Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary SanGiovanni

Started by Corporal Hicks, Mar 10, 2022, 03:18:38 PM

Author
Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary SanGiovanni (Read 39,224 times)

HuDaFuK

Quote from: Wweyland on Mar 22, 2023, 09:20:17 AMI want to keep up to date on the books, but at the same time, there's so much more great stuff to read.

Yeah. I really need to catch up on AVP novels but I'm thoroughly engrossed in my re-read of the Fleming Bond books atm and knowing the recent slew of AVP isn't great really isn't helping prise me away.

Wweyland

"Thankfully" there are not many AvP books. I found Ultimate Prey to be a slog honestly and haven't read Rift War yet.

Still Collating...

Yeah, Ultimate Prey was boring and silly a lot of the time for me as well. I read Rift War. That thing is horrendous... I so desperately tried to get into it, but no way. I stopped reading it near the end and have no intention to finish it. It's not really offensive to the lore that much unlike some other recent novels, it's just bland. And the action is very poorly written.

Stitch

I finished this last night and I seem to be at odds with most people because I really quite enjoyed it. It kinda reminded me of the old EU.

I thought the story was paced well, made individual aliens a threat instead of fodder, and used some concepts which were interesting.

The whole black goo bombing thing was unnecessary, and any number of other ideas could have been used, but I guess it ties it in to the rest of the currently EU, so that doesn't really bother me.

I enjoyed it.

xShadowFoxX

Quote from: Stitch on Mar 30, 2023, 04:24:30 PMI finished this last night and I seem to be at odds with most people because I really quite enjoyed it. It kinda reminded me of the old EU.

I thought the story was paced well, made individual aliens a threat instead of fodder, and used some concepts which were interesting.

The whole black goo bombing thing was unnecessary, and any number of other ideas could have been used, but I guess it ties it in to the rest of the currently EU, so that doesn't really bother me.

I enjoyed it.
Nothing wrong with the Aliens or the pacing. Black goo bombings not being addressed and the characters having extremely questionable judgement are what dragged it down so much for me, especially if you consider the history of one of those characters.

Sarahlyn35

Quote from: Xiggz456 on Mar 19, 2023, 01:05:26 PMJust finished and I really enjoyed this one! Probably my favorite of this loosely connected trilogy!

The story hits the ground running in chapter 1 and continues this pace throughout the story with several "out the frying pan, into the fire" scenarios that kept me on edge throughout!

Spoiler
Getting into spoilers, we have our first craft to craft space battle which was wonderfully intense. Character-wise I felt that they all had enough character development for me to hope they survived and when they didn't I felt for them and the remaining survivors (damn near shed a tear when Kira was killed). The queen vs the bio drones was savagely described and after a hopeful ending the author immediately bleakened it in the last paragraph which I found dreadfully fitting.
[close]

If you haven't played through or read the RPG's Colonial Marine cinematic scenario then this story pretty much spoils the secret that you work to uncover there. So naturally many of the aspects and backdrops of the RPG are sprinkled throughout the story which I loved but not everyone will catch on to. Overall this action packed story was a great step in the right direction for Alien novels. 9.5/10
I'm with you. I enjoyed the book overall, a few bits dragged but the first half of the book in particular was page turning stuff

Necronomicon II

Necronomicon II

#66
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Mar 16, 2023, 06:42:15 PM
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 16, 2023, 01:58:56 PMI've basically not read any of these books yet (got about a third of the way into Colony War and had to stop because it was so bad) but based on the general perception here it really upsets me that the interesting setup at the end of White's Into Charybdis seems to have been followed up on so poorly.

I honestly just permanently removed Enemy of my Enemy and Inferno's Fall from my Kindle library, I'm just so disappointed I just want to pretend that they do not exist. I will just wait for whatever Alex White does next, still I will keep an ear out but I have stopped actively following this continuity.

