X-Men/Magneto

The Chaos Engine #2

by Steven A. Roman

First Mass-Market Edition! X-MEN/ THE CHAOS ENGINE, BOOK 2 By Steven A. Roman One That was all the time given to the X-Men to correct a universe-threatening flaw after it was discovered that unknown forces had severely altered the structure of the heroes' home dimension. It hadn't taken them long to track down the source of the the tyrannical Doctor Doom, in possession of the Cosmic Cube -- a device that allows its owner to twist reality and create their personal vision of a perfect world. But now their old enemy Magneto has the Cube, and the danger has only gotten worse... • X-Men is the most successful comic book series ever published. • The Movie grossed over $400 million worldwide. • X-Men 2 is scheduled for May 2003 release.

Genres: X Men, Fiction, Science Fiction, Comics, Superheroes, Alternate History, Fantasy

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

STEVEN A. ROMAN is the bestselling author of the novels Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy, and Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand. His writing has garnered praise from such authors as World Fantasy Award–winner Charles de Lint, Bram Stoker Award–winner Elizabeth Massie, and fantasist and crime fiction novelist Neal Barrett Jr.

His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies The Best New Zombie Tales 2, The Dead Walk Again!, Doctor Who: Short Trips: Farewells, If I Were an Evil Overlord, Tales of the Shadowmen 4: Lords of Terror, The Ultimate Hulk, and Untold Tales of Spider-Man. He also wrote the graphic novels Lorelei: Building the Perfect Beast, Stan Lee’s Alexa, and Sunn, and co-wrote the direct-to-DVD animated short X-Men: Darktide.

In addition to writing Steve worked as a fiction editor, then later as Editor-in-Chief, for ibooks, inc., a New York–based publishing company. Among the many titles he edited during his tenure were: original licensed novels based on Terminator 2, The Transformers, Witchblade, Spider-Man, and Ghostbusters; the fantasies Dragonkin, Moebius’ Arzach, and The Orc’s Treasure; the science fiction series Isaac Asimov’s Robot Mysteries; and the Young Adult SF spoof Britney Spears is a Three-Headed Alien!

Steve’s current writing projects include the Saga of Pandora Zwieback novel series.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I had read this before, but I was wrong. That being the case, I am reading the three novels in this series back-to-back for the first time. This novel was published two years after the first novel and there is a note in the beginning that indicates the storyline takes place between issues 99 and 100 of X-Men (vol. 2). Not remembering the significance of those two issues of X-Men vol. 2, I could not tell you the significance of why the author puts these three books between those two issues, but that is okay. It was an interesting novel to read, an interesting sequel to the first book. I would say the author does a good job with the 'character development' considering he is writing most of the X-Men as being supporters (maybe even 'fanatical supporters') of Magneto and virulently opposed to Xavier. It focuses on events that take place on Earth as well as the Starlight Citadel. It has some interesting ideas in it such as, the Cosmic Cube that Doom's scientists make has a flaw in it such that it searches the Omniverse for the parallel Earth best matching the one the person holding the Cube is trying to 'create' and forces that parallel Earth upon the 616-Earth; it does not recreate reality as it forces a mashing of reality. Also, people from Earth-616 are forcefully merged with their alternate-Earth counterparts to create a singular being; the identities and consciousnesses of the inhabitants of the 616-universe are submerged under the 'new' identity. This 'dual-identity' theory results in some interesting moments, where people are 'split apart' into their two respective selves (i.e. - the 616-self and the self from either "Doom's new reality" or "Magneto's new reality".

This 'new reality' being Erik Lensherr's dream of how Earth could, would, and should look if both his and Xavier's respective dreams became reality (i.e. - humans and mutants living in peaceful harmony) was a fascinating dream. Sadly, Xavier has to destroy it in order to save the Omniverse. Xavier comes across with a strong strength-of-focus and unwillingness to be swayed, despite the 'happiness' that is on Earth, now, as all of the hate and fear (of mutants, anyway) is gone. Magneto has rewired and reprogrammed everybody's brains/minds so that they no longer hate mutants, 'normals', or each other. It is a true Utopia, on the one hand, despite everybody's minds being altered like they were, and Xavier is hesitant, at times, to tear it all down. He does recognize the good that Magneto has done, but Xavier also realizes the cost is too high. I thought it was funny how many times Xavier kept chastising himself for 'being jealous' of all that Magneto was able to accomplish in regard to both of their respective dreams, in regard to bringing about peace between humans and homo superior. He did not expect anything like what Magneto did at all; he fully expected a continuation of what Doctor Doom did when he made himself "Emperor Doom". It made some interesting foils for Xavier to flail against and 'show his true colors' over the course of the novel.

It was interesting how Braddock and Xavier are the only ones from the X-Men who were not affected by what Magneto did, by the changes Magneto made to reality. It had to do with their being on the Star Citadel while Magneto did what he did to change the reality of Terra-616. So, there is assuredly a sense of 'fish-out-of-water' going on when they return to Earth, as it is unlike what they expected it to be. it was an amusing shock to their systems when they saw how well Magneto's vision was performing, how there was peace across the board between humans and mutants.

Xavier has always annoyed me with his pathological need to be in control, to control everything about his students, even though he ought to know by now he cannot control them at all unless he uses his 'mind-power' to control the X-Men. He comes across as always believing he is 'right' about everything, and he regularly rubs his students the wrong way because of his need to control. There was one point where he verbally chastises Elizabeth about something or other and then apologizes for it later, saying he did not mean to lower himself to such a thing. Sh'ah, right! I would say that Xavier knew what he was doing and meant what he said, considering how often he manipulates his students and others in the comics (or, did, until Cyclops killed him during the stupid Avengers vs. X-Men big event from a few years ago). So, anyway, the author did a great job capturing Xavier's "superiority" and how he thinks he knows best, how he thinks he is better than everybody else, including his students.

