Guardians of the Galaxy: Collect Them All

Marvel Press Novels

by Corinne Duyvis

We are Groot!

When the Guardians attempt to evacuate a Kree prison planet and end up in a fight for their lives - what else is new? - they discover their old pal Groot is stretched a little thin. Someone is planting stolen branches of the monosyllabic hero and selling the saplings across the galaxy! The search to find Groot's missing pieces forces the Guardians into an alliance with the unscrupulous Collector, but the real problem is more complicated than he wants them to believe. The seller is a kid. And she's got more than a few things in common with Gamora -like green skin and a wild temper.

Now with an unruly teen in tow, the Guardians attempt to track down the remaining Groots - and discover an interplanetary conspiracy. War looms on the horizon. It's a race against the Collector, Groot himself, and the entire Kree armada. It's battle as Rocket likes it best.

Sit back and watch the destruction as Corinne Duyvis, author of Otherbound and On the Edge of Gone, makes her Marvel debut!

Genres: Marvel, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Comics

383 pages, Hardcover

First published April 18, 2017

About the author

To prevent my Goodreads friends list from becoming unwieldy, I only accept friend requests from people I know.

* * *

Corinne Duyvis is the critically acclaimed author of the YA sci-fi/fantasy novels Otherbound, which Kirkus called “a stunning debut;” On the Edge of Gone, which Publishers Weekly called “a riveting apocalyptic thriller with substantial depth;” and The Art of Saving the World, which Kirkus called “impossible to put down.” She is also the author of the original Marvel prose novel Guardians of the Galaxy: Collect Them All. Corinne hails from the Netherlands.

She’s a co-founder and editor of Disability in Kidlit as well as the originator of the #ownvoices hashtag.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the Marvel characters. In this one, Groot is taking a longer time than normal to recover from injuries. The Guardians soon find out that there have been sightings of Groot all over the galaxy which is not normal since Groot is suppose to be one of a kind.

My only experience with these comic characters are from the movies. I am going to say this book is based more on the characters from the comics instead of the movies. This team is organized, well known throughout the galaxy, and has saved it several times. They are not the lovable misfits from the movies. That being said I had no trouble picturing the characters even though there are slight differences. As for the story it was a decent story that had a nice message of the lengths your family will go to when a member is suffering. I actually believe that this story would have worked out better in comic form than prose form. With all the different Groots running around the prose form couldn't capture the nature of the chaos as I believe a visual form would have.

This was a quick read that I did enjoy. It wasn't mind blowing but I wasn't expecting it to be. It was a nice visit with these characters and who doesn't want to see more of the friendship between Rocket and Groot or Drax fighting an Accuser?

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe more of a 3.5 but I need to differentiate these Marvel audioreads somehow.



Fans of the MCU Guardians will enjoy as the characterization, and voice acting, is very much in keeping with that version. Plotwise it felt a little convoluted, I asked myself where it was all going on a number of occasions. To give her credit, the author brings it all together by the end but I somehow feel a book more closely based on the premise of The Collector creating an ersatz version of The Guardians for his museum and not the galactic politics and domestic terrorism angle she ultimately landed on could have engaged me more.

[Tess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devoted fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy will have observed in the latest GOTG movie Groot is still a baby. In most comic book continuities, Groot's regeneration isn't slow; Groot seems to be able to grow at will. Even when he "dies" if Rocket can recover just a splinter, he can have an instant Groot - at full strength and size - in a matter of time. The current "All-New Guardians of the Galaxy" story-line addresses an idea of what could possibly stunt Groot's growth, and so does this prose novel. I really enjoyed spending time with these characters, as I always do, and this book may not be high literature, but it was certainly entertaining and fun, and filled with surprisingly emotional moments, as GOTG stories usually are.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings about this book. I was thinking two stars, at first [2.3 - 2.5ish] at first. I felt it could probably have been cut in half, in some respects, as it started to feel like it was dragging just past the half-way mark. The ending, though, in various respects, brought it up to three stars for me [well, 2.8 - 2.9, rounded up]. It was odd; while there might have been a lot of "internal movement" it felt like the story was barely moving forward. The character development was pretty decent for some of the characters, but not all of them. I am not so sure how I felt about the "topic" or focus of the story itself; I guess it was not really what I expected. Groot is a decent character, but this is the second prose novel that essentially is focused on him [I know the first one also mutually focused on Rocket, as well].

