Alien - Inferno's Fall

[BlueMarsalis79]

Pretty much.

[Kradan]

I liked parts that were dtawn by Tristan. f**king shame we didn't get another comic from him. f**k schedules, f**k deadlines, f**k Marvel, f**k Land, f**k Larroca, f**k everything

[Ashen89]

Just finished this. It was my most anticipated of the three Alien books this year because I'm thirsty as hell for anything Engineer-y or with even a whiff of a continuation of the prequel arc.

Overall I enjoyed it, even if there were a few things I was disappointed about.

Spoiler

Positives:
The Knot, and Toru especially, were mostly excellently realised and interesting characters. Plenty of interesting ideas were adressed which helped to flesh out the world (e.g. being in love with an android, servitude/indenture, adoption). The oceanic sensibility was really refreshing, as was the focus on the combine and the different way of working life (as opposed to just generic WY colonists).

The deaths of Nathan and Pinar in particular were given really strong emotional weight and the creeping personification of Mae was something I thought was handled well and set up plenty of future possibilities in universe.

The Engineer ruins were intriguing and well envisioned, I wish there had been more exploring in this section of the book.

Negatives:
I thought most of the action sequences were a little lacklustre and hard to follow in the way they were described.

The Engineer encounter was almost a carbon copy of the same scene from Prometheus and I was really disappointed that we didn't actually learn anything new about them from this novel as that was my biggest hope.

As someone who hasn't read Prototype or Defiance I was a bit non-plussed about the Zula Hendricks sections, but that's more of a me problem.

My main issue by far was the constant crowbarring in of names and model numbers of things, mostly weapons. It was really jarring, almost like overzealous product placement. I understand this was likely a Fox thing and not an author thing, they clearly want to tie-in to the RPG stuff, but it took me out of the story every time and made some of the dialogue sound really stilted.

[close]

I'd put it beneath Phalanx but above the rest (with the two Alex White novels standing head and shoulders above everything else at the top).

7/10

[BlueMarsalis79]

I feel exactly the same with one addition:

Spoiler

I do not like the portrayal of the Pathogen in this and do not think it improved the narrative either.

[close]

[Still Collating...]

Weren't the RPG maps taken from SM's designs?

Yeah, that irked me as well when I saw it. I know certainly that a big part of the map was his work, if not the whole thing, don't know how much Clara added to that, but it's a shame that SM didn't get mentioned there.

I feel exactly the same with one addition:

Spoiler

I do not like the portrayal of the Pathogen in this and do not think it improved the narrative either.

[close]

Just started reading it, first I read the RPG section, but the pathogen usage doesn't make me feel confident... That's what happens when creatives think that each new entry must have new types of Aliens. Firstly, it doesn't, secondly, I'm not against going crazy Kenner like if there are consistent rules.

Spoiler

But making Xenos out of pathogen? What? Why? How can a lore consultant let this through? If they are mutated Neomorph and Abomination variants, that's all okay with me. Though Neo's have their own specific life cycle, but okay. The RPG section literally mentions a guy turning into the Covenant xenomorph (The Body burster in Destroyer of Worlds at least had a good explanation), and that the other creatures are mutated into Xenomorphs by the Pathogen. But they're called Xenomorphs. I know that could be the general term, but it doesn't seem to be used like that here. Why couldn't they just be Abominations, or have the life cycle of the Neo's or Xeno's? If it's so easy to just bomb the place and turn creatures into actual Xeno's, how is that not a superiors version to the complicated traditional life cycle? If it was not the case that these are traditional XX121 Xenos, they sould've been more specific about that.
 
They even have a weird explanation for the Prowler from AFE.

Why has the Pathogen become the "whatever" virus that mutates things just because, without good explanations. What's the difference between this version and the Resident Evil virus then?

I'd expect better from lore consultants. How did Gaska let this pass?

[close]

[BlueMarsalis79]

It is... very unexpected and brings the whole thing down, even setting aside the fact it seemingly contradicts other materials, and undermines Alex White's excellent work...

Even purely narratively it is difficult, because you get the sense the monsters can do whatever whenever required, perhaps it needs another read to take in. 

[SiL]

Weren't the RPG maps taken from SM's designs?

Yeah, that irked me as well when I saw it. I know certainly that a big part of the map was his work, if not the whole thing, don't know how much Clara added to that, but it's a shame that SM didn't get mentioned there.

... someone else got credited? SM not getting credit for his maps is par for the course but crediting someone else is trash by everyone involved.

I'm suddenly glad I haven't picked up the RPG.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Some behind the scenes drama going on obviously... or sometimes people just do not get credited when they ought to.

[SiL]

Sounds like someone stealing someone else's work for clout.

[BlueMarsalis79]

If you're insinuating something about Clara or someone I'd rather you just say it. We are not in full possession of the facts though.

[Crazy Rich]

Sounds like stealing to me.

I've noticed in another case too how Disney is notorious for it, for example with Star Wars taking and using 3D models and art (that look great) but giving 0 credit to the fans that make this stuff

[SiL]

If you're insinuating something about Clara or someone I'd rather you just say it. We are not in full possession of the facts though.

I don't have the book so I don't know what the attribution looks like.

[Still Collating...]

Weren't the RPG maps taken from SM's designs?

Yeah, that irked me as well when I saw it. I know certainly that a big part of the map was his work, if not the whole thing, don't know how much Clara added to that, but it's a shame that SM didn't get mentioned there.

... someone else got credited? SM not getting credit for his maps is par for the course but crediting someone else is trash by everyone involved.

I'm suddenly glad I haven't picked up the RPG.

Don't know if there's anything nefarious going on, I hope not, but the book just says Clara is a consultant known for her stellar cartography on the RPG. No mention of SM. Again, I don't know how much she added, but remembering SM's maps, it seems that a great deal was already done by him for the RPG. Just seems weird that such things happen. 

I'm not sure, but I think the RPG Core Rule Book does give credit to SM, though I can't remember certainly.
The rule book has been fantastic till now. Gaska really knows what he's doing IMO. Though some aspects of the final expansion and this book's RPG expansion give me concerns...

It is... very unexpected and brings the whole thing down, even setting aside the fact it seemingly contradicts other materials, and undermines Alex White's excellent work...

Even purely narratively it is difficult, because you get the sense the monsters can do whatever whenever required, perhaps it needs another read to take in. 

Yeah, Alex White did great stuff with the Pathogen and the RPG made it seem like we're getting consistency and some realistic rules. And now we get mutant goo that creates anything the story needs, really Alien like creatures, but who gives a damn about the classic life cycle. I mean, if they wanted to go that rout, with all those xeno variants, just introducing eggs would've made everything okay. But no, the magical goo can do anything, why care about consistency and logical changes, explanations etc.   

[SiL]

If she's credit with work on the expansion that would at least make more sense. Thanks for the information!

[Engineer]

Weren't the RPG maps taken from SM's designs?

Yeah, that irked me as well when I saw it. I know certainly that a big part of the map was his work, if not the whole thing, don't know how much Clara added to that, but it's a shame that SM didn't get mentioned there.

... someone else got credited? SM not getting credit for his maps is par for the course but crediting someone else is trash by everyone involved.

I'm suddenly glad I haven't picked up the RPG.

SM's name is in the core rule book. Under the "special thanks to" credits. Clara started with his map, hence his "special thanks to" credit then expanded on the map to what it is in the book. Beyond that, anything else behind the scenes related to how he was credited exactly, I have no idea, but nonetheless he wasn't exactly uncredited, his name is there.