I thought that it was interesting how little 'fighting' there was in this novel, as compared to the first one. It felt more like the author was 'setting up' the third novel with this one, that this novel was 'merely biding time' until the reader was finished with it. That was just my opinion. But, in any case, I "enjoyed" the arguments that Magneto made to Xavier, how he appealed to his own friend's logic and 'heart' in hopes of saving this 'paradise' he had created for humans and mutants. Sadly, it would not last, in any case, due to the 'fatal flaw' in the Cosmic Cube that was threatening to destroy the Omniverse if it continued to exist. I had to keep reminding myself that the Cube was a 'time bomb' and would destroy "all realities" if it were not destroyed. Also, Magneto brings up some interesting points, like how everybody still had most of their free will intact. The parts that cause them to hate others who were different were removed, cut-off, isolated, which allowed humanity to live at peace with mutants and each other. So, if there is no more crime or violence, and everybody is 'getting along,' did he actually do 'something wrong' in the bigger picture? He created a paradise for both branches of humanity, where everybody could live in peace and harmony. Is what he did so wrong, considering how many benefits it created for everybody, how much good it generated, in the long run, as humanity (humans and mutants) were achieving heights previously undreamt of in the original reality.

I was 'annoyed' at the disturbing lack of security in the Star Citadel. Considering how suspicious and untrusting Merlyn was, one would have thought there would have been more security systems in place to ensure visitors like Doctor Doom did not cause trouble like Doom did in this novel. It was probably my least favorite part of the novel, to be honest, how Doom was able manipulate a jealous underling and escape captivity. I have never really liked or cared for Doom, anyway, and consider him overrated as a criminal, myself, but that is just me. In any case, he manages to rewire a 'medical device' and turn it into a weapon that allowed him to get around the 'no weapon discharge' policy in the Star Citadel. I do not remember how things turn out in the third novel, so it will be interesting to see how the tables are turned on him, now that he has captured Roma and taken control of the Citadel.

I was surprised at the lack of 'heroes' (be they super-human or mutants) in this novel. In the first novel, there was quite a bit of 'name-dropping' and other heroes appearing in the novel. Not so much in this one; if I remember correctly, Magneto had 'done away with them' or removed their 'super-hero identities' completely, which is why they were not around like in the first novel.

There are four or five interludes in the novel that lead to the "surprise" ending and the start of the next novel. I cannot say how well they were done. They 'just were', as far as I am concerned, I guess.
Had I not read the third book previously or known the title of the third book, I cannot say how surprised I would have been at the identity of the villain for the third piece. I think I might have been a little surprised; I was more surprised at the name given for the 'third villain' in this book - he was continually called 'the Controller', which made me immediately think of a different super-villain when he was introduced as such the first time.

It was a fun book to read. It was definitely a product of the late 90s and early 00s, on the one hand, which I think helped make it fun to read although I was glad the author eventually moved away from his describing Elizabeth Braddock as "having legs that went all the way up!". That being the case, not much really happens in it. It is mostly a lot of talking and talking and talking some more. There are a couple of 'action moments' in it, but it was mostly dialogue. It really did feel like it was just biding time and setting up for the third novel in the series. Overall, I did enjoy it, and I am glad that I 'finally' read it. On to the third book!

[Easton Livingston · Rating 3 out of 5]

For an in-depth review of this book, mosey on over to my website via this link:

X-Men Chaos Engine: Magneto Review

The long and the short of it: not bad. Decent read.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as enjoyable as the first book in this series. Suffers from treading familiar ground. We know the cosmic cube is the reason the world is different; this time it’s just Magneto wielding the power. Not as much action this go round either. I was also not a fan of the focus mainly being on Professor X and Psylocke, preferring other X-Men characters like Cyclops and Gambit. The omniverse story line does a decent job of explaining the plot and how the cube is changing the world, but again, I don’t have much interest in those characters normally.

[sorrowmancer · Rating 1 out of 5]

imagine corny comic book dialogue but instead of sick visuals to put you in an imaginary world you get stunted high school level prose. i don't know why i bothered. i think because i thought it would be cool to read fanfiction in which magneto scored a win or two. this sucked enormous ass. would give zero stars if not for the sequence in which psylocke fists angel's brain

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

That ending really got me. Wow.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review of the first volume.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Chaos Engine trilogy. The first book was a good book; Steven A Roman is actually a very good writer and he managed to pull off some great action scenes without neglecting character development. This second book doesn't have as much spectacle as the first but it still manages to shine.
Magneto now has control of the cosmic cube and has shaped the world into one where mutant and mankind live in mutual harmony and hate and bigotry are forgotten. The cube is flawed though and threatens to destroy all the multitude of realities as it's price for one world's short lived utopia. With only two X-men unaffected by Magneto's influence it seems that the job that defeated a full strength team is just a bridge too far for Xavier and Psylocke. Conversely Doctor Doom is being held captive, seemingly helpless to the Supreme Guardian of the Omniverse and her Captain Britain Corp. Doom seems more frightening and seems to carry more menace than he ever did in the colourful panels of the countless comic books he's appeared in.
Roman does a great job of bringing the personalities out of the main players. He has plenty of fun with them too without going as far as sending them up.
Well written, intelligent and not without wit this book pushes all the right buttons of the genre.

[Hillery Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lack of x men in this book was a little bit of a downer, but I still enjoyed the story! Now onto the final book!