"X-Rising's Review of the X-Novel "Law of the Jungle" by Dave Smeds"
by David (Jax)

I would have to say the cover to "Law of the Jungle" is a bit misleading. It shows Wolverine perched high in the air with Sauron, fighting. With Iceman, Ka-Zar and Cannonball trying to help him. Yet, none of these four are what I would call the main focus of this novel, Smeds seems to focus a lot of his narrating through Psylocke, who has the most "page-time" in this novel compared to anyone else. Which I honestly thought was an interesting character to focus on. With such more well-known X-Men in the novel, such as Wolverine or Storm, large parts of the story are told through Betsy. Not all the story, other portions are told by others.

The main basis of the story is this, Sauron has resurfaced in the Savage Land with his flunkies such as Brainchild, Lupo, Barbarus and Vertigo, except this isn't the Sauron of old. This new Sauron is far more cunning and slick, and able to elude the natives of the Savage Land. Sauron and his team have been attacking village of the Savage Land natives, killing, and taking. Sauron even takes down his once-friend Ka-Zar. To deal with this threat, Shanna, Ka-Zar's wife calls in the X-Men for assistance.

The X-Men, of course, head on their way to the Savage Land. But, this is not a regular X-Men. Smeds puts in characters he feels would make the most interesting story together, his team consists of; Psylocke, Archangel, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Iceman and Cannonball. He tersely explains the absenses of Cyclops and Pheonix, as well as Bishop but mentions nothing of Rogue or Gambit.

Smeds has a good feel for some of the characters, such as The Beast. He writes his educated vocabulary with prose, and Beast's wit is often seen. And the author does well with the people he focuses on, which isn't everyone. He neglects to mention Cannonball at all for a long period of time in the book, as well as Iceman.

The author also is a bit confusing with his characterization of Psylocke and Ka-Zar. One moment, they are both looking longingly at each other (even though both are involved with others) and this is when their significant others are very close by! What? Does that make sense? Does Smeds just want to fulfill some fanboy-esque dream of seeing Psylocke naked? Actually....that does happen later in the book, but with no Archangel or Ka-Zar around. This attraction between the two is played upon during the entire novel, and as a reader, I had to ask myself, Why? I really didn't see a point to it. Especially for Psylocke, who are one moment would be thinking of Ka-Zar's attractiveness and the next her love for Warren. The transition between the two was not always clear.

As for the rest of the novel, it moves at a nice pace. Some parts could have been told without so much detail, but there were few moments like that. The main point of interest for me was this new Sauron and seeing how and why he is operating as he is now, which Smeds does explain in a interesting little twist.

So, I would highly recommended this book to any fan of Psylocke who is missing her during her absense from the X-Men, or to fans who like to ponder over how the X-Men should be formed, this look at a 7 person team can be intriguing. Also for those Ka-Zar/Savage lands buffs, this book is a must-have. Overall, X-Rising gives Dave Smeds' "Law of the Jungle" a B.