Found this listed on amazon. Coming April 12th, 2022.
ALIEN: COLONY WAR by David Bennett
Political tensions boil over on Earth, spreading to the outer fringes of known space as the UK colony of New Albion breaks with the Three World Empire. When an oil-drilling facility on nearby LV-187 is destroyed, its French colonists slaughtered, the British are blamed. Military forces arrive from the Independent Core Systems and combat erupts.
Trapped in the middle are Cher Hunt and Chad Mclaren. Cher is trying to find out who was responsible for the death of her sister, Shy Hunt (of McAllen Integrations from Alien: Into Charybdis). At the same time Mclaren, accompanied by the synthetic known as Davis, follows in the footsteps of his late wife, Amanda Ripley, seeking to stop the weaponization of Xenomorphs. When a horde of the deadly aliens overwhelms both groups, however, their only hope may lie with Royal Marine Corps unit known as "God's Hammer."
https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Colony-War/dp/1789098890/ref=sr_1_50?keywords=titan+books&qid=1633818266&s=books&sr=1-50
Huh, neat.
The White Alienverse is getting ties in with other authors I see.
Still waiting to see what the US Army is doing in all the EU even though it will be cool to see the takes on other militaries operating in the future.
Cher and Chad? 🤣
:laugh:
can't take those names seriously.
Oh dear.
Amanda Ripleys husband huh?.....
Quote from: Gentleman Death on Oct 10, 2021, 07:36:01 AM
Amanda Ripleys husband huh?.....
That caught me off-guard too until I remembered that she does get married at some point before she dies.
Not keen on that title. That just sounds so teenage fanfic imho. But really intrigued by the EU exploring more of the political structure we've seen the RPG really try to push out and develop.
Interest to see they've finally brought McClaren in. I know they had some big plans for him prior to the Disney merger so curious to see where Titan's taking that now. And I wonder if it's the Davis from Defiance/Resistance/Rescue. Don't see why it wouldn't be!
Quote from: Trash Queen on Oct 09, 2021, 11:56:30 PM
Cher and Chad? 🤣
I had a little chuckle too! :laugh:
Cool. Hope it's at least half as good as Alex's stuff.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Oct 10, 2021, 10:35:32 AM
Interest to see they've finally brought McClaren in. I know they had some big plans for him prior to the Disney merger
Who did? Titan, Dark Horse, or Fox?
Can everyone please stop being f**king related at some point Jesus Christ.
Quote from: Nukiemorph on Oct 10, 2021, 11:15:09 AM
Cool. Hope it's at least half as good as Alex's stuff.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Oct 10, 2021, 10:35:32 AM
Interest to see they've finally brought McClaren in. I know they had some big plans for him prior to the Disney merger
Who did? Titan, Dark Horse, or Fox?
Fox did. But would have involved the various media.
I stopped reading Aliens spin-off novels in the '90s because they were not good. I got lured back in when Titan started doing them (I think it was the headline switch from Aliens to Alien that seduced me), but swore off them again after 'Puddle of Annoyance' or whatever it was (:P). Now I've had a third kick at the football by checking 'The Cold Forge' out of the library (as opposed to buying it, like I did the others), because I read here that it was really good. To be honest, I can't wait to be done with it.
The problem with these novels is they're all the same story - people go someplace, find aliens, get killed by them, and status quo is restored. Nothing meaningful ever happens. At least with a comic book you get to look at art. With a video game you get to get involved. But with so many wonderful books out there, why would I want to read the same story again and again?
Sorry to rain on anyone's parade. /rantover
I think Charybdis is probably the best at turning expectations on its head. And even though I personally found Cold Forge to be way overrated, I don't think Charybdis works without the entry.
But generally a series about 8' tall killing machines killing people is going to feature its expanded universe doing the same thing.
Quote from: Mr. Clemens on Oct 10, 2021, 02:03:20 PM
I stopped reading Aliens spin-off novels in the '90s because they were not good. I got lured back in when Titan started doing them (I think it was the headline switch from Aliens to Alien that seduced me), but swore off them again after 'Puddle of Annoyance' or whatever it was (:P). Now I've had a third kick at the football by checking 'The Cold Forge' out of the library (as opposed to buying it, like I did the others), because I read here that it was really good. To be honest, I can't wait to be done with it.
The problem with these novels is they're all the same story - people go someplace, find aliens, get killed by them, and status quo is restored. Nothing meaningful ever happens. At least with a comic book you get to look at art. With a video game you get to get involved. But with so many wonderful books out there, why would I want to read the same story again and again?
Sorry to rain on anyone's parade. /rantover
No need to apologise for your opinion. What you said actually made me remember something I finally discovered while reading Into Charybdis - I get so bored when author begins describing Aliens tearing peoole apart, tries to convey how horrific it is. I discovered that Aliens action in text form is the least interesting part of Aliens books for me. In Nightmare Asylum I'm interested in character of General Spears, in Music Of Spears - in composer's mental spiral down, in Phalanx - influence of Aliens on life of kinda medieval society with spears and shields and so on
I think this is simply the law of diminishing returns. If you have been around like I have, then the Alien killing people is old hat by now.
The character, world building dynamic is the more interesting dynamic at this point.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 10, 2021, 12:02:03 PM
Can everyone please stop being f**king related at some point Jesus Christ.
First thing I thought, too. Do we have to have McClaren now? The number of alien encounters within one familial line is getting kinda ridiculous.
Eh, it kind of makes sense.
If a family member got lost hiking in the rockies, you'd probably go back to the rockies to look for them.
If an Alien snatched away your family member and then had it covered up by governments and corporate entities, you might look there.
To me it is not unlikely, it is just WHY does Alienverse writers get caught up with certain aspects of the storyline.
Jockeyship, Acheron, Ripley bloodline, Colonial Marines and WY. The galaxy is a big place, and should have more aspects to it than just those things.
That was one of the best things Isolation introduced - the fact that there're some other major players other than WY in space
All books on a certain subject will be similar in regards moreso in my experience than other mediums.
And yes I'm okay with people looking for people they are related to that have disappeared.
I'm not okay with them finding anything worth a damn.
Alien Isolation must've been a disappointment for you.
People going looking is fine.
People going looking and due to a series of convolutions finding the Alien that wasn't really meant to be everywhere, eh.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 10, 2021, 12:02:03 PM
Can everyone please stop being f**king related at some point Jesus Christ.
I KNOW RIGHT
Quote from: Mr. Clemens on Oct 10, 2021, 02:03:20 PM
I stopped reading Aliens spin-off novels in the '90s because they were not good. I got lured back in when Titan started doing them (I think it was the headline switch from Aliens to Alien that seduced me), but swore off them again after 'Puddle of Annoyance' or whatever it was (:P). Now I've had a third kick at the football by checking 'The Cold Forge' out of the library (as opposed to buying it, like I did the others), because I read here that it was really good. To be honest, I can't wait to be done with it.
The problem with these novels is they're all the same story - people go someplace, find aliens, get killed by them, and status quo is restored. Nothing meaningful ever happens. At least with a comic book you get to look at art. With a video game you get to get involved. But with so many wonderful books out there, why would I want to read the same story again and again?
Sorry to rain on anyone's parade. /rantover
Pretty much my take, too. I like to keep abreast of what generally has gone on with EU, but I find reading the novels to be like pulling teeth - even the "great" ones.
Quote from: Trash Queen on Oct 09, 2021, 11:56:30 PM
Cher and Chad? 🤣
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Oct 10, 2021, 10:35:32 AM
Not keen on that title. That just sounds so teenage fanfic imho.
It's unfortunate.
Great that we are getting another book and finally exploring McClaren.
Wasn't the next AvP book titled Annihilation though?
What really is there to explore with Amanda's husband, though?
Amanda herself should never even have been touched, honestly. That Isolation is as good as it wound up being is a fluke (and more so anchored on the gameplay, art direction, and Alien AI than it is on Amanda or strict narrative), and the endless attempts since to drag her back into the story have been pretty bad.
Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Oct 10, 2021, 09:04:04 PM
What really is there to explore with Amanda's husband, though?
Amanda herself should never even have been touched, honestly. That Isolation is as good as it wound up being is a fluke (and more so anchored on the gameplay, art direction, and Alien AI than it is on Amanda or strict narrative), and the endless attempts since to drag her back into the story have been pretty bad.
Completely agree! She was perfect for that story and that story alone. Although I'd love a follow up to the end of isolation. But to continue it is a bit much for me.
Isolation was good in spite of the family connection, not because of it. The same gameplay with an unrelated story would've been just as good.
I think it added, but it's a miracle it did, it felt like closure for us and Amanda.
Quote from: Kimarhi on Oct 10, 2021, 04:18:35 PMBut generally a series about 8' tall killing machines killing people is going to feature its expanded universe doing the same thing.
Oh certainly, no question. It's just that the books don't (and can't really) expand things with new, big ideas the way the films did. Like in Aliens, we learned how the creatures worked in their 'society' and that they had a queen. In Alien3, we learned that the creature takes on aspects of its host. In Alien Resurrection, we learned that there should really only have been three movies. :P
I can dig what people are saying about the world-building, that can be cool. It's just a shame that we have to read these narrative retreads to get it. Thank god for the roleplaying game. :)
Quote from: Trash Queen on Oct 11, 2021, 12:04:12 AM
I think it added, but it's a miracle it did, it felt like closure for us and Amanda.
I got closure a few decades back with the DC of
Aliens.
I thought Aliens was better without knowing about Amanda.
Awesome news! Very surprised at how connected to previous stories they're going with this one. Can't wait to read it!
I could do without any kind of connections to Ellen Ripley in my peripheral Alien stories.
That being said....
Chad McClaren sounds like an absolute gangster. If he's Amanda's widower that makes him around 70 so I'm just going to picture him as current day Bruce Campbell.
Quote from: Kimarhi on Oct 11, 2021, 01:12:48 AM
I thought Aliens was better without knowing about Amanda.
I also prefer the TC, but as far as Ripley and her daughter are concerned, the DC is fine to start and end the conversation.
Quote from: Wweyland on Oct 10, 2021, 08:48:18 PM
Great that we are getting another book and finally exploring McClaren.
You are the problem with fandoms. Yes, you personally.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 10, 2021, 10:32:43 PM
Isolation was good in spite of the family connection, not because of it.
Bingo.
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Oct 11, 2021, 07:25:00 AM
Quote from: Wweyland on Oct 10, 2021, 08:48:18 PM
Great that we are getting another book and finally exploring McClaren.
You are the problem with fandoms. Yes, you personally.
That's bit harsh
Anyone who wants a detailed adventure involving the throwaway married name of Ripley's (at the time) irrelevant daughter (who is frankly still entirely forgettable) from the DC of Aliens is exactly what's wrong with Fans.
Eh, not that I would personally want that but I can't see anything wrong if somebody wants to know Amanda Ripley's husband backstory. There's place in EU for stories about members of Ripley's family. But there's also place for stories about completely new unrelated characters. And it's not like we don't have latter
Why does everyone need a back story? Why does everyone vaguely related need to be personally involved in everything?
