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Aliens Omnibus #2
The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume Two
A classic duo of previously published Aliens novels that includes Genocide by David Bischoff, in which the search for a deadly drug leads greedy men in search of the Xenomorph homeworld, and Alien Harvest by Robert Sheckley, in which an unlikely pair of interstellar pirates seek the lethal substance as their pot at the end of the rainbow!
608 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 28, 2016
96 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
David Bischoff
164 books104 followersaka Mark Grant (with Bruce King), Brad Quentin (with Terry Bisson)
Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including the Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.
Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including the Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 1, 2018
The first book, Genocide, is a decent Aliens story. It's not as good as the three novels in Aliens Omnibus Vol. 1, but it held my interest.
However, the second novel, Alien Harvest, was such a phoned-in, paint-by-numbers story that it was a chore to read because the prose felt flat and dry. I did not care about any of the characters one bit: all of them are either already criminals or are attempting to commit a crime, and the heist itself really isn't even that interesting. What makes a good Alien-franchise story work is when the audience cares about a character, their injury or death resonates and means something. But if you don't care about a character, their death means nothing.
If Genocide were by itself, I'd give it 3–4 stars, but Alien Harvest drags this whole Omnibus volume down.
However, the second novel, Alien Harvest, was such a phoned-in, paint-by-numbers story that it was a chore to read because the prose felt flat and dry. I did not care about any of the characters one bit: all of them are either already criminals or are attempting to commit a crime, and the heist itself really isn't even that interesting. What makes a good Alien-franchise story work is when the audience cares about a character, their injury or death resonates and means something. But if you don't care about a character, their death means nothing.
If Genocide were by itself, I'd give it 3–4 stars, but Alien Harvest drags this whole Omnibus volume down.
October 23, 2016
Here we have a book in which the author and editors have absolutely no knowledge of the source material.
I present to you xenomorphs that "released the facehugger" in the middle of battle.
I present to you xenomorphs that do not have acid blood. Unless the combatants are wearing acid-proof armor, in which case it is mentioned that the blood has no effect.
I present to you - Fuck it, this "book" sucked.
I present to you xenomorphs that "released the facehugger" in the middle of battle.
I present to you xenomorphs that do not have acid blood. Unless the combatants are wearing acid-proof armor, in which case it is mentioned that the blood has no effect.
I present to you - Fuck it, this "book" sucked.
December 4, 2019
TL;DR: don't waste your time with this one.
This omnibus features two stories Genocide and Alien Harvest. Alien Harvest lazily builds on some of the story of Genocide, but not in a good way. Actually, there was nothing good in either story. Harvest was slightly better than Genocide but not by much. Both stories were not only the worst Alien books I have ever had the displeasure to read but they were both the worst of anything I have ever read.
Both books continually ignore well known facts about xenomorph physiology and anatomy. Many things irked me but above all the statement (in Harvest) that aliens are 'primarily visual hunters' nearly destroyed me. Since when exactly do the xenomorphs have eyes? Early depictions have what appear to be orbital cavities but never do they have 'eyes'. A number of Giger's images feature external inverted teardrop-shaped eyes, but Alien xenomorphs do not have these.
What I hated:
I took a fair few notes reading these two stories. I'm just going to write the notes out here without fluffing them up any - these books aren't worth the time for any kind of better review.
Genocide notes:
1. "One of the banana-shaped heads rolled toward them like a lobbed bomb"
I don't know if this guy has ever tried to roll a banana, but it's not easy. They aren't exactly spherical. Also, please stop calling them bananas.
2. "Was their communication telepathic, or some weirder somatic buzz"
Mate, I guarantee you xeno's aren't bloody telepathic. However, I will grant that this stupidity builds on the stupidity set out in Aliens: Earth War. Feck that comic in particular for making xeno telepathy a thing. And feck this book for ignoring what its predecessor set in stone. Where's the consistency?
3. "They'd accidentally eaten all their males, and were on one hell of a PMS jag [...] Here were all these hysterical bugs, with no males to scream at"
Excuse me!?! There are multiple major issues with this paragraph:
a. they are not 'bugs,' stop calling them bugs you bloody nonce.
b. was this written by a teenage boy or by an 1800's psychoanalyst? either way: screw you.
c. there are no 'boy bugs' to speak of because the xenomorph reproduces by parthenogenesis (just like the wasp it is based on). Even according to Ridley Scott - whose comments on the matter take precedence because he worked directly with O'Bannon on the first Alien - the xenomorphs are hybrid, neither male nor female. They don't copulate. That is part of their enduring beauty and part of what makes them so horrifying.
4. ""They're not exactly known for their high IQs," said Kozlowski"
Umm... actually. Yes, they are. They are incredibly fast learners, and their intelligence appears to have an epigenetic basis. They engage in acts of learning as a means to more efficient predation and greater odds of survival, on both an individual and collective level. But why don't you just ignore that repeatedly.
5. "Halfway through the second bottle of champagne, he'd put a hand on her left breast. She'd cold-cocked him. [...] It had been a while since a man had been arrogant enough to make a pass at her, much less trespass her body. She enjoyed it."
