I’ve always found Rogue to be an interesting X-men character, that is… ever since I first watched the 90’s X-men cartoon. Let’s just say that Rogue: Untouched didn’t disappoint and managed to stay fresh, without rehashing too much of past stories.

The novel is written in simple prose from a first-person perspective, with a good sense of humor. Kwitney’s writing made Rogue more than likable, bringing the character to life more than the recent films did, I would say. Speaking of which- Maybe due to Anna Pacquin having played Rogue in the films and also playing Sookie in True Blood, I couldn’t stop reading Rogue’s dialogue in her voice. Not necessarily a bad thing, as I love Anna Pacquin, but the fact that Rogue works at a diner in this book also calls True Blood to mind. Alas, I digress…

This one was easy to get into and at no point did I feel I had to take a break. It did drag a bit in the middle and the tale is not what I would call epic in scope, but this gives the reader more time to become acquainted with the character of Rogue as she comes to know her powers. I loved the addition of other characters like Gambit & Spiral and there were even quite a few characters I’d never heard of before. Overall a good mix of popular characters and those that are lesser-known.

While the story was captivating and the dialogue was fun, I did find the action to be a bit confusing in the latter part of the novel. A few plot developments were also a little convenient, but certainly something that can be overlooked for a superhero novel.

All in all, I would certainly recommend this to any major X-men fan. I also would love to read a sequel to this, as it definitely has potential for that! Here’s hoping…

****************************************
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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

I was so excited when I saw I could read this early.

I'm a huge comic book fan, love X-men, and I was just really excited to read a novel about Rogue.

This isn't really a novel about Rogue. It's really more like AU fanfiction to be honest because it picks and chooses when it wants to use. None of it feels like the characters, not even for a second, and just so much of this was plot holes I found myself rolling my eyes. Like how is it that Marie made her boyfriend go into a coma and NO ONE thought she was mutant? NO ONE? All the people around her know what mutants are but nope it was just a random thing that made her boyfriend go into a coma. And then when it happens again? Oh well! Doesn't matter. Oh and the many, many times when she kisses and touches Remy but he's basically ok? Yeah, that's really another pick and choose.

Maybe if I wasn't a comic fan I would've enjoyed this more as a book about characters I'm unfamiliar with but I didn't have that luxury. It's not what I wanted it to be, but it didn't stop me from finishing it which is why the second star.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aconyte Books for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review.

Before we get into the review, I want to say thank you to NetGalley and the publishers over at Aconyte Books for letting me read this one early in exchange for an honest review. In Rogue: Untouched, we get to see Rogue’s origin story told in a completely different way. Rogue discovers her powers late in life at the age of 19 and has to have a little help from a card wielding man she meets at the diner she works at to figure everything out. This book is coming out on May 4th and is available for pre-order now.

I was so excited when I saw this book because I’ve watched a few X-Men movies and tv shows and Rogue was always my favorite character. I enjoy how rough around the edges she’s allowed to be in this book. I feel like she isn’t always allowed to be portrayed that way. I also felt like she was really down to earth and strong willed. I also enjoyed seeing Gambit. He was also a favorite of mine. I think for me the thing that keeps this book at a 3 and not low is the characterization of these mutants I’ve enjoyed for years. Also, the human characters we meet felt realistic especially when you consider that this backwards and biased perspective is probably something that would really happen if mutants came to light in the future.

The thing that drags this down for me, however, is that the book reads like an AU fanfic. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way because I have read some amazing fan fiction. I just mean that there’s a lack of world building that I think comes from the author assuming that everyone will know what she knows about X-Men comics and the movies and the shows. And that’s just not going to be the case for most readers. I could keep track of the story but I wanted to feel engrossed in it. I think to get that with a story that is this fast paced you’re going to need a lot of slower moments. A solid 50 or 100 pages to get the reader sucked in. There were also a couple of themes in the story that I don’t think got enough attention to make an impact.

It’s a good, fast paced, and quick story if you already know and love the X-Men or superheroes in general. If you enjoy Gambit and Rogue as much as I do, you’re probably good to read this one.

I enjoyed Domino: Strays, the other Marvel Heroines book I've read, but I found this one to suffer from the same issue of being a little slow at the start. It took me a while to initially get into the book but I enjoyed it once I'd gotten a little way in. The comic book style action still worked very well throughout, and made for a fun and interesting read.

