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A review by kyle_j_durrant
Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary SanGiovanni
4.0
A solid Alien narrative that, whilst not doing anything particularly fresh, is engaging and entertaining.
Its strength is the new cast of characters, who we grow quite attached to as the narrative progresses. They're all quite well developed, with their own histories and goals. They don't always make the best decisions, but it's easy to judge them from outside the story.
We know how things are going to play out, but how can they? Even the character who has encountered the Xenomorph before can't be expected to know everything we do.
Now, it's not perfect. I felt like it spent too long on the crumbling moon, when the story would have benefitted from (and the blurb implied we would be) spending more time around the events of a peace summit. In fact, the event that links to the title isn't even set up until the final act.
Considering the overarching narrative of these recent Alien books, I did find myself wanting more information from that corner of the plot, as much as I appreciated the characters we followed.
I also thought there were some lore issues. A Xenomorph is described as having fur, which even with gene reflex feels wrong.
And although it's explained because of the effects of a serum, I thought even with that the Xenomorphs, especially the Queen, grew too fast.
Overall, though, there was more I liked than disliked, so 4 stars from me.
Its strength is the new cast of characters, who we grow quite attached to as the narrative progresses. They're all quite well developed, with their own histories and goals. They don't always make the best decisions, but it's easy to judge them from outside the story.
We know how things are going to play out, but how can they? Even the character who has encountered the Xenomorph before can't be expected to know everything we do.
Now, it's not perfect. I felt like it spent too long on the crumbling moon, when the story would have benefitted from (and the blurb implied we would be) spending more time around the events of a peace summit. In fact, the event that links to the title isn't even set up until the final act.
Considering the overarching narrative of these recent Alien books, I did find myself wanting more information from that corner of the plot, as much as I appreciated the characters we followed.
I also thought there were some lore issues. A Xenomorph is described as having fur, which even with gene reflex feels wrong.
And although it's explained because of the effects of a serum, I thought even with that the Xenomorphs, especially the Queen, grew too fast.
Overall, though, there was more I liked than disliked, so 4 stars from me.