Volume 2 of New Mutants Classic was a bit of a mixed bag. Our first major arc follows the New Mutants in Nova Roma, an untouched Roman civilization in the Amazon rainforest, after their expedition into the jungle goes awry.The team gets wrapped up in political schemes, meet a fellow young mutant, Amara, and fight off the evil mutant sorceress Selene.   I didn't particularly love this story; while the plot had its moments I ultimately found the story plodding and the new characters introduced uninteresting.

I will say I got more into the book in its back half. Here Illyana Rasputin takes centre stage as she and the New Mutants attempt to rescue Kitty from Emma Frost, the Hellfire Club, and her new team of teen mutants the Hellions. Illyana has quickly become a new favourite. Her angst about her time in limbo, her magic and how it's perceived is really compelling. To be fair a lot of our mutants characters, like Rahne, Dani and Amara, also struggle with feelings of monstrousness. But, in contrast to the others, there's a real darkness, secrecy and shame imbued in Illyana that make those moments hit. It makes her friendship with Kitty all the more consequential because Kitty is the only person in her life who doesn't see her any different. And moments like Dani promising to have Illyana back are so meaningful because of the alienation and fear she's experienced. 

I am still finding my feet with the team as whole. While they have their moments I still don't feel like I know and connect with them well enough. I respect Claremont's attempts at pathos for the characters but unfortunately some if it just doesn't work. Rahne especially failed to click with me. While I understand her shame is tied it with her religiosity and the fact that her wolf form's bloodlust causes distress could be interesting. But unfortunately the way she projects her religious shame on to others makes her pretty unlikable. With the rest of the cast I think I just need more time to connect with them. We haven't delved as deep as I would like with them but I'm sure Claremont's trademark characterful storytelling will grab me in time

My final pet peeve with The New Mutants is its hints of romantic subplots. Throughout the book characters express feelings of jealousy and attraction to each other and while it's understandable in a teen book I still found it trite. I think Claremont fails to develop compelling reasons why any of these characters are attracted to each other for me to really root for any pairing. 

Overall I'm not loving the New Mutants like I hoped I would. But the Hellions plot gripped me in the end so I'm hoping the team will grow on me.