Quote from: Kradan on Oct 11, 2021, 08:25:22 AM
There's place in EU for stories about members of Ripley's family.
Bruh. As has been said, Isolation only got away with featuring Amanda because it was legitimately good, and could have easily not had her at all.
McLaren is some guy she's implied to have married off screen in a deleted scene set after her death. He doesn't need to go and fight Aliens too, at all, ever.
If we want to be masturbatory with our favourite franchise, give me more Herk Mondo.
Up next, Ripley's estranged husband goes looking for both Ellen AND Amanda.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 11, 2021, 08:51:44 AM
Up next, Ripley's estranged husband goes looking for both Ellen AND Amanda.
Is she a confirmed divorcee? Maybe he's just a sperm donor but fate insists he ends up on an infested mining outpost, conveniently dying as a pyrrhic hero so he can't interfere with Rips shipping off on the Nostromo a year later.
Or better yet, his adventure is the reason for special order 937.
I want to know what Lydecker's nephew does about all this.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 11, 2021, 08:31:53 AM
Why does everyone need a back story? Why does everyone vaguely related need to be personally involved in everything?
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Oct 11, 2021, 08:38:39 AM
McLaren is some guy she's implied to have married off screen in a deleted scene set after her death. He doesn't need to go and fight Aliens too, at all, ever.
I didn't say he
needs to have a backstory or he
needs to go fight Aliens. But if some fans want to see that - let 'em have it. No need calling them part of the problem
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Oct 11, 2021, 08:38:39 AM
If we want to be masturbatory with our favourite franchise, give me more Herk Mondo.
I'm not sure what "to be masturbatory with our favourite franchise" means exactly but I wouldn't be opposed to seeing more of good old Herk Mondo
I thought Alien Isolation in a meta way, gave me the closure to Ellen Ripley that I wanted, and Amanda also wanted.
Part of me wanted to see Sigourney Weaver in the role one more time in a meaningful way and I got more than I could ever have hoped for through that story.
I thought that the point narratively and thematically, seeing the fictional places and people, we are so very familiar with one last time before saying goodbye.
I would be lying to say otherwise even, if on the whole I agree, and said myself that this lineage exploring shit needed to stop back in 2014.
Oh and Cold Forge and Into Charybdis did tell me something new about the Alien's nature, and added a whole new facet to them, that I thought I'd hate but in this one instance I loved.
Oh and Plagarius Praepotens.
Quote from: Kradan on Oct 11, 2021, 09:51:27 AM
Quote from: SiL on Oct 11, 2021, 08:31:53 AM
Why does everyone need a back story? Why does everyone vaguely related need to be personally involved in everything?
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Oct 11, 2021, 08:38:39 AM
McLaren is some guy she's implied to have married off screen in a deleted scene set after her death. He doesn't need to go and fight Aliens too, at all, ever.
I didn't say he needs to have a backstory or he needs to go fight Aliens. But if some fans want to see that - let 'em have it.
No. Because it's beyond stupid. Even silly stuff like that novel where Ripley fights Aliens between the first two movies at least has some base logic of Moar Ripley behind it. Ripley's daughter's husband is just... f**k off with that.
QuoteNo need calling them part of the problem
I disagree.
@TQ:
Quality post, and I appreciate your take. I'm just here for monsters and thus the only character I've ever wanted closure on is David, but I get why it might be nice for some in that way.
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Oct 11, 2021, 08:55:21 AM
Is she a confirmed divorcee?
Not confirmed, but dumber things have been added.
QuoteOr better yet, his adventure is the reason for special order 937.
"Your work is priority one, all other priorities rescinded? I'll make you eat those oddly formal words if it's the last thing I do, Ellen!"
Quote from: Trash Queen on Oct 11, 2021, 10:06:52 AM
I thought that the point narratively and thematically, seeing the fictional places and people, we are so very familiar with one last time before saying goodbye.
Goodbye doesn't really exist. I just put
Alien back into the Blu Ray player and see them again. Their send-off is their respective death scenes. It rings hollow.
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Oct 11, 2021, 10:19:00 AM
QuoteNo need calling them part of the problem
I disagree.
CB, enough please. No need to sling insults like that if you don't agree.
It doesn't ring hollow to me, it is goodbye in the sense it's the last time I get to see Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto in the Alien roles, difference being with Sigourney Weaver's Ripley we have had four films so that's a reoccurring actor and character, and I didn't want Alien Resurrection to be the last time personally.
I found it fulfilling in a way that it ends with that message particularly, it felt like a reaffirmation of not only Alien's ending but Alien³'s as well, as that's the last time we really hear from Ripley.
I didn't think I wanted it, until I got it, much like that new facet to the Alien I also spoke of.
It was fun to play scenarios from the film, I admit. But the main story would've been nicer for me as its own thing.
That's fair, I thought it perfect for what it wanted to do, I do loathe all the spin off material that Ripley lineage aspect's generated though without exception.
And for a hypothetical spiritual successor, that's in essence a potential Isolation 2 and Isolation 3, I do not want to see Amanda Ripley ever again.
I'm certain of that.
On Twitter the author said "It's basically Brexit in space"
Quote from: Xiggz456 on Oct 11, 2021, 03:28:06 PM
On Twitter the author said "It's basically Brexit in space"
Neat concept, could/should work well in this universe narratively.
Just wish it wasn't shackled to two characters related to other characters.
Quote from: Trash Queen on Oct 11, 2021, 11:36:58 AM
That's fair, I thought it perfect for what it wanted to do, I do loathe all the spin off material that Ripley lineage aspect's generated though without exception.
And for a hypothetical spiritual successor, that's in essence a potential Isolation 2 and Isolation 3, I do not want to see Amanda Ripley ever again.
I'm certain of that.
Unfortunately, I'm sure that a fair amount of people attribute Isolation's success to having a Ripley as the protagonist. Those people learned the wrong lesson.
Next novel: Chad McClaren's estranged but recently discovered half brother turns out to be a private eye who is hired by Rebecca Jorden's grandparents in Oregon to find out what really happened to their daughter and granddaughter.
Quote from: Wweyland on Oct 10, 2021, 08:48:18 PM
Great that we are getting another book and finally exploring McClaren.
Wasn't the next AvP book titled Annihilation though?
I don't believe a date had been announced for Annihilation yet... just the AVP anthology.
Quote from: Kimarhi on Oct 10, 2021, 04:18:35 PM
I think Charybdis is probably the best at turning expectations on its head. And even though I personally found Cold Forge to be way overrated, I don't think Charybdis works without the entry.
For me, never reading Cold Forge, I came into Charybdis cold, and personally thought it worked wonderfully. There was never a point I was in a state of confusion or felt like I was missing anything, and Blue was a terrific mystery to me that ultimately was explained in the book. After reading it, I had to ask Hicks which characters or settings carried over from Cold Forge because I truly wasn't certain. I had my suspicions, which some turned out to be right, and some wrong. :)
I really don't get the hate for the Amanda connection in Isolation. The flight recorder angle is a very logical way to connect. We literally have a few hundred stories that don't feature her. It makes up a very small percentage of the whole universe. How they tie McClaren in remains to be seen. Obviously Amanda would have given him information.
Execution is one thing, but so far, they haven't had to make any stretch to include her.
Quote from: razeak on Oct 11, 2021, 05:45:20 PM
I really don't get the hate for the Amanda connection in Isolation.
It was the secret backstory nobody asked for. Ripley's daughter was an easily disposable story note who basically existed to set up Ripley's surrogate relationship with Newt later in the movie. This particular plotline is trying to turn the Alien series into a family soap opera ala
Star Wars and many people just aren't here for that.
Cool! :)
Just like Darkhorse did and Disney/Marvel continually wants the Skywalkers and the Solos involved in their SW stories, they want that Ripley family as the tier 1 alien ass kickers to sell their stories.
This will go on for decades.
And while those make some kind of sense (seeing as many of the family members are high ranking military or political figures and the series is about, y'know, wars), hapless truck driver's daughter who was supposed to have lived a normal life and died of cancer actually having a secret past where she also happened to run into the same Alien species that wasn't supposed to be seen for 57 years and conveniently never mentioned despite resulting in the destruction of a space station kind of feels like some bullshit.
And then to have her husband go off to find her and also run into the Alien?
Come on.
Hell, it won't be long until Amanda's experiences with the aliens surpass even her mom's. Assuming it hasn't happened already.
Maybe it will help Alien: Isolation 2 to get made, even by a little.
I would even be happy with an Alien: Blackout 2.
I really enjoyed Alien: Blackout!
I installed that one day when it was free in the app store. Don't think I ever actually attempted to play, though.
Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Oct 12, 2021, 02:20:55 PM
I installed that one day when it was free in the app store. Don't think I ever actually attempted to play, though.
I would definitely give it a shot. :)
I'll again argue, there isn't a leap to connect Amanda to the alien. Her mom came up missing. A flight recorder was discovered. Amanda was given an opportunity to examine it. Shit came unglued before they got there. Where is the leap? It's miles better than Amanda just randomly discovering the alien and never having the flight recorder link to put everyone in proximity. It's such a simple piece of glue and works very well in that sense.
I'll say post Isolation, my preference is that Amanda fades away, but preference is really what its all about. Some people like the post Isolation stuff. It's all opinion.
Quote from: razeak on Oct 12, 2021, 04:31:51 PM
I'll again argue, there isn't a leap to connect Amanda to the alien. Her mom came up missing. A flight recorder was discovered. Amanda was given an opportunity to examine it. Shit came unglued before they got there. Where is the leap?
The part where the only thing we knew about her was that none of that happened. She was just a woman whose mum went missing on a work trip, grew up, got married, got old, died of cancer. That was it.
Quote from: razeak on Oct 12, 2021, 04:31:51 PM
I'll again argue, there isn't a leap to connect Amanda to the alien. Her mom came up missing. A flight recorder was discovered. Amanda was given an opportunity to examine it. Shit came unglued before they got there. Where is the leap? It's miles better than Amanda just randomly discovering the alien and never having the flight recorder link to put everyone in proximity. It's such a simple piece of glue and works very well in that sense.
I'll say post Isolation, my preference is that Amanda fades away, but preference is really what its all about. Some people like the post Isolation stuff. It's all opinion.
Yeah, I'm fine with it too, even though in my world the director's cut of Aliens doesn't exist. ;D
Quote from: SiL on Oct 12, 2021, 05:29:17 AM
And while those make some kind of sense (seeing as many of the family members are high ranking military or political figures and the series is about, y'know, wars), hapless truck driver's daughter who was supposed to have lived a normal life and died of cancer actually having a secret past where she also happened to run into the same Alien species that wasn't supposed to be seen for 57 years and conveniently never mentioned despite resulting in the destruction of a space station kind of feels like some bullshit.
And then to have her husband go off to find her and also run into the Alien?
Come on.
I have long sense separated movie canon from eu canon, so I no longer give any fuks.
Ripley could be resurrected space jesus riding a tame natural born alien for all I care.
It would seem that the current EU has also abandoned the movie canon as there are infestations that are known about by many people all across the timeline.
