I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m feeling a little spoiled! With the announcement of Alien: Prototype, we’re now due for a total of 3 novels this year! Written by Tim Waggoner, Alien: Prototype is also set to feature Zula Hendricks as a main character.
This will mark Tim Waggoner’s first foray into the Alien expanded universe but he’s no stranger to science fiction, horror or franchise tie-ins. He has previously written for Stargate, Supernatural, Resident Evil and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
When an industrial spy steals a Xenomorph egg, former Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks must prevent an alien from killing everyone on an isolated colony planet.
Corporate spy Tamar Prather steals a Xenomorph egg from Weyland-Yutani, taking it to a lab facility run by Venture, a Weyland-Yutani competitor. Former Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks–now allied with the underground resistance–infiltrates Venture’s security team. When a human test subject is impregnated, the result is a Xenomorph that, unless it’s stopped, will kill every human being on the planet.
First introduced in the comic series Aliens: Defiance, Zula is also due to feature in a smaller way in Keith R.A. DeCandido’s upcoming Alien: Isolation novel (which is currently slated for a July 30th release).
Alien: Prototype is currently available for pre-order on Amazon (US/UK) and is due for release on the 29th of October. Thanks to Felix for the news.
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TC
Gestation is around 16 hours then full size in about 2 hours.
Same level of realism as eggmorphing. IE not much.
The novel of the second movie states 24hrs for the facehugger and the W-Y report says something similar, like 16hrs or something.
Still insanely fast and unlikely but surely that is more plausible than eggmorping.
I don't know of any animals that can go from microscopic to 8' tall in less than 24 hours either.
Mind you, its not supposed to be eggmorphing, I think someone said it just laid an egg in the dead body and it just consumed it to grow.
Not off hand, sorry.
Personally I'm actually quite happy to see it make a resurgence. I've always dug the eggmorphing.
Do you know what page it was mentioned on? I had to read Prototype in parts so I may have missed it.
I find the disease works way too fast than any disease should, mutated or otherwise, certain characters with potential are let down or end up making stupid decisions.
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Overall it is a great book and it should work as a good counter to isolation novel where the Aliens are killed fairly easily.
Can not decide whether or not read this.
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/website/interviews/tim-waggoner/
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I just don't think it ties in with the way the novel makes out colonisation hasn't got going yet.
On an unrelated note, something else that just occurred to me regarding this book:
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...except for the 600 people lining in the sprawling Lodge facility.
They clearly already have the tech to establish large-scale bases on other planets, including ones with inhospitable atmospheres.
Fair.
The way I see it is Venture is testing new colonization products. Similar to an outdoors company testing a new tent or sleeping bag in extreme climates even though folks have been camping since always. Also we know from Resistance that colony ships launch twice a day on Earth; so as long as colonization is booming the demand for new products, be it top of the line or cheap and disposable, will be quite high. Plausibly I have no problems seeing an array of prototype colonization equipment being tested on a fairly hostile planet.
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And Jericho 3 is Venture's facility/planet for the testing of their colonization tech and equipment: ergo prototypes.
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If that bit was written better, then I probably wouldn't have any problems with it. Well, apart from the book itself feeling cheap. On the whole, I'd probably give it a 7/10, for the 90s Aliens comic book feel.
One last thing, though, what's with the title? It has nothing to do with the story.
It wound up being a fairly middle-of-the-road Alien novel. It was by no means awful, but it wasn't especially fantastic either. The oldschool Bantam feel was perhaps the main thing it had going for it, but that kinda wore off towards the end.
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Can't really give it any more than a rather average 5 or 6 out of 10. Didn't love it, but certainly didn't hate it either.
Is it just me, though, or does the book itself feel cheap? Like, the paper looks thin and greyish rather than white, and the cover feels like thin card. The other books have felt kind of premium, but this feels like a discount run.