In regard to the “main” characters and their "development" over the course of the story, as I said, it was pretty so-so for me. Consider:
Star-Lord: He was an odd mix. In the comics, he is not quite the "lovable buffoon" that he is in the movies, yet the character in the book seems to take after how he is portrayed in the movies. While he is still portrayed as being a quasi-"lady's man" in the novel, he does not have the infatuation with Gamora that he has in the movies. So I could not quite decide whether or not the novel was completely "standalone" from either the Marvel Cinema Universe of the comic-universe. During the Annihilation Wave, he was very serious as he was still struggling with having made a decision that resulted in the death of an entire planet in order to stop an even greater evil prior to the Annihilation Wave. In the new line of comics, he is not nearly as serious, and the weight of his prior mistakes no longer seems to way him down. So it seemed like in this story he definitely took a backseat to the other characters. Which is fine; whatever. He only really seemed to "shine" when he was flirting with Annay, anyway. The way the story was written, it felt like Star-Lord really was an unnecessary part of the novel as his part could have been "played" by any unknown character.

Gamora: She is presented as the "heart" and "glue" of the Guardians. Without her, there would apparently be no team to guard the galaxy. The comics would beg to differ with that, but, whatever. In the comics, she is incredibly more lethal than she was portrayed as in the movie(s), yet I thought the author did a decent job of portraying her lethality in the book. She is also presented as a no-nonsense, take-charge, "won't up with your nonsense" person (in line with the comics) who does develop "softer" feelings when she meets another living Zen-Whoberian teenage girl (Kiya). The girl is terrified of Gamora and refuses to speak to her, at first, but eventually Gamora wins her trust and respect, and the two part as friends. I would say Gamora probably had the greatest amount of character development over the course of the novel, and it ends with her having "the final word" ("Let's fly."). The author did do a nice job developing her character and how it changed, how she struggled with internal feelings of discovering she was no longer "alone" and the "last Zen-Whoberian" in the universe. She did not know how to handle these emotions, this discovery, and she spent the novel learning how to adapt to this new reality. Granted, Kiya was "only" half-Zen-Whoberian [her father's side], but the two females were (are) distant family as a result. Overall, a decent-to-good portrayal of the character.

Drax: he is a muddle. In the comics, he is not nearly quite so dense as he is portrayed in the movies or in this book. Granted, in the movies, he is not "post-human" like he is in the comics (I say "post-human" because his Terran name is Arthur Douglas and he was transformed into Drax the Destroyer by some inhabitants of Saturn's moon, Titan, in order to avenge the death of his family at the hands of Thanos). His level of intelligence tended to rise and fall in the comics until, for a while, he was portrayed as dim-witted and slow. That changed pre-Annihilation Wave, after which he would remain relatively smart and still relatively strong [but not quite as strong as before]. In the movies, he is of an alien race, but he does not seem to have the strength-levels or fighting skills as portrayed in the comics. The book blends the comics-character and the movie-character, removing Drax's humanity and ability to understand metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech while keeping Drax's strength and fighting-skills. I think I would have preferred if the author had kept Drax "one way or the other" but not blended both into the being she created. I felt he was the most poorly portrayed character in the bunch.

Rocket: I thought she did a good job portraying his character, especially how distrustful he was of Kiya after she was captured. He also had some good character development over the course of the novel; most if it was toward the end, but it was still good development (for him). I thought maybe he could have been a bit snarkier or sarcastic in some respects, but it is easier to portray attitude in pictures or film as opposed to the written word. I also liked how he stuck up for the Terran raccoons in the Collector’s arboretum and chastised the rest of the team for ignoring them. At the same time, it was definitely weird having Rocket call Gamora “Gams” or “Gammy” – definitely did not fit either character [I could maybe see Rocket saying it, once, but I could never see Gamora tolerating it. She has too much pride and self-respect to tolerate being slighted in such a way]. Overall, he was portrayed decently.