I'm the same insofar as canon is concerned, but I still hate that so much new media across multiple franchises is sort of banking heavily, if not entirely, on cheap nostalgia and trite connections to previous stories instead of progressing. So many franchises are becoming a cannibalistic circle jerk wherever you turn.
That was sort of the fun of eu; to explore whacky boundaries, not navel gaze.
Quote from: Kimarhi on Oct 12, 2021, 11:15:15 PM
Ripley could be resurrected space jesus riding a tame natural born alien for all I care.
There's this little movie that came out in 1997...
Quote from: SiL on Oct 12, 2021, 11:36:16 PM
I'm the same insofar as canon is concerned, but I still hate that so much new media across multiple franchises is sort of banking heavily, if not entirely, on cheap nostalgia and trite connections to previous stories instead of progressing. So many franchises are becoming a cannibalistic circle jerk wherever you turn.
That was sort of the fun of eu; to explore whacky boundaries, not navel gaze.
Yep, this. When I'm peeking into the EU, which I mostly do with Alien but occasionally with other franchises as well, I usually go there to see stuff that the core media can't/won't do, not to see explanations/backstories for ancillary things in the films like, say, Amanda Ripley's adventures with Aliens.
That's why, in theory, I didn't take inherent issue with the Sil-esque creature in the first arc current Marvel run. It's something that feels very in the spirit of the franchise and its recent evolutions via the prequels, but also something very at home in the realm of comic books much more so than in a film. It was a neat gimmick that I was willing to go along for the ride with. Unfortunately the "art" there was shit, and the writing was wonky, but conceptually it's in the vein of what I'm looking for in EU stories. Same with other oddball entries like
Music of the Spears or
Inhuman Condition, or books that really delve into the actual behind-the-scenes machinations of the political/corporate structure in ways that can't really be done on screen with as much technical detail, like Alex White's novels.
With all these stories following characters that are loosely tied in with the original films, I can't believe nobody has told the story of how Hudson lived by escaping the cocoon (after Ripley's grenades in the egg chamber knocked him loose) and driving a colony vehicle to a safety bunker just before the reactor exploded. Oh, and he freed Dietrich and Apone on the way. What a boss! ;D
Quote from: SiL on Oct 12, 2021, 11:36:16 PM
I'm the same insofar as canon is concerned, but I still hate that so much new media across multiple franchises is sort of banking heavily, if not entirely, on cheap nostalgia and trite connections to previous stories instead of progressing. So many franchises are becoming a cannibalistic circle jerk wherever you turn.
That was sort of the fun of eu; to explore whacky boundaries, not navel gaze.
The films had this problem as well. Resurrection was the first film that couldn't let the Ripley character go, and Prometheus was the first that tried to half ass explain everything that didn't need an explanation.
When daddy is doing wrong, all the kids follow.
The franchise has been spinning wheels for many a year. There is nothing at stake happening within its media because everyone is explaining away every minor detail and not progressing anything forward.
No arguing Resurrection. I give Prometheus credit for not trying to answer anything specific about Alien, although it would've been nice to leave Weyland himself out of it.
I know there was a lot of dubiousness prior to Isolation release because of Amanda, but I think her involvement in its success is being undersold here. And I say that as someone who hates being tied to the Ripley name as much as anyone. But despite Burke's comments, Amanda had reason to go looking and be in the same area. And I personally thought she brought some personal depth to the story, especially when we finally get to the black box.
She absolutely had a reason to go looking. Nobody's questioning that.
But that she found an Alien, had this massive adventure, it resulted in the destruction of a space station, And then all of this gets covered up and all that gets back to Ripley is "Yeah nah she got married, died of cancer, not much to it?"
That's my problem. It's that bullshit "tHeRe wAs a coVerUp" handwaving to shoehorn whatever ridiculous scenario for no good reason.
WY covered up the Prometheus disappearance, the Nostomo disappearance, and the destruction of Hadleys Hope so what's one more cover up for Isolation?
Yeeeeah, actually
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Oct 12, 2021, 02:09:37 PM
I really enjoyed Alien: Blackout!
It's a good game, but Xenomorphine's right that playing it on a small screen is pain in the ass
Quote from: Kradan on Oct 13, 2021, 11:39:43 AM
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Oct 12, 2021, 02:09:37 PM
I really enjoyed Alien: Blackout!
It's a good game, but Xenomorphine's right that playing it on a small screen is pain in the ass
That's fair and probably generally relative to many mobile games. I had no problems personally playing it on my phone, but I used a Samsung Galaxy which tends to have larger than average screens.
Quote from: 426Buddy on Oct 13, 2021, 11:15:51 AM
WY covered up the Prometheus disappearance, the Nostomo disappearance, and the destruction of Hadleys Hope so what's one more cover up for Isolation?
Neither the Nostromo nor the Prometheus disappearances were covered up. The ships went missing. People knew that, if not why. Hadley's wasn't covered up.
Regarding the Nostomo and Prometheus, the company or at least certain people working their had details about these missions. Even transmissons from Shaw and David. Obviously those details were kept hidden, not sure if that's meets the criteria of "cover up".
As for Hadlley's Hope, well I'm sure the company doesn't tell the world that there was an outbreak of Alien parasites. But thats conjecture I guess.
The station in Isolation was old and being decommissioned. The disappearance of the station could be hand waived as easily as missing ships and colonies.
The question would be why would Amanda keep quiet?
Hadley's wasn't just a Company venture. The Sulaco wasn't just sending information to WY on its return.
That last bit's the most important. Nobody was around to tell about what happened to the Nostromo or the Prometheus (at least at first), so it's easy enough to just lie about why they were sent where they were. It's not like they had specifics about what happened when they got there.
Amanda's alive and gets picked up at the end of Isolation, so you lose that convenience of nobody getting left to tell the story. Why would she keep it a secret?
Why would anybody believe her ?
They don't even need to. You might still expect "Oh hey I found your daughter, turns out she claimed to see the same thing you did!"
What people forget it's that the first movies really don't present the Company as all powerful. Corporations had to be underhanded because there was government oversight. If Amanda got her story out it wouldn't be the companies controlling the information.
Ripley's name sells more or at least those making the decision seems to think so. Amanda space adventures don't bother me as much as Out of Shadows' asspull.
Does it though? I'm pretty sure all the non Ripley EU sells just fine.
I can't say. I felt that would be the reason for them to keep bringing Ripley's name all the time. How much having Amanda helped with Isolation's marketing and sellings? Who knows.
Maybe the Amanda in Aliens is just some WY hired Crisis Actor and not the real Amanda at all!
;)
Retcon time yay.
Maybe Amanda is Turk's grandma.
Turk is actually Chad's great nephew looking for his great uncle.
There's always the whole "BuRkE wAs LyInG" fallback that so many seem fond of employing.
Anything's possible if your arse is a cavernous reserve of excuses from which to pull explanations!
That was the Creative Assembly line when everyone went "waitaminute". There's never going to be any escaping that. In my head, it's just that Burke had some sanitized information, or that the Company just did what my experience of big companies does, and it just got lost.
Right but again The Company doesn't, like, control the universe. The first three films are pretty clear on this.
It was a good game, though.
But Amanda being picked up at the end of the game doesn't necessarily mean the whole venture is public knowledge that Ripley could have easily found. The station was locked down, so we don't know how many - if any - people with knowledge of the Alien actually left Sevestapol before it crashed and burned. I'm sure its destruction was known about - the details, probably not.
If we imagine a grand conspiracy to keep it quiet, sure.
But it doesn't make sense even if it's secret, withheld information. The Company sweeping SO937 under the rug when it resulted in a mysterious loss of crew and ship is one thing. Having testimony from someone that something's out there and they sit on it? Burke, of all people, is the only one opportunistically investigating?
It's a lot of hoop jumping to justify a story that never really needed to exist. I know you can say that about any EU story but it's, like, bottom of the ladder just above Ripley's hypersleep interruption.
Yes, I will die on this hill.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 14, 2021, 09:14:04 AM
But it doesn't make sense even if it's secret, withheld information. The Company sweeping SO937 under the rug when it resulted in a mysterious loss of crew and ship is one thing. Having testimony from someone that something's out there and they sit on it? Burke, of all people, is the only one opportunistically investigating?
I continually say this and this is also a hill I will die on. You can never truly appreciate how realistic these seemingly stupid things are until you work for a huge global company with fingers in many pies where you see this kind of stupidity on a regular basis. One person can make all the difference. People's naming of documents on file shares can suddenly mean an important document is just lost. Like that. Multiple projects doing the same things, completely unaware of each other. It's not malicious. It's just incompetency. And you gotta be incompetent to rise in the ranks.
You should try working for the government!
Also I see there is a lot dying on hills going on, so someone remind me to stay away from those hills.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Oct 14, 2021, 09:44:54 AMIt's not malicious. It's just incompetency. And you gotta be incompetent to rise in the ranks.
The number of times this would need to happen with how the Amanda storyline plays out for all of it to be gone by the time Ripley gets back would indicate a level of incompetence that would render the company completely nonfunctioning. We're not talking people in different offices working on redundant projects, we're talking space stations, colonies, thousands of staff. They'd go bankrupt.
In regards to '"Burke was lying" - it never seemed to me like he was in the higher-ups category, amongst people with acess to company's top secret information. He probably wasn't lying - just passing information he knew to Ripley, information he was allowed to know
Sounds retcony ? Sure, but it's not impossible
Another old favorite is "BuRkE fAlSiFiEd ThOsE dOcUmEnTs!!1!" So everything including the photo was just Burke being a lying liar who lies about everything.
Wait wasn't that your theory Local? :laugh:
But will it be possible to reach consensus on this matter?
Pfft, no
Interesting
Having Amanda's husband chase aliens after her death makes it sound like she kept fighting the company until the day she died.
So it's completely within the realm of possibility that she was actually killed by the aliens or the company - or that she sacrificed herself dealing a blow to them. If any of those scenarios are true, there's no way Burke would be able to tell Ripley the truth about it. He'd be under company orders to present falsified info.
I have a feeling this book will provide a revelation like this, (and then the TV show will contradict it, because that's how this franchise works.) :P
Quote from: Nukiemorph on Oct 15, 2021, 05:36:16 AM
I have a feeling this book will provide a revelation like this, (and then the TV show will contradict it, because that's how this franchise works.) :P
Bingo
They'd tell Burke to cover that up and then let Burke try to claim the exclusive rights on the Aliens?
I mean yeah that's not the dumbest thing the EU has proposed yet.
Quote from: Nukiemorph on Oct 15, 2021, 05:36:16 AM
So it's completely within the realm of possibility that she was actually killed by the aliens or the company - or that she sacrificed herself dealing a blow to them. If any of those scenarios are true, there's no way Burke would be able to tell Ripley the truth about it. He'd be under company orders to present falsified info.
It's more likely he just didn't know. That all he has access to and awareness of would be nothing.
QuoteI have a feeling this book will provide a revelation like this, (and then the TV show will contradict it, because that's how this franchise works.) :P
To be fair, theatrical and expanded has always been very separated. It's just the way most franchises work.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 14, 2021, 12:59:25 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Oct 14, 2021, 09:44:54 AMIt's not malicious. It's just incompetency. And you gotta be incompetent to rise in the ranks.
