X-Men: The Legacy Quest, Book 3

Marvel BP Books Prose Novels

by Steve Lyons

Magneto -- the X-Men's arch enemy and mankind's greatest foe --has dramatically raised the stakes in the life and death struggle to find a cure for the mutant-killing Legacy Virus. Magneto has created a vast arsenal of Legacy Virus bombs that he's having his cohorts plant around the world. When he detonates the bombs, all of humanity will be quickly infected and soon die unless they receive the cure -- a cure that only he has! The X-Men must stop Magneto before he can activate his insane plan. But when it comes to Magneto, theacknowledged legitimate ruler of the island nation Genosha, stopping him will not only be difficult...it may be impossible! Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw, the Black King of the Hellfire Club and anembittered, now cast-aside pawn in Magneto's mad scheme, isforming a terrible plan of revenge.

Genres: Science Fiction, X Men, Marvel

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Steve Lyons is a science fiction writer, best known for writing television tie-ins of Doctor Who for BBC Books, and previously, Virgin. The earliest of these was Conundrum in 1994, and his most recent was 2005's The Stealers of Dreams. He has also written material for Star Trek tie-ins, as well as original work.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think, overall, this book finished out the trilogy nicely. I am not sure how "strong" of a finish it was, but the ending was a bit of a surprise (but probably shouldn't have been). It moves at a pretty good pace, overall, and it keeps the same team of eight together from the first two books. I assume the same artist from the second book did the artwork before each chapter in this book, as they were quite similar in nature/design. I think the amount of "character development" that occurs would depend upon if this third volume takes place in the comics continuity or not. If not, then I would say that Kurt Wagner and Bobby Drake undergo some good character development; otherwise, any "character development" that occurred in this book does not carry over into the comic book realm. It has some pretty good action in it, but there is also a lot of exposition as well. I think it works, overall.

This book takes place about three weeks after the end of the second book. The "biggest surprise" for me was the chapter that starts out with Rogue facing down Blackheart, again. I did not expect it to be her and Xavier in her mind as she was looking at her "battle" with the demon from different angles, different perspectives. She ends up seeing Sebastian Shaw hiding behind the throne while Jean fled, first, followed by Rogue's attempts to flee with the cure just before it was destroyed. She (Rogue) eventually figures out that Shaw must have acquired a sample of Beast's blood from the vines that had formerly entangled him and been draining him dry. This leads the team to splitting up in two, with one team heading back to Hong Kong to face Shaw, again, and the other team attempting to infiltrate Genosha to acquire a sample of the cure from Magneto's lab. I did like how the author had Rogue and Xavier studying her memories to determine if it was possible for any remnant of the cure to have "survived" the battle between the X-Men and the Black Queen and her cohort (consort?). That was pretty cool!

I will not lie; I thought a "bigger team" should have gone after the sample in Genosha. Xavier's "logic" did not work well with me, especially considering the problems that would have occurred if Magneto became involved. He felt only the eight individuals from the prior two books should be involved based upon their experiences with what has transpired. Perhaps he was wanting to hold any other team members in reserve? If that was the case, he lucked out as they were never needed.

That author did insert some interesting moments in the book, like how Bobby Drake was posing as a human after some former magistrates and Genoshan humans saved him from some mutates that were trying to kill him. He got to learn about "the other side's perspective" which was something new for him, as he'd only ever considered his own viewpoint. In my mind and opinion, he developed as a character at that point because of how it seemed to change the way he thought and viewed things. That "moment," though, when Wolverine "stabbed" him through the heart at the end of one chapter! That was CRAZY INSANE!!!! I thought Wolverine had just killed his teammate! Or, that Bobby would have been 'saved' because he turned into ice at the last moment. But, what saved him was Logan's getting a whiff of his (Bobby's) scent before stabbing him with his blades; otherwise, it would have been curtains for the "young" X-Man. Kurt also had some interesting moments, too, interacting with a mutant priest whose powers mimicked Magneto's, and how this priest abused his power(s) to exert control over his flock, all in the name of worshiping Magneto as their "Savior."