Again, multiple issues with this one:
a. this author really doesn't get that women say no because they mean no.
b. is this an alien story or one mans attempts at humping every woman he sees even though they're in space fighting xenos. And wtf is with having every single woman in it, soldiers no less, crumbling to him simply because he plies them with wine. Ffs. Not one alien story I've ever read has had sex or sexual behaviour in it, but this is like an MRA wrote it.
6. The Robo-Wagon
Seeing as how we actually live in the future now with many things like this, we know that things aren't named as such. Drones aren't called robo-copters. Electric cars aren't called robo-cars. Calling things robo-this or robo-that is very dated, to a time well behind us. And it's just sort of lazy. Wtf was the robo-wagon for anyway. It seems to be replaced later with a 'remote operated drone,' is that supposed to be the same thing as the robo-wagon?
7. "You’ve got to have a certain amount of intelligence to be bigoted. The xenos aren’t that smart. No. It’s because on a very real level, the existence of difference threatens each other.
It keeps harping in that they're not that intelligent. We've seen and read, time and time again that the xenomorphs are highly intelligent creatures, and as a result of their intelligence they are highly adaptable and incredibly successful predators. So, yeah, I'm annoyed by the repetition of this obviously completely incorrect and baseless assertion, especially considering that all prior evidence points directly to the contrary.
8. Surrounded by murderous aliens? Perfect time for a picnic!
Are you fecking kidding me?!
9. "Each of these alien races would like to eradicate the other."
They are not different 'races'. They share the same genetic descent. They are the same 'kind', the same species. Therefore they are different breeds: subspecies. Race is an obsolete term, socially constructed and only in use back when idiots thought people from Asia, Africa, Europe, Nth & Sth America, Australia/Oceania had different genetics. But if you want to use the word race, we are the human race, we are all of a shared descent. Race implies that we are of physically differing species. We are the same species: human (homo sapiens). The aliens are of the same species: xenomorph (internecivus raptus). Can you tell I hate the word race. It reinforces racial profiling and racism, and it doesn't even mean /anything/ And, no matter what, the Xenomorphs even though different are of the same 'race'. *screams into a cushion*
10. "He saw the tangle of talons, wiggling at the opening of the bulb, like the beginnings of a sand crab, emerging from its shell."
Please, god, stop calling the xeno eggs 'bulbs'. They are eggs, quite literally. Have you ever heard of or seen any kind of fauna birthed from a bulb. No. Eggs birth fauna which then emerge and live independent from the egg. Bulbs are a flora storage device used for dormancy. When plants emerge from their bulb they live as live as part of the bulb. Like flowers ffs.
Also, if you didn't know what a facehugger looked like, you'd never find out from the descriptions in this disastrophe (-that's a 'disaster and a catastrophe').
11. "It hissed at him"
No, it didn't. Facehuggers don't have the anatomy to 'hiss'. They do, however, skedaddle rather quickly.
12. "Screeeee"
No, sweetheart, it didn't. Facehuggers also don't have the anatomy to 'screee'. Part of their horror is their silence.
13. "Yep. You got yourself a pod here."
They ain't bulbs and they certainly aren't pods. They don't birth seeds, they birth facehuggers. Pods in the animal kingdom (mainly among arthropods, I think) contain many eggs. If the facehugger egg was a pod it would contain eggs, not actual facehuggers.
14. "She turned and strutted away. Grant shook his head. What a woman. He wasn’t sure if he could handle her. But he sure would like to try."
Is this shite necessary. Its a fecking Alien story.
15. "let’s be quick about it, okay? No sightseeing, no rubbernecking."
The colonel spends a lot of time prepping her marines before entering the field, making sure everyone knows what to do and is ready and able to do it. Once they enter the field, after having a tiny fight, they stop for a chat, have a couple of jokes, the Col. has a flashback or two, and then she spends minutes prepping them again, each time she makes sure to tell them that there is no time for fucking about. If these are elite marines, the best of the best, they should know the drill. It just reads like poorly written filler and makes the marines unit seem like a bunch of tourists.
16. "It was big and it was fast, and it was mean."... "The next one was even bigger, and even faster."
That's the description for the alien drones. Wow, I can really see them now. Thanks for that!
This author has little imagination. His descriptions of the Aliens, facehuggers, eggs are all comparisons to other things, like cabbages, bananas, and sand crabs, or descriptions of behaviour, like big, fast, mean. If you'd never heard of or seen a xeno before you still wouldn't have a clue what they look like from the descriptions in this book. I guess they might be some kind of big mean rolling banana that likes to murder people.
17. "[She] went over to have a look at the only xeno head that had survived the mauling. “Ever see anything quite like this, Doctor?”"
What? What is so different or amazing? Well don't ask the author, he apparently didn't think it important enough to tell us. Good work there, mate.
18. Our troop of marines and scientists have just reached the queens chamber. The mother queen and four 'guards' fill the room. Our bold troop have stopped to have some laughs and a fight. Seems legit. Exactly what I'd expect from an elite squad and a group of scientists.
19. "the thing’s head burst asunder like a ripe melon"
That 'thing' is the queen mother, killed with a few rounds. Bullshizzle. Every alien in this dies in seconds with a minimum of effort. And, again, with the fruit. Every description of the xenomorphs and facehuggers plays down their horror and instead fruitifys them.
