Alien Inferno's Fall

by Philippa Ballantine

A gargantuan, horseshoe-shaped ship appears over the mining planet Shānmén, unleashing a black rain of death that creates Xenomorph-like monsters worse than the darkest of nightmares.

As war breaks out among the colonies, a huge ship appears over the UPP mining planet Shānmén, unleashing a black rain of death that yields hideous transformations. Rescue is too far away, and the colonists’ only hope appears in the form of the vessel Righteous Fury. It carries the Jackals—an elite mix of former Colonial Marines and Royal Marines. Led by Zula Hendricks, the Jackals seek to rescue the few survivors from the depths of the planet, but have they arrived time?

BONUS MATERIAL: Exclusive to this book, a new RPG scenario from Free League, publishers of the award-winning Alien role-playing game.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Aliens, Fiction, Audiobook

382 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 26, 2022

About the author

Born and raised in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa is a writer and podcaster of fantasy fiction.
Immersed in books from an early age, she moved onto to become a librarian. She'd been dreaming of being a writer since a teenager, but in the last ten years she's devoted herself to it.
She's the author of the Books of the Order series from Ace Books. Geist, Spectyr, Wrayth (2012) and Harbinger (2013).
Also, with Pyr books the Shifted World series, Hunter and Fox (2012) and Born and Made (2013)
Philippa is also the co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. Phoenix Rising and the Janus Affair (2012)
Philippa currently resides in Manassas, Virginia with her husband and co-writer Tee Morris, their daughter and a clowder of five cats who keep them all in line.

Awards

2011 Goodreads Short Listed for Best Science Fiction
2011 Airship Award winner for best written work (with Tee Morris)
2011 Sir Julius Vogel Award nominee for Best Novel- Adult
2010 Parsec Award finalist for Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast
2010 Sir Julius Vogel Award finalist for Best fan production
2009 Parsec Award finalist for Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast
2009 Sir Julius Vogel Award winner for Best fan production
2009 Sir Julius Vogel Award nominee for Best Novel- Adult
2007 Parsec Award finalist for Best Writing Podcast
2006 Sir Julius Vogel Award nominee for Best Novel

Reviews

[Brandon C.M. Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this series, but it has gone in a steady decline over the past few years. This one takes the cake. Poorly written characters, bad dialogue, and lackluster action. Other reviews have complained about the female characters in this book, some claiming am agenda was at work when writing them.
I'm not sure I agree with that completely, but you cannot help but notice how incompetent some characters are as opposed to others. Any character, regardless of gender or any other classification, is not improved by having everyone around them turn into bumbling idiots. It just makes the story plod along and removes any interest or immersion the reader might have had.

It's unfortunate, but I cannot recommend this latest venture into the Alien universe.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying reading these new Alien books. I like the continuity of characters and storyline and how they add to the Alien mythos without detracting from the movies.

[NightShift · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found myself constantly drifting in and out of this until I finally gave up 70% into it. These recent Alien novels have been sooo disappointing. They really need to stop complicating the plots with nonsense politics, old characters from previous novels or just too many humans in general. Please just put a small group of humans in a survival situation with some Aliens!

[Taylor Stumpf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Upon finishing “Inferno’s Fall”, I thought about how exactly I wanted to rate this book and why. I almost gave this book three stars, but in the end, there were some aspects of “Inferno’s Fall” that kept it from being an average read for its genre.

“Inferno’s Fall” takes place on a mining planet owned by the Union of Progressive Peoples. The main characters are indentured slaves who are fighting for their survival and freedom in a seemingly inescapable system. In this way, this book pays tribute to the original “Alien” movie, focusing on the struggles of blue collar workers in a futuristic world where laborers are still at the mercy of their corporate overlords. As happens in all novels in the Xenoverse, chaos eventually erupts and the main characters are faced with pain and sacrifice as well as growth and self-realization. Phillipa did an excellent job of creating a story that incorporates elements introduced in the movie “Prometheus” while also paying homage to many classic characteristics of the original two Alien movies. In this way, she delivers a fresh plot that also maintains a hint of familiarity.

Why, then, did I give this book two stars instead of three? The main reason is because the plot took a very, very long time to emerge. Up until the last 150 pages or so, the plot is human-centered, focusing on interactions between fellow mine workers. I felt this dragged on too long and contributed little to the storyline. Ironically, I also didn’t feel this extra background helped with character development; there were actually too many main characters to keep track of, and I kept forgetting who was who. The end of the story, once the action began, was also very rushed. I feel the book would have been stronger had the author cut out some of the unnecessary character background from the beginning and, instead, prolonged the tension and drama once the xenomorphs entered the story.

