Dr. Doom

The Chaos Engine #1

by Steven A. Roman, Stan Timmons, Mark Buckingham

The first part of an epic trilogy, an original novel in ibooks' exciting new series of books based on the popular characters published by MARVEL COMICS. Returning from their latest adventure in another dimension, the X-Men discover that Earth is now ruled by the most powerful super-villian of all time, Doctor Doom. But how could this have happened? Searching for answers, the mutant superheroes face their greatest challenge, defeating an armour-clad madman with an entire world against them. To make matters worse, standing between them and victory is one of their deadliest enemies, Magneto, Master of Magnetism!

Genres: Science Fiction, X Men, Fiction, Fantasy, Marvel, Comics, Superheroes

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

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 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to revisit (I had read it when it first came out). I remember thinking the author took quite a bit of 'liberties' with the characters that other authors would never have taken like having "major" characters to the story die, but I also realized that the "only" reason the author was able to do such a thing like having Gambit kill himself so that the others could escape was because of how the story was set up in an alternate timeline, which means anything that happens in this new timeline could be erased once the correct timeline retakes its place as the existing timeline. The character development is decent, I suppose. The characters remain pretty true to themselves (in terms of the comics) and I felt the author did a nice job accurately capturing their characters.

Doctor Doom is a jerk (to put it mildly)! I realize this is no secret, but the guy goes 'overboard' in this book. He uses a cosmic cube to rewrite Earth's history so that everybody believes Doom has ruled the planet as its Emperor for ten years when, in actuality, only thirty days have elapsed. Sadly, for Doom, an error was made in the Cosmic Cube he has in his possession, and if he continues to use it, he will only have another thirty days of life left. However, if he can find somebody else willing to stand in for him, he can maintain his 'fantasy world' where he is Emperor. Betsy was willing to do so until the true cost was revealed. He tries to portray himself as a benevolent ruler, but he rules the world just like he did Latveria - by and through fear.

I wondered why, if he was as powerful as he was made out to be and had the power of the Cosmic Cube at his beck and call, Magneto and his terrorists were still around while reading the book. Clearly, he could have used the Cube to find Magneto and erase him from existence (like he does Storm's mind when Storm sees pictures of her teammates and her 'correct/old' memories attempt to reassert themselves. Doom 're-brainwashes' her again in order to keep her under his control, admitting aloud that she is strong-willed enough that he would have had to do this to her, again, anyway, to reassert himself and his control over her) (jerk!). As it is, he reveals to Betsy Braddock that he was 'bored' after a certain amount of "time" had passed in his 'dreamworld'; he felt the need to 'create' a worthy adversary if only to serve as a distraction, an illusion, an unwitting player in a dangerous game to keep Doom entertained. Hence, Magneto and his cronies. Only, it ends up backfiring on Doctor Doom in the end, and Magneto gains control of the Cube (queue the cliff-hanger for the second book!).

As to "where are the other heroes?", it is revealed a couple of times that Doom had those who opposed him killed. Or, he had to go even deeper into their psyche, their mind, to reprogram them to be docile and obedient and supportive (which might explain the damage done to Carol Danvers). The Fantastic Four was killed outright by Doom; I can only imagine other heroes like Thor or Captain America or others like them, of strength of focus, mind, and character, were also probably killed off by Doom.
Or, possibly, in the case of Thor, were banished to their 'home realms' and never able to return.
But, that is all just my guesses on some of the more powerful denizens of Marvel's Earth-616.
Most of them were either killed or turned by Doom.

I had forgotten how the book starts off, so it really threw me when I started reading it. But, eventually things 'smoothed out' and I was right there with the flow of the story. It was fun to encounter various persons from the comics scattered throughout the book. However, I think the initial confusion helps set the tone of the book, in my opinion. The team that the book actually focuses on does not appear until several chapters into the book (Chapter Four, starting on page 61). I thought the author did a nice job of balancing out the characters, giving each of them the 'necessary print time' so that they were not forgotten or overshadowed by the other characters on the team.

I was surprised by the shoddiness of the changes made to people's memories, how they were haphazardly wiped by Doom via the Cosmic Cube. Carol Danvers had zero memories of her time s a superhero or working with Wolverine before she became a hero. Betsy Braddock "regained" her telepathy quite a ways into the novel, and then, after Jean restored her memories (ALL of them), Betsy regained her other skills and abilities she had forgotten she had. The same with Magneto. His memory was not as completely wiped as Carol's was, and Jean was able to restore it 'fully' to him prior to their 'final battle' with Doom. I could not help but wonder why some people had their memories wiped so thoroughly and others not so much.

I did like the 'concept'/idea that some of the X-Men were not affected by Doom's actions. In fact, Doom's actions did not affect the entire universe; just planet Earth. Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean, Rogue, Gambit, Nightcrawler, and Xavier were on a mission to save an alternate Earth in an alternate dimension/universe. Because of this, they were not affected by the changes Doom made to Earth's history and inhabitants. I did like that concept, to be honest. I thought it was logical, that it made sense. Their not being present when the change occurred fully explains why they were not affected by the changes made by Doom.

It was crazy reading about the heroes who were allied with Doom, who worked for him. I realize they could not help themselves, but it was still strange to read how Storm was now Doom's wife, or that Scarlet Witch was working with Sebastian Shaw, Viper, and a couple of other characters from alternate realities in terms of controlling the planet. Or, how Doom now led the Avengers (consisting of Wonder Man, Spider-Woman, the incredible Hulk, Tony Stark, and Storm). How Doc Samson worked for Doom at S.H.I.E.L.D. and was instrumental in torturing prisoners for information. How Mary Jane Watson-Parker played Spider-Woman in the "Doom's Patrol" movie. The various 'Easter Eggs' were fun to come across.