Groot: Groot originally used to be able to speak in full sentences and had plenty of arrogant attitude to boot. Then, after the Annihilation: Conquest event, he lost his ability to talk coherently. In the "first" Guardians of the Galaxy novel, the author explains how Groot actually communicates and how Rocket is able to understand him. I thought it was a pretty cool explanation. In this novel, ALL of the Guardians can understand Groot. I thought everybody being able to understand him took away from the novel, but in the movie the characters seemed to understand him pretty well, also. I like Groot, but this novel was a little too much of the character for me. I did find it funny how the author kept saying that Groot does not kill people unnecessarily when in the first movie, he shoved an "arm" through the torsos of about ten Kree soldiers and used them to bash another twenty soldiers to death before releasing them. Not only did he kill these soldiers in a violent fashion, but he turned back smile at Drax and Star-Lord afterwards. So the author's claims throughout the novel that Groot does not kill people unnecessarily or resort to killing people rings pretty false to me. It was not an accurate representation of Groot.

Kiya: she was an interesting character. I did like how she “grew” over the course of the novel. She went from somebody trying to sell offshoots of Groot to try and free herself of both the Collector and the implants the Collector put inside of her to somebody who cared about her actions and the consequences of those actions, somebody who tried to right the wrongs he or she committed. She assuredly matured over the course of the novel, and I thought the author did a nice job portraying that maturing. She also was incredibly intelligent for being “just a teenager”, but I could be thinking in terms of Terran teenagers and do not know how smart a half-Zen-Whoberian teenager might be, or how quickly such a teenager might pick up on advanced science. In some respects, I would almost say the novel was more about Gamora and Kiya than anybody else, how their friendship/relationship develops over the course of the novel. Gamora comes to care for Kiya unlike any of the other teammates [which kinda makes sense, as they are related by “blood”, albeit indirectly].

The Collector: he was a bit “meh” for me in the novel. I realize in the movie he is not portrayed as imposingly as he is in the comics, but he was equally unimpressive to me in the movie. The Collector is one of the Elders of the Universe, essentially an “Old God” who came into existence at the start of the universe. I did not care, completely, for how he was presented in the novel. I could see shades of the movie’s portrayal of him in the novel (especially his repeated “My friends!” every time he approached the Guardians of the Galaxy over the course of the novel). The movie and novelized portrayal of him is quite underwhelming; hopefully the next Avengers movie does a better job of portraying him.

The book definitely gets better as it draws to a close, which is good. It was becoming lethally boring between two-thirds and three-fourths of the way through. In my opinion, though, the best “scene” in the book involves Drax. Drax the Destroyer and a Kree female Accuser have been battling until their fight is interrupted by Kiya, who tells them a truce has been called between the Kree and the Guardians. After the two combatants slowly separate, it goes like this:

The Accuser finished her conversation as the same time as Drax. They stared at each other.
“This does not mean you win,” Drax told her.
“It doesn’t mean you win, either, Destroyer.”
“Hm.” He released her arm and climbed to his feet. “I was close, however. We can determine the winner another day.”
“I am Sor-Vall the Accuser, and I do not fight over petty reasons or pride. I fight for the glory of the Kree Empire.” She picked up her weapon, and used it to push herself upright. “Also, you were not remotely close.” (277-278)

Best scene in the book, period, bar none, for humor and nailing the attitudes and opinions of both characters! (And Drax’s seeking a “rematch” was equally funny (370). I could see that happening, as well, as the portrayal of Drax in the story is more the movie character as opposed to how he was originally portrayed in the comics.)

I would say the “best scene”, overall, in the book was definitely toward the end. When the “poison” Groot is ready to attack Rocket and the Kree military leaders, the rest of the splinters of Groot leap from the Guardian’s ship to merge together into a single Groot and protect Rocket, the Kree military leaders, and the civilians while engulfing and absorbing the poisonous splinter of himself (342-342).

The “scene” where Rocket gives up Kiya in exchange for the Collector’s remaining Groots was second-best, as I did not see it coming and it threw me for a loop. I could see Rocket pulling such a stunt, but it still surprised me. Then, the fact that it was a ploy to ensure Kiya would be removed from the Collector’s grasp, forever, and remain under Kree protection was a nice twist that surprised me even more. I did not see either twist coming! It was great! So the ending [well, bits from the last one hundred pages] really saved the book for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was not nearly what I expected, and it definitely slowed down and dragged along in places. But, overall, it was entertaining and I had fun reading it. The author had some interesting takes on some of the characters that worked really well. I did feel the book was more about Gamora and Kiya as opposed to Groot, in the end, which was fine with me. I am glad I took the time to read it.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guardians of The Galaxy: Collect Them All By Corrine Duyvis, is a original Marvel YA “prose” novel based on the Marvel comic’s Guardians of The Galaxy.