I didn't love Gambit, honestly. I like having X-Men cameos, but he didn't really work for me and it felt weird the way that Rogue trusted him. It just didn't quite work for me personally. I did think that the author did a fantastic job at handling the anti-mutant sentiments throughout the book, showing how non-mutants view them without overdoing it.

Overall this was a fun read, but I think I would have liked it more if I'd known more about Rogue before starting this book.

What would you do if you discovered you couldn't touch somebody without draining them of their strength and their memories? And how much worse would it be if you just met a person that made you want to touch them all the time? As a long-time comic book fan, I've always thought the X-Men character Rogue was very interesting and kind of tragic.

This is probably one of the better novel versions of a comic book I ever read. It started out a little "teen-angst-y", and I almost gave up on it. But I stuck with it, and I'm very glad I did. The characters that it ended up pulling into it from the Marvel Universe made the book worth reading. (NO SPOILERS)

The timing of this book seems to take place around the early development of the X-Men and its followers. The author captures the anti-mutant feelings of the general populace fairly easily, while at the same time viewing the emerging powers of some of the younger mutant generation in a positive, or at least non-derogatory fashion.

With pure comic book action, a little bit of Comedy and a little bit of tragedy, this book starts out a bit slow but gains momentum very quickly. This is worth reading and worth owning in my opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aconyte Books for allowing me to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I’m so happy that this novel series is a thing. Admittedly, this book is the only one I’ve read in it… But I love Rogue and have done since I was a kid. So this was obviously the way it was going to be. I was lucky enough to receive my e-book copy of this through Netgalley for an honest review. So thanks very kindly to the folks at Aconyte Books for that.

Rogue: Untouched is an origin story. It follows a young Anna Marie as she works to try to earn money to get out of the town she nearly killed her boyfriend in as a teenager. One day two mysterious people walk into her cafe, and she doesn’t realise that, together, they’ll change her life forever.

I knew I was going to love this book. What I didn’t realise was how quickly I was going to get through it. If I hadn’t kept getting distracted, I probably could have read it in one sitting. Straight from the off, you’re feeling for Marie. You want her to be able to get out there and when Gambit arrives. Well, you know you want them to help each other. Marie was someone who was struggling. But she was doing her best to do the right thing, and that made her likeable. Even if I’m a bit eeek knowing what group she’s actually been asked to join. But she was with them in the comics at first, apparently, so it makes sense.

I mentioned Gambit. And boy, do I love Remy. Childhood crush reignited in this book. A questionable charmer with a Louisiana accent. Why is that so attractive? I was definitely rooting for him and Marie but honestly? I’d have liked more build up there. It did kind of feel a little fast. I’d just have liked more interaction and fun, I guess.

The action in this book was good, and it kept it pretty fast-paced. The action did feel like something in a comic, and that was pretty well done. There was a variety of different mutations and seeing how they all worked really added something to the story. Other than Rogue and Gambit though, I only really knew two of the other mutants. I won’t say who as one is a spoiler. I know the bug girl was made up for this book because of the acknowledgements, but I don’t know if the other Mutants were. I liked them though.

Overall, I really liked this, and I might have to check out the other Heroines novels!

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

I am well-versed in comics, but rarely read novelizations, and I don't think I should have broke my habit with this book. The situations seemed particularly contrived and unrealistic. In this small Mississippi town, we're expected there to not only be a secret society recruiting mutants, but also an underground slavery trade?

By the nature of Rogue's abilities, she can easily be seen as overpowered, but even for a superhero book, she is a bit too adaptable to be believed. She becomes a little bit too quick to be ok with being a mutant, especially as it sets up there being cultural prejudices in effect. It was lovely to get cameos of other X-Men characters in the book, Gambit especially, but I'm not sure I'd believe a 19-year-old girl would take home a stranger, lie to the police for him, put up with all his con-artist manipulations (including a secret wife?!?), and still want to speak with him at the end of the book.

Overall, I'd recommend giving this book a pass. Rogue's origin story is covered much better elsewhere.

#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review
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

As a young one, I was a huge fan of the X-Men cartoon; my brother and I would not miss a new episode. So when I saw an ARC for a novel specifically about one of my favorite characters, Rogue, how could I not jump on the chance to read it? And bonus, my all time favorite, was also a part of the story! If you know anything about Rogue's backstory, you know who I'm talking about, Gambit.