20. "There's a batch of aliens coming up through the tunnel"
Are they cookies? Batch refers specifically to sets or groupings of inanimate materials as opposed to living sentient things. Batch can be used informally to refer to a grouping of people, however, that is an uncommon usage - probably because it sounds clunky and stupid. All through this I've felt like the author was improperly using a thesaurus.
21. "Alex... how's the thigh?" "Better. Why?"
Alex took a bullet point blank to her hip. And now she's better to the point that she can run on it. Please, forgive my incredulity. Two pages later it is confirmed that her hip is fractured. But yeah, you go right ahead and run on that thing. Also, thigh and hip are not the same thing, but as I have learnt from this author, specificity is wholly unnecessary.
So far those are my notes from only the first book. And I left some out. The only note I will share from Alien Harvest, the second abysmal story in the omnibus, is the following:
"“What is it, Stan?” Julie asked. “It appears to be a midden. A garbage dump.”"
4th wall: destroyed. I love it when the cast break character and make witty quips direct to the reader explaining that they know the book they're in is absolute rubbish. I also love self-aware books. /sarcasm
What I liked:
Slamming the book shut so I could get on with reading the new Neal Shusterman book.
My rating: zero middens out of 5, but zero isn't a rating so a 1 will have to do.
This omnibus features two stories Genocide and Alien Harvest. Alien Harvest lazily builds on some of the story of Genocide, but not in a good way. Actually, there was nothing good in either story. Harvest was slightly better than Genocide but not by much. Both stories were not only the worst Alien books I have ever had the displeasure to read but they were both the worst of anything I have ever read.
Both books continually ignore well known facts about xenomorph physiology and anatomy. Many things irked me but above all the statement (in Harvest) that aliens are 'primarily visual hunters' nearly destroyed me. Since when exactly do the xenomorphs have eyes? Early depictions have what appear to be orbital cavities but never do they have 'eyes'. A number of Giger's images feature external inverted teardrop-shaped eyes, but Alien xenomorphs do not have these.
What I hated:
I took a fair few notes reading these two stories. I'm just going to write the notes out here without fluffing them up any - these books aren't worth the time for any kind of better review.
Genocide notes:
1. "One of the banana-shaped heads rolled toward them like a lobbed bomb"
I don't know if this guy has ever tried to roll a banana, but it's not easy. They aren't exactly spherical. Also, please stop calling them bananas.
2. "Was their communication telepathic, or some weirder somatic buzz"
Mate, I guarantee you xeno's aren't bloody telepathic. However, I will grant that this stupidity builds on the stupidity set out in Aliens: Earth War. Feck that comic in particular for making xeno telepathy a thing. And feck this book for ignoring what its predecessor set in stone. Where's the consistency?
3. "They'd accidentally eaten all their males, and were on one hell of a PMS jag [...] Here were all these hysterical bugs, with no males to scream at"
Excuse me!?! There are multiple major issues with this paragraph:
a. they are not 'bugs,' stop calling them bugs you bloody nonce.
b. was this written by a teenage boy or by an 1800's psychoanalyst? either way: screw you.
c. there are no 'boy bugs' to speak of because the xenomorph reproduces by parthenogenesis (just like the wasp it is based on). Even according to Ridley Scott - whose comments on the matter take precedence because he worked directly with O'Bannon on the first Alien - the xenomorphs are hybrid, neither male nor female. They don't copulate. That is part of their enduring beauty and part of what makes them so horrifying.
4. ""They're not exactly known for their high IQs," said Kozlowski"
Umm... actually. Yes, they are. They are incredibly fast learners, and their intelligence appears to have an epigenetic basis. They engage in acts of learning as a means to more efficient predation and greater odds of survival, on both an individual and collective level. But why don't you just ignore that repeatedly.
5. "Halfway through the second bottle of champagne, he'd put a hand on her left breast. She'd cold-cocked him. [...] It had been a while since a man had been arrogant enough to make a pass at her, much less trespass her body. She enjoyed it."
Again, multiple issues with this one:
a. this author really doesn't get that women say no because they mean no.
b. is this an alien story or one mans attempts at humping every woman he sees even though they're in space fighting xenos. And wtf is with having every single woman in it, soldiers no less, crumbling to him simply because he plies them with wine. Ffs. Not one alien story I've ever read has had sex or sexual behaviour in it, but this is like an MRA wrote it.
6. The Robo-Wagon
Seeing as how we actually live in the future now with many things like this, we know that things aren't named as such. Drones aren't called robo-copters. Electric cars aren't called robo-cars. Calling things robo-this or robo-that is very dated, to a time well behind us. And it's just sort of lazy. Wtf was the robo-wagon for anyway. It seems to be replaced later with a 'remote operated drone,' is that supposed to be the same thing as the robo-wagon?
7. "You’ve got to have a certain amount of intelligence to be bigoted. The xenos aren’t that smart. No. It’s because on a very real level, the existence of difference threatens each other.
It keeps harping in that they're not that intelligent. We've seen and read, time and time again that the xenomorphs are highly intelligent creatures, and as a result of their intelligence they are highly adaptable and incredibly successful predators. So, yeah, I'm annoyed by the repetition of this obviously completely incorrect and baseless assertion, especially considering that all prior evidence points directly to the contrary.
8. Surrounded by murderous aliens? Perfect time for a picnic!
Are you fecking kidding me?!
9. "Each of these alien races would like to eradicate the other."
