I feel a little bit like a fool but... oh well.

The book was misleadingly shelved into the Comic Books & Graphic Novels - which kind of makes sense when you remember that Marvel characters were first introduced in comics not movies. But I was looking for a graphic novel to read, not a 300-page novel.

I struggled through 20% of the book and decided to DNF it. It has nothing to do with the writing (which was quite enjoyable) or the plot (which was just starting to become interesting). You just have to know a bit about the Marvel Universe (maybe not just from the movies) and be looking for a full-length novel set in it. Which I wasn't.

Overall, this novel will certainly be appreciated by fans wanting to get their Marvel fix between the films and TV shows.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy. All opinions expressed above are my own.

With the real Avengers gone, Norman Osborn, the erstwhile Green Goblin, has assembled his own Avengers, made up of supervillains masquerading as their heroic counterparts, to step up and protect the world…kinda. This is his chance to be a hero and put the Goblin to rest for good. But he has a hard job trying to keep his team members in check, inclined as they are to senseless violence, murder and wisecracks. When a list of their possible replacements is stolen by S.H.I.E.L.D. sympathisers, putting his power at risk, he unleashes the full force of his twisted team of heroes to get it back…preferably without telling them what’s on the list.
“Dark Avengers: The Patriot List” is a new novel from the Marvel Untold line, written by David Guymer, relating a hitherto unknown tale based on the Dark Avengers comic storyline. And oh my goodness…it is SO good. Sparking writing, sassy dialogue and some of the best-written action scenes I have ever read. Concise, punchy prose propels the story forward with not a word wasted. Guymer gets the tone just right with a story pitched in that sweet spot between serious and crazy, with blistering action scenes and a pacy plot.
One of my favourite things about “Patriot List” is that there are darkly funny moments aplenty - I mean pitch-dark, even during scenes of brutal violence. Memorably, there is an hilarious “Friends” (the TV show) reference which we can all relate to. Or maybe that’s just me… Anyway, you’ll find yourself flinching, chuckling then flinching again, and enjoying every minute of it.
I cannot and will not get over how good “Dark Avengers: The Patriot List” is. Author David Guymer absolutely nails each of the diverse characters, from the gloriously shameless Bullseye, the god-like but troubled Sentry and especially Venom, who possibly has never been so sympathetically depicted. Whilst the reader may not exactly care about the characters in the regular sense, you do find yourself rooting for them in a weird way - they are so damned entertaining! This book is a joyous celebration of bad guys pretending to be good guys, and doing what comes naturally.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Aconyte Books for an advanced copy of this new Marvel adventure.

David Guymer has done something amazing and spectacular in his book Dark Avengers: The Patriot List: A Marvel: Untold Novel, a prose novel set in the Marvel Comic Universe. Mr. Guymer has taken a storyline, the replacing of the Avengers with the Dark Avengers, criminals and reprobates led by ex(?)-Green Goblin villain Harry Osborn pretending to be heroes, one that I never enjoyed, and made we want to know and read more. My. Guymer has a real skill in taking comic book characters and making them see more vibrant and alive while reading than they ever did on any splash page during this run. The plot is interesting, the characters are all written differently with unique voices, and though most of them are mass murderers in every sense, the reader has an interest in what happens to them, and each bit of action is different for every one of them.

Having more than a working knowledge of the Marvel Comic universe will help in the enjoyment, but things are explained well so the layperson can enjoy the story. There is a brief introduction to the Dark Avengers and what they stand for, and the story drops into full on comic action. Mr. Guymer mixes classic, new and underused characters, and makes them all seem important.

I really enjoyed this book, far more than I expected. I would love to see what Mr. Guymer would do in the comic world. As it is I can't wait to read more by him. Highly recommended for and Marvel Zombie, even if like me you found the Seige storyline not that interesting. Though I know if Mr. Guymer had been writing, it would have been a storyline appearing on my top ten. I'm excited to have found a new author to follow.

Thank you so much for letting me get an early digital copy of this book, I loved it! The patriot list is so well-paced and action-packed, you cannot get bored! I am sad I didn't read the first one before getting to this one but I feel like I was still able to enjoy it. The plot was so good and I loved it when familiar characters appeared in this novel. I would love to see it on screen!

