Review by C.J. Bunce
Forty-five years and counting, the Alien universe continues to branch out in new directions. Every new tie-in novel consistently has been packed with suspense and innovative takes on Weyland-Yutani and its influence years before, during, and after the events of Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie. The next Alien novel is coming later this month. Alien: Uncivil War, available for pre-order now here at Amazon, is another story of xenomorphs disrupting a ship on an important mission, hiding, then wreaking havoc on surprised colonists. If that sounds familiar, the difference here is it takes place late in the movie franchise. The great, infamous corporation Weyland-Yutani is no more, and readers will learn corporations have been outlawed, replaced by the military. Alien without Weyland-Yutani?
It’s okay–that slimy corporation has its mitts in everything still. But right out of the gate it’s difficult to like protagonist Chris Temple. He says of his wife “she’s been gone for a year, but I still miss her.” A whole year, and you “still” miss her, huh? That’s pretty hollow. He’s also creepy in his love for Alicia, the synth, now referred to as an auton, who replaced his wife as caretaker for his two kids. Immediately after he learns Alicia is killed, by xenomorphs in a spaceship disaster, he’s ready to move on to his next woman. And she’s even creepier.
Temple is retired military, yet he is incapable of following rules, any rules, including those of a new planet he and his daughters find themselves on after taking an escape pod from their last ship. You might get the feel Temple isn’t really ex-military–like he has his own secrets as he begins life on this pastoral, recently terraformed planet. But that’s not what is going on. It turns out the military was in charge of Mining Outpost Omega Seven Tango, or OST for short. That is, until Lexa Phelan took charge.
Phelan is not only Temple’s next love interest–it turns out she is a cult leader trying to take the writings of infamous company founders Weyland and Yutani, and twisting them into a kooky spiritual way of life. And she hasn’t told Temple about a couple other big secrets, which may or may not include the presence of xenomorphs.
Unlike some of the past stories in the franchise, happily this is not another mad scientist plot. It does mimic some key elements from both Alien: Inferno’s Fall, especially via the synth/AI character Mae and its mining colony, and Alien: Sea of Sorrows, although it takes their ideas in different directions.
Alien stories continue to rely on bad corporate decisions or poor military personnel (or poor hiring: blame Human Resources!)–like those bumbling stormtroopers in Star Wars–but the bigger quirk is the fact that the very existence of xenomorphs is still a universal secret–and this is decades past the Weyland-Yutani corporate era. We should be getting to the end of someone finding a creepy jar of insectoids and not merely being curious. “Get it to out the airlock, STAT!” would be more like it. But that just may be one of those required tropes bringing that horror side of sci-fi/horror for this franchise, like walking outside after dark when you hear a strange sound. And if the franchise moved past that point you could easily see it merge into something like Starship Troopers.
In this 45th year since the original Alien movie, the franchise is either going to continue to expand in bizarre ways (like in Prometheus) or repeat the Colonial Marine stories with different characters in slightly different circumstances, which is sort of what we get with James Bond and Planet of the Apes. Or maybe it will surprise us with something new. More Colonial Marine tales are not a bad thing, as fans of Alien are eager to get their hands on new content, especially if they are only getting one or two novels per year to feed their hunger.
Good for its delivery of “just desserts,” Aliens: Uncivil War, by Brendan Deneen, is available for pre-order now here at Amazon, from Titan Books. Its street date is July 30, 2024.
Don’t forget, Alien: Romulus, the seventh film in the franchise (or ninth if you count the Predator tie-ins) is in theaters next month.
And make sure to check out all of these Alien tie-ins and films previously reviewed here at borg:
Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore
Alien: River of Pain by Christopher Golden
Alien: The Cold Forge by Alex White
Alien: Colony War by David Barnett
Alien: Inferno’s Fall by Philippa Ballantine
Alien: Prototype by Tim Waggoner
Alien: Into Charybdis by Alex White
Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary Sangiovanni
Alien The Complete Collection: The Shadow Archive Collection by various
Alien The Complete Collection: Symphony of Death by various
Aliens: Infiltrator by Weston Ochse
Aliens: Bug Hunt by various
Aliens: Vasquez by V. Castro
Aliens: Bishop by T.R. Napper
Aliens vs Predator: Rift War by Weston Ochse and Yvonne Navarro
Alien3: The Unproduced First Draft Screenplay by William Gibson and Pat Cadigan
The Book of Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual, by Owen Williams
Alien Covenant: Origins, by Alan Dean Foster
The Making of Alien by J.W. Rinzler
The Making of Aliens by J.W. Rinzler
The Art and Making of Alien Covenant, by Simon Ward
Alien Covenant: David’s Drawings by Dane Hallett & Matt Hatton
Aliens: Bug Hunt, anthology
Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report, by S.D. Perry
Aliens: The 30th Anniversary Edition
Cinema Alchemist: Designing Star Wars and Alien, by Roger Christian
Aliens: The Set Photography, by Simon Ward
The Movie Art of Syd Mead, Visual Futurist
Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo
Find the Xenomorph: An Aliens Search-and-Find Book
Tech Noir by James Cameron
Need to resupply your collection of Alien toys? Look at all that’s available here at Entertainment Earth.
Or go directly to the source, the movies themselves, all at affordable prices on Amazon, and even less with subscriptions to various streaming platforms:
Game over! Keep coming back for more Alien news at borg.