They are not different 'races'. They share the same genetic descent. They are the same 'kind', the same species. Therefore they are different breeds: subspecies. Race is an obsolete term, socially constructed and only in use back when idiots thought people from Asia, Africa, Europe, Nth & Sth America, Australia/Oceania had different genetics. But if you want to use the word race, we are the human race, we are all of a shared descent. Race implies that we are of physically differing species. We are the same species: human (homo sapiens). The aliens are of the same species: xenomorph (internecivus raptus). Can you tell I hate the word race. It reinforces racial profiling and racism, and it doesn't even mean /anything/ And, no matter what, the Xenomorphs even though different are of the same 'race'. *screams into a cushion*
10. "He saw the tangle of talons, wiggling at the opening of the bulb, like the beginnings of a sand crab, emerging from its shell."
Please, god, stop calling the xeno eggs 'bulbs'. They are eggs, quite literally. Have you ever heard of or seen any kind of fauna birthed from a bulb. No. Eggs birth fauna which then emerge and live independent from the egg. Bulbs are a flora storage device used for dormancy. When plants emerge from their bulb they live as live as part of the bulb. Like flowers ffs.
Also, if you didn't know what a facehugger looked like, you'd never find out from the descriptions in this disastrophe (-that's a 'disaster and a catastrophe').
11. "It hissed at him"
No, it didn't. Facehuggers don't have the anatomy to 'hiss'. They do, however, skedaddle rather quickly.
12. "Screeeee"
No, sweetheart, it didn't. Facehuggers also don't have the anatomy to 'screee'. Part of their horror is their silence.
13. "Yep. You got yourself a pod here."
They ain't bulbs and they certainly aren't pods. They don't birth seeds, they birth facehuggers. Pods in the animal kingdom (mainly among arthropods, I think) contain many eggs. If the facehugger egg was a pod it would contain eggs, not actual facehuggers.
14. "She turned and strutted away. Grant shook his head. What a woman. He wasn’t sure if he could handle her. But he sure would like to try."
Is this shite necessary. Its a fecking Alien story.
15. "let’s be quick about it, okay? No sightseeing, no rubbernecking."
The colonel spends a lot of time prepping her marines before entering the field, making sure everyone knows what to do and is ready and able to do it. Once they enter the field, after having a tiny fight, they stop for a chat, have a couple of jokes, the Col. has a flashback or two, and then she spends minutes prepping them again, each time she makes sure to tell them that there is no time for fucking about. If these are elite marines, the best of the best, they should know the drill. It just reads like poorly written filler and makes the marines unit seem like a bunch of tourists.
16. "It was big and it was fast, and it was mean."... "The next one was even bigger, and even faster."
That's the description for the alien drones. Wow, I can really see them now. Thanks for that!
This author has little imagination. His descriptions of the Aliens, facehuggers, eggs are all comparisons to other things, like cabbages, bananas, and sand crabs, or descriptions of behaviour, like big, fast, mean. If you'd never heard of or seen a xeno before you still wouldn't have a clue what they look like from the descriptions in this book. I guess they might be some kind of big mean rolling banana that likes to murder people.
17. "[She] went over to have a look at the only xeno head that had survived the mauling. “Ever see anything quite like this, Doctor?”"
What? What is so different or amazing? Well don't ask the author, he apparently didn't think it important enough to tell us. Good work there, mate.
18. Our troop of marines and scientists have just reached the queens chamber. The mother queen and four 'guards' fill the room. Our bold troop have stopped to have some laughs and a fight. Seems legit. Exactly what I'd expect from an elite squad and a group of scientists.
19. "the thing’s head burst asunder like a ripe melon"
That 'thing' is the queen mother, killed with a few rounds. Bullshizzle. Every alien in this dies in seconds with a minimum of effort. And, again, with the fruit. Every description of the xenomorphs and facehuggers plays down their horror and instead fruitifys them.
20. "There's a batch of aliens coming up through the tunnel"
Are they cookies? Batch refers specifically to sets or groupings of inanimate materials as opposed to living sentient things. Batch can be used informally to refer to a grouping of people, however, that is an uncommon usage - probably because it sounds clunky and stupid. All through this I've felt like the author was improperly using a thesaurus.
21. "Alex... how's the thigh?" "Better. Why?"
Alex took a bullet point blank to her hip. And now she's better to the point that she can run on it. Please, forgive my incredulity. Two pages later it is confirmed that her hip is fractured. But yeah, you go right ahead and run on that thing. Also, thigh and hip are not the same thing, but as I have learnt from this author, specificity is wholly unnecessary.
So far those are my notes from only the first book. And I left some out. The only note I will share from Alien Harvest, the second abysmal story in the omnibus, is the following:
"“What is it, Stan?” Julie asked. “It appears to be a midden. A garbage dump.”"
4th wall: destroyed. I love it when the cast break character and make witty quips direct to the reader explaining that they know the book they're in is absolute rubbish. I also love self-aware books. /sarcasm
What I liked:
Slamming the book shut so I could get on with reading the new Neal Shusterman book.
My rating: zero middens out of 5, but zero isn't a rating so a 1 will have to do.
August 6, 2019
Enjoyed both books in this volume. Picked it up to read due to the 40th anniversary of the original film. I enjoyed it for what it’s worth.
