- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: It Books (April 23 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0061662550
- ISBN-13: 978-0061662553
- Product Dimensions: 22.7 x 16.5 x 2.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #287,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“The X-Files is a true masterpiece. There’s no more challenging series on television, and as a bonus, it’s also brainy fun.” (Los Angeles Times )
Positioning all the superpowered heroics squarely between the era’s futuristic optimism and postwar paranoia, this is a refreshing diversion from the grimness of The Dark Knight or the tedious Superman Returns. Injects a welcome dose of retro exuberance into the capes-and-tights routine. (Kirkus Reviews )
“Anderson keeps us guessing throughout with cleverplot twists and some intriguing alternate cold war history.” (Booklist )
Positioning all the superpowered heroics squarely between the era’s futuristic optimism and postwar paranoia, this is a refreshing diversion from the grimness of The Dark Knight or the tedious Superman Returns. Injects a welcome dose of retro exuberance into the capes-and-tights routine. (Kirkus Reviews )
“Anderson keeps us guessing throughout with cleverplot twists and some intriguing alternate cold war history.” (Booklist )
Product Description
As America and the Soviet Union race to build their nuclear stockpiles, two extraordinary heroes must form an uneasy alliance. These studies in opposites—shadow and light—must overcome their distrust of each other to battle evil and injustice.
Sputnik silently circles in the skies above the fabled cities of the United States as danger lurks in the Earth's darkest corners.
In Gotham, the shadowy vigilante known as the Batman haunts Gotham's streets . . . and the police are just as afraid of this Dark Knight as the city's criminals are.
In Metropolis, the notorious Lex Luthor is leveraging international tensions to build LuthorCorp into a military-industrial empire, competing against his business rival Wayne Industries, which is run by Gotham's enigmatic millionaire, Bruce Wayne. Luthor's activities have raised the interest of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, who is beginning to realize that Luthor may stop at nothing to achieve success.
At the same time, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen are investigating the rumored crash of a flying saucer. Clark is desperate to know if there may be other lost interplanetary visitors on Earth secretly living among them—visitors like himself.
When Batman's and Superman's paths cross, their lives change, and history will never be the same.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Fiction, DC Style,
By SRW "Sean" (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Enemies & Allies: A Novel (Hardcover)
Historical Fiction, DC Style
I've read a few DC novels and it is an welcome treat to read an adaptation from a prolific science fiction author. In brief, the book chronicles the relationship between Superman and Batman in both their secret and heroic selves. It makes an attempt to set the super hero pair in a more plausible superhero universe, more closely resembling the USA of today, and not of the comic books. Yet, brevity here seems to be the books calling card: The foundations of the Batmans technology are just well enough established to make him a credible character. The backdrop of the Cold War is entertaining yet not nearly as detailed to make for truly entertaining intrigue. And only the core supporting cast of Batman and Superman are present, again, just enough to give them depth. When compared to other Comic book hero titles, the book is impressive for its attempt. When compared to the well of excellent historical fiction titles, this book falls far short. There is simply neither the character detail nor the motivation to give the characters a sense of realism. Once of the difficulties to overcome that is authors attempt to place 90% of the story from the perspective of Batman or Superman (much like the successful Superman & Batman comic book series). However, the characters and plot end up feeling like cardboard. Good fiction should not be judged any different from science fiction (or in this case, super hero fiction).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (101 customer reviews) 17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read out of my comfort zone,
By S. Nichols "Emerald Girl" - Published on Amazon.com
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. 11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing but Understandable,
By R. Swanson - Published on Amazon.com
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. 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Should have been more fun,
By Bill Weinberger - Published on Amazon.com
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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