I figured that Sebastian Shaw would somehow betray Magneto, but I did not know how it was going to happen. As it was, I must admit, it was pretty "obvious" and "boring" and still "clever" of Sebastian to go about acquiring his own sample of the Cure while altering the viability of Magneto's samples (which ultimately causes them to fail). It is kind-of funny in that the whole series of books, while being advertised as an "X-Men trilogy/story," turns out to be a "giant game" about Sebastian Shaw and his attempts to acquire the only copy/sample of the Cure for the Legacy Virus. So, yeah, it was pretty "clever" that he resorted to the most "base, common" means by which he could get somebody to turn traitor: he paid that scientist an "unholy" amount of money as well as threatened to kill him "immediately" if said scientist did not follow orders and both get Sebastian Shaw a viable sample as well as expose the rest of the samples to radiation and thereby cause the Beast's "super-cell" to eventually break down and "self-destruct" under the effects of the Legacy Virus in an infected individual.

There was one bit of "artwork" that I "really liked" before one of the chapters. It shows Tessa and another woman who must be the new "Mastermind", Regan Wyngarde (Lady Mastermind), standing behind a seated female mutate who also has telepathic abilities. I liked the picture; it was an interesting perspective, partly because the chapter involves Tessa trying to decide how far she should go to betray Sebastian by freeing the entrapped X-Men so that they can foil the explosives going off on the Solstice around the world (the goal being to infect the entire world with the Legacy Virus as fireworks are set off at midnight in each time zone, thus ensuring a global spread of this deadly virus). So, it is revealed in this book that Tessa is a mole in the Hellfire Club and how it came to be, which was interesting to me, just because I was surprised that her "identity" was revealed in the book. The book did come out in 2002, so perhaps with her "secret identity" being revealed in the X-Treme X-Men comic, it was thought to reveal that identity in the book as well? I don't know; it was still a nice piece of art.

It was interesting how the X-Men pieced together what must have happened with the cure for the Legacy Virus; they are talking about the whole series of events that have transpired in the last 24-48 hours. Shaw's willingness to betray his allies and cast aside those who are no longer of any use to him is mentioned, as well as his drive to obtain a sample of the Cure. That is what makes me say one could call the book more about Sebastian Shaw and his attempts to get his hands on a sample of the cure, or coming up with the cure and thereby controlling all branches of humanity, than it is about the X-Men. They just happened to be "unwitting pawns" in an extended game played by Shaw to obtain what he wanted, and he succeeded despite their best efforts otherwise.

There were some "weak moments" as well. The fight between Holocaust, Rogue, and the Beast was on the interesting side, I guess, although I don't know how believable it was, considering how much strength and energy had to be used between Hank and Rogue to get Rogue free from her bonds. Then, at one point, after Holocaust's containment helmet has been cracked, Hank throws a chair and cracks it even further? It's a desk stool; they are not the sturdiest pieces of furniture! Yet we are supposed to believe it would crack Holocaust's helmet further? I didn't believe it for one bit.

Neither did I "buy" the whole shtick of Holocaust letting Cyclops repair his helmet with his optic blasts. That made zero sense to me as well, and I personally would have been fine with Cyclops not helping save Holocaust's life (considering how overpowered the character is, anyway, and I still don't believe Rogue could have defeated him).

I felt that more of the X-Men should have showed up on (in) Genosha for the "final confrontation" with Magneto. I don't know how believable I felt it was for the group of eight to have been able to wear him down and defeat him like they did. It just didn't feel right to me, but whatever. Also, I did not know that Magneto could "track" Nightcrawler's teleporting via the magnetic lines of the Earth and somehow predict where he would appear next. It seemed like a new power and a bit to much of one, but that is must my opinion.

It was a decent end to the series; I think I would rate it a strong three stars. In any case, I enjoyed the series as a whole far more than I thought I would, and I am glad I finally took a chance to read the book (collection).

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book in the 3 book series: My least favorite of the three but there is a lot of emotional growth in the main characters as the battle with their individual weaknesses. Definitely less action then the last two, but the story line continues to progress and even though I was skeptical that the author would conclude this series in a plausible manner, based on how powerful the "bad guy" is (and how can you beat someone that can kill you by pulling the iron out of your blood from 100 feet away?), he did pull it off in the end.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt sort of weird, at first, to follow a characters I know from the cartoons in book form. In the end though, I'm glad I'd decided to read it. It was good, overall, a 3.5 rounded up.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guilty pleasure reading/Crack.

[Fire_Dragon_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Part of the X-men Legacy Quest Trilogy, 3-in-1 book)