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On the planet Xhaldia, ordinary men and women are mutating into bizarre creatures 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 the Starship Enterprise(TM) receive some unexpected visitors from another reality -- in the form of the group of mutant heroes known as the uncanny X-MenŽ. 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 the transformed for use as a superpowered force in an attack on the Federation, even the combined forces of the crew of Starfleet and the X-Men may be unable to prevent an inferno of death and destruction. Starfleet's finest crew and Earth's greatest mutant heroes will need all their powers and abilities to save the Xhaldian people and stop a deadly threat to the Federation. |
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This novel is a cross over between the Star Trek the Next Generation crew and the X-Men. If you don't know at least one of the groups, there's no point in reading the novel. To fully enjoy this novel one must have a decent understanding of the background of both groups as it isn't very friendly to the uninitiated. This was my first time reading a crossover novel between the two teams and unfortunately it wasn't their first crossover. Apparently they had met previously and fought off the borg in an earlier novel. The story here is pretty intriguing, Friedman does a wonderful job of combining the talents of the two teams into a very effective force when battling an overwhelming adversary. Friedman also consistently puts the heroes into situations where if they had not been together, it would of led to their deaths. It is amusing to note the encounter between Picard and Xavier as Patrix Stewart plays the role of both characters on tv and the big screen. One of the more interesting aspects of this novel is how Friedman uses the technical knowledge of the Enterprise crew in researching the mutant's various powers and coming up with explanations for some and cataloguing others as complete mysteries. The plot itself isn't terribly exciting. It appears some attempts were made to flesh out each of the characters. However it doesn't seem to extend beyond stereotyping the characters into particular roles. This is understandable due to the size of the novel and the sheer amount of characters. I'm not quite sure on this one but I believe that the X-Men continuity is a bit messed up. Sure Wolverine had his bone claws and Archangel had his feathered wings back so this novel takes place in a pretty recently in the X-Men universe. However Collosus should of died curing the Legacy Virus and he was at odds with the X-Men team. Banshee was involved teaching the next generation of mutants and Nightcrawler and Storm were captains of separate teams of X-Men. Since this book is more oriented in the Star Trek universe (from the view point of the publisher), some allowances can be made. Especially since the X-Men universe does have alot going on within it. In conclusion, I can only recommend this book to a fan of either the Star Trek the Next Generation universe or the X-Men universe. It was a decent read with some interesting connections made between the two groups. However it does slow down in some parts and the characters aren't developed and appear flat and uninteresting.
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