The number of times this would need to happen with how the Amanda storyline plays out for all of it to be gone by the time Ripley gets back would indicate a level of incompetence that would render the company completely nonfunctioning. We're not talking people in different offices working on redundant projects, we're talking space stations, colonies, thousands of staff. They'd go bankrupt.
I was referring more to Isolation in isolation there (:P). I don't remember Resistance or Rescue well enough to really comment with any certainty. That said, of course if they kept pushing it it'd jump the shark eventually. There's only so much Amanda's involvement can be stretched.
They already jumped the shark/ WY wouldn't be the only ones investigating; Amanda would need to go in front of ECA and everyone else just like her mother. :P
But we've already seen how many took her seriously when her mother when she was in that situation. Only Burke. If I remember rightly there was a lockdown on all communication from Sevestapol so no none official transmissions got out. Weyland would have conveniently lost incriminating evidence, and I'm not sure Seegson even knew of the Alien's presence so all they did was sell an aging and decommissioned station that burned up in the atmosphere after a malfunction.
Ripley's report was still taken by the different agencies, whether people believed it or not.
Feels like the kind of thing that would come up when looking into Ripley's next of kin. "Not recorded once in over 300 surveyed worlds, except that one time your daughter claimed exactly the same thing." :laugh:
Assuming that she returned for a deposition (again, I don't remember Resistance and Rescue well enough, and there's still time between Blackout and Resistance that is unaccounted for, but I believe she just set off on her anti-WY adventures straight away), and that the insane claims of a single random are properly documented and locatable 40 odd years after the fact.
I'm not going to argue it doesn't sound like a stretch. But just because it sounds it, doesn't mean it's unrealistic either. Plenty of ways around either way. Stranger and stupider things happen in real life.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 15, 2021, 06:08:01 AM
They'd tell Burke to cover that up and then let Burke try to claim the exclusive rights on the Aliens?
I mean yeah that's not the dumbest thing the EU has proposed yet.
Wasn't the Cold Forge already up and running around the same time that Burke was trying to get specimens from LV-426? :laugh:
Alex White is great and all but that idea from TCF was a bit "Whaaat ?" for me. As I've said previously, Burke never struck me as a man who would be at the top running special project trying to obtain Aliens. He always seemed more of sleazy corporate guy who've seen the opportunity and decided to act on his own. I know, there's whole thing about him sending Jordans to investigate Derelict but I've assumed he did it behind his superiors' back
His job title is literally "Special Projects Director" though.
In Aliens ? Well, f**k me, I guess, I disagree with Jimbo
Yeah, it's printed on the business card that he gave to Ripley.
Yeah I never bought him being at the top of the food chain either.
In large corporations, directors aren't the top of the food chain.
Quote from: Kradan on Oct 15, 2021, 04:10:17 PM
Alex White is great and all but that idea from TCF was a bit "Whaaat ?" for me. As I've said previously, Burke never struck me as a man who would be at the top running special project trying to obtain Aliens. He always seemed more of sleazy corporate guy who've seen the opportunity and decided to act on his own. I know, there's whole thing about him sending Jordans to investigate Derelict but I've assumed he did it behind his superiors' back
Yes this. I like TCF but damn it could have been better placed after Alien 3.
Thirded. I really do love Rez but have no problem with it being ignored, and anything with WY having access to Aliens would be better set after 3.
Do you love AR because you think it's good or because of the pain and anguish that it causes me?
Love and Rez does not compute.
I love Darius Khondji's cinematography enough to endure anything else the film throws at me.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Oct 16, 2021, 09:43:37 PM
Do you love AR because you think it's good or because of the pain and anguish that it causes me?
I'm sure LT is being as trolly as usual but I would genuinely like to know what is it you, [cancerblack], see in Resurrection to say you love it. There're several aspects of the movie I do enjoy but I'm not sure I would go as far as saying I love it
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Oct 16, 2021, 09:52:32 PM
Love and Rez does not compute.
"
Voodoo just doesn't know what he's missing"
(https://i.ibb.co/BV8Cfnb/IMG-20211016-183232.jpg)
Quote from: SiL on Oct 16, 2021, 09:56:14 PM
I love Darius Khondji's cinematography enough to endure anything else the film throws at me.
That and the 90s space pirate stuff aesthetic, the score, the actors, the sets- pretty much anything but the script and premise. (And things that result of that)
I always said Resurrection is almost the inverse of Alien. Alien is all the right talented creative people together on the right project. Resurrection is all of the right talented creative people together on the wrong project.
Beautiful art design, costumes, great actors, some impressive creature work, all in service of exactly the wrong script.
Quote from: Kradan on Oct 16, 2021, 10:26:07 PM
I'm sure LT is being as trolly as usual
I have never trolled anyone in my life! >:(
Quote from: SiL on Oct 17, 2021, 12:01:16 AM
Beautiful art design, costumes, great actors, some impressive creature work, all in service of exactly the wrong script.
I would say the same about Alien 3.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 17, 2021, 12:01:16 AM
I always said Resurrection is almost the inverse of Alien. Alien is all the right talented creative people together on the right project. Resurrection is all of the right talented creative people together on the wrong project.
Beautiful art design, costumes, great actors, some impressive creature work, all in service of exactly the wrong script.
You've summed up exactly how I feel about Resurrection! Well said 😎
Alien: Resurrection is a better 90s comic book than most of the Aliens comic titles from the 90s.
I absolutely hate Joss Whedon's script, but there are a great many interesting ideas in it, and my overall positive opinion on the film and its execution of that awful script echoes a lot of what CB/TQ/SiL said above.
Quote from: Kradan on Oct 16, 2021, 10:26:07 PM
I'm sure LT is being as trolly as usual but I would genuinely like to know what is it you, [cancerblack], see in Resurrection to say you love it. There're several aspects of the movie I do enjoy but I'm not sure I would go as far as saying I love it
First up, I'll admit that the base premise is f**king stupid, but I got over that a long time ago. And while the script is also pretty damn flawed, the way characters go from action set piece to standing around talking to action set piece on repeat actually became kind of charming after I got heavily into pen and paper RPGs - the whole thing flows like a fun one-shot session.
But why do I love it? As SiL pointed out, Khondji makes the whole thing gorgeous (yes, even the unpopular designs). I've also liked every Jeunet film I've seen, not just this one. The set design tickles me just right, even the nonsensical aspects of it. The score is beautiful. And finally, because of the less serious tone, I find it to be the most endlessly rewatchable of the entire franchise. It's fantastic and Very Comfy background fodder.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 17, 2021, 12:01:16 AM
I always said Resurrection is almost the inverse of Alien. Alien is all the right talented creative people together on the right project. Resurrection is all of the right talented creative people together on the wrong project.
Beautiful art design, costumes, great actors, some impressive creature work, all in service of exactly the wrong script.
This might be the best take on ARES I've ever read.
Quote from: SiL on Oct 17, 2021, 12:01:16 AM
I always said Resurrection is almost the inverse of Alien. Alien is all the right talented creative people together on the right project. Resurrection is all of the right talented creative people together on the wrong project.
So, did Hicks steal this sentiment from you ?
We've discussed it yeeeeeaars ago so I'm not sure who started it or if it was just a mutual feeling.
Granted, I'm old and my memory is sucky these days, but I generally point that feeling to a reading of Alien: The Archive, then deciding to do a podcast on Resurrection after.
Great minds think alike then ?
Can't speak to the great mind, but definitely handsome guys think alike.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Oct 14, 2021, 06:35:02 AM
There's always the whole "BuRkE wAs LyInG" fallback that so many seem fond of employing.
The hoops people jump through to justify the canon conflicts in the stories of their favorite video games or books always amuse me.
A problem with your canonicity? Weyland Yutani is all-powerful and can control all flows of information, deploy waves of heavily armed mercenaries without fear of repercussions, control governments, etc. Burke seemed pretty resigned to the fact that he couldn't stop Hicks from nuking the colony from orbit, but everything else, Weyland Yutani could do that.
As far as this novel goes, it sounds pretty dumb. I know some people are far higher on the NuCanon of the Alien RPG, but it all feels like Call of Duty Innnn Spaaaace to me, disregarding the worldbuilding of the Aliens film of coldly calculating megacorporations and supremely bored Colonial Marines upset they never get in any stand-up fights (similar to any peacetime troops), and instead spending their down time talking about transgender space hookers and making fun of colonists. And I get it, for the purpose of video games and RPGs, you don't want your
players as bored as the Colonial Marines seemed to be. But when people start writing novels about these interstellar space wars in a late-stage capitalist dystopian future influenced by megacorporations, I have to stop to wonder if any of them have ever given much thought to how the very same economic and MAD drivers that have prevented open warfare between superpowers since the Korean War would still be in great effect in the future. Especially if everyone is still based on Earth, within ICBM range of one another. Do we have big guns, and and do grunts brag about them? Of course. I spent ten years in the US Marines, and we certainly never shot at any Chinese or Russians with them. Heck, the one time we fought a legitimate government, it was only because it posed almost no actual threat, and had no inter-continental strike capability.
Even using the unproduced scripts by William Gibson, his UPP were Space Soviets, locked in a Cold War with the unnamed Space America. This wasn't a setting where colonists got mysteriously slaughtered, like it's turn of the 20th century central Africa or something. Heck, colonial Africa wasn't even that violent between the European powers, because they didn't want major wars breaking out at home over distant parcels of land. The Fashoda Incident, for example, was specifically *not* a bigger incident, because the French realized they didn't want to be sandwiched in the middle between them and the Germans/Austro-Hungarians if a war broke out in Europe (WW1 broke out just 15 years later).
I dunno, Alien always seemed like cold, dystopic science fiction, not grandiose space opera. French colonists being slaughtered only to blame the Brits? What year is this set again?
I never give much thought to the plots of stuff like the AvP games, or Fireteam Elite. But if you're going to write a
novel where the words have to mean things and make sense, maybe put the smallest bit of thought into it.
Excellent points.
(https://media1.giphy.com/media/Us6mmGp0FhPgnKdzQ8/giphy.gif)
The EU has been borderline grandiose for a minute for the reasons you already mention. Slow burn doesn't always translate to videogames or comics, and the novelizations are often influenced by what the rest of the EU is doing.
The more experimental chapters in the EU are very hit or miss in terms of popularity, so I can see people wanting to stick with the norm on what they are writing.
I also don't think many people anywhere expect the Alienverse EU to hold merit with what the movies or tv show are doing despite what anyone is saying right now "officially." Every decade or so the EU is nuked by the films, and I expect this to continue until Disney finds out what exactly they want from the franchise.
Also MAD only works until it doesn't. It has had a good streak, but that streak might be tested if China keeps f**king around with Taiwan.
I never shot at anyone while I was in, but Chinese plainclothes soldiers DID make the cross hairs once or twice in Ethiopia. Like I'm sure the Russians did with all the SOF dudes in Syria. Or SMUs vs Iran in Iraq. Everybody is always testing each other, and eventually somebody is going to fail.
