Fan Favourite Alex White Returns With New Novel, Alien: Into Charybdis!

[Voodoo Magic]

Yes, that is indeed surprising considering what an advocate for The Cold Forge you were/are TQ.

[HuDaFuK]

Tbf this one didn't grab me like a vice from page one like Cold Forge did.

It definitely had more of a warm-up period at the start.

[Voodoo Magic]

Interesting! I've so far found the opposite. This grabbed me from the beginning, but started loosening its grip on me a bit with some of the Colonial Marines stuff. We'll see where the rest takes me. 

[Nightmare Asylum]

I'm only on chapter 25, and not ready to talk spoilers yet, but I will say that I found myself very into the early chapters. I absolutely love the Charybdis Complex itself and found myself fascinated to explore every nook and cranny of it; it may just be the most interesting human-built location in the Alien series this side of Sevastopol, and the political/corporate conflict (and the sort of horror that stems from those strained relationships) that dominates the early chapters is right up my alley.

[Voodoo Magic]

Agreed!

[BlueMarsalis79]

I don't think it's on the book in this case, to be honest though, loved what I read just letting you all know I'm going to be late to the party because of my shoddy headspace.

[Gentleman Death]

The first half is great but yeah, the colonial marine stuff was hit and miss for me personally.

[BlueMarsalis79]

I'm interested in hearing why exactly.

[Gentleman Death]

I'm interested in hearing why exactly.

I personally didn't like Duncan and her whole ""Oh-Ra" military persona. I felt the story slightly faltered with them although I understand, story wise, why White included them. Plus I feel the environment and planet was amazing and vastly underutilized.

[HuDaFuK]

I did think Duncan was over-the-top in a way Dorian never was, but I also thought that fit better with the more fun-focused tone the story was going for.

[Gentleman Death]

I did think Duncan was over-the-top in a way Dorian never was, but I also thought that fit better with the more fun-focused tone the story was going for.

Exactly. I mean, I get it....I understand the why but it was hard for me to not roll my eyes at her character.

[Nightmare Asylum]

I have roughly 100 pages to go. Still not ready to fully talk spoilers, but to address the points being raised in the last few posts...

Spoiler

At first I was thrown off by the marine element, as I was loving the more Alien-inspired take of the first chunk of the book and find the Charybdis Complex itself to be, perhaps, the most interesting locale we've ever gotten in an expanded universe story. But I quickly came around and found myself loving the marine element as well. Duncan's earnest "OOH RAH" mentality directly correlating with her role as the story's antagonist and Becker seeing through the artifice of it all appeals to me greatly, as it all stands in pretty direct contrast to the "OOH RAH BADASS MARINES" style that unfortunately dictated so much of the expended universe in years past. This, to me, has been the best marine-focused story since Cameron's film so far.

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[426Buddy]

Page 240... Harsh! 😅

Right!?

Had a good laugh at that one lol

[Nightmare Asylum]

Finished. Thought this was excellent. Reading through spoiler posts now, but just want to say that I really loved this one and found it to be right on par with The Cold Forge. Out of the fair share of expanded universe stuff I've read, nobody gets the Alien universe quite the way Alex White does.

Spoiler

I bet the fanbase is going to be pretty split on the Blue stuff (which took me by complete surprise) but I was really into it. I'd love to see a visual depiction of her as described in this book...

Duncan's death was f**king NUTS in the best possible way.

Hasanova/Charybdis Complex is easily my favorite location in an Alien story outside of the films, and I found the whole political climate here to be incredibly compelling. On that note, this is the best Colonial Marines focused story since Aliens, and by a WIDE margin.

So we have a pre-merger Weyland facility built over an ancient Engineer site... giant head room and all. That's... a pretty insanely massive detail ripe with so much potential. I absolutely love this kind of stuff, and it opens up a huge can of worms vase of black goo.

Also, I'd be remiss to not mention Shy's absolutely shocking death at the halfway point of the book.

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Spoiler

I could see Alex writing about the war and Rook starting a synthetic uprising against humanity during said war which could lead to things like Auton creation and what not. 

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Spoiler

The epilogue had me speculating about this exact same thing. And I think Alex White would write a damn good book dealing with that subject matter. It would have to be set some time further in the future, but it would be interesting if it also dealt with the inevitable collapse of Weyland-Yutani that we know is coming at some point in the next 200 years.

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[Local Trouble]

I have acquired a copy of this tome, so be prepared for me to read it and pass judgment.

Spoiler

Also, I may have questions.

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