Alien Seventh Circle

[felix]

Coming in Oct 29 2024.
https://bnccatalist.ca/ViewTitle.aspx?id=76215152

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

[Nightmare Asylum]

I'm a bit behind in the roleplaying game cinematic scenarios (last one I played is the missions from the Colonial Marines Operation Manual), but this definitely seems to be tying into the RPG's recent developments.

I think I like this premise a lot more than the premise of pretty much any novel that's been announced since Into Charybdis, if I'm being honest.

[SM]

Inferno Falls Again?

[Nightmare Asylum]

Inferno Falls Again?

Oh, just looked up what that one was as a refresher to this. I tapped out of the Zula Hendricks stuff after Defiance kind of went to crap in the back half of its run (that case isn't made any better by what ended up coming out about Brian Wood afterwards, either ), and found it pretty silly that they kept drawing Amanda Ripley back out of retirement for further crossovers/adventures with Zula afterwards (Alien: Isolation felt like a one-and-done deal with that character for me) so I never followed where the character went post-Defiance.

Was Inferno's Fall any good/worth returning to the character for?

[SM]

I don't know the first thing about Inferno's Fall beyond the cover having Neomorphs on it.  Just noticed this new book has the same authors.

[Still Collating...]

Like SM said, this is in a very large part Inferno's Fall again, beat for beat by the description, and I've read the first book. Just why? And god no, please not Mae, I'd even live with dull Zula or anyone from the gang, but not Mae. The best part of the novel was the Aussie family, the worst was Mae and how the Pathogen was handled. So I'm worried about that a bit...

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. 

[Slutty Badger]

October, right. Who wants to bet on this thing being delayed to 2026?

[Commander Blitz]

I really liked inferno's fall hopefully this is just as good been wanting to find out more about the jackals since reading it and what happened to them

[Slutty Badger]

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. 

Well, we know that Deep Void were responsible for at least some of the attacks.

[xShadowFoxX]

Ooo I don't know. I liked Inferno's Fall enough but I had major issues with it that could've been addressed in the following Enemy of my Enemy and they weren't. Also, with the number of mediocre books that have been released, the summary for this one just does not sound interesting.

[jacobo1122]

Inferno's Fall was one of few recent Titan Alien books that I really liked. It had its flaws, so I hope that  sequel will be opportunity to fix some of them. Clara sounded like a huge fan in interviews, and she seemed to have a blast cowriting first book with Philippa, so yeah, I'm excited what they'll cook up next.

[SM]

I hope it does well for her. She's had a bit of a rough trot.

[Corporal Hicks]

I really enjoyed Inferno's Fall. It was the strongest out of the RPG trilogy, for sure. It had some of the best character and world building we've seen from Titan imho. I can understand people being disappointed Olivia or Zula didn't feature in it more, but I really liked Mae. I have a fascination with characters experiencing identity crisis.

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! 

[Xiggz456]

Excited and looking forward to this one but also I'd like the books to move away from the over-connected narratives IMO.

[Still Collating...]

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. 

Well, we know that Deep Void were responsible for at least some of the attacks.

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 really enjoyed Inferno's Fall. It was the strongest out of the RPG trilogy, for sure. It had some of the best character and world building we've seen from Titan imho. I can understand people being disappointed Olivia or Zula didn't feature in it more, but I really liked Mae. I have a fascination with characters experiencing identity crisis.

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! 

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.