turn, Cyclops now plans to harness the Phoenix and restore mutantkind, which had recently been decimated by gonemad Avenger the Scarlet Witch. The fulcrum of Cyclops’ plan is new pupil Hope Summers, a powerful young mutant with the ability to channel the Phoenix Force. When the Avengers arrive en masse at Utopia, insisting on protective custody for Hope, Cyclops refuses, and the fists, shields, lightning bolts, adamantium claws, repulsor rays and optic blasts fly. The book paints the entire story in broad, workmanlike strokes in 12 straight issues of Avengers vs. X-Men, then punches in texture with six straight issues of AvX:Vs, a series of one-on-onebattle vignettes that roughly follow the main arc’s chronology, featuring standout “How We Roll,” which winningly parodies the whole affair. Ordering the collection by story, not series, would have allowed for a more organic appreciation, as Marvel treads similar ground of morally ambiguous conflict in Civil War (2006). AvX does take an appealing twist, with a handful of X-Men reborn as the Phoenix Five, who rule as benevolent global tyrants. But the Phoenix always goes dark, and the finale marks the apotheosis of Cyclops’ recent trajectory from his stiff and bland original incarnation to flawed and fragile in Morrison’s 2001 New X-Men and, now, to villain, à la Green Lantern in Emerald Twilight (1996). Artist Olivier Copiel, who illustrates a third of the Avengers vs. X-Men issues, stuns with his sleek redesigns of the Phoenix Five X-Men, particularly the avian Cyclops’ Robocop-like visor. The digital material available via Marvel’s Augmented Reality app offer some insider looks, with video creator interviews and animated step-by-step recreations of panels, but it seems underutilized in terms of dynamically connecting the story to the decades of Marvel cannon. An uneven must for fanboys.
LETTERS FROM SKYE
Brockmole, Jessica Ballantine (304 pp.) $25.00 | Jul. 9, 2013 978-0-345-54260-1
In 1912, a chance letter from a young student to a reclusive poet sparks a transAtlantic romance spanning two wars. A fear of water has kept Elspeth Dunn on the Isle of Skye for all of her 24 years. Yet her poetry has traveled far, even to the bedside of David Graham, an American college student whose spirited shenanigans have landed him in the hospital with a broken leg. He writes her a fan letter, she responds, and an epistolary affair ensues. Yet more than water keeps the couple apart. David is struggling to gain independence from his domineering father. His grades are woeful and his career prospects uncertain. Worse, Elspeth happens to be already married. Her husband, Iain, has abandoned her to fight in the Great War. When David spontaneously decides to enlist as an ambulance driver, Elspeth is both terrified for him and thrilled at the prospect of meeting him face to face. Complicating matters is the disappearance of Iain, who is soon presumed dead. Jumping 8
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ahead to 1940, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, escorts evacuated children to safe homes in the Scottish Highlands. She, too, has a wartime pen pal: Paul, a childhood friend–turned–Royal Air Force pilot. Elspeth cryptically warns Margaret about wartime romances, but before she can explain, she disappears during an air raid. Left with only an old love letter, Margaret begins searching for her mother, piecing together clues to a family secret. The correspondence between Elspeth and David, as well as between Margaret and Paul, carefully traces the intertwining of lives. By turns lyrical and flirtatious, Brockmole’s debut charms with its wistful evocation of a time when handwritten, eagerly awaited letters could bespell besotted lovers.
NO ONE COULD HAVE GUESSED THE WEATHER
Casey, Anne-Marie Amy Einhorn/Putnam (288 pp.) $25.95 | Jun. 13, 2013 978-0-399-16021-9
A subversively charming debut about a group of happily imperfect New Yorkers from Dublin-based Casey, wife of novelist Joseph O’Connor. The novel is bookended by Lucy’s story: After the financial crash, Lucy, Richard and their two small boys are forced out of their posh London lives and move to Manhattan, where Richard makes due at a reduced salary, and they take over the apartment he kept for business. Lucy learns she’s much nicer away from all the haves, and she discovers she’s actually in love with her very kind husband. Lucy’s new friend Julia, meanwhile, has a dilemma: Can she, a high-powered screenwriter, go on with a flaky yoga instructor? She thinks not, and so, shockingly, she leaves her husband, Kristian, and their children and has a little nervous breakdown, followed by a lot of career advancement. Meanwhile, Julia’s best friend Christy (her husband, Vaughn, is a rich and powerful senior citizen) is learning, after the nanny’s abrupt departure, that she likes taking care of her twin girls—especially when the dashing, fun-loving Irish doorman is with them. When Christy’s 40-year-old stepdaughter Lianne insists Christy accompany her to an “equine assisted learning” retreat, Christy invites Julia, who invites Lucy (Christy is a bit jealous of this), and then Robyn finds her way in (although she’s already part of the group in a way, having had affairs with both Vaughn and Kristian). The trip is a disaster for spoiled Lianne, but Robyn decides she’s had it with Ryan, whose promising literary debut has been followed by years of Robyn slaving away at a mattress showroom for his art. Each chapter feels like a well-composed short story, and the collected whole is fresh and bright with characters that defy expectations. Clever and witty: the best kind of summer book.