This wonderful story of two young mutants, meeting for the first time, and helping each other through some tough times, is a great read. You get insights into Rogue's mind and get more of the story that has shaped her life to this point, something you don't get to see often. Even if the book ends a little too abruptly for me, I feel there are loose ends that needed to be tied up, I would highly recommend it to fans of stories with strong, sassy protagonists, and fans of X-Men, Marvel, and comics in general. Hopefully, there will be a sequel to this story, and more Marvel Heroines stories to come.

Anna Marie is a waitress at a diner in rural Mississippi with a bad reputation. Everyone blames her for causing the high school's star quarterback to fall into a coma. Even though he recovered, Marie is still the black sheep of the town, was never able to finish high school, and is estranged from her family. Things start to change when a stranger Cajun named Remy shows up at the diner. Marie rescues him from some bullies and takes him to her apartment to recover. Along the way, she discovers that he and she are mutants. A few days later, she and Remy are kidnapped by mutant slavers. They must find a way to free themselves and save the other kidnapped mutants, but will Marie be able to help with her new powers or will she fail spectacularly?

Though most of my X-men knowledge stems from the movies and some deep dives into the Marvel Wiki, I always really loved the idea of Rogue's character, so I was pumped to see she got her own novel!

Rogue: Untouched follows Anne Marie (Rogue) as she, after a disastrous prom night where her boyfriend ended up in a coma, works as a waitress while dreaming about going off to college and leave her town behind.
Everything changes when the gambler Remy walks into her diner, and she learns about her mutant identity.

First of all, I really want to give a shout-out to Alisa Kwitney's writing. She did a marvellous job giving Rogue her own, distinct voice. I really felt like I got to know Rogue better and I loved reading how she learned to use her abilities while simultaneously growing her confidence.
There was a lot of emphasis on her relationships with secondary characters too and I really enjoyed how well-defined these fellow outcasts and misfits were. The group dynamics and the tension throughout the novel really made the comic vibe palpable.

I think overall this is book works well as both a Rogue-centric introductory novel to the bigger X-men universe for movie-only watchers, but also for people more familiar with the comics, as there seem to be quite a few of X-men cameos. That said, I can't really say how loyal this adaptation is to the comics as I'm not very familiar with them, haha.

All in all, Rogue: Untouched is a fun read with an interesting villain with enough action and stakes that I'm certain many readers will devour this within a day. There are also themes of self-discovery, found family and, well, superpowers. A very enjoyable superhero/fantasy read!

Aconyte Books gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review..
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

Rogue has long been one of my favourite X-Men and it was great to see her origin story in this novel. The supporting cast was great, filled with old favourites and some new mutants that I wasn't as familiar with, and of course, Gambit. I'm hoping there will be a sequel to this because I'd love to continue with Rogue's story.

Just so you know, all my X-men knowledge comes from First Class/Days of Future Past, a few episodes of the Saturday morning cartoon, and one random trip down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, but I thought this was really fun.

I loved Rogue and the rest of the characters. I know a lot of them are already established from the comics, but I thought Kwitney did a good job making them come to life. I thought Rogue was a really interesting protagonist. The first person POV worked because her voice was so distinct, and the supporting cast really made the story that much more compelling. I'm really hoping this is part of a series because I want to spend more time with the sisterhood of misfits and outcasts. I just feel like there's a lot more to explore with Rogue and the other mutants and would love to see them developed more.

The story itself was entertaining and had a little bit of everything: action, romance, self-discovery, and superpowers. The plot moved at a good pace and kept me engaged the whole time. I thought part 3 was a little rushed, but overall, it was an enjoyable way to spend my Saturday afternoon.

Aconyte Books gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review, and now for the mandatory legalese 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

I was SO PUMPED to see Rogue: Untouched as a book. I am a nerdy comic book fan who can't get enough, so obviously I was going to jump on the bandwagon and pick up a few Marvel superhero books when I get the chance.

Rogue: Untouched was a mysteriously epic novel that re-introduces Rogue - a very famous X-Men member who is also incredibly dangerous. She drains people she touches, so she's one to watch out for. I would argue she's one of the more underrated X-Men (at least in popular culture). I'm glad she got her own book to explore her more! She was always one of my personal faves.

This felt like a New Adult novel, but it still worked wonderfully. It had it's dark and gritty moments and it had it's goofy, smiling moments. I really enjoyed Alisa Kwitney's writing as well - it fit the narrative incredibly.

