By: Diane Duane Publisher: Berkley Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Berkley Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 352 Publication Date: September 01, 1998
Product Description: A cosmic adventure with the fate of the galaxy at stake! Shi'ar scientists have learned of a creature that devours galaxies and is heading towards Shi'ar space. Beset by panicked people and several assassination attempts, Empress Lilandra must call upon the X-Men for their assistance--for the galaxy eater will target Earth next.
But the price for stopping the creature may be higher than the X-Men expect. They must use a device that increases their powers a thousand-fold to drive the creature back. A process that could destroy them...or make them insane with power!
Super Reader Lilandra and the Shi'Ar have a big problem. A creature that eats stars is headed their way, and if does too much damage to the core of the galaxy, good-bye galaxy.
This helps stir up political unrest and increase the assassination attempt rate upon the Empress, so she asks Charles for help. The Shi'Ar have a new power amplification technology that will amplify the X-Men's abilities to Silver Surfer type levels for very brief periods of time, so they have a shot at stopping it.
Lilandra won't risk the Imperial Guard, because she knows they are loyal, and watching her back, even if large parts of her Council, are not.
The problem with this technology is what if you like it too much - they have already had one Dark Phoenix episode.
A very cosmic level space opera X-Men story.
3.5 out of 5
Would like to see Duane get another chance Diane Duane is one of my favorite authors. She's intelligent and interesting and given a chance to fully explore a select few characters she can really nail them. For those who didn't like this book (and it isn't one of my favorites) I strongly suggest reading Duane's Spider-man trilogy, which is fabulous.
I agree with Diana Naier - I think this book had too many characters for her to flesh out their backgrounds and motivations fully. I would like to see her get another chance to write an xmen novel with just a few of the main characters.
it's not bad, but... Well, she made an effort. And she raised interesting issues, though she never really resolved them. But I think Diane Duane works better with a smaller cast. Her original novels are fine; they have much smaller casts. Her Spiderman trilogy is fine; it has only three main characters. Even her Star Trek novels are fine; she tends not to use more than five major characters per book. In "Empire's End," she's dealing with Professor X, Beast, Gambit, Wolverine, Storm, Bishop, Iceman, Cyclops, Jean, Lillandra, a Shi'ar lord, etc. There are simply too many characters, and though each gets a few scenes or "moments," they all seem shallow.
The plot is as follows: the Shi'ar discover that a mysterious creature, which destabilizes galaxies by eating their cores, is heading their way. They enlist the X-Men to stop the creature. This totally unequal confrontation is made "plausible" by a strange device that enhances the X-Men's powers. Gosh, how convenient. Meanwhile, Lillandra's council is pressuring her to marry a Shi'ar noble and produce an heir, instead of continuing her relationship with Charles. Ooh, look, a romantic subplot.
There are some interesting discussions about the effects of absolute power, and the enhancement of the X-Men's powers at the expense of the more human aspects of their personalities, but when they finally save the day (you never seriously thought they wouldn't, did you?) those issues vanish like mist, never fully confronted. The power-enhancing device also conveniently disappears; I sense an author avoiding the implications of a bad concept.
Also, I'd really like to know exactly what the huge, ghostly X-Men-shaped constructs are. They are first described as psychic projections, or something along those lines, but later seem to become real. They seem to be a device for avoiding the idiocy of pitting the X-Men against a creature larger than Manhattan. I say, if you're using the X-Men, give them an adversary they can confront as is. But if you lack the foresight to do that, the least you can do is remain honest to your original premise, and keep the relative sizes of the space creature and the X-Men as is. (Actually, the ghost figures aren't needed for the final victory, which makes me wonder even more why they were there in the first place. I sense more bad concepts.)
The story is fast and fun, and Duane's style is quite readable, but "Empire's End" feels like a rush job by an author not quite familiar with her world and characters, who tried to make up for the gap by shoving them into Star Trek.
Not for those who fondly remember their youth... If you are looking to recapture your youth through X-Men novels, skip this one. You won't like the way this book treats its characters.
If you are looking for an afternoon read; occasionally enjoy a bubblegum-for-the-brain space story; are more interested in plot than characters; and most importantly, didn't put down good money for the book but got it from the library, you might like it.
That's worth two stars.
More about Xavier's sex life than I wanted to know First of all, let me just say Charles is not supposed to behave like a hormonal teenager. But that's exactly how he comes off in this book. A crisis hits, some new diffuculty in killing this Bug Eyed Monster of the Week, and Charles and Lilandra hop in the bed! Honestly, it got old after the first two chapters. Also, the writer completely forgot Charles IS Lilandra's acknowledged consort, according to the comics. An annoying error to be sure.
She wastes the other characters as well. Beast is only here for snappy one liners. Gambit (without Rogue - BORING!) has powers utterly unlike his in the comics. Even Scott and Jean come across as a generic couple. She could have used the exact same plot and just changed the names to Spock, Kirk and McCoy. I doubt we would have noticed a difference.
I was hoping these books would get better with more established writers. Looks like I still will have to hope.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