January 6, 2021
Genocide was pretty odd. I couldn’t stand the constant talk of calling the Aliens ‘bugs’. That really bothered me and there were several times I almost felt like I was reading a Starship Troopers type of book.
The royal jelly was an interesting subject but I feel like the storyline of harvesting some type of blood/goo/liquid from a ‘being’ has been done several times.
There was also little to no description of the aliens besides tall, more ferocious, red and black etc.
It wasn’t necessarily horrible but I doubt I’d ever read it again.
Alien Harvest
The first half was really tough to get through and didn’t seem to really start picking up until Stan takes the Xeno pills.
The relationship between Julie and Stan made no sense and her whole “Thief” thing got tiring, real quickly.
I didn’t like how Genocide and Harvest explained the aliens and the hives. I had a hard time believing that Julie, Stan and the Android Gill could make it through a hive alive. That and how the writers always referred to the Aliens as dumb, I personally never thought of them like that, or as bugs.
Also, the ending of Harvest didn’t make any sense. Why Stan was taking back to the hive and not Julie????
Nonetheless, not horrible but by no means great.
The royal jelly was an interesting subject but I feel like the storyline of harvesting some type of blood/goo/liquid from a ‘being’ has been done several times.
There was also little to no description of the aliens besides tall, more ferocious, red and black etc.
It wasn’t necessarily horrible but I doubt I’d ever read it again.
Alien Harvest
The first half was really tough to get through and didn’t seem to really start picking up until Stan takes the Xeno pills.
The relationship between Julie and Stan made no sense and her whole “Thief” thing got tiring, real quickly.
I didn’t like how Genocide and Harvest explained the aliens and the hives. I had a hard time believing that Julie, Stan and the Android Gill could make it through a hive alive. That and how the writers always referred to the Aliens as dumb, I personally never thought of them like that, or as bugs.
Also, the ending of Harvest didn’t make any sense. Why Stan was taking back to the hive and not Julie????
Nonetheless, not horrible but by no means great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2023
Both of these novels present an interesting addition to the Aliens Mythos--the commodification of the xenomorphs, specifically in the form of pharmaceuticals created from the Queen’s Royal Jelly. This is both interesting and problematic. The Alien Franchise has always been a hybrid of Science Fiction and Horror; the move to delve into the xenomorph’s biology leans aggressively into the Sci-Fi aspects of this universe. Also, the idea of “farming” the aliens and “harvesting” their Jelly seems to domesticate them which also--in light of the previous three novels--seems to diminish them. All that being said, the horror aspects are still present. Of the two, Genocide is the better written with characters that are interesting and dynamic. I hope to see Colonel Kozlowski and Daniel Grant in future installments. Alien Harvest is not as well written but does a better job presenting the more Lovecraftian horror that the first movie leans into. In fact, the one-dimensional characters--Dr. Myakovsky and Julie Lish with their simplistic dialogue and emotional dullness--are perhaps a H.P. Lovecraft move to amplify the horror of encountering an alien hive.
March 18, 2018
Pretty underwhelming sequel to the first volume of books.
Genocide introduces some cool ideas with a red vs. black alien civil war on the hive planet. The character motivations for going there are ridiculous - they're trying to retrieve Royal Jelly to manufacture stimulating drugs for people to use. The premise and characters are ridiculous but overall it's an entertaining read.
The second book - Alien Harvest is badly written and boring with shallow cardboard cutout characters. 100 pages in and not a single alien encounter yet. I may not even finish this one as it feels like a chore to read this now.
Genocide introduces some cool ideas with a red vs. black alien civil war on the hive planet. The character motivations for going there are ridiculous - they're trying to retrieve Royal Jelly to manufacture stimulating drugs for people to use. The premise and characters are ridiculous but overall it's an entertaining read.
The second book - Alien Harvest is badly written and boring with shallow cardboard cutout characters. 100 pages in and not a single alien encounter yet. I may not even finish this one as it feels like a chore to read this now.
June 29, 2021
Za mě jako hodně velkého fanouška Vetřelce říkám, že kniha je super, ale pár výhrad se najde. První povídka neměla ke konci spád jaký by jsem si představoval. Musím, ale uznat, že povídka byla jako celek konzistentní a dobře se četla. Občas jsem bohužel chtěl knihu odložit a jít dělat něco jiného. Druhá povídka zase naopak měla na konci skvělý spád, ale celkově mi připadala, jako poskládaná z více jiných povídek. Párkrát jsem si říkal, že kdyby v textu nebylo zmíněno jméno hrdiny a hrdinky, myslel by jsem si, že čtu zase jinou povídku. Z tohoto důvodu dávám čtyři hvězdy byť jsem opravdu velký fanda všeho co se týká vetřelců.
May 3, 2020
O něco slabší, než první díl. Zásadním nedostatkem je fakt, že obě obsažené novely, byť premisou odlišné, mají v podstatě identickou (a ne zrovna dvakrát propracovanou) dějovou šablonu - máte prostě pocit, že čtete dvakrát skoro totéž, jen v lehce obměněné podobě. Pak už zbyde jen rychlé tempo, zábavná a nekompromisní akce, a zajímavé futuristické sci-fi prvky; nic z toho ale nezanechá hlubší dojem a myšlenkami jen tak profrčí.