When the Guardians attempt to evacuate a Kree prison planet and end up in a fight for their lives they discover their old pal Groot is mysteriously sick. It is somehow linked to someone planting stolen branches of the monosyllabic tree hero and selling the Groot saplings across the galaxy! The search to find Groot's missing duplicates forces the Guardians into an alliance with the unscrupulous Collector, but the real problem is more complicated than he wants them to believe. The seller is a kid. And she's got more than a few things in common with Gamora like green skin and a wild temper. Now with an unruly teen in tow, the Guardians attempt to track down the remaining Groots and discover an interplanetary conspiracy. War looms on the horizon. It's a race against the Collector, Groot himself, and the entire Kree Empire.

Though it's not my favorite Marvel Prose novels - that honor, of course, still goes to Margaret Stohl's Black Widow books - Duyvis gives us a pretty unique and unexpected novel that proves to be a quick, fun read. It's not perfect, though. Some of the characterization of the various Guardians feels a little off to me - Quill/Star-lord comes across as less respectful of women than even his film counterpart, Gamora feels a tad underdeveloped, and Rocket...well, he's a scene-stealer for sure, but Duyvis' insistence on liberally filling his dialogue with made-up sci-fi swear words like "flark" and "d'ast" and "krutacking," in addition to the more standard "freaking," feels pretty out of place, as does his nicknaming of Gamora as "Gam" or, worse, "Gammy." But around these flaws, Duyvis gives us a story just as thought-provoking as the films - when Groot gets cloned and each clone's existence saps a little more of the original's power, is it ethical to collect them and wipe them out, or keep them alive and well-cared-for?

There are no easy answers.

Keep in mind before going into this book that it's not really related to the movies, despite featuring the same band of five Guardians. It wouldn't take place between the two volumes released thus far, so unlike Stohl's Black Widow books or other Marvel prose novels, it's really not explicitly part of the MCU. But if you like Marvel, and you like Guardians, you owe it to yourself to pick this book up and give it a good read.

[Dana Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick review: Not perfect, but a fun read for Guardians' fans.

I am a HUGE fan of Guardians of the Galaxy. I saw Vol. 2 a total of four times in theaters. Since I'm also a bookworm, I was psyched to find out that there's a Guardians book. So, without further ado, please enjoy my review, featuring the good and the bad. (All spoilers will have a bold warning before them.)

First, for the negative side, the writing style wasn't my favorite. It certainly fit the science fiction/action genre since it had a more tactical feel rather than the rich imagery I tend to find in fantasy books. Because of this, I was never fully immersed in the story. There were also a lot of different species, planets, and space technology that made it difficult to keep track at times.

Another problem I encountered was about the universe itself. I had no idea whether we were in the comic book universe or the MCU. While the personalities fit the MCU, the descriptions seemed more like their comic-book counterparts. (For the record, I've read exactly one GotG comic book and am fully aware of how little I know.)

I felt that while Rocket and Gamora had strong character arcs, Quill and Drax were pretty static. Even the new girl, Kiya, had a lot of development. Groot's character was fairly unchanged, but because of his part in the story, that was fine with me. His part was played very well.

I didn't mind the way the narrator shifted mid-chapter. However, there were several times I forgot who was narrating or thought a different character was narrating until halfway through. When that happened, I was jolted out of the story and back to reality as I scrambled to figure out what was going on. While I get why the chapters were set up this way, I would have liked for it to be a bit clearer in defining the narrator right off the bat.

However, no matter how many nit-picky complaints I may have, there is no denying the fact that Collect Them All did a great job of displaying the Guardians' personalities, skills, and unique ways of solving (and creating) problems. In that department, I loved it. Collect Them All had no shortage of battles and madcap incidents, and the dialogue was very Guardian-like. It made me laugh a lot. Exactly what you expect from the Guardians of the Galaxy.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Now, onto the spoilery stuff. So, yeah, if you haven't read Collect Them All, you should probably stop reading.

