Product Description: On the planet Xhaldia, ordinary men and women are mutating into bizarrecreatures with extraordinary powers. But is this a momentous evolutionary leap or an unparalleled catastrophe? The very fabric of Xhaldian society is threatened as fear and prejudice divide the transformed from their own kin.
Dispatched to cope with the growing crisis, Captain Picard and the crew of theStarship Enterprise™ receive some unexpected visitors from another reality -- in the form of the group of mutant heroes known as the uncanny X-Men®. Storm, leader of the X-Men, offers their help in resolving a situation that is agonizingly similar to the human/mutant conflicts of their own time and space.
But when hostile aliens appear in orbit around Xhaldia to try and abduct thetransformed for use as a superpowered force in an attack on the Federation, eventhe combined forces of the crew of Starfleet and the X-Men may be unable toprevent an inferno of death and destruction.
Starfleet's finest crew and Earth's greatest mutant heroes will need all theirpowers and abilities to save the Xhaldian people and stop a deadly threatto the Federation.
Super Reader A planet is having problems with people suddenly displaying superhuman abilities. Captain Picard and the rest of his motley crew on the Enterprise are sent to look into it.
Luckily for the Federation people, the X-Men are doing a bit of reality hopping, and offer to lend a hand. Xhaldia is suffering a situation they are distressingly familiar with.
Stuck in a Time/Dimension that Fears and Hates Them The planet Xhaldia is facing an interesting blossoming of youths into mutants, or as the inhibitants of the planet call them transformed. The chancellor afraid of these youth and how they may affect society appeals to the Federation, specifically the starship Enterprise E. Meanwhile on station 88 a group of mutants familiar to Marvel comic collectors appear, yes the X-men. Soon the X-Men are guests aboard the Enterprise and drawn into the situation on Xhaldia, especially when hostile aliens start kidnapping the transformed off-planet.
The plot to this crossover novel is not as deep as other Star Trek novels. Then again why should it be. This is basically a story for fun. While there are some deep moments as Friedman;s description of physics in the Star Trek universe attests, and the themes that travel with the X-Men no matter what format they appear in also exemplifies. The main theme being tolerance.
So overall I would say it was fun and interesting to see some of my favourite comic characters guest star in the Star Trek universe and that this book is a light read. With all due respect to Trekkies and comic book "geeks" if you start this novel with expectations other than a side trip of momentary amusement you are bound to be disappointed. Friedman after all handled the continuity and characterization well but I think everyone will agree this is not War and Peace:).
Mutants Everywhere I read this book before actually seeing and reading the comic book that was its prequel. Which actually didn't matter at all.
The story was great and for a X-Men or Trek fan this is a definite read. However, X-Men fans who couldn't care less about Star Trek might not like the fact that the X-Men don't have a big enough role in this book. Sure the mission is to help a planet of fledgling mutants become accepted in their society, but that's not really how it goes. The X-men spend their time stumbling around the Enterprise, not used to the strict discipline and heirarchy and causing accidental damage and getting into trouble. When they do finally get to do something useful the book places more emphasis on when and where powers are used as opposed to the story and character interactions. Ordinarily I don't think that is a bad thing with regard to X-Men, but Star Trek demands a bit more story. In this case I feel this book could have easily been a duology or even possibly a triology. That way we could get the story depth required of Star Trek and better use the abilities of the Xmen and their great character personalities.
There are two noteworthy character dynamics that I loved and think the author could have exploited a bit more. That was Wolverine and Worf, and Storm and Picard.
Well done novel! The X-Men and THE ENTERPRISE-E together again. This one was a very well done blending of the X-Men into the Star Trek universe. As you can imagine, Wolverine was hard to control, Archangel pushed the rules to the limits, and Storm was definitely their leader. The combination of Wolverine and Worf was particularly interesting. The situation they were dropped into was also well written. When a planet suddenly develops a crop of super-powered mutants of their own, the Enterprise is asked to help the authorities, only to find an alien ship there ahead of them to "harvest" the new mutants. With the help of the X-Men, the Enterprise bridge crew rescue the transformed teens, but not without cost. The X-Men themselves do a bit of growing. Colossus finds himself guilty of the same snap judgement he's accused non-mutants of having. In all a well written story.
An excellent way to bring together two genres Outside of watching "The X-Men" movie and looking forward to the next one, I'm not a huge X-Men fan. That being said, this book absolutely floored me. I couldn't put it down and read it in two days (if I wasn't working 18 hours a day at that time it would've been one day). MJ Friedman has with this Star Trek installment, once again, shown why he's one of the top selling Star Trek authors. Thanks to the author for a great read.
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