July 17, 2023
Sorry, dnf. The first novel, Genocide, was pretty good. But the second story?.. Ugh...I mean, I'm obviously not expecting great Literature here or anything, but after the first five pages I decided that I just couldn't read it through. But that's OK, I've got like seven more of these omnibus' left to read. I'm prob going to end up hating the franchise...
April 4, 2024
There are two stories in this volume. The first was fine. The 2nd, Alien Harvest, was a complete and total mess. It is as if the writer took various tropes and character stereotypes from other genres and shoved them all together. Threw in a dog too that made no sense and had no purpose. It was so incredibly bad, it's astonishing that anyone let it be published.
January 20, 2019
After the first volume of the Aliens omnibus series, I had super high hopes that Titan was on to something with collecting all of the various Aliens novels and putting them into easy to read collections. After all, many of these novels are super hard to find and are no longer in print and, Steven Perry’s first three novels were pretty great. Or would stand to reason that the next ones would carry on that tradition, right?
Well it took nearly 7 books, but we’ve reached our very first disappointing novel of 2019.
As far as the first story goes, “Genocide” isn’t totally horrible. Sure, it’s contrived and cliche as hell, written like something a 13 year old boy would imagine, and lacks the complexity of the films and Perry’s novels, but at least it was mildly entertaining and read like greased lightning...even if the xenos don’t show up for almost 200 pages. On its own, “Genocide” could probably have garnered a 3 star rating from me.
But No, the real problem is Scheckley’s “Alien Harvest”. Despite its already “fill in the blanks” writing, with no originality or hardly any adherence to previously defined elements (androids aren’t immune to the xenomorphs now? Facehuggers don’t come out of eggs all of a sudden?), it’s boring as hell. Nothing of any importance happens. When things happen, it’s only for the furtherance of the plot and makes little to no sense. Characters are cardboard cut outs and do ridiculously stupid things. The main guy is callous and an asshole and the woman who falls for him has stupid motivations for doing so. I could go on but I’m sick of thinking about this story and I’m ready to wash my hands of it. I guess it’s one redeeming quality is its extremely short chapters...
Well it took nearly 7 books, but we’ve reached our very first disappointing novel of 2019.
As far as the first story goes, “Genocide” isn’t totally horrible. Sure, it’s contrived and cliche as hell, written like something a 13 year old boy would imagine, and lacks the complexity of the films and Perry’s novels, but at least it was mildly entertaining and read like greased lightning...even if the xenos don’t show up for almost 200 pages. On its own, “Genocide” could probably have garnered a 3 star rating from me.
But No, the real problem is Scheckley’s “Alien Harvest”. Despite its already “fill in the blanks” writing, with no originality or hardly any adherence to previously defined elements (androids aren’t immune to the xenomorphs now? Facehuggers don’t come out of eggs all of a sudden?), it’s boring as hell. Nothing of any importance happens. When things happen, it’s only for the furtherance of the plot and makes little to no sense. Characters are cardboard cut outs and do ridiculously stupid things. The main guy is callous and an asshole and the woman who falls for him has stupid motivations for doing so. I could go on but I’m sick of thinking about this story and I’m ready to wash my hands of it. I guess it’s one redeeming quality is its extremely short chapters...
May 27, 2020
The Alien World Does Continue
The authors have taken the Alien franchise to a bit of a different direction. This offshoot has proved to be a very enjoyable one. I a waite many more good stories like these. I very much recommend the Alien Omnibus to all the fans of THE ALIEN WORLD!
The authors have taken the Alien franchise to a bit of a different direction. This offshoot has proved to be a very enjoyable one. I a waite many more good stories like these. I very much recommend the Alien Omnibus to all the fans of THE ALIEN WORLD!
May 27, 2020
The first story was very well written and the story played out like an action film, but the second story had lackluster writing and tried very hard to make a series that is known for action and suspense into a deep and insightful story that falls a little flat.
January 25, 2021
Both good stories, if only ever read the comic of genocide before and it was nice to see it fleshed out here. Alien Harvest is an odd one and feels very melancholy but its still a good solid story. I wished they'd made more of Norbert though.
July 17, 2018
Worth reading if you are a fan of the Alien franchise, but it is poorly edited which hurts the story overall.
June 28, 2021
Well worth picking up for Genocide (I’d rate that a 4 on its own). I didn’t care for Alien Harvest (I’d rate that a 2); it had the weakest premise and characters of the Alien novels I’ve read so far.
November 13, 2023
Genocide was neat, if I remember correctly. (I read the two books collected around a year apart). Alien Harvest was pretty bland. Felt cookie cutter. Like sci-fi junk food.
December 15, 2023
I enjoyed Genocide, but Alien Harvest just couldn't hold my attention. Split the diff for 3 stars.
September 4, 2024
The first book, in this Omnibus, was good. Not great, but good.
The second book was really rough. Lot of jumping around, skips in time, and you have to fill in a lot of the details yourself.
The second book was really rough. Lot of jumping around, skips in time, and you have to fill in a lot of the details yourself.
September 8, 2024
Both stories are the kind of scifi/horror pulp that I guess make up most of the Aliens novels but it sure is entertaining to read.
December 29, 2024
First story was good, couldn't finish the second.
March 16, 2025
It's Alien, but... pulp fiction, I guess?
