While we awaiting the release of Brendan Deneen’s upcoming novel “Alien: Uncivil War”, originally scheduled for release in April but now pushed back until July 30th, another entry from Titan into the Alien expanded universe has been announced! Authors Clara Carija and Philippa Ballantine are returning with “Alien: Seventh Circle” to continue the story they started in “Alien: Inferno’s Fall”!
As human colonies are obliterated by the dark pathogen and hideous monstrosities proliferate, a family of scavengers find an amnesiac who may hold the secrets to the forces tearing apart the galaxy.
Life amongst the stars is brutal. Human colonies are being obliterated by a dark pathogen launched from mysterious ships, which turns whole populations into hordes of ravenous monsters. And no one knows what happened to the Jackals, the cadre of soldiers hunting down the perpetrators of these atrocities.
When a family of scavengers recover the amnesiac Mae Hendricks amongst the wreckage of an unidentified ship, they bring a world of pain down on themselves and the civilians of Guelph Station. Mae doesn’t know where she is from or her true nature, nor that she is being hunted by vicious adversaries.
Mae’s past could reveal the conspiracy that is tearing the galaxy apart, but may well unleash a tide of snarling terrors…
“Alien: Inferno’s Fall” was published in July 2022 and is available to purchase from Amazon (UK/US). We previously reviewed the book on the 155th episode of the Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast which you can listen to here!
You can follow both Clara Carija and Philippa Ballantine on Twitter to learn more about the authors. “Alien: Seventh Circle” is currently slated for release on October 29th 2024, just before next year’s Alien Day. It’s currently available to order from Amazon (UK/US) for £9.99/$17.99.
Thanks to felix for the heads up! Make sure you stick with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest Alien novel news! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!
Nothing new in the RPG about Amanda, Colony War is the last bit of info we got. The cherry on the top of the mountain of cringe.
Almost makes one wonder if there's still a "break glass in case of emergency" contingency plan to do a movie with Ripley (or, more likely, Newt) set after Aliens if things were to go awry.
This is cute, actually. Quite like this.
Since Rescue, I think all we've had was a tidbit in Colony War. Unless there was other mention in the other RPG trilogy that I can't recall.
Spoiler
I really don't remember it that well. Colony War was just shite.
Plus I think more has come out about Amanda since 2020? So it might need a revision.
I just found the actual story file, that I only had a vague recollection of writing. Almost finished too. About 1400 words, and I only cringed once - maybe twice - re-reading it.
Final passage would be black fingernails typing LUCKYSTAR on an old video tablet. Ripley 8 watches as Old Amanda says 'You'll never guess what happened to me'.
Of course that's possible, but I hope that's not the case.
Completely agree 100%. I've never even thought of their alternative fates. Damn I love those ideas! For both of them! A lot more mature and believable IMO. E. Ripley wouldn't have gone on a crusade. She wanted to go home and try to live a normal life as much as possible, like normal human beings generally want. She only sacrificed herself cause she was kinda forced into that situation and she made a brave decision at the very end.
Cult was never intended to be announced so might not even be published. We saw this with a Predator prequel too.
And I like to think Zula kept swimming on Earth, because the nonsense stories past their first ones are honestly just that, and better just ignored.
The whole holy crusade against Weyland Yutani and their Aliens each partakes in comes across as totally farcical, it undermines the films, the Alien as a threatening presence and largely turns Weyland Yutani into Umbrella Corporation.
I hope Cult is something different.
Exactly. Cause both of them have not encountered the Aliens just a couple of times, but several times. Hell, they've both aged quite a bit, were fighting Aliens on again and off again from the 2130s to almost 2190 now. That's a bit too much IMO. They've survived more encounters than E. Ripley, and a lot greater number of Aliens than her. Doesn't feel right when they barely got by their original stories. Amanda got cocooned, and Zula was saved so many times by Davis. They were vulnerable and you felt the stakes there. Now it's gotten ridiculous... They haven't even lost a limb, no crippling, horrific injuries, nothing.
If not, they're going to both release at the same time. Or, Cult has been pushed back.
Again, a whole universe - 93 billion light-years in diameter - and the same characters (or family/friends) encountering the same danger WITH a high probability of survival.
Please can we highlight new, original characters?
I read Inferno's Fall. Despite a few good things, on the whole, I was pretty bored by the experience. I didn't finish the book feeling particularly satisfied, unlike other entries.
It's been tough to motivate myself to read Alien books lately. The quality has dipped and I'm starting to see the same themes/story beats over and over.
Yep, but even ignoring where the hell they could've gotten so many ships or Pathogen jars, Deep Void sites were bombed too. Like in Destroyer of Worlds and the final of Darwin's Island. Unless that was cause they were loosing and a final F U to everyone?
Second, why the hell would they waist so much Pathogen?
I felt the whole of Mae's Pinocchio "I want to be a real boy/girl" android trope could've been written better cause it was too stiff and too old school robotic, like an old Doctor Who episode.... Maybe cause she has amnesia now, they'll write her as an actual human this time (like almost all synths behave).
Enemy of my Enemy showed us who was responsible and then the surviving pair like retire on some remote planet, after years have passed and suddenly the Border Bombers are above them again. So who the hell knows what's going on. The problem that this mystery seems more clumsy than engaging. I'm guessing they're gonna push the David angle this time maybe.
That said...the synopsis does seem like we're in for a repeat of that with her amnesia? So I'm a little wary there.
I also wasn't a big fan of how the creatures were portrayed in Inferno's Fall with the inconsistency with the behavior of the black goo. But I suppose we can wave that away with the programmability of the payloads.
But I am surprised at the return since I thought Enemy of My Enemy had closed this storyline off? Though admittedly I can't remember that one too well, I was a bit "bleh" on that novel. Curious to see if Seventh Circle pushes the suggestion it being David responsible? Regardless, I'm curious and looking forward to it!
Well, we know that Deep Void were responsible for at least some of the attacks.
Just saw the link, the same authors again? Why would they write basically the same story again, or one with such a similar premise?
I hope Mae is written better this time and not so stiff old school robot like. And that we don't get even more confusing Pathogen stuff. Though Clara does believe that every entry needs to show a new type of Alien, so I'm certain that we'll have problems there again.
Lets hope this novel is more like the first half of their previous one, not like the second half IMO. I hope Ballantine will write the new characters as interesting as the Aussie family.
And I kinda doubt it, but I hope we finally get to see who're responsible for the Pathogen bombings. Cause the last few novels and RPG entries really made things confusing there..... There was a huge missed opportunity in crashing and then just completely ignoring the Juggernaut. They've been hunting them for so long, and when they've finally caught up to them, took them down, they just left them without investigating at all. Let's hope we don't get such weird plot situations here and some actual answers.