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Hank McCoy -- the X-Men's Beast -- made himself a guinea pig in a desperate attempt to find a cure for the deadly Legacy Virus. His gamble succeeded. Now his blood is a living serum that can save countless lives. Unfortunately, the Beast is also a prisoner of Selene, the dread Black Queen of the New York branch of the Hellfire Club and she is literally bleeding him dry in order to further her own mad quest for power and wealth. The X-Men, and their uneasy ally, Sebastian Shaw, the mutant Black King of the Hong Kong branch of the Hellfire Club, are locked in a race against time to defeat Selene and free the Beast. But Selene has found a way to turn time itself into a weapon against them. Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw and the mysterious menace known as Mutant X, pursue a different agenda -- one that if it succeeds, will place the Legacy Virus serum in the hands of the most dangerous mutant in the world! |
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After reading a series of lackluster comic adaptations from other authors, I entered this novel with alot of hesitation. Normally it's a bad thing to start reading a trilogy from the middle, but this novel didn't really have that problem. I entered it and was soon immersed in a very deep storyline. This novel takes place outside the normal X-men timeline, painting one of the many possible futures that they have lived through. In the present, the Beast developed a supercell by infecting himself with the Legacy Virus and subjecting himself to radical treatment to cure the fatal disease. However Selene an immortal sorcerous destroys the lab and kidnaps the Beast as his cure appears to finally work. The X-Men go after her and find themselves transported one year into the future. This future has been corrupted by Selene. Since she contains the only cure to one of the most virulent and fatal plagues to affect the world, she would distribute it to those loyal to her and only in small enough doses so the disease would relapse not heal entirely. The story filled with the typical time paradoxes and future revelations (Tessa -> Sage) was very suspenseful delivering a deep innovative plot. Lyons does a wonderful adaptation that doesn't feel like it's a rehash and develops on the thoughts behind each actions that they flow together very well. The X-Men in the end of course manages to get back to the past and stop Selene by destroying the cure. However Sebastian Shaw managed to steal a sample of the cure during the final conflict and have it fall into the hands of Magneto. The X-Men come back from the future having learned that they should not accept help from their enemies even if it was to work on a cure that would save millions of lives. Both of these points lead directly to the final novel. In conclusion, I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in the X-Universe. It is a terrific adaptation that even the most avid readers of the comic series won't find dull.
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