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A review by lesserjoke
MARVEL's Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos: Titan Consumed (Marvel Studio' Avengers: Infinity War) by Barry Lyga
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.