The main conflict was interesting. I enjoyed the exploration of growing new Groots as well as what makes Groot Groot. The Collector's tribute band was also interesting. It would have been fun to see the Collector unleash wannabe Drax and Quills on the Guardians, but we got Rocket disgusted by raccoons, so I can't really complain.

Having Quill's potential girlfriend wind up being evil was awesome. With all the alien names, I had a bit of trouble keeping track of which of the Kree were actually evil, but I got the gist of good and bad.

It's a small complaint, but I felt that the part where Kiya blows the Collector out of the ship (which I'm now realizing was never named, unless I somehow missed that part.) should have been an actual scene.

The climax with the Collector was mostly exposition. I don't know. There was a lot of good fighting with Annay and the DiMavi/Kree potential war that kind of made you forget about the Collector. Then, he comes back, and they quickly wrap everything up with a quick betrayal that wasn't really a betrayal and a few paragraphs of exposition. Then everything was wrapped up without a big fight against the Collector. I guess it's because they can't kill the Collector, but a bit more fighting might have been nice.

If you know me, you'll be able to guess my favorite part, easy.

"We're onto plan D."
"Yeah, sure, Quill. What the frick is plan D?"
He grimaced. "Defenestration."

What can I say? I love the action of throwing people out of windows. It was so fun to see my favorite word used in a book- and not just any book, a Guardians book. Would it have been nice if it wasn't Groot who was tossed out the window? Yes. But he's fine. No harm, no death. Just fun tossing folks out very high windows.

The Groot merging was a bit confusing for me. I understood it the first time. Groot's sacrificial nature connected all the Grootlings allowing them to come together and become Groot. However, did Poison Groot have that same thought when Big Groot merged with him? And what about the Collector's Grootlings? Were they sharing a thought or feeling when they merged? Or was it just that Big Groot was strong enough to take them all in.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The Groot conflict ending was very Guardians-like: blow stuff up, make more problems, and somehow save the galaxy with the power of love. Real sweet.

[toasty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Guardians from the movies, and especially Rocket, so I'm slowly going back through the Guardians books. :)

Overall I enjoyed this! These are not the MCU characters, but it does feel like there is inspiration from the first movie (the Collector being involved & the fact that this was commissioned was undoubtedly related to the movie's success). From what I've been told, Bendis' Guardians run is the main inspiration here.

Gamora and Kiya were the strongest points, each having a lot to process and come to terms with. I got a strong sense of how Gamora's changed over her life, and especially after becoming part of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I'd say she has the most depth of the characters in this book!

The way things ended with Kiya felt a little abrupt to me, but she was also a compelling character throughout. Like the Guardians, she ended up doing questionable things due to circumstance, but does her best to be better.

As mentioned, my favourite character is Rocket. He was a mixed bag for me in this. I love how with MCU's Rocket when he's being snarky or rude, whether it's played humorously or not, you can see *why*. He doesn't like being called a raccoon, because to him it's just another in a very long line of anonymous insults meant to other him and put him down. In Vol. 2 he pushes people away, because he's scared of what will happen if he lets people love him even a little bit. You can feel the reasons he does these things, and for the most part the motivation does not feel like mean-spiritedness for the sake of it (okay I'm ignoring the Avengers movies here).

To Duyvis' credit, there is some of that here in the middle section of the book. There is some nuance when Rocket relates to being the only one of his kind, or is confronted with someone else who got cybernetically engineered against their will. He also is very understandably protective of Groot and angry about how the grootlings were treated. There are some great little moments in there. But as a whole, there is a lot more of the Bendis "blam murdered you" feel to Rocket here.

It is what it is -- considering this was written before the MCU's Vol. 2 was even finished, it would be unfair to hold that against Duyvis. The only parts I unequivocally did not like were:
1. The "twist" at the end where Rocket seemingly betrays Kiya to the Collector. It was actually a plan, which Drax and the reader were not aware of. Drax comes close to killing him. While he apologises after, the entire sequence - including Rocket not getting the importance of letting Kiya know the plan - just felt bad to me.
2. Rocket discovering raccoons for the first time, and the way he reacts to them -- especially at the end of the book.

