Alien: The Cold Forge - Titan Books

Started by felix, Sep 14, 2017, 01:45:44 AM

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Alien: The Cold Forge - Titan Books (Read 116,392 times)

426Buddy

Its a terrific book.

It really felt like it combined the universes of the prequel and the original series without ever being in your face about it. 

Wweyland

I finally managed to finish this book and overall I loved it.
I actually think the best part of the book was the first third with all the great character work, scheming and rising tension.
When the Aliens escape, it kind of descends into an above average Alien novel.
While Dorian turning more and more villainous was interesting, I think it could have worked in reverse as well. I mean him actually turning into a decent person with all the hardship. Him starting to bite people at the end was a bit over the top.

Some questions left open:
What happened to the sentry guns? They are set up as a great way to contain the Aliens and never mentioned again later.
Why not use the escape pods immediately? I know most of them were destroyed later but just look at A:R with an efficient way to evacuate.

HuDaFuK

Quote from: Wweyland on Aug 22, 2018, 08:30:31 AMWhat happened to the sentry guns? They are set up as a great way to contain the Aliens and never mentioned again later.

Presumably deactivated when Silversmile gets into Titus.

Quote from: Wweyland on Aug 22, 2018, 08:30:31 AMWhy not use the escape pods immediately? I know most of them were destroyed later but just look at A:R with an efficient way to evacuate.

They pretty much did. They had no reason to suspect the Aliens would get out of the Glitter Edifice labs after they sealed them, at least not before they could jettison them, but as soon as they did everyone ran for the pods. The Aliens just beat them there.

The Cruentus

Quote from: Wweyland on Aug 22, 2018, 08:30:31 AM
I finally managed to finish this book and overall I loved it.
I actually think the best part of the book was the first third with all the great character work, scheming and rising tension.
When the Aliens escape, it kind of descends into an above average Alien novel.
While Dorian turning more and more villainous was interesting, I think it could have worked in reverse as well. I mean him actually turning into a decent person with all the hardship. Him starting to bite people at the end was a bit over the top.

Some questions left open:
What happened to the sentry guns? They are set up as a great way to contain the Aliens and never mentioned again later.
Why not use the escape pods immediately? I know most of them were destroyed later but just look at A:R with an efficient way to evacuate.

That has aleady been done though. Alien: Genocide with Daniel Grant, over the course of the story he becomes more moral and decent. I don't think it would work for Sudler since from the beginning he was evil and petty enough to get a doctor fired because she told him not to smoke.

I can't remember but maybe silversmile disabled the guns.


Local Trouble

Daniel Grant Made Aliens Great Again.

SM

SM

#380
Quote from: The Cruentus on Aug 22, 2018, 10:22:28 AM
Quote from: Wweyland on Aug 22, 2018, 08:30:31 AM
I finally managed to finish this book and overall I loved it.
I actually think the best part of the book was the first third with all the great character work, scheming and rising tension.
When the Aliens escape, it kind of descends into an above average Alien novel.
While Dorian turning more and more villainous was interesting, I think it could have worked in reverse as well. I mean him actually turning into a decent person with all the hardship. Him starting to bite people at the end was a bit over the top.

Some questions left open:
What happened to the sentry guns? They are set up as a great way to contain the Aliens and never mentioned again later.
Why not use the escape pods immediately? I know most of them were destroyed later but just look at A:R with an efficient way to evacuate.

That has aleady been done though. Alien: Genocide with Daniel Grant, over the course of the story he becomes more moral and decent. I don't think it would work for Sudler since from the beginning he was evil and petty enough to get a doctor fired because she told him not to smoke.

I can't remember but maybe silversmile disabled the guns.



Silversmile did deactivate the guns.

When the Aliens escape their cages, protocol is lockdown and eject their module.  When that fails they have to evacuate - by which point the Athenian had destroyed them.

FenGiddel

Quote from: The Old One on Aug 14, 2018, 08:03:57 AM
That's the beauty of a canon that's undefined I suppose, you can set it after A3 yourself if you wish.
Spoiler

In my opinion there's two logical places the eggs came from that explains their limited quantity;
either it's post A3 and it's all they could retrieve from the ruin of the Derelict, or;
It's during/before Aliens and they found the Torrens, retrieving a number of eggs from it.
[close]
Well, aren't you the clever one, teasing interesting things out of the dark corners?  ;)

The Old One

The Old One

#382
Is that flirting?

FenGiddel

Quote from: The Old One on Aug 22, 2018, 08:25:05 PM
Is that flirting?
Coming from a fella married for over 30 years, sad to say, "No, ma'am." But in light of your response to the writing contest, I was pleasantly surprised to see you making some interesting connections across the storylines.


Does that answer your question?

Huggs

Huggs

#384
Quote from: FenGiddel on Aug 23, 2018, 02:00:47 AM
Quote from: The Old One on Aug 22, 2018, 08:25:05 PM
Is that flirting?
Coming from a fella married for over 30 years, sad to say, "No, ma'am."

REJECTED!!  :D



I kid, I kid.  ;)

Wweyland

I love how Alien: Isolation has become a strong part of the mythos, basically like a new movie.

The Old One

The Old One

#386
Quote from: FenGiddel on Aug 23, 2018, 02:00:47 AM
Quote from: The Old One on Aug 22, 2018, 08:25:05 PM
Is that flirting?
Coming from a fella married for over 30 years, sad to say, "No, ma'am." But in light of your response to the writing contest, I was pleasantly surprised to see you making some interesting connections across the storylines.


Does that answer your question?

I didn't think of the connections as anything other than my own hypothesis, no matter how plausible.
Thanks for the compliment though.

The Cruentus

Quote from: Wweyland on Aug 23, 2018, 09:54:35 AM
I love how Alien: Isolation has become a strong part of the mythos, basically like a new movie.

I wonder if a prequel would be worth it, like the fall of Sevastopol. You get to see what the station was like before things went to hell and how it slowly (or rapidly) goes to hell. This is one of the reasons why I like Cold Forge, it reminds me so much of Isolation.

The Old One

The Old One

#388
I'm always wary of that sort of thing, like the many "Fall of Hadley's Hope" stories we already have- we know where this train stops.

The Cruentus

It is all about execution though and unlike Hadley's hope. Sevastopol would be a more interesting place as it was already falling apart prior to the Alien arrival. There was smuggling and all sorts of underhanded behavior going on and then there is the working joes, which I think was a great addition to the franchise.

Knowing the end is not always a bad thing though, sometimes it adds some poignancy.   

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