The Amazon listing has a cover now.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81OMdPAR2-L._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
Back to the ACM bashes again... Come on, Titan.
f**king lmao
Why don't they use Isolation instead?
Especially considering the plot.
Every time Titan takes a step forward on their cover art game, we get another 2 or 3 backwards. It's not the worse, but still. :'(
I miss the green-filtered covers... :-X
Although I honestly expected a cover like this.
I thought it looked okay and didn't understand the attitude, but then I dug through the screenshots and saw this.
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/acm-screenshot-028.jpg)
I also didn't realize the Out of the Shadows cover was Colonial Marines concept art, and River of Pain is also an ACM screenshot.
Most of them are
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/alien-colony-war/9781789098891-item.html?ikwid=alien&ikwsec=Books&ikwidx=19#algoliaQueryId=32717fc94378c1d18306292b2c2a9b17
LV-187
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/187_(slang) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/187_(slang))
c'mon :laugh:
Learn something every day
QuoteBonus Feature: An exclusive new game scenario based on the massively popular, award-winning Alien RPG from Free League Publishing!
Quote from: skhellter on Jan 27, 2022, 10:42:08 PM
LV-187
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/187_(slang) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/187_(slang))
c'mon :laugh:
Looks like this just got pushed back to an Alien Day 4/26 release date.
Got my copy pre-ordered!
Hope it's good. :)
Release date's just been pushed back to 19th May, if Amazon's anything to go by.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Apr 14, 2022, 04:23:04 PM
Release date's just been pushed back to 19th May, if Amazon's anything to go by.
Still is listed as April 26th for me on US Amazon.
Kindle and paperback on 4/26, but the audiobook is listed at 4/19.
Still got 26th down on Amazon UK.
Alien EU delay is practically mandatory. It's almost tradition.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Apr 14, 2022, 04:23:04 PM
Release date's just been pushed back to 19th May, if Amazon's anything to go by.
I finally got this notice too. Shame. Now I doubt we'll have anything for Alien Day. :'(
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 16, 2022, 10:56:34 AM
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Apr 14, 2022, 04:23:04 PM
Release date's just been pushed back to 19th May, if Amazon's anything to go by.
I finally got this notice too. Shame. Now I doubt we'll have anything for Alien Day. :'(
Considering Titan is a UK company it baffles me that you'd get this delay. Especially since the book was originally scheduled to release last Tuesday.
It's not unknown for Amazon to not get the Titan books in time. Suppose Forbidden Planet is actually the better place to check.
For UK buyers. I preordered this and the recent AvP anthology from Waterstones and got both a few days early.
Maybe a good option for some in future.
Forbidden Planet has the release date down as the 26th. Waterstones has them in stock now. I think this is just Amazon not getting their shipment of Titan books in time. As standard.
I've ordered a copy from Waterstones instead.
I picked up my copy from Waterstones on the 14th. Seems the best option.
Mine has dispatched too from WHSmith in UK.
It was released on Audible today.
And my copy from Waterstones arrived today.
How many pages out of interest? Just curious with their also being an additional RPG scenario attached.
Novel itself is around 370. The RPG scenario (Fallout) is about 50.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 20, 2022, 07:57:55 AM
Novel itself is around 370. The RPG scenario (Fallout) is about 50.
So is the rpg scenario decent?
Yay got it today and the cover art looks much better in real life compared to the online shots. Neat!
(https://i.imgur.com/q01yG6p.jpg)
Quote from: Bughuntwilson on Apr 20, 2022, 04:45:24 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 20, 2022, 07:57:55 AM
Novel itself is around 370. The RPG scenario (Fallout) is about 50.
So is the rpg scenario decent?
I've not read it. I try not to before actually getting to play the scenarios.
So I'm about 70/80 pages into this and I think it's going to take some work to win me over. There's just something about the way this is written that it makes me feel like I've missed another book or comic introducing Chad. It feels like it's written with an assumption we already know all about him so far.
I'm also not sure on how this France/England conflict seems to be being set up.
Spoiler
Random 3 World Empire merchants responding to a French colony distress call, decide to seemingly randomly off a survivor and then decide they're going to kill all other survivors and cover it up.
And the cockney is getting a bit obnoxious.
Has anyone ordered an Aristotle of the most ping pong tiddly in the nuclear sub yet?
Im 70 pages in and pretty much echo the above. The characters are not winning me over at all and whilst I appreciate the tie ins to the RPG, anyone not familiar with it is going to be massively confused.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 21, 2022, 09:28:23 AM
It feels like it's written with an assumption we already know all about him so far.
He's Amanda's totally well established husband, how can you not know everything about this important character already?
This is the first Alien or Predator book that I've had that I don't think I'll bother finishing.
I don't like the "New Albion" angle at all.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 21, 2022, 10:43:34 AM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 21, 2022, 09:28:23 AM
It feels like it's written with an assumption we already know all about him so far.
He's Amanda's totally well established husband, how can you not know everything about this important character already?
I couldn't even tell you if they're married at this point.
So I'm on about 100 pages at the minute, and something keeps happening that I can't decide if it's good writing or not. :laugh: Something will happen plot-wise that I think seems silly, and I'll go "but what about?" and then the book immediately answers me. But I'm not sure I'm satisfied. lol
I think it's the world-building. Things aren't being laid-down for me as groundwork, I'm only finding out as the plot moves to something and I need some basis for believing it in the then-and-there.
Who would have thought we'd have a brexit reference in an Alien book?
Oh dear... page 127.
Spoiler
They've actually done it. They have retconned Amanda Ripley's death. She is still alive and in hypersleep.
3WExit? Not sure what annoyed me more, the Brexit comparison, the Boris clone or the immersion breaking idea of naming the RMC assault unit after the Trumpton fire brigade. (Pugh, Pugh, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb). How am I supposed to not think its a p*ss take?
That and I'm not sure the author was up to speed on his knowledge of the Alien Universe in general and the Royal Marines in particular.
Not sure if this has been posted but when I flicked through May's issue of SFX, there was an article about the book who had spoken to the author. File attached below:
Quote from: TheBATMAN on Apr 22, 2022, 10:37:18 PM
Who would have thought we'd have a brexit reference in an Alien book?
Oh dear... page 127.
Spoiler
They've actually done it. They have retconned Amanda Ripley's death. She is still alive and in hypersleep.
Oh God, that is stupid
Spoiler
Just like her mommy ! So we can have her for a further adventures !
Quote from: Local Trouble on Mar 22, 2019, 10:05:36 PM
Quote from: The Old One on Mar 22, 2019, 09:50:54 PM
I hope the Amanda Ripley Chronicles finishes intact.
What makes you think it'll ever finish? She lives to the ripe old age of 66, and that's only if Burke is to be believed.
Amanda could have ongoing adventures for decades to come!
Called it.
Wow, this sounds awful.
Still think Amanda was a good idea?
For Alien Isolation yes.
(https://media2.giphy.com/media/3iiLG6c47DBHpHPIVH/giphy.gif)
I'm of a mind that Isolation could've worked just as great without Amanda. Her quest for finding her long lost mother is probably the part of that game I'm least interested in
Amanda finding her mother's logs is ultimately a disposable plot point that's only meaningful to fans of the movies - and even then not a particularly welcome one.
Nobody praises the game for its deeply emotional story, they praise the experience. Amanda could've been anyone going on a journey to do anything at the station and it would've had the same audience reaction.
I think it definitely adds something, like being able to have this opening:
Quote from: Local Trouble on Aug 05, 2019, 10:04:09 AM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Aug 05, 2019, 08:09:44 AM
Quote from: Local Trouble on Aug 05, 2019, 03:02:58 AMI also think choosing a different protagonist would have given them more creative flexibility. After all, we know from Aliens that Amanda lives through it all (unless Fox intends on retconning that).
Honestly, at this point, I can quite easily buy the whole thing about her records not actually being accurate or simply Burke lying.
Nothing would surprise me at this point. Maybe she winds up being a Predator killer.
I guess we know which Ripley this is now...
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/47582371_343459419571377_1678431481132215546_n.jpg)
"Please... kill me..."
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Apr 23, 2022, 08:45:36 AM
I think it definitely adds something, like being able to have this opening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEAqcB-oeeM
It amounts to disposable fanservice. Nobody praises the game for its opening titles, they praise the aesthetic and experience. Neither of which relies on Amanda being Amanda.
Quote from: TheBATMAN on Apr 22, 2022, 10:37:18 PM
Who would have thought we'd have a brexit reference in an Alien book?
I rolled my eyes at that. Thoughts on the politics of it all aside, at least Brexit was a play on words that worked. 3WExit doesn't.
Also, I'd have thought it would have made better continuity having the colonies use the weaponry of their various national companies instead of everyone rocking Pulse Rifles. Would have been nice to see the Dukes using the WY weaponry from Fireteam.
I've got to the bit with the guard hut. The book is feeling like parody now.
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Apr 23, 2022, 08:45:36 AM
I think it definitely adds something, like being able to have this opening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEAqcB-oeeM
I'm with Blue on this. Sure, the emotional impact means more to the fans, but it was a big part of the experience for me.
Oh, and I forgot RyanSpace at the start of the book. I had a small chuckle at that at the time, but now it's feeling like a part of the silly tone.
Quote from: StarWolf212 on Apr 22, 2022, 10:51:32 PM
the immersion breaking idea of naming the RMC assault unit after the Trumpton fire brigade. (Pugh, Pugh, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb). How am I supposed to not think its a p*ss take?
Oh boy, this is going to make me throw the book at the wall.
:laugh:
always good to read them:
and then rate them really low on Goodreads
I'm curious, how long Corporal will be able to say: "Overall, Titan has been knocking it out of the park EXCEPT for A, B, C ..."
Titan doesn't seem to have any quality control.
They're just putting out "whatever".
Few entries i liked but.. lmao
They're exceptions that prove the rule.
Quote from: Kradan on Apr 23, 2022, 11:24:06 AM
I'm curious, how long Corporal will be able to say: "Overall, Titan has been knocking it out of the park EXCEPT for A, B, C ..."
I don't think I'll be able to. "Generally enjoyable" lol
Quote from: SiL on Apr 23, 2022, 10:38:00 AM
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on Apr 23, 2022, 08:45:36 AM
I think it definitely adds something, like being able to have this opening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEAqcB-oeeM
It amounts to disposable fanservice. Nobody praises the game for its opening titles, they praise the aesthetic and experience. Neither of which relies on Amanda being Amanda.
I do not agree, but you already know this because we have already discussed this earlier in this very topic, I do not consider it disposable. I consider it part of Alien Isolation's identity, it's woven into every aspect of the experience, the Isolation's not just in reference to being alone in the physical sense but also being without answers.
That's why the opening and the ending credits are what they are.
Sure it works on the level of the raw gameplay, but I think omitting the factor the story and characters play's reductive personally, and misses part of why it feels authentic.
Oh boy.
Spoiler
The Pulse Rifles fire pulse blasts and pulse beams.
:-\ :-X
I made this especially...
