Empire's End

Although Duane began her writing career with fantasy (The Door Into Fire, etc.), she has also produced some of the most memorable Star Trek books (Spock's World; Dark Mirror), as well as several Spiderman tie-ins (The Venom Factor, etc.). Here, she brings to life Marvel Comics' popular team of mutant superheroes, the X-Men. Professor Charles Xavier, mentor and de facto leader of the X-Men, receives a call for assistance from his true love, Lilandra, empress of far-off Shi'ar. An alien lifeform that ""eats"" stars is approaching Shi'ar space, and Lilandra asks the X-Men to help stop the creature. Using a Shi'ar device that boosts their mutant abilities to godlike levels, the X-Men must face off with the alien invader and also deal with the lure of wielding their dangerously enhanced powers. Their struggles are further complicated by intrigues rippling through Lilandra's court, for the longer Lilandra avoids taking a consort of her own race and producing an heir, the more tenuous is her power. Duane breathes considerable life into these franchise characters, but the conventions of comic-book plotting and melodramatic dialogue make this novel most suitable for X-Men fans. Line drawings. (Oct.) FYI: The X-Men comics sell 20 million copies a year.