A review by wyrmbergmalcolm
Aliens: Bug Hunt by Jonathan Maberry, Heather Graham
4.0
I was impressed by this collection. 18 stories about gun-ho macho warriors pounding umpteen dark corridors and blasting away countless critters while limbs are being torn off, chests being burst open and faces melted in acid could have got very samey by the end. But they didn't. Most of the characters came across as genuine and each scenario had its own distinctive flavour.
Two things I greatly appreciated were the chronology of the stories, where they start off not knowing what the Xenomorphs are and tnen ending up with veterans or survivors of Xenomorph encounters. Helped the stories flow.
The other was that not every story featured Xenomorphs. WHAT??? you might say, especially considering the very Xenomorph cover to the book. As aready mentioned, these stories are about the colonial marines, not the Xenomorphs. There are a few stories where the critters are not Xenomorphs at all. As much as I enjoy reading and watching those banana-headed killing machines, it was refreshing to be reminded that it's a big universe out there and that the colonial marines were needed long before the Xenomorphs turned up.
It wouldn't be fair to review a short story book without looking at the stories themselves so here goes:
Chance Encounter: Not a bad opening story of an exploration being interrupted by a Xenomorph attack. I did feel that the marines did get away a bit easily. ***
Reaper: This reminded of the Doctor Who episode Planet of the Dead. I enjoyed the build up to this one and it's open ending. No Xenomorphs though. ****
Broken: Another story with no Xenomorphs, but it's all about Bishop. Told from his perspective, this gives some great insights to this artificial person. *****
Reclamation: This one annoyed me a little. In this story Hicks (from Aliens) appears to meet the Xenomorphs before the events of the film. However, it's not 100% clear what the creatures are. It didn't really add much to Hick's character and would have perhaps been a more fitting story if it were an unheard of marine. ***
Blowback: Another bunch of colonial marines, another bunch of critters that are not Xenomorphs. However, this does have some interesting twists and ended up being quite enjoyable. ***
Exterminators: This one reminded me of the film Pitch Black. No Xenomorphs in this one, but the critters are almost as good. The fact that the two marines later feature in the film Aliens does remove some of the tension, knowing they'll live to die in that. ****
No Good Deed: Set just as the Xenomorphs are taking over Hadley's Hope, this story also gives a big nod to the human experimentation that the company in known to dabble in. Easily predicted the final sentence of the story. ***
Zero To Hero: Another human experimentation story, this one without the Xenomorphs, which are a known thing by now. Not sure about this one. Felt a little of a wasted opportunity, particularly after reading about the experimentation results in the previous story. **
Dark Mother: To me, this was the weakest story in the collection. We already knew Burke was a total...erm...Berk but his final thoughts before the installation goes boom didn't really change anything. This story also came across as badly edited with him stuck to the wall in the nest not being able to get out, to wandering about with a grenade in the very next paragraph. **
Episode 22: This telling of the history of the M41A Pulse Rifle is done in the style of a magazine article interspersed with marine quotes. I just hope it was meant to be as humerus as I found it. ***
Deep Background: Following the style of the previous story, this too has snippets of interviews with the marines as conducted by the reporter the story follows. The fact that this story does have Xenomorphs in it is almost irrelevant as the engrossing story and plots twists makes this one of the highlights of this collection. *****
Empty Nest: Having read Aliens: Earth Hive as well as most other books from the Aliens series, I'd anticipated the twist in this one pretty early on. Nothing we haven't seen before. **
Darkness Falls: The fantastic concept of this iteration of the Xenomorphs more than makes up with having to put up with 'Inexperienced Officer Douchbag'. A compelling story that needs to be put on screen. ****
Hugs To Die For: At least the idiot scientists thought it might be safer with just neutered facehuggers... Nope, still idiots. I enjoyed the development of the facehugger from being just a chestburster deliver system to a dangerous creature in its own right. ***
Deep Black: A few far-fetched things that annoyed me here. Xenomorphs are known now. Why send only three marines. Also, with WY so obsessed with the Xenomorphs, there wouldn't be anything left behind. Posited some interesting thoughts, though. ***
Distressed: This was like watching a Michael Bay film. An interesting enough concept, but I felt as dazzled as the marines in the story. **
Dangerous Prey: Not a bad attempt to get behind the Xenomorphs' 'eyes'. The acknowledgements at the end of the story shows that this was researched quite well. The story suffered from the unsurprising lack of relatability. I enjoyed it for what is was, though. ***
Spite: It would have been nice to finish off with a Xenomorph story, but let's be fair to this story as it is, which is difficult with it being the last of 18 similar stories and this just wasn't different enough to stand out. To start with I even thought they were the same creatures from Blowback. **
Two things I greatly appreciated were the chronology of the stories, where they start off not knowing what the Xenomorphs are and tnen ending up with veterans or survivors of Xenomorph encounters. Helped the stories flow.