(https://i.imgur.com/KHqtNfO.jpg)
Ay lmao
Hmm. Kinda glad I haven't picked this up. From what you're all saying, this sounds like trash.
I wonder what SM would say about all this.
Quote from: Stitch on Apr 23, 2022, 11:37:45 PM
Hmm. Kinda glad I haven't picked this up. From what you're all saying, this sounds like trash.
I bought it but I probably won't touch it until I've finished Sea of Sorrows and the Rage War trilogy lol. Maybe by then I'll think of it favorably compared to those titles (saying that, I am so far really enjoying SoS. Much more so than Out of the Shadows but granted, that ain't hard lol).
Current progress:
(https://i.imgur.com/qaodoUL.png)
Phalanx ought to wash the taste of The Rage War out of your mouth when you get round to it. Or just play Mass Effect for the original version of Rage War that's actually got characters worth a damn instead.
Rage War was great. Even if it did rip off ME.
I can't get past
Spoiler
the Aliens wearing masks in space.
Nearly 200 pages in. One positive I will say at least is the xenos in this seem quite nasty and are well described.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 23, 2022, 08:04:13 PM
Oh boy.
Spoiler
The Pulse Rifles fire pulse blasts and pulse beams.
:-\ :-X
I made this especially...
(https://i.imgur.com/KHqtNfO.jpg)
lol wut
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 23, 2022, 08:04:13 PM
Oh boy.
Spoiler
The Pulse Rifles fire pulse blasts and pulse beams.
:-\ :-X
I made this especially...
(https://i.imgur.com/KHqtNfO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/uAUTGxQ.jpg)
Quote from: TheBATMAN on Apr 22, 2022, 10:37:18 PM
Who would have thought we'd have a brexit reference in an Alien book?
Oh dear... page 127.
Spoiler
They've actually done it. They have retconned Amanda Ripley's death. She is still alive and in hypersleep.
(https://i.imgur.com/znc6Ze3.jpg)
hahaha I totally missed that spoiler, holy SHIT
Definitely canceling my order on this book, lmao
I'm only a couple of chapters in, but a reference to "tales of black goo raining down on frontier worlds" makes me feel like this should have come out after Inferno's Fall.
The author doesnt let you forget about the border bomings btw. They are referenced in what seems like every 10 pages.
Finally got my copy today.
Regarding that page 127 spoiler... I'd be very curious to know if that was the author's choice or if it was mandated by someone.
Quote from: Nukiemorph on Apr 30, 2022, 08:55:49 AMFinally got my copy today.
Regarding that page 127 spoiler... I'd be very curious to know if that was the author's choice or if it was mandated by someone.
I'd be surprised if it wasn't editorial.
I'm up to chapter 19 now. It's taking itself more seriously now, but I do wish all the British characters would die, so I stop having to read "guv" in every piece of dialogue.
There's some fantastic descriptive imagery of the Aliens in this. Really digging some of these descriptions. Also really liking the
Spoiler
whole Queen reaching out to the humans aspect. It was something I liked in the original comics, and an aspect of the normal Aliens mesmerizing people from the RPG that I dug too. Not sure where else, if at all, it's going to go with it in this novel but was cool to see that.
Quote from: TheBATMAN on Apr 28, 2022, 02:12:43 PMThe author doesnt let you forget about the border bomings btw. They are referenced in what seems like every 10 pages.
Honestly, I wish we'd have had something better established with this. An actual written journalistic piece within the book, early on, addressing this a bit more. It's so off-handed in the novel, despite the frequent mentions.
Finally finished it. I felt it improved once all the main characters came together on the colony but the climactic battle was underwhelming. The naming of the Royal Marines operatives just cant be taken seriously and the twist with one of the characters was far too obvious.
Whilst I appreciate what the author was trying to do with the world building and parallels to current British politics, it was far too on the nose and took me right out of the whole thing.
The book wasnt terrible but as an indirect follow up to Into Charybdis it was a big letdown.
Of all the Titan novels so far, this and Prototype are my lowest ranked.
Just finished! Overall I had a good time with this one. Would strongly recommend reading "Into Charybdis" and playing/reading the RPG's "Colonial Marines Operations Manual" first as it's side-quel to both. Really I think to fully appreciate the story you will need to be well versed in the current canon as there are tons of references and connections to lore and previous stories.
I was actually flipping from the book to
The "Operations Manual" as all the vehicles and weaponry were straight out of the RPG. So
I fully appreciated all the lore references but it definitely toed the line of crossing into "fan service" territory. I'll go ahead and give this one a 7.5/10
May 02, 2022, 11:29:34 PMQuote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 30, 2022, 10:00:57 AMQuote from: Nukiemorph on Apr 30, 2022, 08:55:49 AMFinally got my copy today.
Regarding that page 127 spoiler... I'd be very curious to know if that was the author's choice or if it was mandated by someone.
I'd be surprised if it wasn't editorial.
I'm up to chapter 19 now. It's taking itself more seriously now, but I do wish all the British characters would die, so I stop having to read "guv" in every piece of dialogue.
There's some fantastic descriptive imagery of the Aliens in this. Really digging some of these descriptions. Also really liking the Spoiler
whole Queen reaching out the humans aspect. It was something I liked in the original comics, and an aspect of the normal Aliens mesmerizing people from the RPG that I dug too. Not sure where else, if at all, it's going to go with it in this novel but was cool to see that.
Quote from: TheBATMAN on Apr 28, 2022, 02:12:43 PMThe author doesnt let you forget about the border bomings btw. They are referenced in what seems like every 10 pages.
Honestly, I wish we'd have had something better established with this. An actual written journalistic piece within the book, early on, addressing this a bit more. It's so off-handed in the novel, despite the frequent mentions.
While reading I wondered how all you Brits would like the "Best of British" angle (especially the Boris knockoff) lol it seemed a bit over the top :laugh:
As for the Border Bombings, I agree that there should've been more background on it as very few folks have read/played through the "Operations Manual" 10 mission campaign where it's addressed.
Well lookin forward to your thoughts on the rest of the book, guv ;D
It feels like it enjoys bashing britain way too much honestly. It feels its to the point of parody and not a faction worthy of a serious place in the alien mythology. The three world empire presumably would have a lot of power and influence and not be the bumbling idiots this makes them out to be so far.
I am enjoying it though.
And someone said it retcons a certain characters death. When did said character die? Ive read pretty much all the novels and comics and dont remember that death which should be a huge event.
Quote from: Xiggz456 on May 02, 2022, 10:12:26 PMWhile reading I wondered how all you Brits would like the "Best of British" angle (especially the Boris knockoff) lol it seemed a bit over the top :laugh:
Hi there, first time poster here... I recently got back into the Alien mythos after really enjoying the Alex White novels, which are a definite franchise high point. I'm also familiar with most of the comics and games, and even the recent RPG (excellent).
Was a little bit apprehensive when reading the premise for 'Colony War' and well, my suspicions were sadly valid...
It's enjoyable enough in places with some decent suspense, and the research and tie-ins are well done (although probably too cryptic as others have mentioned).
The main issue is it's just way over the top, not every Brit is a xenophobic dumbo, I mean Ridley Scott created the whole franchise! And don't get me started on the bizarre victorian parlance which sounds more 19th century than 22nd. "Best of British to you" I had to google it as I have honestly never heard anybody say that in my life!
To sum up, whilst there are some decent ideas and set pieces but the amount of cringe and inconsistency sunk it for me. Not bad, but pretty misguided 6/10
Quote from: kie on May 09, 2022, 03:26:45 PMQuote from: Xiggz456 on May 02, 2022, 10:12:26 PMWhile reading I wondered how all you Brits would like the "Best of British" angle (especially the Boris knockoff) lol it seemed a bit over the top :laugh:
Hi there, first time poster here... I recently got back into the Alien mythos after really enjoying the Alex White novels, which are a definite franchise high point. I'm also familiar with most of the comics and games, and even the recent RPG (excellent).
Was a little bit apprehensive when reading the premise for 'Colony War' and well, my suspicions were sadly valid...
It's enjoyable enough in places with some decent suspense, and the research and tie-ins are well done (although probably too cryptic as others have mentioned).
The main issue is it's just way over the top, not every Brit is a xenophobic dumbo, I mean Ridley Scott created the whole franchise! And don't get me started on the bizarre victorian parlance which sounds more 19th century than 22nd. "Best of British to you" I had to google it as I have honestly never heard anybody say that in my life!
To sum up, whilst there are some decent ideas and set pieces but the amount of cringe and inconsistency sunk it for me. Not bad, but pretty misguided 6/10
Welcome to the boards Kie! You make some valid points here. It sounds like the British angle is more cringe to Brits than patriotic lol.
I agree on the suspense being decent enough as the majority of scenes with the xenos were beautifully described. As for the tie-ins
Spoiler
I love the character Davis, but making him a cockapoo android was an odd choice.
If you get a chance check out the author's short story in the anthology "AVP Ultimate Prey" as it's one of the best shorts in the book.
Quote from: kie on May 09, 2022, 03:26:45 PMQuote from: Xiggz456 on May 02, 2022, 10:12:26 PMWhile reading I wondered how all you Brits would like the "Best of British" angle (especially the Boris knockoff) lol it seemed a bit over the top :laugh:
Hi there, first time poster here... I recently got back into the Alien mythos after really enjoying the Alex White novels, which are a definite franchise high point. I'm also familiar with most of the comics and games, and even the recent RPG (excellent).
Was a little bit apprehensive when reading the premise for 'Colony War' and well, my suspicions were sadly valid...
It's enjoyable enough in places with some decent suspense, and the research and tie-ins are well done (although probably too cryptic as others have mentioned).
The main issue is it's just way over the top, not every Brit is a xenophobic dumbo, I mean Ridley Scott created the whole franchise! And don't get me started on the bizarre victorian parlance which sounds more 19th century than 22nd. "Best of British to you" I had to google it as I have honestly never heard anybody say that in my life!
To sum up, whilst there are some decent ideas and set pieces but the amount of cringe and inconsistency sunk it for me. Not bad, but pretty misguided 6/10
it was taking the piss out of brexit. It was far too silly to take seriously
it was taking the piss out of brexit. It was far too silly to take seriously
Quoteit was taking the piss out of brexit. It was far too silly to take seriously
Yeah, my thoughts exactly
May 11, 2022, 10:30:14 PMQuoteIf you get a chance check out the author's short story in the anthology "AVP Ultimate Prey" as it's one of the best shorts in the book.
Thanks Xiggz456, I'll check that 8)
Quote from: Xiggz456 on May 10, 2022, 12:03:18 PMQuote from: kie on May 09, 2022, 03:26:45 PMQuote from: Xiggz456 on May 02, 2022, 10:12:26 PMWhile reading I wondered how all you Brits would like the "Best of British" angle (especially the Boris knockoff) lol it seemed a bit over the top :laugh:
Hi there, first time poster here... I recently got back into the Alien mythos after really enjoying the Alex White novels, which are a definite franchise high point. I'm also familiar with most of the comics and games, and even the recent RPG (excellent).
Was a little bit apprehensive when reading the premise for 'Colony War' and well, my suspicions were sadly valid...
