Following Pat Cadigan’s Alien 3: The Unproduced Screenplay by William Gibson release back in August (read our review here), we hadn’t yet heard about any future Alien novels from Titan Books. Thanks to a new listing spotted on Amazon, we now have the first details of our next Alien novel from Titan and author David Barnett – Alien: Colony War!
Political conflicts on Earth erupt into open hostilities between their colonies in space, with Xenomorphs as the ultimate weapon.
Political tensions boil over on Earth, spreading to the outer fringes of known space as the UK colony of New Albion breaks with the Three World Empire. When an oil-drilling facility on nearby LV-187 is destroyed, its French colonists slaughtered, the British are blamed. Military forces arrive from the Independent Core Systems and combat erupts.
Trapped in the middle are Cher Hunt and Chad Mclaren. Cher is trying to find out who was responsible for the death of her sister, Shy Hunt (of McAllen Integrations from Alien: Into Charybdis). At the same time Mclaren, accompanied by the synthetic known as Davis, follows in the footsteps of his late wife, Amanda Ripley, seeking to stop the weaponization of Xenomorphs. When a horde of the deadly aliens overwhelms both groups, however, their only hope may lie with Royal Marine Corps unit known as “God’s Hammer.”
Interestingly, Colony War appears to be a direct continuation from Alex White’s phenomenal Alien: Into Charybdis with the introduction of Shy Hunt’s sister. We also seem set to see the return of Davis from Aliens: Defiance/Resistance/Rescue, as well as the introduction of Amanda Ripley’s husband Chad Mclaren.
Though we haven’t seen an Alien novel from David Barnett previously, he has written a short in the upcoming anthology Aliens vs. Predators: Ultimate Prey, which is currently scheduled for release on the 14th of December. You can pre-order that from Amazon (UK/US) now.
According to the Amazon listing, Alien: Colony War is currently slated for release on the 12th of April 2022. Thanks to felix on the forums for the news!
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Kinda hoping / presuming Alex White will return and pen a third, he seems to be able to push things forward...
Podcast, but I recommend drinking heavily first. Let the F-bombs flow.
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Now to actually write a review for this. I've still not decided on whether or not to do a podcast review on this. I'm feeling a severe lack of enthusiasm at the minute.
100% correct on all counts.
If it was more subtle but serious maybe it might have worked but it isnt. Its just boring and not particularly clever parody in a series thats supposed to be serious and intense.
May 13, 2022, 07:11:30 PM
The political scenario in alexs book seemed far more intriguing and serious
Yeah, you nailed it Hicks... I'm the of the same persuasion as yourself and Barnett, but the broad strokes he used painting everybody as Sun reading, French hating bigots was just way over the top, and dated.
There were moments when I thought it was about to get going, but then it just reverted to type.
I actually listened to the Audiobook, and another thing I found strange was a kind of weird time-stretching where characters engaged in long existential conversations with Alien maws just inches away. Found it a bit cheesy, and took me out of the book.
I recall Alex White mentioning that either Titan or 20th Century wanted the stories to move more towards political conflicts a'la "The Expanse" and they set up such a conflict with "Into Charybdis". But as you said 3WExit is not nearly nuanced enough. It's far too on the nose and I think the scale is a bit too small for an interstellar conflict. Hopefully "Inferno's Fall" does a better job.
Fingers crossed for the podcast lol
The problem is it's a parody. And it's one-sided. I'm not one to really share my political opinions as I can't be arsed with people shouting theirs at me, but I sat on the same side of that yes/no vote as Barnett obviously did. And jfc if Barnett isn't determined to paint everyone on that other side as a clown. There's no exploration of the benefits or detractions of that question. Everyone is just a caricature of a raging racist Brit - aside from that one taxi driver, if I remember rightly?
And when the story does stop trying to just rip the shit out of leavers and take itself more seriously, it's just a boring retread. Seen this all before.
It was more cringe than anything.
it seems like they forced a brexit type scenario in there and it doesnt feel serious at all and hurts the story.
I also feel like the main story is basically a retelling of alien mashed with aliens. So many scenes basically directly taken from the movies
Yeah, my thoughts exactly
May 11, 2022, 10:30:14 PM
Thanks Xiggz456, I'll check that
it was taking the piss out of brexit. It was far too silly to take seriously
Welcome to the boards Kie! You make some valid points here. It sounds like the British angle is more cringe to Brits than patriotic lol.
I agree on the suspense being decent enough as the majority of scenes with the xenos were beautifully described. As for the tie-ins
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If you get a chance check out the author's short story in the anthology "AVP Ultimate Prey" as it's one of the best shorts in the book.
