"Astonishing X-Men: Gifted" by Peter David

            This is a review of the “Astonishing X-Men: Gifted” prose novel written by Peter David, not the graphic novel of the same title.

            To start off, Scott Summers/Cyclops had reformed the X-Men to establish mutants as a positive force of good to the general public, to “astonish” the world. He recruited Emma Frost, Hank McCoy/Beast, Logan/Wolverine, and Kitty Pryde as his main team and as teachers at Professor Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters to educate the new generation of mutants. The team started off at odds, Kitty having a hard time accepting Emma over her criminal past and Logan having a hard time accepting Scott moving on with a romantic relationship with Emma after the death of Jean Grey whom both Scott and Logan loved.

            The team was called off on a mission where they encountered the mysterious Ord, claiming to hail from the Breakworld. But this was a distraction. While the X-Men were busy battling Ord, geneticist Doctor Kavita Rao held a press conference that turned the X-Men’s humanitarian efforts upside down: she revealed that she had developed a cure for the “disease” of being a mutant. In truth, the cure had been developed by Ord’s people.

            Hank was then placed in a difficult situation; his prior attempt to cure his mutation had given him blue fur and a catlike appearance. This new cure could give him a chance at a “normal” life. This put him at odds with Logan, who couldn’t accept Hank’s desire to be a normal human.

            The students of Xavier’s School were also divided, feeling the same conflict as Hank. Students Edward Tancredi and Jay Guthrie started a feud over their shared mutation of flight, Jay wanting to lose his wings and be a musician and Eddie wanting to someday graduate to the rank of X-Man.

            The X-Men feared the government’s reaction to the cure, the potential enforcement of the cure on all mutants rather than using the cure on a peaceful voluntary basis.

            Hank acquired a sample of the cure from Doctor Rao, and during analysis discovered that a former member of the X-Men believed deceased was a guinea pig in creating the cure, causing the X-Men to go on a scouting mission to Benetech, Doctor Rao’s place of employment. While the team was busy, Ord paid a visit to Xavier’s School and cured a student as way of making a statement to the X-Men who now sought to learn more about the cure and put a stop to it.

            As far as accessibility to casual readers, it’s relatively simple enough to pick up on with limited prior knowledge of the X-Men as the primary team have been established in other X-Men media such as the films or cartoons. For fans of the X-Men comics, it’s highly enjoyable as most of the history of the comics has not been rewritten, and for those who are fans of the “Astonishing X-Men: Gifted” graphic novel, it was really an enhancement to the original story and will definitely be enjoyed. On a rating scale of 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, I rank it at a 9. As a fan of the comic, I enjoyed the retelling and the low amount of changes to a story that was already almost perfect was a definite benefit. One of my favorite lines was edited slightly, another cut out, and certain scenes were rewritten in a way that weren’t exactly to my taste, but that said, this was very effectively written, and any fans of the “Astonishing X-Men” storylines written by Joss Whedon would most assuredly find this book entertaining.