Under Norman Osborn’s jurisdiction, the Avengers have been secretly re-formed with a cabal of deadly super villains. This is Osborn’s chance to finally put the Green Goblin behind him and become the Iron Patriot the world needs him to be. But villains aren’t easy to wrangle into the place of heroes – doing damage control for his new line-up constantly puts his empire at risk. When S.H.I.E.L.D. loyalists break into Avengers Tower and steal the secret list of replacements for his team of maniacs, the threat to his reign becomes intolerable. Osborn unleashes the worst of the worst to crush those responsible… It’s hard to be a hero!


Dark Avengers: The Patriot List is another novel set in Marvel Untold line, to be published in October of 2021. I was graciously allowed an early preview galley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of super-hero fiction and a long-time follower of the Marvel Universe. More so, though, I love good villain stories. Something about tales that put these complex characters into interesting situations truly fascinates me, and author David Guymer delivers on all those counts. The story is fast-paced, full of action and mayhem as well as characters struggling with their own inner demons. Some handle it better than others! Guymer is also very well-versed in Marvel history, drawing from many aspects to tell his story which can easily fit within published issues of the comic book lines. That makes this "untold tale" work so well.

This one is recommended for Marvel fans and action/adventure fans.



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'd like to thank Netgalley and Aconyte Books for giving me a free review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Avengers: the Patriot List is a fast-paced, action-packed novel.

This is the second installment from the Marvel Untold line and I'm sad to say that I haven't read the first one. Nonetheless, I didn't need to be familiar with the first one because getting into the storyline of the second one was easy and I didn't feel lost at all.
However, the readers need to have basic knowledge of the world of Marvel with its heroes and villains. Because the story is filled with so many characters and it will be hard to keep track of all of them if you don't have basic prior knowledge of any of them.

With that being said, Dark Avengers: the Patriot List follows the story of Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers. S.H.I.E.L.D is no more and the Avengers are gone, allowing the Dark Avengers to seize control. But there are still heroes who want to expose the Dark Avengers for what they truly are.
Many familiar and well-loved characters appear in this novel. Their characterization is strong and the story oozes with personality.

It's fun, it's gritty and it's incredibly film-able. It would be perfect for the silver screen.
There is no idle moment and our heroes and villains have a lot to lose.










#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.

I’ve loved superheroes all my life. From watching reruns of the Batman TV show in the 70s, the short lived live action Spider-man show back in 1977, to collecting actual comics in the 80s, and watching the too numerous to list cartoons versions put out over the last 40-50 years, and now to all the movies both DC and Marvel are cranking out. I love it all. So I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read an eARC of The Patriot List. This is a prose novel, not a graphic novel. Marvel has been putting out such novels for a while now, and I’ve read a number of them. The one that springs to mind most readily is Days of Future past. And yes, these books, at least the ones I’ve read, are novelizations of stories from the comics, which I love. The novelizations add extra depth to those stories. Now while I still occasionally check out actual comics, my prime comic reading/collecting was really from the mid 80’s to the early 90’s. So as I said, while I know a bit about the Dark Avengers much of this story was new to me. Which I actually found very cool.
I must admit I was a bit confused at the start of the book, not being familiar with the storyline that preceded this story, only getting a quick. Recap that SHIELD and the Avengers had fallen and that Norman Osborne (yes, the former Green Goblin) was now heading the reformed Avengers under the mantle of Iron Patriot. But these aren’t the regular Avengers, oh no, these are the Dark Avengers. What’s that mean? Osborne has taken ‘villains’ and is exerting control of them in various ways to have them follow him while also having them pretend to be the heroes the world knows and love. Example? Daken is pretending to be Wolverine. Bullseye has taken up the mantel of Hawkeye, Venom is the team’s Spider-man and so on. I have to say I absolutely love it, as often times I find bad guys to be so much more interesting than their hero counterparts. And I must say Bullseye as Hawkeye is an absolute riot. I don’t want to give any story spoilers away, but lets say the story mostly revolves around Osborne being desperate to have his secrets remain just that, secret. There is plenty of action and a surprising amount of character development. I can definitely recommend this to comic fans, and I hope the rumors about a potential Dark Avengers movie happening in the future are true.
Thanks to Aconyte Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Dark Avengers: The Patriot List.

I am a fan David Guymers work with WH & AoS but didn’t really know what to expect from this foray into the marvel universe, the release of this book at almost the same time as the What If series on Disney + is a stroke of genius because the book is superb and so is the series, what I want now is Disney to make this book into a film (animated or real life), to see the so called villains in ascendancy is a pure joy, this book is a must read