If you don't know much about Marvel or the X-Men then you may not totally enjoy it as a reader. It's still easy to jump into and you don't need the background knowledge, but I can easily see fans of Marvel and the X-Men getting more giddy over it.

Overall, this is a great fantasy/superhero read.

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aconyte for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Marvel Heroines book Rogue Untouched by Alisa Kwitney, 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 that cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.

Also I won’t lie, I have looked at other reviews to see what others think, so there may be some influences from them in this book review. If I am going to quote them, I will attribute them. But if I forget to, or something is highly influenced by them, and you think I ought to attribute someone, let me know so that I can.

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 Marvel Heroines series focuses on the female hero’s of the Marvel universe, the first book in the series was Domino Strays, which I really enjoyed, so I was looking forward to this book.

The Story
This is an origin story for our favourite power absorbing mutant Anne Marie also known as Rogue, and this is firmly set in the Aconyte-618 Earth, so its been able to abandon many of the fine details about Rogues 616 backstory and reimagine it in a slightly more modern and interesting way.

The character of Rogue has been depicted very differently in the many media forms in which she has appeared outside the comics, with only the 90s Cartoon being close to it. In the movies, she was basically Kitty Pryde, but fit into that story they were making.

Here in this novel she is probably a mixture of the comics, cartoon and movies, to form a well developed character, who when we meet her, has no idea that she is even a mutant, and is subsisting as a waitress in a diner. That is until she encounters a handsome Cajun gambler, who brings her into a whole new world.

In this book, Rogue is a character who is unsure of herself, having put her high school boyfriend into a coma, she is just trying to get out of her small town so that she can go to university and study psychology. We get to see her interactions with her friend, neighbours, boss and overly religious aunt, which really does give us a great background for the character.

The story is told in a first person persepective and we really do get to know Rogue, better than I think we ever have before, especially in this early part of her life. We do see the internal trauma she has from the earliest manifestations of her powers, but I do feel like this is kinda put aside in place of more focus on the self-doubt, but another reviewer (Katie Clark) pointed out that having the trauma happen before the events of the novel, allowed us to see her become a more empowered woman, which I agree with.

Conclusion
This book is a very enjoyable read, although parts of the conclusion felt a little bit rushed, and I did like that as well as well known mutants like Pyro and Toad being featured, we also had lesser known ones like Zeitgeist and Nature Girl, and even some mutants who I am not at all familiar with, one of who I think was created for this story.

The Characters are super three-dimensional, there is no wasted characters here, and even those with bit parts feel a lot more fleshed out than I would have expected them to be.

Also the little reference to The 10th Kingdom, made me smile as I thought that was an awesome mini-series.

I think this book deserves a solid 4.5 stars out of 5, and I only knock it down a touch because the ending felt a little rushed and I think another chapter or two would have been appreciated.

There is also nice room in there for sequels, and I really hope that there are some.

The eBook is released on the 4th May and the paperback hits the shelves on 10th June.

Amazing!!! I am a massive marvel fan so I was excited to receive this arc! For those who love marvel this will not disappoint

Rogue: Untouched brings a fresh new take on one of the X-Men's best. The story follows a young Rogue as she discovers her powers.

I've loved Rogue through cartoon shows, movies, and comics, and seeing Rogue in a story format was so great! I felt like this allowed for more of an understanding of her thought process which was a really neat thing to explore.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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

Being a fan of X-Men I knew Rogue and her powers but within the book it took me a while to discover it was really her. However, I appreciated Rogue's back story on how she was a normal struggling teenage girl and then discovers the strength of her powers almost preventing her from living the teenage lifestyle. Once I read on the story, everything started to come to light and I appreciated a back story on Rouge and whom she could trust before she became part of X-Men. Marvel and X-Men are huge in our YA collection and I know our community (myself) included will appreciate a super heroine story and Rogue: Untouched will be the perfect addition.

We will consider adding this title to our YGraphic Novel collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

In hindsight, I was totally the wrong audience for this book, so I won't be rating it. (3 used on NG for middling purposes only).

I know NOTHING about Marvel. Zip. Nada. Zilch. I haven't watched the films or read the comics, and I've no idea who any of the characters are. But I requested this one because a) I like Alisa Kwitney's writing and b) the premise sounded interesting, so I figured this could be my intro to the Marvel world.