I've pleaded to get White back 😭, but they're so so busy with other things. I'm chatting with them as I type this. 😅

xShadowFoxX

Quote from: Necronomicon II on Jun 17, 2023, 11:55:47 PM
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Mar 16, 2023, 06:42:15 PM
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 16, 2023, 01:58:56 PMI've basically not read any of these books yet (got about a third of the way into Colony War and had to stop because it was so bad) but based on the general perception here it really upsets me that the interesting setup at the end of White's Into Charybdis seems to have been followed up on so poorly.

I honestly just permanently removed Enemy of my Enemy and Inferno's Fall from my Kindle library, I'm just so disappointed I just want to pretend that they do not exist. I will just wait for whatever Alex White does next, still I will keep an ear out but I have stopped actively following this continuity.

I've pleaded to get White back 😭, but they're so so busy with other things. I'm chatting with them as I type this. 😅

I'd be down for that. Like, that would probably be the only way to get me back into reading these tie ins.

skhellter

Quote from: Necronomicon II on Jun 17, 2023, 11:55:47 PM
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Mar 16, 2023, 06:42:15 PM
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 16, 2023, 01:58:56 PMI've basically not read any of these books yet (got about a third of the way into Colony War and had to stop because it was so bad) but based on the general perception here it really upsets me that the interesting setup at the end of White's Into Charybdis seems to have been followed up on so poorly.

I honestly just permanently removed Enemy of my Enemy and Inferno's Fall from my Kindle library, I'm just so disappointed I just want to pretend that they do not exist. I will just wait for whatever Alex White does next, still I will keep an ear out but I have stopped actively following this continuity.

I've pleaded to get White back 😭, but they're so so busy with other things. I'm chatting with them as I type this. 😅

godspeed. Alex deserves a crack at a 3rd story. (if they want to).
Blue is one of the best new additions to the series. Great character in two damn good books.

Necronomicon II

Necronomicon II

#69
There's a new Black Mirror season out and the episode with Aaron Paul and their earth-bound droid surrogate reminded me of Marcus and Dr. Marsalis.


Androids fellating facehuggers also has precedence in The Cold Forge, more of this please 👀 🤤 —

"It happens faster than she'd imagined, the palm of the spidery face-hugger smashing into her face, crushing her nose hard enough to make her eyes tear up. All lights wink out as its powerful phalanges lock to her skull. Its tail whips around her neck in the blink of an eye, tightening like a steel cable, trying to make her gasp. The second her lips part even a little, its slithering pharynx shoots between her teeth, painfully wedging her jaws apart. Conflicting instincts rage within her. One tells her to bite down, the other to gasp for air. Her hands fly to her face, desperate to tear the thing free, everything inside her screaming, You've made a mistake. But when she doesn't lose consciousness, Blue remembers that she is the predator, and the noxhydria is her quarry. It notices, too. Its grip around her skull slackens, and the tail unfurls as it tries to get away. She slaps her hands to its back and slams her head to the ground, pinning it underneath Marcus's weight. It tries to retract its pharynx, and she sinks her teeth into its tough skin. It has acid for blood, but its hide could never be cut without a laser scalpel, so she holds onto it with Marcus's inhuman jaws. Its tail whips wildly, trying to break her hold on it, but to no avail. Then she sucks as hard as she can, drawing on the synthetic's strength, crushing the monster's flaccid glands with her palms."

Boy I'm getting juicy 🥵😁.

[cancerblack]

It's only just occurred to me that the present tense might be why I struggle with those books.

Necronomicon II

Necronomicon II

#71
*then she sucked as hard as she could.  ;D

Stitch

Quote from: [cancerblack] on Jun 18, 2023, 04:48:28 AMIt's only just occurred to me that the present tense might be why I struggle with those books.
It does give a weird vibe. Definitely changes your impression of the story.

[cancerblack]

Like I get that it provides immediacy to the text and can help draw you into characters, but it feels so weird to read present tense. Like it's a recipe or instruction manual or something.

skhellter

or a script. Which is really appropriate.

But it's still really literary (with how it uses language and the focus on the inner lives of the characters).

Alex said on the avpg podcast that it also helps do away with the notion that "any character survives" because past tense gives the impression that a character is talking about what happened.




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