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ellieafterall's review against another edition
4.0
”I blame myself for much. If I learn from it, it will not be so bad.”
If there is nothing I can do in my current predicament, then I will have to change the predicament. And this will call for drastic measures.
The sheer existence of me is at once a weighty and weightless thing.
If there is nothing I can do in my current predicament, then I will have to change the predicament. And this will call for drastic measures.
The sheer existence of me is at once a weighty and weightless thing.
evanbondauthor's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. It was fun learning about Thanos' past and history. There are some fun easter eggs for fans to catch, which I won't spoil. I always wondered where Thanos learned of the infinity stones and how he started to seek them out. This book does an excellent job making you sympathize with the Mad Titan.
lizbethandthelifeinbetween's review against another edition
2.0
I found this book very boring. It has large fonts and margins, not a lot of content, none of it very interesting. Didn't like Thanos as a character, didn't care about anything at all really while reading this. This had a few saving graces of a chapter here and there but for the most part I am very glad this was not a dense 400 page novel. I'm upset I paid full price for the hard back though. Very upset. I hope my library likes it once they start accepting donations.
gswizzel's review against another edition
5.0
This book was definitely worth the wait!
If you watched Infinity War and you're wanting Thanos' backstory/more depth to his character, I 100% recommend you pick this book up as it's also MCU canon. I loved it!
If you watched Infinity War and you're wanting Thanos' backstory/more depth to his character, I 100% recommend you pick this book up as it's also MCU canon. I loved it!
schmanderpants's review against another edition
4.0
I hated and loved this book. I love character bios and world building so this book was right up my alley. However, the amount of weird sympathy (that I felt was thrown at my head directly) at the top of the story weighed me down. At the end of the day, yes, MCU’s Thanos sucks majorly but please do not try to get me to pity this sociopath. Math, a genius does not make, since there were clearly many other options to “saving” the universe than eliminating half of the population. MANY. OTHER. OPTIONS.
lesserjoke's review
2.0
Originally announced and written as the first novel set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before Disney walked back that claim just before publication, this book presents the backstory of its title character and the origins of his quest to destroy half of all life in existence. (The exact reasons for the Mouse revoking a canonical status remain unclear. I see no contradictions with any of the on-screen continuity through Avengers: Infinity War, so presumably there's something in here that goes against future plans for the MCU's cosmic inhabitants, unbeknownst at the time to author Barry Lyga.)
Even if this were still an official part of the series, though, I wouldn't be able to really recommend it to anyone. The plot is largely unremarkable, and there are so many ridiculous leaps in character logic, most of which hinge on Thanos's absolute conviction that he's mathematically determined the certainty of a planet's entire population dying off -- despite making numerous other miscalculations over the course of the text -- or him killing whole worlds of people anyway when they don't agree with his diagnosis or proposed cull.
And while there's definitely potential for someone to tell an interesting, compelling story about such a misguided savior, rich in dramatic irony about what he's overlooking, there's no attempt at that sort of complexity here. Instead the narrative is completely on Thanos's side, which makes it practically impossible to ever take seriously. It's just the tale of a bullied child who refuses to check his math, kills a lot of people, and eventually learns what Infinity Stones are. It's inessential, non-canonical, and generally not worth your time.
Even if this were still an official part of the series, though, I wouldn't be able to really recommend it to anyone. The plot is largely unremarkable, and there are so many ridiculous leaps in character logic, most of which hinge on Thanos's absolute conviction that he's mathematically determined the certainty of a planet's entire population dying off -- despite making numerous other miscalculations over the course of the text -- or him killing whole worlds of people anyway when they don't agree with his diagnosis or proposed cull.
And while there's definitely potential for someone to tell an interesting, compelling story about such a misguided savior, rich in dramatic irony about what he's overlooking, there's no attempt at that sort of complexity here. Instead the narrative is completely on Thanos's side, which makes it practically impossible to ever take seriously. It's just the tale of a bullied child who refuses to check his math, kills a lot of people, and eventually learns what Infinity Stones are. It's inessential, non-canonical, and generally not worth your time.
squidbag's review
4.0
Well-written, and MCU's the character without overly contradicting his original MU origins. Elements of Thanos Rising and some of the other more recent comics material are seamlessly interwoven - it's all a rich tapestry. Makes him sympathetic - born a deformed mutant, ostracized, distant and/or insane parents, isolated, exiled, enslaved - and also simultaneously less so at the same time. For a brilliant genius, it's hard to believe that the only mathematically workable solution for low resources is extermination by half. Also, his internal ability to meditate on philosophy is curiously stunted in the way that clever serial killers exhibit. Good and compelling, but not without its flaws. Very little of the rest of the MCU is here - it is truly background.
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