In summary, an enjoyable story with more character depth than I had expected for this type of book! Just a bit disappointing to me at times when it comes to Rocket's characterisation.

[emnello · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Reread 11/05/23) My favourite of the current gotg novels. Duyvis does a great job with each character’s distinct voice and it is solid fast paced fun with some sweet moments.

[Ashley Tidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore the Guardians of the Galaxy, they were the next comic I picked up after Jane-Thor and Captain Marvel because they team up so often. I learned that the movie characters and the comic characters tend to be very different, I mean the original weren't the ones we get to see on screen but they came later. That actually doesn't matter to someone who didn't start reading them until the big run in 2014 because these are the characters you get, so when this book came out I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It has actually been out awhile and I just couldn't get to it yet but I finally decided to dig in after the second movie and how much I adored it. I mean I cried the whole second half of the movie but let me just say it's amazing.

Anyways, sometimes I don't like these books because they are out of continuity and they don't get comic book writers to write them, they go for authors of novel form books. So I always worry because I've read several I love and several I don't, it just depends so I was weary when starting one about characters that mean a good deal to me but soon fell in love knowing the author had the voices I liked reading down pat. Star-Lord was a good leader throughout the story, he was his same usual snarky but sexy love interest type self that comes through so well in the comics. He is one of my favorite characters because as someone who is half human and so damaged you hardly see it until you get inside his inner circle. Gamora felt so fleshed out and that was refreshing, she isn't just there to kill but to make a difference and is important to the team. She knows if she wasn't there then there wouldn't even be a team, that matters to girls and women looking out to know a strong woman is the reason the guardians are functioning like they can. Drax is always a delight, I mean he is so serious and so strong but he has so much heart. I don't know any other character I love as much as Drax because even though he is a destroyer and super into murdering, he gets so emotionally involved with the people in his life. He has faced such heartbreak and come out on top because he has this make shift family behind him. Rocket is the only one I felt didn't get the voice he deserved out of this story and that is mainly because it is super hard to capture right. Rocket is so sarcastic and that just doesn't come through as well without being able to look at him I guess. I love Rocket in the comics and though it wasn't completely the same I did enjoy this rendition because he gets more emotional than what he usually does, I guess comics he is just one dimensional and in the book he got to have an arc. I don't know, it wasn't the same but ultimately I still loved it. Now the story is fully focused on Groot because he has a ton of little Groots growing from him and it is weakening him. The team has to go find all these little Groots and save the original Groot from being harmed. I loved reading I am Groot over and over and I don't even mean that as a joke, it made the book so fun and I love Groot in all forms, movie, comic, and in novel form now too. He loves, he wants to save people. There were several points in this book I got so worried and once I cried because Groot inspires you to feel emotions and to care about his well being because he is to worried caring about others. Overall I fell so much in love with this book. I loved the characters already and it just adds to my Guardians love by getting to know the characters even more. It was a joy to read and I now feel like picking up even more of the comic book based novels... even if they aren't always like the comic book characters themselves.

[Santosh Thapa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chaitra 15, 2077, Sunday

Guardians of the Galaxy: Collect Them All - Corinne Duyvis (2017)

Genres: Science Fiction/ Young Adult
Pages: 392
Rating: 5.5/10

Themes: Friendship/ Trust/ Identity/ Trauma

Opener:
"The planet Levet wasn’t, strictly speaking, uninhabitable."

Summary:
When the Guardians attempt to evacuate a Kree prison planet and end up in a fight for their lives - what else is new? - they discover their old pal Groot is stretched a little thin. Someone is planting stolen branches of the monosyllabic hero and selling the saplings across the galaxy! The search to find Groot's missing pieces forces the Guardians into an alliance with the unscrupulous Collector, but the real problem is more complicated than he wants them to believe. The seller is a kid. And she's got more than a few things in common with Gamora -like green skin and a wild temper. Now with an unruly teen in tow, the Guardians attempt to track down the remaining Groots - and discover an interplanetary conspiracy. War looms on the horizon. It's a race against the Collector, Groot himself, and the entire Kree armada.

