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Enemies And Allies (2009)

by Kevin J. Anderson(Favorite Author)

3.65 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Recorded Books

review 1: Honestly, this book is very 'meh.' It's truly mediocre at best. As I read more and more of this book I was more and more put off by it, I finished it based on accomplishment of completion and giving the book the benefit of the doubt that one day it would get good; that day did not come. While the book claims to be an adventure SHARED by Batman and Superman, upon reading it you will find that roughly 70-75% deal with Superman, Lois Lane, or Lex Luthor, Batman and Bruce Wayne are barely involved, ever; in fact, most of the times that Batman shows up, he is accompanied by Superman himself or one of the other two Superman characters I just mentioned, it's quite infuriating, let's call a Spade a Spade, please, don't lie to me on the cover AND the summary. Perhaps most astoundin... moregly, the author (Kevin J. Anderson), doesn't seem to understand these characters at all. Writing a superhero book is a very taxing endeavor; not only do you have to completely understand these characters and get into their heads, but you have to allow them into your head, not the easiest thing if you do not normally write about these characters. Anderson does not accomplish this, no beating around the bush. I don't know where he got his impressions of these characters from, but of all the origin stories, comics, and storylines I've read, this is not the Batman, Superman, Lois Lane, or Lex Luthor I have grown up with, instead I am presented these characters from a sort of comic book limbo, not particularly belonging anywhere, it's very odd and as off-putting as you would imagine. *SPOILERS* The story is a little boring as it involves Lex hatching a rather mediocre plan (for his caliber) of making a deal with a Russian KGB general for prolonging the Cold War and eventually making it hot by causing the Russians to nuke the Americans wherein Lex will save the day with his magical laser. It is shoehorned in that Superman gets trapped in Russian because of a Kyrptonite meteorite, then mutated monster-people are briefly involved for no reason, and the the author neatly sweeps his bad guys under the rug with a typical nuclear blast from an old Russian nuclear plant, it's all rather boring. Lex is normally flashier and much more clever as well as much less or much more reliant on other people, typically he's either completely alone or fused (figuratively or literally, sometimes, as in the case of Brainiac being involved) with other people, this combination was nearly phone conversations strictly and honestly not much happened. Again, much less flash than I'm used to from ANY superhero story, muchless one in which Lex Luthor is involved. *END OF SPOILERS* An irritating thing to me to accompany all of this already surprising mix of misfortune is that Anderson has a nice repertoire under his belt having coauthored the Dune prequels, created a sci-fi series of his own called the Seven Suns and even written a Superman story before called The Last Days of Krypton, so a disappointment was the last thing I expected from this book. Alas, as they say, everyone has one, and I hope this is this authors only one. WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK? Absolutely not, it's a trick, the cake is truly a lie here. It's nearly all Superman, the characters feel very wrong, and the story is lackluster at best, avoid this for other better superhero books, just look in my Read books for a suggestion.
review 2: Evan ArokoHonors English Period 1May 29, 2014Enemies and Allies: The Dark Knight Meets The Man of Steel“Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” Alongside the Dark Knight, Batman. The book Enemies and Allies by Kevin J. Anderson was an excellent fun read, that gave readers an exciting, action packed story set in the 1950’s, a time when UFO’s and communism were gaining the attention of U.S. Americans, and when the the world’s finest heroes meet for the very first time. Although it took a while before both Batman and Superman confronted each other for the first time, and for the major battles and conflicts to arise, the author’s introduction for both Batman and Superman, and who they were as people and heroes was very interesting.It made it easier, for myself, to understand the characters of both Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Superman/ Clark Kent, and the differences between the two, based on how they presented themselves as heroes.The first chapter of the book is titled, Gotham City, where the author gives readers a glimpse at Batman, who he is and why and he became Batman. As a Batman fan, I was interested to see how the author would introduce Batman and if he would include a little background information from his origin story, and luckily he did, and it was very nice and was explained not only correctly, but also was explained so thoroughly, I could picture the whole scene involving the horrible murder of Bruce Wayne’s, Thomas and Martha Wayne in the book of a movie theater on a dark night. Even for non-Batman fans it was and should be obvious to readers that this event was the thing that triggered Bruce’s decision to become a crime vigilante. In addition to this, the author does a great job showing how Batman presents himself as Gotham’s Dark Knight, as an aggressive, patient, intelligent, and introduces Bruce Wayne as the rich CEO of Wayne Enterprises, and who surprisingly is about to be interviewed by none other than Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen.As Superman being my favorite superhero, I was a little nervous of how the author was going to introduce both him and Clark Kent, but, overall I was pretty impressed on how both were introduced. Clark Kent being first introduced as a reporter from the Daily Planet made me very happy. That is who Kal-El is when he is not wearing his blue, red, and yellow Kryptonian suit. And to make it even more exciting, Clark is introduced with his best friend Jimmy Olsen, just before they’re about to interview Bruce Wayne. Right away readers can see how different both Bruce and Clark are from each other without their superhero outfits, and it’s pretty cool how they communicate with each other. Moving on, one of my favorite parts in the book was the dramatic introduction of the Man of Steel, Superman. Overall, his introduction was very exciting and intense, based on the fact that he had to save over a dozen lives form a shipwreck incident. The author does an excellent job explaining, in detail, the process Superman has to go through to save the people on the the shipwreck. During this chapter, the author describes Superman picking up the huge ship out of the water by stating, “Slowly- like a spoon being pulled out of Martha Kent’s jar of thick molasses- the passenger ship rose out of the water. He pushed higher and higher, until the vessel itself was airborne. Salt streamed from its sides in a drenching downpour, falling with a whisper-roar back into the waves.” I as a reader could already see the amazing and familiar strength of Superman after reading this paragraph. Unlike Batman Superman is more polite, powerful, and can be considered a very majestic hero. In the beginning of chapter four, the author starts the chapter by stating, Dressed in red and blue, his cape streaming behind him, Kal-El shot out of a window on the opposite side of the building. Right fist extended, he soared into the sky, circled the rooftop’s golden sphere with the orbiting words, “Daily Planet”, then raced toward Metropolis harbor. When reading this, I literally pictured the scene in my mind like it was a movie, which was really cool. But in my opinion, the most intense and suspenseful parts in the book was when the major conflicts started to arise.Lex Luthor, one of Superman's greatest enemies, and one of the greatest villains that can be found in the DC comic book universe, was a smart, funny, and evil character in the book, who was also seen as a major villain in the book. With the help of numerous communist Russian generals, Lex uses his great intellect to fool most Americans in the U.S., and both Batman and Superman that aliens from outer space are trying to take over planet Earth with their advanced UFO space craft technology. Although Luthor’s plan succeeds, it does not last very long. With the help of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, Batman and Superman defeat Luthor with their great team work.Enemies and Allies was a great comic book novel that I recommend to any Batman and Superman fan. less

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