November 14, 2016
Aliens Omnibus Volume 2. Genocide by David Bischoff/ Alien Harvest by Robert Sheckley
GENOCIDE by David Bischoff The alien queen is dead, the hive mind left to flounder... and on a world bereft of its leader two strains of Alien divide their forces for world-shattering, acid-drenched war. On Earth, in the wake of alien infestation, athletes are flocking to humanity s Goodwill Games. But some come with a deadly new tool: a drug called Fire, distilled from the very essence of the Aliens body chemistry. The military wants it. Pharmaceutical kingpin Daniel Grant wants it. But the only place the essential ingredient can be found is on that terrible world, convulsed by Alien holocaust. ALIEN HARVEST by Robert Sheckley Royal jelly, the most illicit of Alien by-products, is keeping Dr Stan Myakovsky alive. A once-famous scientist fallen on hard times, Stan is fighting off the repo-men and trying hard to patent the cybernetic ant that will reinstate his reputation. Julie Lish is beautiful, mysterious, and totally amoral. She has a plan so outrageous that there might be one chance in a million to pull it off. Together they make an attempt to grab the ultimate treasure royal jelly from an Alien hive.
Right, I’ll confess, I’ve not read volume 1, although now I wish I had. Aliens invading Earth. Tick! I love the Alien franchise (well, most of it) and I’ve read a few of the Dark Horse comics, which filled the gaps between the films.
So Volume 2 kicks off, the Aliens have infested earth, but the battle still rages and the troops are winning, pushing the aliens back and grinding their numbers down. Both novels follow a similar timeline and even similar plotlines, which detracts from the binding of these stories together. It’s like they gave two writers the same outline involving a trip to an alien planet in order to steal “Royal Jelly” a substance created by Alien Queens, which also happens to have fantastic medical properties, quickly becoming the most sought after substance in the galaxy.
“Genocide” involves a troop of marines led by the beautiful, though battle weary Colonel Kozlowski, who leads her men (and women), along with a team of scientists and billionaire pharmaceutical kingpin Daniel Grant, onto an Alien hive world in order to pilfer some of that lovely, pure royal jelly. Naturally, things go tits up, as they always do in the Alien universe and people die in the traditional fashion. It all feels familiar, ticking off the tropes that made Aliens such a great film (and novel, I adored the Alan Dean Foster novelisation’s of the original trilogy.) Fans of Aliens will lap this up, wanting more. I’ve previously enjoyed the novelisation of “The Blob” by David Bischoff, and he captures the gore well. He knows how to pull people apart.
“Alien Harvest” again involves a trip to distant planet in order to pilfer some lovely “Royal Jelly” (sound familiar?) although this time it’s a dying scientist, a female thief, a couple of robots and a motley crew of convicts after some time off their sentence.
“Alien Harvest” starts out strong, setting itself out as a one last heist for some truly desperate characters. I almost forgot about the impending aliens for moment as the book became more about the characters than stereotypes being chewed up by shadows from the scenery.
Then the aliens do come. And people start doing weird shit that they full well know will get them killed. The last fifth of the book loses it steam a little. Things happen, but for no reason. I was loving the story up until this point, but as the action gets going I cared less and less for the characters did stupider and stupider things.
There is a cool thing, which I thought was woefully underused. Along for the ride is a brilliantly written Android named Gill who remains murderously devoted to his employer, but there’s also a robotic alien called Norbert, which sounds ridiculous, but is actually quite a cool idea, but used to full effect, which made me a little bit sad.
If you’re a fan of Alien series and need tiding over until “Alien: Covenant” (being novelised by Alan Dean Foster, YAY!), then the Aliens Omnibus series might be worth your time despite the similarities between them.
Game over man. Game over.
Genocide 4/5
Alien Harvest 3.5/5
GENOCIDE by David Bischoff The alien queen is dead, the hive mind left to flounder... and on a world bereft of its leader two strains of Alien divide their forces for world-shattering, acid-drenched war. On Earth, in the wake of alien infestation, athletes are flocking to humanity s Goodwill Games. But some come with a deadly new tool: a drug called Fire, distilled from the very essence of the Aliens body chemistry. The military wants it. Pharmaceutical kingpin Daniel Grant wants it. But the only place the essential ingredient can be found is on that terrible world, convulsed by Alien holocaust. ALIEN HARVEST by Robert Sheckley Royal jelly, the most illicit of Alien by-products, is keeping Dr Stan Myakovsky alive. A once-famous scientist fallen on hard times, Stan is fighting off the repo-men and trying hard to patent the cybernetic ant that will reinstate his reputation. Julie Lish is beautiful, mysterious, and totally amoral. She has a plan so outrageous that there might be one chance in a million to pull it off. Together they make an attempt to grab the ultimate treasure royal jelly from an Alien hive.
Right, I’ll confess, I’ve not read volume 1, although now I wish I had. Aliens invading Earth. Tick! I love the Alien franchise (well, most of it) and I’ve read a few of the Dark Horse comics, which filled the gaps between the films.
So Volume 2 kicks off, the Aliens have infested earth, but the battle still rages and the troops are winning, pushing the aliens back and grinding their numbers down. Both novels follow a similar timeline and even similar plotlines, which detracts from the binding of these stories together. It’s like they gave two writers the same outline involving a trip to an alien planet in order to steal “Royal Jelly” a substance created by Alien Queens, which also happens to have fantastic medical properties, quickly becoming the most sought after substance in the galaxy.