Verdict:
Guardians of the Galaxy is my favourite part of Marvels. The book from this franchise I read before this one Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon & Groot Steal The Galaxy was, like I said in my review, a flarking good novel. This book, however, fails to capture the same magic. This book deals with the regular Guardians stuff: the planet-hopping group (mostly) leaving the shady planet they visit somehow much worse than it was before their arrival. Somehow, all their sojourns end in a gunfight and explosion and vamoosing before being caught. This too is no different. In this book, Groot is being cloned and with every new Grootling they grow, it saps from the energy of the original Groot. So, our heroes travel through space to collect these Grootlings, with Kiya, the Collector’s assistant, and Gamora-in-training, in tow. The Collector obviously is not happy that his assistant is with the Guardians, so he is after them as well. The story’s a tad too threadbare, but that does not mean it could not have been good. The problem here is that it feels like the author is just going through the motion and hitting the story markers as she goes, forgetting to make it interesting enough. What annoyed me most was that Drax not being literal in many of the scenes. His interaction with other characters is the main fodder for humour in the Galaxy universe, and I believe he was not handled well in this book. With all the meandering, I expected a grand extravaganza at the end. It has a climax, but as to it being an extravaganza, I have my doubts.

[Ricky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corinne Duyvis has published two original novels, and for her third book, she's giving us some nice little Marvel YA. Though it's not my favorite Marvel YA - that honor, of course, still goes to Margaret Stohl's Black Widow books - Duyvis gives us a pretty unique and unexpected novel that proves to be a quick, fun read. It's not perfect, though. Some of the characterization feels a little off to me - Quill comes across as less respectful of women than even his film counterpart, Gamora feels a tad underdeveloped, and Rocket...well, he's a scene-stealer for sure, but Duyvis' insistence on liberally filling his dialogue with made-up sci-fi swear words like "flark" and "d'ast" and "krutacking," in addition to the more standard "freaking," feels pretty out of place, as does his nicknaming of Gamora as "Gam" or, worse, "Gammy." But around these flaws, Duyvis gives us a story just as thought-provoking as her original novels - when Groot gets cloned and each clone's existence saps a little more of the original's power, is it ethical to collect them and wipe them out, or keep them alive and well-cared-for?

There are no easy answers.

Keep in mind before going into this book that it's not really related to the movies, despite featuring the same band of five Guardians. It wouldn't take place between the two volumes released thus far, so unlike Stohl's Black Widow books, it's really not explicitly part of the MCU. But if you like Marvel, and you like Guardians, you owe it to yourself to pick this book up and give it a good read.

[Valerio Pastore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premessa: ADORO i Guardiani della Galassia, sono le migliori creazioni nel Marvel Comics Universe E nel Marvel Cinematic Universe. Dai fumetti ai film alla loro serie animata, sono sempre stati coinvolgenti, maturi, divertenti, e mai un attimo di noia (salvo qualche episodio di rodaggio di Bendis). Rocket è il mio spirito-guida!
Purtroppo, questo romanzo tutto originale loro dedicato è senza identità, e con un ritmo altalenante. Insomma, si parte da un problema alla base del quale sta l'intenzione del Collezionista di crearsi la propria 'tribute band' dei Guardiani, ma ne escono solo dei Groot e una pseudo-Gamora. Delle altre imitazioni non c'è traccia: E ne poteva uscire una BELLA storia, approfittando del meccanismo dello specchio.
Invece, ci troviamo a seguire i Guardiani che visitano un posto dietro l'altro alla ricerca di ogni esemplare di Groot piantato e venduto alle persone più disparate -e anche qui, va loro fin troppo bene, visto che parliamo di MOLTI Groot.
Il Collezionista è quello del film, talmente pacchiano ed esagerato da essere poco credibile come minaccia. I Guardiani vorrebbero essere quelli dei fumetti, ma Drax è quello del film, e Rocket passa da un estremo ad un estremo peggiore dell'odioseria.
Il ritmo, appunto, è altalenante, con numerose reiterazioni di cui si poteva fare a meno, senza un senso di cosa sia importante, e di crescita della minaccia. L'introduzione continua di personaggi spezza l'attenzione.
Sì, alla fine, sono i Guardiani. ROCKET! Ma avrei preferito una storia più scorrevole ed interessante.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

