Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary SanGiovanni

[xShadowFoxX]

12 chapters in and I had to stop because I'm pretty frustrated with it. Already, it's kind of a piss-poor Alien novel.

Spoiler

My issues are with the decisions that a lot of the characters make, particularly the group responding to the distress call as they enter the WY facility, especially with Alec Brand, because he's the only one, apparently, with any experience with the Aliens. My complaint was when they started investigating was why didn't he brief his squad since he clearly knows what's happening? Even if he wasn't entirely sure, it would've been handy info.

But apparently they sort of knew about the Aliens anyway through myths and legends? Nobody else in the group who heard these stories recognized the signs of an infestation such as corroded surfaces, etc? And this goes on for a while, too.

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I found that really frustrating to me.

I will add that

Spoiler

the serum idea was kind of interesting but it also made a certain plot thread predictable. And with the context of hypersleep chambers, why a serum?

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[HuDaFuK]

I'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.

[xShadowFoxX]

I will admit that the writing style is pretty decent and the action so far is pretty good. But listening to the characters as they speak, I feel like I've heard a lot of this dialogue before in other books.

[BlueMarsalis79]

I'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.

[kie]

About half way through with the Audiobook. Lacks any real suspense and just feels like an average comic book adaption, with cardboard characters. It's another weak entry into the series, almost in a different universe from the stellar efforts of Alex White. Still, it's not completely terrible, the setting is at least interesting and the pacing is decent...

[xShadowFoxX]

That's another thing, the pacing is great. But in the context of Alien Resurrection, hypersleep chambers, and other Alien stories that deal with the same sort of template, none of these books work.

[BlueMarsalis79]

TCF and Into Charybdis work fine as everything gets scuttled beyond retrieval...


Phalanx similarly works fine because it takes place presumably somewhere just off the edge of the galaxy map, for the story to work in the first place.

[Xiggz456]

Just 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.

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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

[xShadowFoxX]

Heh. I just finished it myself and I have to say, even tho it was spoiled for me earlier, I thought reading it would maybe improve my opinion of it, it didn't. It's another disappointing entry in this loosely connected trilogy. And that's another thing, for a loosely connected trilogy, I expected more connective tissue to connect these threads as well as having more of a conclusion.

The characters were, in a word, dumb, but I would expect nothing less from

Spoiler

Alex Brand.

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Doesn't mean the other characters had to follow in his stead. Aside from all of that, it was a very generic Alien book, and I wanted something that was a bit more fleshed out and maybe smarter.

If I had to rate it, it would be a 4 out of 10 for me.

On another note, I am expecting

Spoiler

David to show up somewhere and maybe be involved with the Shadow Government stuff.

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perhaps in a later novel, but I personally don't think these books belong.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Yeah that about nails it honestly, even leaving to one side the unanswered questions from Inferno's Fall's narrative, I am really sour on every entry in this trilogy.

Some of the character work and worldbuilding in the middle book aside, I have nothing to recommend any of them, and largely think them damaging to the vermisilitude of the current setting and continuity.

[xShadowFoxX]

Another issue that I do have,

Spoiler

in relation to this Colony War Trilogy is that the frequency of these incidents, which involves whole colonies disappearing and Colonial Marines being called to action, feels so egregiously high to the point that the public should be more aware of the Aliens and the so called black goo. Not only that, but the subject should also be added to the curriculum for Colonial Marines and other armed forces rather than be this classified need to know thing.

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Feels like more colonies would survive if they actually knew what they were going up against.

Which would then be a huge contradiction to Alien: Resurrection, but that film doesn't work in this continuity anyway.

[HuDaFuK]

Tbh I've never been overly fussed by the novels contradicting the movies because even when the books have ostensibly been written with film continuity in mind, they've invariably shit the bed in that department. (e.g. Out of the Shadows, River of Pain... Hell, even the excellent White books and Phalanx raise some big questions regarding why the Auriga crew had to go so far to get an Alien.)

[Wweyland]

I read from FB that the next Titan Alien book might be coming in 2025.
Not sure how reliable that is, but I actually welcome a pause to catch up with them.
The drop in quality has made the reading through them a crawl.
Also would love it if Alex White would make another one.

[xShadowFoxX]

I'm actually jaded at this point. So I will be taking a break from anything literature related to Alien. I will be trying out the upcoming video games.. and hopefully that survival horror game that's supposedly in development comes out soon.

[Wweyland]

I want to keep up to date on the books, but at the same time, there's so much more great stuff to read.