Collected together for the first time, this action-packed omnibus is filled with secrets, lies, and the silver smile of the deadly Xenomorphs. Across three epic novels, see how the Xenomorph doctrine of Weyland-Yutani and Venture is a short and angry road to hell.
The Cold Forge Weyland-Yutani has suffered a devastating the loss of the Xenomorphs they aggressively sought to exploit. True to form, they have a redundancy already in place… the facility known as The Cold Forge. When company man Dorian Sudler is sent to assess their progress, he discovers that there’s a spy aboard who may destroy the entire station… That is, if the Xenomorphs don’t do the job first.
Prototype Corporate spy Tamar Prather steals a Xenomorph egg from Weyland-Yutani, taking it to a lab run by Venture... Former Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks has been tasked with training personnel to deal with anything that gets thrown their way, but nothing can prepare them for the horror that breaks out of Venture’s lab.
Into Charybdis “Shy” Hunt and the tech team from McAllen Integrations thought it was an easy job—set up environmental systems for the brand new Hasanova Data Solutions colony, built on the abandoned ruins of a complex known as “Charybdis.” There are just two the colony belongs to the Iranian state, and the complex is located above a series of hidden caves. Charybdis has a darker history than any could imagine, and its depths harbor deadly secrets.
The deeper they dig, the more Shy is convinced there's no one they can believe. When a bizarre ship lands on a nearby island, one of the workers is attacked by a taloned creature, and trust evaporates between the Iranians and Americans. The McAllen integrations crew are imprisoned, accused of being spies, but manage to send out a distress signal... to the Colonial Marines.
Alex White was born and raised in the American south. He takes photos, writes music and spends hours on YouTube watching other people blacksmith. He values challenging and subversive writing, but will settle for a good time.
In the shadow of rockets in Huntsville, Alabama, Alex lives and works as an experience designer with his spouse, son, two dogs and a cat named Grim. Favored past times include Legos and racecars. He takes his whiskey neat and his espresso black.
Alex is the author of THE SALVAGERS book series (Orbit, 2018), a magical space opera treasure hunt, ALIEN: THE COLD FORGE (Titan, 2018)(yes, THAT Alien), and EVERY MOUNTAIN MADE LOW (Solaris, 2016), a dystopian Southern American yarn.
The Cold Forge: This is a good one. Typical story of scientist trying to study the Xenomorph. Sabotage. Xenomorphs on the loose! Scientist has to control android with her body, because severely disabled. Android not cool with the humans choices. Corporate guy, cold hearted, out to do away with everyone. It's a bit unbelievable in points, about what the disabled scientist can accomplish physically, if really that handicapped, but I'll attribute it to massive adrenaline spikes and a strong will to live.
Prototype: So short aside. The start of this one informs you it takes place after Alien: Isolation. I figured, well I have the game, so I stop reading and go play the game. Unfortunately, if you played the game it wouldn't matter to the book. However, if you read the Alien: Isolation book, then you get a short flashback of Amanda Ripley working with a Private Zula who injured her back. Even then, you really don't need to read Alien: Isolation, because like nothing carries over really. *shrug*
Anyway, another solid story. Xenomorphs, plagues, trying to hide the outbreak. It's mayhem!
Into Charybdis: This third book ties back into the first book. I won't say how it ties in, but it is an interesting twist that also connects this book into the Alien Prometheus movies. It is also a good story. Everyone is fair game. Just because you've been reading one of the characters for awhile, doesn't mean they have plot armor.
The Book is comprised of 3 separate novels. The first book was awful IMHO the ML is a narcissistic sociopath with the most unrealistic plot armor. At one point the ml and a side character are crawling thru a cable tunnel. They run into a sleeping xenomorph whose described as being two feet away. The side character is panicking bc another xenomorph is chasing her, urging the ml to move. Then suddenly another xenomorph drops in from above, the ml head is pinned between its LEGS. Yet neither character suffers an injury and the author doesn't even make an attempt how they survived. I stopped reading bc it was so unbelievable how 3 xenomorphs would not unalive them. The second book was way better with more world building and likeable characters. The villains were also fleshed out characters. There were some disappointments, most significant was the ending. The main character missing the ovamorph, is not believable after establishing the characters intelligence and thoroughness that she would not have thought to kill any possible eggs or hosts. I didnt bother with the 3rd after reading the summary. I got the impression that the author could not decide on a single plot and tried to do all of them unsuccessfully.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If “Phalanx” hadn’t existed, I’d say that Book 1 & 3 (book 2 tells a completely different story) are my front runners of all Aliens books. The first entry takes the more trusted and tried Alien trope of greedy WY doing what it does best, however uniquely delving into the world building of the franchise with a couple of well appreciated twists with the last novel.
I always recommend “Cold Forge” then “Phalanx” specifically in this order.