just a cheap cash in on the newly released movie GOTG vol 2. the characters are lame, not enough tension and excitement. granted there are parts where i liked it but the overall story is boring and just drags on and on. the rag tag team of misfits go up against Tanleer Tivan aka The Collector portrayed by Benocio DelToro in marvel films. He is an Elder of the universe as in the last remaining/surviving member of an powerful ancient alien species. why and how dare just the guardians even think of even posing themselves as a threat against an elder. this is just hilarious. he has lived for billions of years and is immensely powerful and sends robots to tackle the team?? Really? are u kidding me or yourself?
Just by waving his hands he can decimate the team in an instant but he just drags on and on. instead the could've gone with Ronan the accuser as the antagonist which could've been more believable. But was saved from the cost as one of my friends gave me the audiobook version which is wayyy more colorful than the real book but even that doesn't cover the retarded flaws.

[Books & Vodka Sodas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am now totally convinced James Gunn read everything that had to do with the guardians, and I respect that so much more. Especially, with the emotional responses in this book from Rocket.

This Guardians adventure was just as exciting and emotional as anything you'd see in an MCU movie. The author and voice actors captured the personalities and the stakes so well.

At one point I was honestly convinced we'd lost Groot forever. I was crying in my car! Each element, having the collector as a villain-- but also the ending. With Quill finding the collector had a cage full of baby raccoons from earth... ready to experiment on to make another rocket... it screamed guardians 3 and my whole heart burst for Quill setting them free!

If you love the guardian. If you love marvel, this full cast audio book is perfect. I have one complaint-- when the characters would walk, they made the walking sound and it got annoying after awhile lol

[Thistle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The voices of the characters in this book could not have been more perfect. I heard the GotG characters speaking from the very first line of dialogue, and yet I didn't even come close to finishing this book. Why? It was written for children. Grade 4 and up. Age 9-10 years old. Sadly the story itself was too basic and didn't grab me at all.

GotG is my favorite of the Marvel movies, and the characters were written perfectly. I wish I could have finished it, but life is too short (and my To Read pile too long) for me to stick with a story I'm not enjoying.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun & funny romp with lots of heart. I love the interaction of the Guardians, Rocket's snarkiness and seeing Gamora's soft side. And, as usual, Rocket & Groot's friendship is too pure:

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read and with spot-on voices for all the main cast, but it was more convoluted than it had to be. On an Avengers Ultron level, rather than a quick, simple, protect the planet from an invading alien army. Nice to see Gamora steal the spotlight though!

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun story. I wasn't quite sure about the voice choices on the audiobook, in particular the nasal narrator (and Peter's voice so similar to Rocket's), but the story was engaging, and the characters were interesting.

[Joseph A. Crosbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

I didn't realize how much I would enjoy the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but I think I like them the best of the Marvel Cinematic Universe groups. I never read any of the comics, but I have read a couple of the Marvel prose novels. I have not been disappointed.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the audio version of this. Don't know if it was the narrator or just so used to the MCU take on them, but Drax really stood out as not sounding like the character at all. It was an OK story but nothing special.

[Larissa Hesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐.5

Nope, this wasn't a story for me. Even the 'GraphicAudio' production couldn't save me from disappointment. The plot felt messy and the conclusion was predictable. Drax is a hole different character here than in the comics/MCU movies, no idea what happened there.

[Adam Heine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun book. Corinne got the voices spot on, and I feel like I got to see/read a secret third movie.

[Craig Russo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. The audio was excellent. The story dragged for the first 80%, and then it picked up right at the end. So much so that it raised my eating from 2 stars to 3 stars.

[Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duyvis knows how to do the Guardians. It was funny, sappy, scary, adventurous all at the same time.

[Diana Gagliardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a 3.5 but for its genre it is excellent :)

Enjoy!

[Alice Aro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know I needed this until I read it but I now owe the author my life.

[PMoslice · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing, adventurous, explosive dance through the Galaxy, hoping from planet to planet in pursuit of their teammate how is literally, splintered into pieces. A fun ride worth the trip.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

87 - 2023

[Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, good narrative,

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable marvel story. I felt the actor truly captured the witty banter of the characters while creating an original story. A must for any Guardians fan.