“Genocide” involves a troop of marines led by the beautiful, though battle weary Colonel Kozlowski, who leads her men (and women), along with a team of scientists and billionaire pharmaceutical kingpin Daniel Grant, onto an Alien hive world in order to pilfer some of that lovely, pure royal jelly. Naturally, things go tits up, as they always do in the Alien universe and people die in the traditional fashion. It all feels familiar, ticking off the tropes that made Aliens such a great film (and novel, I adored the Alan Dean Foster novelisation’s of the original trilogy.) Fans of Aliens will lap this up, wanting more. I’ve previously enjoyed the novelisation of “The Blob” by David Bischoff, and he captures the gore well. He knows how to pull people apart.
“Alien Harvest” again involves a trip to distant planet in order to pilfer some lovely “Royal Jelly” (sound familiar?) although this time it’s a dying scientist, a female thief, a couple of robots and a motley crew of convicts after some time off their sentence.
“Alien Harvest” starts out strong, setting itself out as a one last heist for some truly desperate characters. I almost forgot about the impending aliens for moment as the book became more about the characters than stereotypes being chewed up by shadows from the scenery.
Then the aliens do come. And people start doing weird shit that they full well know will get them killed. The last fifth of the book loses it steam a little. Things happen, but for no reason. I was loving the story up until this point, but as the action gets going I cared less and less for the characters did stupider and stupider things.
There is a cool thing, which I thought was woefully underused. Along for the ride is a brilliantly written Android named Gill who remains murderously devoted to his employer, but there’s also a robotic alien called Norbert, which sounds ridiculous, but is actually quite a cool idea, but used to full effect, which made me a little bit sad.
If you’re a fan of Alien series and need tiding over until “Alien: Covenant” (being novelised by Alan Dean Foster, YAY!), then the Aliens Omnibus series might be worth your time despite the similarities between them.
Game over man. Game over.
Genocide 4/5
Alien Harvest 3.5/5
November 17, 2024
Not bad, but the first was better. However, I can have some new ideas for my Alien rpg scenarios
September 20, 2016
THE ROYAL JELLY IS CAUSING TROUBLE IT IS...
Hello, this is 2 good stories. I couldn't help myself, but every time they mentioned royal jelly, I thought about ole Spongebob. The first story was better than than the second. Thanks..
Hello, this is 2 good stories. I couldn't help myself, but every time they mentioned royal jelly, I thought about ole Spongebob. The first story was better than than the second. Thanks..
January 22, 2017
Good, but not great.
After reading volume one I was looking forward to this book, it did not disappoint, however it was not on par with the first. Genocide was a very good concept and I enjoyed reading it, however there could have been more story allocated to the actual mission than to building up the characters and the old "hard core woman in command" scenario has been done to death in these books, not that I'm sexist but there's only one Ripley and one Vasquez , stop emulating them !
The second story was hard to start off, the whole scenario of a thief and a geek going to an alien planet didn't do it for me. It didn't have the grit that other alien stories have, although it picked up towards the end, I had already become tired of the story. More aliens and less romance! Its an alien book isn't it !
Either way, for a couple of pounds they are both worth a read.
After reading volume one I was looking forward to this book, it did not disappoint, however it was not on par with the first. Genocide was a very good concept and I enjoyed reading it, however there could have been more story allocated to the actual mission than to building up the characters and the old "hard core woman in command" scenario has been done to death in these books, not that I'm sexist but there's only one Ripley and one Vasquez , stop emulating them !
The second story was hard to start off, the whole scenario of a thief and a geek going to an alien planet didn't do it for me. It didn't have the grit that other alien stories have, although it picked up towards the end, I had already become tired of the story. More aliens and less romance! Its an alien book isn't it !
Either way, for a couple of pounds they are both worth a read.
July 4, 2022
What I this?
Well I tried to like it but because of the horrible pacing and unexpected politocal tribalistic bigotry by the author I stopped reading and deleted my kindle version and took my book version to a used bookstore with a penned warning inside the cover. He won't get payed for this one if someone buys it next time. And that's his fault for keeping the politcal woke cult nonsense stirred up and going
Well I tried to like it but because of the horrible pacing and unexpected politocal tribalistic bigotry by the author I stopped reading and deleted my kindle version and took my book version to a used bookstore with a penned warning inside the cover. He won't get payed for this one if someone buys it next time. And that's his fault for keeping the politcal woke cult nonsense stirred up and going
May 23, 2024
After reading Volume 1, I was looking forward to reading this second volume.
I really enjoyed the continuity, that it followed on and was canon to the first volume. That alone was a great move by the author.
The stories were good, I much preferred Genocide to Alien Harvest. The latter I felt was clunky in comparison and the dialogue quite unbelievable, but a good concept all the same.
I’m definitely keen to see where Volume 3 goes with it.
I really enjoyed the continuity, that it followed on and was canon to the first volume. That alone was a great move by the author.
The stories were good, I much preferred Genocide to Alien Harvest. The latter I felt was clunky in comparison and the dialogue quite unbelievable, but a good concept all the same.
I’m definitely keen to see where Volume 3 goes with it.
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