It's enjoyable enough in places with some decent suspense, and the research and tie-ins are well done (although probably too cryptic as others have mentioned).
The main issue is it's just way over the top, not every Brit is a xenophobic dumbo, I mean Ridley Scott created the whole franchise! And don't get me started on the bizarre victorian parlance which sounds more 19th century than 22nd. "Best of British to you" I had to google it as I have honestly never heard anybody say that in my life!
To sum up, whilst there are some decent ideas and set pieces but the amount of cringe and inconsistency sunk it for me. Not bad, but pretty misguided 6/10
Welcome to the boards Kie! You make some valid points here. It sounds like the British angle is more cringe to Brits than patriotic lol.
I agree on the suspense being decent enough as the majority of scenes with the xenos were beautifully described. As for the tie-ins
Spoiler
I love the character Davis, but making him a cockapoo android was an odd choice.
If you get a chance check out the author's short story in the anthology "AVP Ultimate Prey" as it's one of the best shorts in the book.
It was more cringe than anything.
it seems like they forced a brexit type scenario in there and it doesnt feel serious at all and hurts the story.
I also feel like the main story is basically a retelling of alien mashed with aliens. So many scenes basically directly taken from the movies
It's how the Brexit situation is handled. Thoughts on the entire real thing aside, there's a place for separatist stories in science-fiction and it being relevant and recent is perfect - sci-fi is the place for social commentary after all. But it needs to be nuanced and intelligent. 3WExit is neither.
The problem is it's a parody. And it's one-sided. I'm not one to really share my political opinions as I can't be arsed with people shouting theirs at me, but I sat on the same side of that yes/no vote as Barnett obviously did. And jfc if Barnett isn't determined to paint everyone on that other side as a clown. There's no exploration of the benefits or detractions of that question. Everyone is just a caricature of a raging racist Brit - aside from that one taxi driver, if I remember rightly?
And when the story does stop trying to just rip the shit out of leavers and take itself more seriously, it's just a boring retread. Seen this all before.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 12, 2022, 07:04:01 AMIt's how the Brexit situation is handled. Thoughts on the entire real thing aside, there's a place for separatist stories in science-fiction and it being relevant and recent is perfect - sci-fi is the place for social commentary after all. But it needs to be nuanced and intelligent. 3WExit is neither.
The problem is it's a parody. And it's one-sided. I'm not one to really share my political opinions as I can't be arsed with people shouting theirs at me, but I sat on the same side of that yes/no vote as Barnett obviously did. And jfc if Barnett isn't determined to paint everyone on that other side as a clown. There's no exploration of the benefits or detractions of that question. Everyone is just a caricature of a raging racist Brit - aside from that one taxi driver, if I remember rightly?
And when the story does stop trying to just rip the shit out of leavers and take itself more seriously, it's just a boring retread. Seen this all before.
I recall Alex White mentioning that either Titan or 20th Century wanted the stories to move more towards political conflicts a'la "The Expanse" and they set up such a conflict with "Into Charybdis". But as you said 3WExit is not nearly nuanced enough. It's far too on the nose and I think the scale is a bit too small for an interstellar conflict. Hopefully "Inferno's Fall" does a better job.
Fingers crossed for the podcast lol
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 12, 2022, 07:04:01 AMThe problem is it's a parody. And it's one-sided. I'm not one to really share my political opinions as I can't be arsed with people shouting theirs at me, but I sat on the same side of that yes/no vote as Barnett obviously did. And jfc if Barnett isn't determined to paint everyone on that other side as a clown. There's no exploration of the benefits or detractions of that question. Everyone is just a caricature of a raging racist Brit - aside from that one taxi driver, if I remember rightly?
Yeah, you nailed it Hicks... I'm the of the same persuasion as yourself and Barnett, but the broad strokes he used painting everybody as Sun reading, French hating bigots was just way over the top, and dated.
There were moments when I thought it was about to get going, but then it just reverted to type.
I actually listened to the Audiobook, and another thing I found strange was a kind of weird time-stretching where characters engaged in long existential conversations with Alien maws just inches away. Found it a bit cheesy, and took me out of the book.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 12, 2022, 07:04:01 AMIt's how the Brexit situation is handled. Thoughts on the entire real thing aside, there's a place for separatist stories in science-fiction and it being relevant and recent is perfect - sci-fi is the place for social commentary after all. But it needs to be nuanced and intelligent. 3WExit is neither.
The problem is it's a parody. And it's one-sided. I'm not one to really share my political opinions as I can't be arsed with people shouting theirs at me, but I sat on the same side of that yes/no vote as Barnett obviously did. And jfc if Barnett isn't determined to paint everyone on that other side as a clown. There's no exploration of the benefits or detractions of that question. Everyone is just a caricature of a raging racist Brit - aside from that one taxi driver, if I remember rightly?
And when the story does stop trying to just rip the shit out of leavers and take itself more seriously, it's just a boring retread. Seen this all before.
100% correct on all counts.
If it was more subtle but serious maybe it might have worked but it isnt. Its just boring and not particularly clever parody in a series thats supposed to be serious and intense.
May 13, 2022, 07:11:30 PMQuote from: Xiggz456 on May 12, 2022, 05:29:45 PMQuote from: Corporal Hicks on May 12, 2022, 07:04:01 AMIt's how the Brexit situation is handled. Thoughts on the entire real thing aside, there's a place for separatist stories in science-fiction and it being relevant and recent is perfect - sci-fi is the place for social commentary after all. But it needs to be nuanced and intelligent. 3WExit is neither.
The problem is it's a parody. And it's one-sided. I'm not one to really share my political opinions as I can't be arsed with people shouting theirs at me, but I sat on the same side of that yes/no vote as Barnett obviously did. And jfc if Barnett isn't determined to paint everyone on that other side as a clown. There's no exploration of the benefits or detractions of that question. Everyone is just a caricature of a raging racist Brit - aside from that one taxi driver, if I remember rightly?
And when the story does stop trying to just rip the shit out of leavers and take itself more seriously, it's just a boring retread. Seen this all before.
I recall Alex White mentioning that either Titan or 20th Century wanted the stories to move more towards political conflicts a'la "The Expanse" and they set up such a conflict with "Into Charybdis". But as you said 3WExit is not nearly nuanced enough. It's far too on the nose and I think the scale is a bit too small for an interstellar conflict. Hopefully "Inferno's Fall" does a better job.
Fingers crossed for the podcast lol
The political scenario in alexs book seemed far more intriguing and serious
Hi there. Late to the conversation. But will there be a podcast review on this? If there is, I honestly can't wait to hear it! Those are always fun, even if they're downers.
Oh, and before I forget!
Spoiler
f**king rat Alien????
Come on. Stupid.
Now to actually write a review for this. I've still not decided on whether or not to do a podcast review on this. I'm feeling a severe lack of enthusiasm at the minute.
At this point, I don't blame you. I feel like, as I've mentioned on Facebook, that without any meaningful stakes for the writers to play with, I feel like the franchise might stagnate if it hasn't already.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 16, 2022, 09:47:54 AMI've still not decided on whether or not to do a podcast review on this. I'm feeling a severe lack of enthusiasm at the minute.
Podcast, but I recommend drinking heavily first. Let the F-bombs flow.
Maybe Corporal should've just had ice cream instead
Quote from: xShadowFoxX on May 16, 2022, 10:08:41 AMAt this point, I don't blame you. I feel like, as I've mentioned on Facebook, that without any meaningful stakes for the writers to play with, I feel like the franchise might stagnate if it hasn't already.
Kinda hoping / presuming Alex White will return and pen a third, he seems to be able to push things forward...
I'll probably start this one tomorrow. It seems like it may be kinda trashy going by the handful of reviews I've glanced at, but I also know my history of liking EU material nobody else likes.
I'll be interested to hear what you think.
Written review - https://www.avpgalaxy.net/literature/reviews/alien-colony-war/
ouch
And I didn't even touch everything that disappointed me. I just ran out of energy to go into more. I was really disappointed by this one. More so than any of the others.
I'm about six or seven chapters in and I'm honestly debating whether I'll finish it.
And I've never not finished an Alien novel.
actually. finish it. Write a proper mean review and log it on goodreads.com
Publishers, writers and editors use that site a LOT.
If you want your opinion known outside of the alien fanbase...
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 24, 2022, 12:06:50 PMWritten review - https://www.avpgalaxy.net/literature/reviews/alien-colony-war/
It's always a pleasure reading your reviews although I'd argue that this novel wasn't as much of a let down as the Isolation novelization or Covenant: Origins. So I'd rank it above those two books from Titan but nonetheless the rest of your criticisms were completely valid.
Quote from: Xiggz456 on May 25, 2022, 11:59:01 AMQuote from: Corporal Hicks on May 24, 2022, 12:06:50 PMWritten review - https://www.avpgalaxy.net/literature/reviews/alien-colony-war/
It's always a pleasure reading your reviews although I'd argue that this novel wasn't as much of a let down as the Isolation novelization or Covenant: Origins. So I'd rank it above those two books from Titan but nonetheless the rest of your criticisms were completely valid.
I actually agree that I find those two more offensive, although in qualitative terms, Colony War's probably the worst one for me.
I'm not a huge fan of either, but they both had more redeeming factors and general entertainment value than I found in Colony War.
I've just realised something after reading the review (good work BTW, has made me feel justified in not getting it).
I've been reading 3WExit as three-wexit. But the 3 is supposed to be a B isn't it? It's Bwexit. Like how Harry Enfield's Tory Boy would pronounce brexit.
Damn. Just... Damn.
Ok, could somebody please explain to me what is Brexit and why is it so important ? I know nothing about it other than the word itself and the fact it was brought up by Patrick Stewart during the interviews for Picard and in this book
Quote from: Kradan on May 26, 2022, 07:41:15 PMOk, could somebody please explain to me what is Brexit and why is it so important ? I know nothing about it other than the word itself and the fact it was brought up by Patrick Stewart during the interviews for Picard and in this book
Quick version: UK voting to leave the EU in 2016, which had cultural, immigration, and economic ramifications.
But why is UK leaving EU is such a big deal ?
Quote from: Kradan on May 26, 2022, 08:45:39 PMBut why is UK leaving EU is such a big deal ?
It divided the country in a way not really ever seen before, causing massive cultural divide. It was also sold on the idea that the country would be massively better off if we were out of the EU, and so far that seems to have been a bunch of lies.
Quote from: Kradan on May 26, 2022, 08:45:39 PMBut why is UK leaving EU is such a big deal ?
Many people voted for it based on a bunch of lies that it would improve quality of life in Britain and help Britain return to its former glory.
One of the popular lies was that the money that was sent to the EU would be put into healthcare.
It was not.
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1530147611067486210
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1529716948715593728
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1529719728998125568
You're not the David we are looking for, move along.
Quote from: Nukiemorph on May 27, 2022, 05:24:50 PMhttps://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1530147611067486210
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1529716948715593728
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1529719728998125568
That was nice of Alex White to defend Barnett. Alex really is a stand up human.