Hi there, first time poster here... I recently got back into the Alien mythos after really enjoying the Alex White novels, which are a definite franchise high point. I'm also familiar with most of the comics and games, and even the recent RPG (excellent).
Was a little bit apprehensive when reading the premise for 'Colony War' and well, my suspicions were sadly valid...
It's enjoyable enough in places with some decent suspense, and the research and tie-ins are well done (although probably too cryptic as others have mentioned).
The main issue is it's just way over the top, not every Brit is a xenophobic dumbo, I mean Ridley Scott created the whole franchise! And don't get me started on the bizarre victorian parlance which sounds more 19th century than 22nd. "Best of British to you" I had to google it as I have honestly never heard anybody say that in my life!
To sum up, whilst there are some decent ideas and set pieces but the amount of cringe and inconsistency sunk it for me. Not bad, but pretty misguided 6/10
I am enjoying it though.
And someone said it retcons a certain characters death. When did said character die? Ive read pretty much all the novels and comics and dont remember that death which should be a huge event.
I was actually flipping from the book to
The "Operations Manual" as all the vehicles and weaponry were straight out of the RPG. So I fully appreciated all the lore references but it definitely toed the line of crossing into "fan service" territory. I'll go ahead and give this one a 7.5/10
May 02, 2022, 11:29:34 PM
While reading I wondered how all you Brits would like the "Best of British" angle (especially the Boris knockoff) lol it seemed a bit over the top
As for the Border Bombings, I agree that there should've been more background on it as very few folks have read/played through the "Operations Manual" 10 mission campaign where it's addressed.
Well lookin forward to your thoughts on the rest of the book, guv
Whilst I appreciate what the author was trying to do with the world building and parallels to current British politics, it was far too on the nose and took me right out of the whole thing.
The book wasnt terrible but as an indirect follow up to Into Charybdis it was a big letdown.
Of all the Titan novels so far, this and Prototype are my lowest ranked.
I'd be surprised if it wasn't editorial.
I'm up to chapter 19 now. It's taking itself more seriously now, but I do wish all the British characters would die, so I stop having to read "guv" in every piece of dialogue.
There's some fantastic descriptive imagery of the Aliens in this. Really digging some of these descriptions. Also really liking the
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Honestly, I wish we'd have had something better established with this. An actual written journalistic piece within the book, early on, addressing this a bit more. It's so off-handed in the novel, despite the frequent mentions.
Regarding that page 127 spoiler... I'd be very curious to know if that was the author's choice or if it was mandated by someone.
Definitely canceling my order on this book, lmao
https://i.imgur.com/znc6Ze3.jpg
Agreed
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Current progress:
https://i.imgur.com/qaodoUL.png
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I made this especially...
https://i.imgur.com/KHqtNfO.jpg
I do not agree, but you already know this because we have already discussed this earlier in this very topic, I do not consider it disposable. I consider it part of Alien Isolation's identity, it's woven into every aspect of the experience, the Isolation's not just in reference to being alone in the physical sense but also being without answers.
That's why the opening and the ending credits are what they are.
Sure it works on the level of the raw gameplay, but I think omitting the factor the story and characters play's reductive personally, and misses part of why it feels authentic.
I don't think I'll be able to. "Generally enjoyable" lol
They're just putting out "whatever".
Few entries i liked but.. lmao
They're exceptions that prove the rule.
always good to read them:
and then rate them really low on Goodreads
I rolled my eyes at that. Thoughts on the politics of it all aside, at least Brexit was a play on words that worked. 3WExit doesn't.
Also, I'd have thought it would have made better continuity having the colonies use the weaponry of their various national companies instead of everyone rocking Pulse Rifles. Would have been nice to see the Dukes using the WY weaponry from Fireteam.
I've got to the bit with the guard hut. The book is feeling like parody now.
I'm with Blue on this. Sure, the emotional impact means more to the fans, but it was a big part of the experience for me.
Oh, and I forgot RyanSpace at the start of the book. I had a small chuckle at that at the time, but now it's feeling like a part of the silly tone.
Oh boy, this is going to make me throw the book at the wall.
It amounts to disposable fanservice. Nobody praises the game for its opening titles, they praise the aesthetic and experience. Neither of which relies on Amanda being Amanda.
I guess we know which Ripley this is now...
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/47582371_343459419571377_1678431481132215546_n.jpg
Nobody praises the game for its deeply emotional story, they praise the experience. Amanda could've been anyone going on a journey to do anything at the station and it would've had the same audience reaction.