But I developed a suspicion pretty quickly that the book wouldn't finish with the romance in the place I wanted it to be. When I went on Wikipedia, that got confirmed for me. So I'm DNFing, but if you already like the Marvel universe and know what you're signing yourself up, I'm sure you'll enjoy it because Kwitney is a good writer.

Me: Wouldn’t it be great if there was a new Marvel book series?
Marvel: *Releases Marvel Heroines series*
Me: THANK YOU!

I loved Alisa Kwitney’s take on Rogue’s personality. Anne Marie (aka Rogue) is one of those characters you’re desperate to learn more about. Her power - absorbing powers, energy and memories - and her fear of the consequences of using it (draining people/making them vulnerable) creates a brilliant conflict which makes her story perfect for the novel medium. I love that this was an origins story where it wasn’t just ‘yay, I have powers now’ but emphasised her need to understand how to use her abilities and trust herself. This dovetailed perfectly with her growing relationships; learning what instincts to listen to, who to trust and open up to but also to rely on herself first. Actually, every character was well defined and nuanced, the group dynamics were great and I especially enjoyed the wariness and warmth she feels towards both Remy (aka Gambit) and Lucretia.

I actually preferred how she readily embraced her mutant identity and the idea that she had powers. The simplicity and humour behind this scene was really refreshing. I was expecting it to be a bit darker and focus more heavily on the trauma (in places it maybe could have gone deeper) but I think placing the nearly-killing-the-boyfriend-with-a-kiss before the events of the novel made Rogue a tougher, more empowered character. The plotting and pacing worked perfectly for me. I was so ready for her to really test herself but also anxious because of her lack of control! I loved the big battle scene and where the book ended.

I would happily read a sequel following these characters and I’m really excited to read the rest of the Marvel Heroines series. Please, please, please recruit more amazing writers for lots of books, then connect up the characters and storylines to build to something epic (like the films but in book medium)! I am so ready for Marvel Phase Novels!

Thank you netgalley and Aconyte books for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Confession: I don’t get the appeal of Rogue and Gambit. Like it’s not that they’re bad characters but they have the least dramatic story of any superhero couple. Their only obstacle is Rogue not being able to touch Gambit and they’ve figured out a way around that half the time. The recent decision to have them get married was a brilliant one and let them just be a happy couple. Good.

But that’s not going to stop me from reviewing a novel all about them. I am bound and determined to cover every forthcoming comic book novel and next up is indeed Rogue: Untouched from writer Alisa Kwitney, author of the fascinating Hawkeye/Black Widow romance novel New Avengers: Breakout, which suffice it to say isn’t an accurate adaptation of the comic but is pretty good. I’ve got biases. I’ve got a chance to put them aside. So how did this shake out for me?

Anna Marie is a waitress in the south afraid of her ability to drain the life from people. Into her world comes trouble in the form of Remy LeBeau, a redeyed swaggering Cajun hunk. They hit it off at once as Remy helps her realize her powers can be a benefit. But then a mysterious order led by a shapeshifter gets its eyes on her. And then an organization captures her and Remy, referring to her as a “rogue specimen.” Can the newly dubbed Rogue fight her way out and find her place? Will she revert to a normal life or use her powers to help? And what about Remy and the blonde in his past? What’s to come?

OK so even though this book covered very familiar territory I largely enjoyed it. I’ll get my issues out of the way first. This is hardly anything new. You know exactly where it’s going from the word go. There’s a bit of Rogue’s comic origin here and a bit of the movie prequel comic. Nothing here is fresh or shocking. It’s not bad but if you’re looking for something startling, this ain’t it.

That said this is a page turner. It’s a fun brisk read that moves fast. The villain is interesting if a bit of a cliche with his plot to sell mutants as weapons. Everybody is written very well actually. Rogue is a nicely strong heroine and her speech thankfully not written with an accent. I can’t complain that Gambit is from the Christian Grey/Edward Cullen cloth since he always has been.

What this really does is deliver the premise. This is a Rogue/Gambit story and it feels like the purest dose of that. Thus far the Aconyte line has stayed away from familiar characters but this was a stellar way to get classic. If you’re a fan of these two, you’ll be thrilled. The addition of characters like Toad in the background and Mimic also helps this feel like a line drive from 90s X-fans. It genuinely captures the comic vibe perfectly.

So yeah, I’m not the biggest Rogue/Gambit fan. But I can recommend this one. It arrives on May 4. Give it a read.

NOTE: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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