When I learned that there was a YA novel about Rogue, there was so much arm flailing that I’m surprised I didn’t knock things over. I immediately jumped on the library website, searched for the book, and put it on hold. I rejoiced that I was the only hold and the book came into my hands a short two days later.

The rejoicing quickly stopped once I had opened the book. I’m sad to say this is going to be the first post on Amanda Reads where I can’t really say that I enjoyed the experience of reading the book I’m posting about. Rogue Touch has a unique twist on Rogue’s story, and it incorporates a lot of real life struggles that would pop up when you can’t touch anyone without sending them spinning into a coma–such as the problem of getting employment when you can’t shake hands or wear clothes that don’t cover every inch of your skin. That’s pretty much where my praise of the novel stops, however.

The problem with Rogue Touch is that it’s entirely too unique. The elements of Rogue’s story that I have known and loved since my childhood are entirely absent. All that remains is a girl who happens to also have white in her hair and have the same abilities. There are no other mutants in Rogue’s world. The other “off” person (a guy she ends up falling in love with, naturally) turns out to be a time traveler, and things get suuuuper weird from there. My issue with the story is that I find Rogue’s story compelling enough on its own. Even among other mutants, the nature of her powers creates a serious outcast potential. Because of this, adding in elements of time travel to “spice things up” felt deeply unnecessary to me. If anything, it was a distraction. Not to mention the fact that the intended mystery around this element is fairly transparent. I realized chapters and chapters before Rogue did that the guy she was with was from the future. That made it a little hard to put up with her not realizing it.

All of that said, I did rip through the novel because I was interested in where things were going. Once we got there, I wanted to chuck the book across the room. It might be a good book if you like really out there science fiction type stories, but if you’re a die-hard X-Men fan hoping to get your novelized fix, you might want to look elsewhere. I know I’m tempted to write the book I wanted to read after this experience, so who knows, maybe one day you can look over my way and find exactly what you need.