X-Men / Star Trek: Planet X By Michael Jan Friedman, is a media tie-in novel based of the Marvel comic’s X-Men comic franchise and Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show.
the story opens on the planet, Xhaldia, where inexplicable transformations begin erupting amongst the populace. Dozens of young adults begin developing superpowers, to which the planet's government promptly rounds them all up and imprisons them until they can find out the cause of their mutations--inciting backlash and resistance from "the transformed". Meanwhile, the X-Men (consisting of Storm, Wolverine, Banshee, Colossus, Archangel, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler) suddenly and unexpectedly are teleported from their own dimension to a starbase in "Star Trek's" dimension. They're reunited with the Enterprise crew soon after, and when the situation on Xhaldia reaches a breaking point, the Enterprise is called in to assist. With the X-Men along for the ride, our heroes have their work cut out for them. Can the X-Men trust this alternate dimension where everyone is seemingly accepted for what they are? Why are the people on Xhaldia mutating? Why is this unknown, violent race of aliens trying to capture the transformed? And will the X-Men ever get home?
This book plays out like a professionally published fan fiction, and the author clearly loved both Star Trek and X-Men, as there's definitely a keen eye for little details that remind us fans why we love these characters to begin with. Unlike the two previous comics, which were operating under page limits, and therefore, had to constantly keep the action and plot moving, because this is a written novel, both fandoms are given much more time to interact with each other and draw comparisons between the two. Picard and Storm clearly catch each other's eye, and are the stalwart leaders of their respective teams--offering insight into how their respective universes operate. Worf and Wolverine are entertaining as all heck---loving and respecting one another's "warrior" lifestyles and taking every opportunity to fight alongside each other. And Dr. Crusher takes the creative route and conjures up the likeness of Professor Xavier in the holodeck so as to get a helping hand in figuring out the problem on Xhaldia---treating us to a scene of the Professor and Picard interacting (and making me laugh at the sheer ironic foreshadowing to Patrick Stewart's future film career).
About the only thing that bothers me is that the ending is a bit rushed. The full on action doesn't really pick up until the last third of the book, and the entire plot and its explanation of what exactly is going on and why is just wrapped up a bit too neatly and in just a chapter or two. The villains don't really get any development at all, and almost seem like a last minute addition to give the heroes something tangible to fight. Most of the rest of the page length is spent with the characters interacting, but honestly, I don't mind at all, as each X-man and Enterprise crewmember that's paired up makes complete sense. Every character has something to do, and the things they talk about give plenty of food for thought. It almost makes me kind of sad when the X-Men have to return to their own dimension, as the Star Trek world is clearly more kind, considerate, and accepting towards them.
All in all, X-Men/Star Trek: Planet X is Exciting, entertaining, and interesting, if you're a fan of Trek or Marvel, then this is the book for you. Hopefully, maybe someday, these two universes that aren't so different from each other can meet up again.