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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read out of my comfort zone, April 23, 2009
This review is from: Enemies & Allies: A Novel (Hardcover)
Once in a while I like to read something out of my comfort zone. This month Kevin J Anderson was good enough to supply me with a book way, way out of my comfort zone. I received a copy of his soon to be released Enemies & Allies, a novel in which The Dark Knight meets The Man of Steel. I have never read a Graphic novel nor have I read a comic book since grade school, but being a big fan of Batman I was delighted to have a chance to read this book.
Anderson sets his story in the 1950's, which adds to the book's charm and character. The plot centers on the two super heroes learning to trust each other in order to stop evil Lex Luthor and a General in Stalin's Russia. I personally liked Anderson's Cold War inclusion, it made the plot believable. Anderson moved the story right along, there never seemed to be a point where the plot dragged.
Though the book Enemies & Allies is not advertized as a young adult novel, I did wonder more than once, if this book was written for 11 year old male readers. The text can be overly simplistic, and the dialog seems to be lifted from older comic books. My 17 year old son read the book the same week as I and found though he liked it, he too wondered what age level Anderson was going for.
The most intriguing aspect of Anderson's book is the development if Batman. Though some of the back story seems to be lifted from the movie Batman Begins, I found Anderson's explanation of why Batman does what he does satisfying. I can not say the same for Anderson's Superman; here Superman comes across as slightly arrogant. The first time we read about Superman saving people Anderson writes "Although it was difficult to show modesty after carrying a giant passenger ship across the sky, the Kents' had taught him to be humble". Throughout the book Superman sees himself as protector of the people, yet Anderson never fully explains why this is. After doing such a fine job with Batman's character development I was a little surprised at this. My son and I had a very interesting conversation about the psychology of both Batman and Superman because of Anderson's portrayal of Superman; we agree that Batman has better reasons to call himself a super hero.
All in all I have to say this is a fine book for those who love old fashion comic book fun. Anderson can be counted among those who add to the super hero genre and now I can say I read something way out of my comfort zone and enjoyed it.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing but Understandable, May 18, 2009
This review is from: Enemies & Allies: A Novel (Hardcover)
To be fair, writing a comic book in prose form has to be difficult. Interpreting a visual medium through text has been done well in WildCards but not in much else.
My biggest quibble with this book is that nowhere does the book say it's a grade school/jr. high level story, which it clearly is (except for a few words I don't want my preteens knowing, and I can't imagine them being interested in a Cold War story). The writing it juvenile in every way, from motivation and (lack of) character development to storytelling.
Superman was raised on Earth; why would he be bewildered by humanity? Batman was not a product of the 40's era - other than the references to Joe McCarthy and Sputnik, there was little indication that it was the 50's, certainly none through the characters (a supersonic jet during the cold war? Luthor's armor in the 50's? Why, exactly, was this set in the past?)
All of this has been done before, lightyears better.
I wanted to like this book, I really did. All and all I'd like those hours back.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Should have been more fun, February 16, 2010
This review is from: Enemies & Allies: A Novel (Hardcover)
Enemies and Allies sets forth a comic book thriller set in the early 1950s, creating a weird time frame with both Batman and Superman just a couple of years into their superhero gigs (even though both origins are one or two decades earlier, respectively). They're both still figuring out how to make their own lives work when they both stumble upon a plot involving Lex Luthor, a rogue Communist general, Area 51, unbelievably advanced technology, and, they each believe, the other vigilante. This makes them enemies. Until they, inevitably, become allies.
This is a cool setup. And I wanted it to work. There are some nice mid-century touches. The novel format should allow us a bit deeper into each man's head than a comic usually does. I liked the chance to play amateur psychologist with these guys.
But the writing gets in the way, and so does the plot. There are huge sections where the author seems to have forgotten the old writing chestnut: show, don't tell. He explains everything. Sometimes before something happens. Sometimes without giving a plausible chain of events. Things just happen. This managed to ruin any chance I had of enjoying the formulaic plot, which seemed borrowed from any number of sources, including Watchmen.
With interesting storytelling, I could have easily lost myself in the hackneyed plot and allowed it to unfold. Instead, I found myself almost screaming, just tell the story, and then skipping over whole sections where I was pretty sure I knew what was going on (especially the pointless Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson side plots). Anderson must be a better writer than this, otherwise they wouldn't keep letting him into major franchises like Dune, Star Wars, and Star Trek. But I almost felt like he was writing down a couple of grade levels, down to the level of someone's idea of today's early adolescents. But the book is not marketed that way and was not worthy of the knowledgeable, educated comic fans, both teen and adult, who are the book's real target audience.
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