The other was that not every story featured Xenomorphs. WHAT??? you might say, especially considering the very Xenomorph cover to the book. As aready mentioned, these stories are about the colonial marines, not the Xenomorphs. There are a few stories where the critters are not Xenomorphs at all. As much as I enjoy reading and watching those banana-headed killing machines, it was refreshing to be reminded that it's a big universe out there and that the colonial marines were needed long before the Xenomorphs turned up.
It wouldn't be fair to review a short story book without looking at the stories themselves so here goes:
Chance Encounter: Not a bad opening story of an exploration being interrupted by a Xenomorph attack. I did feel that the marines did get away a bit easily. ***
Reaper: This reminded of the Doctor Who episode Planet of the Dead. I enjoyed the build up to this one and it's open ending. No Xenomorphs though. ****
Broken: Another story with no Xenomorphs, but it's all about Bishop. Told from his perspective, this gives some great insights to this artificial person. *****
Reclamation: This one annoyed me a little. In this story Hicks (from Aliens) appears to meet the Xenomorphs before the events of the film. However, it's not 100% clear what the creatures are. It didn't really add much to Hick's character and would have perhaps been a more fitting story if it were an unheard of marine. ***
Blowback: Another bunch of colonial marines, another bunch of critters that are not Xenomorphs. However, this does have some interesting twists and ended up being quite enjoyable. ***
Exterminators: This one reminded me of the film Pitch Black. No Xenomorphs in this one, but the critters are almost as good. The fact that the two marines later feature in the film Aliens does remove some of the tension, knowing they'll live to die in that. ****
No Good Deed: Set just as the Xenomorphs are taking over Hadley's Hope, this story also gives a big nod to the human experimentation that the company in known to dabble in. Easily predicted the final sentence of the story. ***
Zero To Hero: Another human experimentation story, this one without the Xenomorphs, which are a known thing by now. Not sure about this one. Felt a little of a wasted opportunity, particularly after reading about the experimentation results in the previous story. **
Dark Mother: To me, this was the weakest story in the collection. We already knew Burke was a total...erm...Berk but his final thoughts before the installation goes boom didn't really change anything. This story also came across as badly edited with him stuck to the wall in the nest not being able to get out, to wandering about with a grenade in the very next paragraph. **
Episode 22: This telling of the history of the M41A Pulse Rifle is done in the style of a magazine article interspersed with marine quotes. I just hope it was meant to be as humerus as I found it. ***
Deep Background: Following the style of the previous story, this too has snippets of interviews with the marines as conducted by the reporter the story follows. The fact that this story does have Xenomorphs in it is almost irrelevant as the engrossing story and plots twists makes this one of the highlights of this collection. *****
Empty Nest: Having read Aliens: Earth Hive as well as most other books from the Aliens series, I'd anticipated the twist in this one pretty early on. Nothing we haven't seen before. **
Darkness Falls: The fantastic concept of this iteration of the Xenomorphs more than makes up with having to put up with 'Inexperienced Officer Douchbag'. A compelling story that needs to be put on screen. ****
Hugs To Die For: At least the idiot scientists thought it might be safer with just neutered facehuggers... Nope, still idiots. I enjoyed the development of the facehugger from being just a chestburster deliver system to a dangerous creature in its own right. ***
Deep Black: A few far-fetched things that annoyed me here. Xenomorphs are known now. Why send only three marines. Also, with WY so obsessed with the Xenomorphs, there wouldn't be anything left behind. Posited some interesting thoughts, though. ***
Distressed: This was like watching a Michael Bay film. An interesting enough concept, but I felt as dazzled as the marines in the story. **
Dangerous Prey: Not a bad attempt to get behind the Xenomorphs' 'eyes'. The acknowledgements at the end of the story shows that this was researched quite well. The story suffered from the unsurprising lack of relatability. I enjoyed it for what is was, though. ***
Spite: It would have been nice to finish off with a Xenomorph story, but let's be fair to this story as it is, which is difficult with it being the last of 18 similar stories and this just wasn't different enough to stand out. To start with I even thought they were the same creatures from Blowback. **