Quote from: Stitch on May 27, 2022, 12:26:13 AMIt divided the country in a way not really ever seen before, causing massive cultural divide. It was also sold on the idea that the country would be massively better off if we were out of the EU, and so far that seems to have been a bunch of lies.
Quote from: SiL on May 27, 2022, 02:42:23 AMMany people voted for it based on a bunch of lies that it would improve quality of life in Britain and help Britain return to its former glory.
One of the popular lies was that the money that was sent to the EU would be put into healthcare.
It was not.
I see, thank you for your answers, gentlemen
Quote from: Nukiemorph on May 27, 2022, 05:24:50 PMhttps://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1530147611067486210
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1529716948715593728
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/1529719728998125568
I saw those, but you know what? If an author wants to defend their own work. Fine. I... Don't really see Colony War at all defensible when it's really easy to pick apart. I write a lot and I am my own worst critic. I think we all are. But so far I haven't really seen people threaten or attack others for liking the book. I wouldn't be surprised if there were, but there are more debates, from I've seen. I guess the point is, don't attack others for giving their opinion.
Quote from: Xiggz456 on May 27, 2022, 08:23:55 PMThat was nice of Alex White to defend Barnett. Alex really is a stand up human.
They really are. That is a lesson that folk do need to learn - it's why I don't tag the authors when I post reviews that aren't favourable. Then it's also a question of ignoring criticism, and how do you improve?
But fans definitely shouldn't be dogpiling for opinions. But that's something I tend to find is more of a Facebook thing than anything else.
I was wondering how long it'd take for that comment. For the record (and I hate to put my political opinions out there), I voted to remain. I still dislike how the situation was treated as a parody in the novel.
i kinda saw this coming.
he wrote a bad book and now he's going "well you just hated it because you don't agree with my politics!"
...i'm as far left as they come.
And this really just sounds like a top to bottom bad book.
Guy's being a drama queen.
Just move on, dude.
Go write another bad book.
Finished it today...
So I personally didn't have an issue with the politics and the different nations. I surprisingly liked the fact that the story tried to expand outside the normal alien in a corridor, which does happen but at limited capacity.
We've all read about using the eggs and aliens to some company/group/persons advantage, it was kinda nice to read it being achieved and the what comes next.... an interesting storyline I wouldn't mind reading more of.
What falls apart, for me, was the actual alien encounters themselves and the "why". The author did a good job setting up some interesting story narratives with the different factions but delivering on said story was poor.
And I couldn't get into caring about the characters either, which to me is a big deal. I like being invested in what's going on with them, what their feeling etc... I couldn't stand Cher's character and she ended up being extremely annoying by the end. If a story of the three people continue, I doubt I'd read it because they weren't the ones keeping me continuing the book.
It's definitely a flawed book and in the very low ranking but for me, brought in some interesting story plots that can be done far better by someone else at the helm.
More generous than most.
Quote from: BlueMarsalis79 on May 29, 2022, 10:05:09 AMMore generous than most.
After reading everyone's thoughts, I'd say you're fairly accurate!
But, I was also wondering if me living in the States and most of you all, living closer to this whole "brexit" thing, had any influence on our overall feelings for the novel.
A perfect example would be from Alien Into Charybdis. I really liked the book but hated the "America Marine, we're tough as nails and talk like this", representation. But from what I remember, a good majority of folks not residing in the states, loved it for that exact part.
So I'm curious if the politics of Colony War is being represented in that same way...
Quote from: Gentleman Death on May 29, 2022, 04:10:19 PMA perfect example would be from Alien Into Charybdis. I really liked the book but hated the "America Marine, we're tough as nails and talk like this", representation. But from what I remember, a good majority of folks not residing in the states, loved it for that exact part.
I'm not from States and I wasn't particularly keen on it either. Their portrayal felt off for me, in over-the-top bad guys way. In general, and I know I would probably piss some folks off by saying that, but I wasn't sure how much room is there for Americans vs Muslims in an Alien story. Kinda felt Alex's interest was more in writing that than in delivering on Aliens part. I have read book once and from what I remember Aliens encounters were few and far in between and not particularly memorable. Could've cut Aliens off from the book entirely and it would not have made much of a difference
That's crazy. The entire thing hinges on fear of the other mistrust. Personified through Blue Marsalis but present throughout the entire story, in each particular faction, the only good thing for conflict's the people who profit from it. That being the bigots and the war profiteers.
I'm sorry, Blue, I know how much you enjoy Alex's work. They are a good writer, their books are engaging to read, that's for sure. Unfortunately, Into Charybdis just didn't click with me, it never quite came together to me. Which is doubly frustrating because I enjoyed Cold Forge very much. It was tightly written, plot, characters, tone, setting - everything added up while Charybdis felt very disjointed for me. TCF had great balance of Aliens parts and corporate espionage parts. And I never felt I was preached by it while I can't say the same about Charybdis. Call it cultural, national, ethnical ignorance or whatever but that story wasn't something I wanted in an Alien story
Long story short, that book just wasn't my cup of tea
Quote from: Kradan on May 29, 2022, 06:07:21 PMI'm sorry, Blue, I know how much you enjoy Alex's work. They are a good writer, their books are engaging to read, that's for sure. Unfortunately, Into Charybdis just didn't click with me, it never quite came together to me. Which is doubly frustrating because I enjoyed Cold Forge very much. It was tightly written, plot, characters, tone, setting - everything added up while Charybdis felt very disjointed for me. TCF had great balance of Aliens parts and corporate espionage parts. And I never felt I was preached by it while I can't say the same about Charybdis. Call it cultural, national, ethnical ignorance or whatever but that story wasn't something I wanted in an Alien story
Long story short, that book just wasn't my cup of tea
I also found Into Charybdis inferior to The Cold Forge. You're not alone there Kradan.
Quote from: Kradan on May 29, 2022, 04:30:34 PMI'm not from States and I wasn't particularly keen on it either. Their portrayal felt off for me, in over-the-top bad guys way.
Just a few days ago i was thinking to myself about how much i liked the evil midnighters squad. They're a wonderful fun element in it.
And also, i recently started following a lot of "soldier of fortune" types on twitter and... the somewhat sociopathic "sports attitude" they can have when talking about war... i saw one of them wishing he could get away with murdering civilians from the "enemy" sides... [thankfully this weirdo isn't on a battlefield atm]; one american guy in Ukraine went full paranoid in a hotel and almost killed two ukrainian soldiers [before an old lady intervened and put a stop to their standoff].
The midnighters in Charybdis are portrayed in a very melodramatic exaggerated fashion (the marines in Aliens are a bit cartoony too) but sadly Alex nailed some aspects down from the way the more weird, sociopathic military people behave.
Extreme professions attract extreme unhinged people.
I'll repost my review from the ARPG discord. First concerning the "Pulse" rifle.
You don't just mix up something like that. I first thought that maybe they were using the Phased plasma pulse rifle, but those aren't common guns, and every pulse rifle in the book is like that. And the pistols are little energy laser things as well, and they definitely weren't the EVA pistols. It's consistently immersion breaking. That's such a fundamental thing, don't know how no one noticed that. And the nonsense catheter thing. Come on, how can the writer miss such a thing? How can 2 consultants not see that? How did Gaska miss that? If they weren't doing the proofreading, then who was? Did the book even get looked over by editors and proofreaders? This gave me River of Pain flashbacks...
It's really annoying cause there was so much to like in the book, I'm someone who really enjoyed it. Such great world building in idea, but the execution was so mixed... Written well to invoke emotion, literally got teary at the end, but then konstantly "guv" throughout the book read very poorly whenever the British accents were involved by the narrator and you get quite the chaos of emotions.
I loved so much of the book and hated so many of the details.
Proofreading is so needed going forward. SM used to do this sometimes, but it seems he's no longer with the franchise. If Clara and Gaska are consultants, I'd like that they proofread these things when we're paying such great attention to the world building in the EU through the glorious RPG.
If they don't have time, someone needs to get a competent person doing this. It really did ruin a potentially great experience reading this.
I wanted to love the book, but at most I can just like it. It was such a rollercoaster ride of great and horrible details. It could've been a great book if an editor just looked at the book in more detail.... And this mixed novel is a crucial point in the history of the franchise, it sets up big things or should I say, starts them off. These awful details in the novel were so easily fixable...
But yeah, the aliens were mostly treated great which is rare, though they were a bit slow at times. The end was emotional and even though Davis and the little girl were a bit cringe at the beginning, they packed an emotional punch by the end, actually got me caring for them. The political situation is intriguing, but the dialogue from New Albion and God's Hammer was at the edge of annoying and emersion breaking.
I get the situation, I agree with the critique and the author's views, but it was cringe calling it 3WExit. It could've been done more believably with the portrayal. I get the author likes writting Victorian fiction, but it didn't mesh well here as far as style goes.
The parody elements kinda seemed annoying and offensive to the EU. That type of parody does not jive well with the EU.
And as I thought, Titan asked him to use Chad and Davis...
Also, yeah the author being salty on Twitter cause people didn't like the book makes me sad. Nobody should be explicitly rude to him and bash him or the fans who like the book, but seeing his replies is disappointing.
So, for the first time in my life that I can remember, I was finding this such hard going I actually put it aside and started another book in the interim.
To be absolutely clear - in my 20-something years of being able to read, I've never switched books partway through. Ever.
Now I've finished the other novel (the new Bond book by Horowitz, which, for the sake of injecting some positivity into this post, was a really good read) and now I'm not sure I can even be bothered to go back to this.
AND I FINISHED THE f**kING DH PRESS NOVELS.
If that's any metric to go by, this is comfortably the worst Alien novel ever written.
I had a hard time getting through AvP: Ultimate Prey but this might slow my reading to a crawl (I also haven't switched books ever and haven't had a pause in reading in 10 years). It will arrive from Amazon in a few days.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Jun 07, 2022, 09:36:54 AMSo, for the first time in my life that I can remember, I was finding this such hard going I actually put it aside and started another book in the interim.
To be absolutely clear - in my 20-something years of being able to read, I've never switched books partway through. Ever.
Now I've finished the other novel (the new Bond book by Horowitz, which, for the sake of injecting some positivity into this post, was a really good read) and now I'm not sure I can even be bothered to go back to this.
AND I FINISHED THE f**kING DH PRESS NOVELS.
If that's any metric to go by, this is comfortably the worst Alien novel ever written.
That's a helluva statement ha
Can we pretend this novel never existed?
Quote from: Retropocalypse on Aug 30, 2023, 11:52:21 AMCan we pretend this novel never existed?
Yeah. Let's do that.
Quote from: Retropocalypse on Aug 30, 2023, 11:52:21 AMCan we pretend this novel never existed?
I heard it was excellent.
If so, why don't you try and read it for yourself...? :P Come on, it'll be fun... ;D
The voices told him about it.
The voices never abandon me. They're my best friends.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Sep 07, 2023, 02:05:57 AMThe voices never abandon me. They're my best friends.
If they're recommending this pile of trash, then they're really not.
I enjoy it when new people join and don't "get" Local Trouble.
Imagine the sarcasm that an Alien would have if it spawned from Local... :laugh: