely dark outside, and if the hull breaches the freezing water will rush in to kill them. Even without an outside threat this sounds absolutely terrifying. And Palmgren knows this. There are scenes when the team first arrive on the station and they're just checking the place out that feel genuinely tense. They're searching the rooms for the source of a strange noise and it has you on the edge of your seat because the tension is built so wonderfully, and you're so worried about what they might find.

And once again, Palmgren could have left it there, they could have crafted a wonderfully tense story just using this isolated and horrifying location to deal with these characters traumas. But they added more. The ghoulish, vampire-like mermen who attack X-41 are really horrifying things. They're adapted to the deep environment, they can see in the dark, the cold doesn't effect them, they're hard to kill and don't seem to feel pain, and they just want in. The way they keep attacking the station, testing the defences, trying to find a way in so that they can pick off the people one by one made me instantly thing of the Alien franchise. It has the same level of horror you feel watching Aliens, knowing that the small group of survivors who've barricaded themselves inside won't stay safe forever, and that the monsters are going to get in at some point.

But this is also seemingly not enough for Palmgren, as they then start to introduce cosmic horror too as we learn that there's something huge, powerful, and otherworldly sealed away beneath the ocean floor. Something that the monsters fear and worship in equal measure, and whose release could spell the end of life on earth itself. So yeah, this book goes full on Cthulian horror too.

I have to be honest, as someone who loves good character focused drama, who finds the ocean terrifying, who loves a base under siege story, and who has a soft spot for cosmic horror this book absolutely ticked all my boxes. And then it's also an X-Men story too! This felt so much like it was the kind of story that we'd never get as a comic, that comic companies would say wouldn't work in that medium because of the long, tense moments where nothing really happens except a build up of horror. It felt like the kind of story that you could only get in this medium, and it proves why comic hero characters can work in this format if the story is creative and engaging enough.

I don't now how Tristan Palmgren came up with the idea of throwing these characters into a horror story like this, all whilst dealing with intense drama centred around trauma, but it's an absolutely genius concept. This is easily my favourite novel in this series, and possibly my favourite Marvel novel that Aconyte have done. Depending on how you look at the cosmic horror elements it may also beat a lot of their Arkham Horror books for how scary it is. If you like super heroes and want to see something different done with them this is the book for you, and if you're a fan of horror you're going to really like this one. The Siege of X-41 has easily become the gold standard for all other Marvel novels to beat.

Josh was a member of an anti-mutant militia until his own mutant powers became undeniable. Now a student at the Charles Xavier School with other mutants, Josh's past keeps interfering with his future. Vic, known as Anole, is still recovering from his traumatic trip home, and he's not about to let Josh forget the harm militia members did. When both are sent to underwater station X-41 with Karma, Triage, Graymalkin, and Nature Girl, their conflict threatens to endanger the mission, especially when the station falls under attack. Creepy and atmospheric, while still the fun adventure I've come to expect from the Marvel tie-in series, The Siege of X-41 is still a book for X-fans who are interested in watching a new crew of mutants grow and learn.

(Received an ARC though NetGalley in exchange for a review)

Aconyte's Marvel books continue to mostly impress, this time taking on prejudice in a classic X-men way while framing around a low-cosmic horror story.

The book centers on two mutants; one, the recent victim of anti-mutant violence and the other recently a member of an anti-mutant hate group until discovering his own mutant heritage. And then there's some very wet vampires and a cosmic god beast beyond the scope of perception thrown in for good measure.

What could be better than a new X-men Prose novel by Aconyte (and Tristan Palmgren)? A new novel including vampiric mermen and an ancient, dare I say eldritch, leviathan! Well that is exactly what Palmgren delivers in The Siege of X-41 and you will not be disappointed! Well not if you like those things at least!

The story focuses primarily on Joshua Fowley, a hater of mutants until he became one. Now known as Elixir and dealing with Omega-Level power potential he must learn to not only come to terms with his anti-mutant past but his mutant future.
Rejected by the anti-Mutant Reavers when his powers manifested only the X-men offered him a sanctuary. Surrounded by mutants who still see him as their enemy it’s not exactly going well for Josh. Throw in a deep-sea training mission that isolates him with a select team of new X-Men and then add in an attack – well things aren’t going well for Joshua. A sect of sea monster-worshiping vampire mermen besiege the base, leaving them stranded and trapped. As the attacks escalate, their chances of survival plummet. Things soon go from awful to even worse when one of the team begins sabotaging their attempts to call for help, all in the name of a sleeping behemoth soon to awake.

I will start by saying I was somewhat worried because, like the trainee X-Men, I was finding it hard to like and sympathize with Josh to begin with. It’s hard to feel sorry for someone who, for want of a better word, has been a racist bigot whether or not this was down to family and those around them or not. But, thanks to Palmgren’s masterful writing and characterisation within a chapter to two I was warming to Josh – I wouldn’t say he was a favourite but he was definitely getting a bit more sympathy. I think the action of fellow students helped with this.

As nearly everyone knows the X-Men have always been about fighting stigma and stereotypes, of highlighting the troubles faced by minority groups. And Palmgren understood the assignment. By taking an anti-mutant and giving them omega-level potential powers it gives us such a fantastic insight into the trouble and hardships the X-Men and mutants still face. On top of this we get to see the other side – the mutants who are so used to being hated treat Josh the same way he would likely have acted to them. Anole plays this part perfectly – blinded by his own hate for the once Reaver turned Mutant he shows how easy it is to fall into the cycle of hate. On top of this we have the claustrophobic setting of the underwater base.

This all fits together perfectly to create a tense action adventure with a brilliant touch of horror. The action and tension never lets up, between the attacks, members of the team potentially sabotaging the group, and growing tensions between Elixir and Anole. Honestly I couldn’t put it down once I had started and after getting a little more sympathetic to Josh. As you know I always try to avoid spoilers but the ending of the novel was brilliant. Honestly I loved it. Seeing everything come full circle and a lot of issues brought up in the novel begin to be resolved. I am looking forward to potentially seeing more of Elixir and Anole in the future.

The siege of X-41 is the third light novel I have read in the marvel universe and it was absolutely fantastic, it is full of action, adventure and magic. I have always been a fan of X-Men and this novel is a great way to expand on the universe, it is also nice not to follow on from the main marvel film series and focus on an area of the comics that is intriguing to expand upon.

Thanks to the publisher, I had the opportunity to read an advance of this adventure which hits bookstores on May 3rd of 2022.

While the story focuses on a set team of students from the school and their faculty chaperone Karma (who herself was once a student at Xavier's back in the classic The New Mutants published back in the early 1980's), the main focus of the tale is on Josh (codename Elixer) and Victor (codename Anole). The chapters of the tale are told from their two viewpoints, switching focus numerous times throughout the story. That gives readers a good handle on both characters who are forced to work together even though there is ill-will between them.

I want to specifically give props to author Tristan Palmgren and the editorial team for the continuity that continues here with The Siege of X-41. They not only fit this tale quite firmly in the ongoing Xavier's Institute banner of titles that Aconyte has been putting out for the last few years, yet Palmgren also managed to link to some of their earlier work on titles like Domino: Strays and Outlaw: Fractured which are part of the publisher's Marvel Heroines line. The latter of these two even makes an appearance in this tale. That cohesiveness goes a long way in building the line and rewarding those who have been reading the entire line of Marvel branded books.



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 its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2022 MARVEL

If you’re not a fan or have a fear of the deep sea, you may want to skip this book, but it would be a shame because it’s gripping in its tale as they work to find out what’s going on in the underwater station.

The book reminded me a lot of the horror film “The Thing” though not as bleak, and definitely with awesome mutant powers.

It’s also about accepting oneself for who you are and making that choice.

All in all a great addition to the Marvel books from Aconyte.

I've been a fan of Tristan Palmgren for a while. I loved Quietus and Terminus and when I heard that Palmgren was writing original Marvel Comics novelizations that was right up my alley. I hadn't had the opportunity to Domino: Strays but when I saw the Siege of X-41 on Netgalley I knew I had to wish for it.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed the book. One of my favorite parts was getting to see old characters that I know and love from the comics and adaptations (The Stepford Cuckoos are always my favorite not-so-vaguely spooky sometimes villains and sometimes anti-heroines and have been since the X: Men Legends II video game.) I also enjoyed getting to know characters that were newer to me like Anole and Elixer. Palmgren did wonderfully at characterizing all the characters in this book and made them all standout.

I also really loved Palmgrem's use of settings in this book. One of the best themes of this book was Elixer's constant feeling of being out of place and the process of him getting flung from the School just as he's barely starting to get it figured out to the underwater setting felt super authentic and made Elixer a relatable character. Elixer's struggles with his background as a member of the violently anti-mutant Reavers and the work he needed to do to earn the trust of the mutants he was now forced to be with was also a really relatable struggle and it made this book feel immensely real and authentic.

In conclusion, I loved this book and I'm definitely going to go back and read Palmgrem's Domino": Strays to see what he does with one of my favorite sometime-members of the X-Force now.