I had forgotten that Doom did 'something' at the end of this book which directly ties into the second book. When the series came out, I read the first and third books, but could never find a copy of the second book to read. It will be interesting to see what and how Doctor Doom's 'final machinations' affect/influence the second book! I imagine 'this next time around' it will only be Doom and Braddock who remember 'what happened before', now that Magneto has the Cosmic Cube in his grasp at the end of this book.

It was a fun book to read. It moves at a fast pace. It held my interest all the way through. The stakes remain as high as ever the X-Men have a week to repair the damage done to Universe-616 or Roma will completely destroy 616's reality in order to save the Multiverse (Omniverse?). At the end of this novel, they are now down to maybe four days left to save reality as we know it. There is good (and believable) interactions and byplay between the characters that seemed natural and not forced. The author did a nice job building up the suspense of 'what the heck happened?' in the first three-to-four chapters. The rest of the book is then spent in the X-Men trying to figure out 'what happened?" and "where do we go next to fix things?" It is a fun journey to take, and i thought the author did a great job in creating this journey for readers to enjoy. Also, the illustrations were a nice addition, too. I enjoyed them. On to the next book in the series!

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

Years ago, I came across this trilogy while shelf reading as a library volunteer. I remember reading it and enjoying it, but had forgotten a lot about it. That's because almost all I knew of the Marvel universe was the theatrically released films; I'd never seen a single episode of any of the nineties animated series, even the beloved Spider-Man and X-Men ones.

Fast forward to a year or two ago, when I randomly remembered this again. I tried to get it from the library, but couldn't; they had weeded it from their collection, and an inter-library loan request proved fruitless. However, Amazon had it...but only in print form, not via Kindle. So, I recently decided to use my gift card to buy the physical version...and I'm glad I did. Not only did I enjoy the story, I understand it much better now.

[Adam Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read, full of rollicking adventure...and editing errors. The editing on this book is practically non-existent. There are places where one sentence come to the end of a line, and instead of finishing up on the next line, another sentence starts up midway through. There are numerous places where, if there are two ways to state something it is obvious that the author changed his mind, at some point, about which phrasing to use, so the reader is left with a sentence that starts off in one direction, jumps track and finishes off in the other. If the publisher had spent just a little effort on cleaning up the manuscript before sending it to press, the reader wouldn't have so many opportunities to be dumped out of the story. This tale really deserved better treatment; it's a good story.

[Maxwell Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting novel featuring how the world would look if Dr. Doom had control over the whole planet. The first part in a three part series, this head some very cool alternate history vibes in it but was overall rather depressing. Many characters make an appearance, but in the end I think everything is reset to make way for book 2. Lots of character die, but I think the author did a decent job at the team banter and interactions. Will be interesting to see how the series ends, it was a rather light if somewhat depressing read.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic X-Men action book with a dash of Doctor Doom thrown in. Set in an alt reality, the story has the freedom to make some drastic moves, such as killing off some key characters including a personal favorite, but knowing what the source of the change is means there’s an easy way to undo these events in the subsequent two books of the series. Looking forward to reading the next book which focuses on the more traditional Magneto, the more X-Men antagonist compared to Doom.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, lots of good plot twists! The start of a great series!

[luciddreamer99 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Filled with dated references that might not have even been cool when the book was published; the death camp scene with Carol Danvers should carry a trigger warning for sexual assault. I might expect such a moment in Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but it seems out of place in the usually pleasant super hero world of X-Men. For a better scenario of Dr. Doom ruling the world, see 2015's Secret Wars. I will finish it, and maybe the trilogy, but I need a break from it. Not recommended, even for X-Men fans.
Edit: decided to finish this one. While maybe slightly more enjoyable than I remembered, the dated reference comment rings true. At one point, Archangel imitates Homer Simpson. *groan* This is part of a trilogy, but I'm not looking forward to it. As I near the end, I feel this book tries to be something it's not: an adult-themed super hero adventure. I don't think anyone who sees this cover would expect the content inside. I don't feel it warrants more than a one star rating.

[B. Reese · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this and liking it alot. I never read the following 2 books, but always did and still want to. If I recall correctly, this book had a tighter focus on fewer characters, which was a plus. Many X-Men books try to do much, but this is a story with a tighter focus.

The plot is also pretty interesting, basically a house of M type story where Doom had succeeded. And it was done years before House of M.

All in all, I liked it and recommend it to anyone looking for a good X-men Novel, this is one of the few.

Steven also was kind enough to correspond with me briefly way back then, which was really cool.

[Raf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great read! I haven’t read and X-men novel in over 10 years and it was great to be able to read one again. This is the first of three books. Doctor doom has taken over the world and has become a tyrant who rules with an iron fist. It’s up to the X-men to stop him. After reading this book, I realized why I love X-men so much. The characters feel so real, especially when you dig into their history. They experience real pain, real struggles, and have endured intense identity crises.

[Scott Vandrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like old friends, revisiting the adventures of the X-Men always satisfies my 14-year-old self. Especially when Dr. Doom has seized control of the Cosmic Cube and recreated Earth’s dimension where mutant are slaves, wiped of memory and power, and the only people to save the planet are a small band of X-Men lead by Cyclops and Phoenix. How did they avoid Earth’s “recreation”, well, that’s the book and I wouldn’t want to give it away. Enjoyable read. This book is part of the Chaos Trilogy.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

These days I'm not as into superhero novels like I was years ago but, I loved this novel! The X-men trilogies are usually really good and this one was no different. I'm not all that familiar with doom other then from the fantastic four movies but, the the story of him in control of the world was fun. Only the x-men were there to stop him! I'm excited to see how the next two books will play out!

[Hillery Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!