The second reason was because, honestly, this book was too woke. In this book, the author seemed to try to cram details about every character’s race, sexuality, or gender into any available space, even when it was completely unnecessary. The worst case that comes to mind (without spoiling anything) is when a character is about to die and you find out the character is polyamorous, married to a man and a woman, literally seconds before death. (Which is fine, but why was that relevant? Tell me about the xenomorphs!) There are also some random LGBT characters thrown in, which again is fine, but I just found myself feeling annoyed by how the story kept being interrupted by an unnecessary explanation of a given character’s identity or sexuality. It was fine mentioning in passing that a female main character has a wife, but to go so far as to explain that the character’s entire bedroom is decorated in rainbow is just… well… cheesy. There gets to be a point where attempts at inclusivity actually perpetuate stereotypes. Very disappointing.

The slow plot and unnecessary emphasis on demographic information aside, I found this novel interesting and enjoyable. “Inferno’s Fall” is set up for a sequel. I will definitely be checking it out because I want to know what happens next. So, while I give this book two stars, I still appreciate its contribution to the xenoverse. I hope the next book is more plot-heavy and faster paced - if so, it could score high. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next.

[Neon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed

Although it was written well, I feel like there was too much of everything and not enough Xenomorphs (even of the decon kind). There was every kind of bot and transport and I just feel like it could have been done better.

[Thomas Norford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly entertaining but a bit schmaltzy. The whole trans equality stuff was a bit shoehorned in, it felt like, and the prose just sounds wrong with they/them pronouns. Though having an android character lends itself to dysphoric themes I suppose.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alien: Inferno’s Fall By Philippa Ballantine, is a media tie-in novel based on the Alien movie franchise.

After the events of Alien: Colony War, conflict rages among the settlements of the Weyland Isles Sector. On the planet Shānmén, the Jùtóu Combine (a corporation-like entity within the UPP) owns a mining operation, harvesting the valuable fuel material Eitr from deep beneath the ground. The mine is largely operated by indentured workers who lack basic freedoms and are forced to pay exorbitant fees for necessities, essentially keeping them indebted forever.

As the tension ramps up, an Engineer ship appears in the skies of Shānmén, hovering over the city of New Luhansk. The pathogen bombs fall, and all hell breaks loose as the planet is overrun by pathogen mutant creatures. The novel follows the fate of the Knot family as they fight for survival while Colonel Zula Hendricks and her mix elite team of Colonial Marines attempt a daring rescue.

Inferno’s Fall is a well-paced, deeply emotional thrill ride that will have readers glued to every page. Ballantine deftly creates a family of castaways who are relatable and sympathetic. Their struggles speak to the fight for basic human needs. Food, shelter, clothing, belonging and safety are rarities among the miners.

The aliens are introduced swiftly and with precise revelations. Ballantine doesn’t need long descriptions of every piece of alien anatomy. A glimpse of a mouth or a tail, the distant screech of an indescribable sound, or the silence where there was once a voice. These are all tools that she uses to consistently and continuously deliver the uneasiness and despair felt among the mines.

The book is not without its action sequences. The space marines, in this case the crew of the Righteous Fury, are hard asses with courage and grit to spare. They fit seamlessly into the Aliens franchise. The Fury provides a tie-in to several other properties including the Dark Horse Comics run, Aliens: Defiance. These scenes feel lifted right out of an Aliens battle or a Kaiju battle with mankind in the balance.

Inferno’s Fall benefits from its three-act format. Readers get all the micro and macro world building necessary in the story’s beginning. The second act amplifies the danger and the terror as the alien beings overtake the colony. The third act is an all-out race to survive.

All in all, Alien: Inferno’s Fall finds itself in perfect balance on many fronts. It is delightfully fluid between horror and all out action. It is intense yet caring in parts. It is a wonderful addition to a franchise while remaining its own story; one that is filled with suspense, fear, and at times, hope.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alien: Inferno’s Fall is an ambitious and entertaining read that is unfortunately brought down by a bloated cast.

There was so much I appreciated about this novel, but at the same time, I can’t say it blew me away.

I really liked how the story was centred around miners. This aspect harkens back to Alien, in how the cast of that movie was also just a bunch of miners on a routine job, though this book puts more focus on the family's displaced and indentured status and their desire to escape the latter.

I very much enjoyed the diversity of the cast, in both the number of people of color and the LGBTQ+ rep. As would hopefully happen in the future, these things are normalized into society and don't require explanation.

Yet, there are just so many characters in the novel. Not only do we have Toru and her extensive family (it was hard to tell them all apart until they started dying off), but the side-story about the Jackals and the sentient AI called Mae gave us too many plotlines. While I found both very interesting, rather than coalesce, the Jackal story competed for attention with the Knot one, leaving the latter feeling bloated and slow to start, and the marines a bit flat.

The action scenes in the novel were quick-paced and engaging, but so much happens in the novel there isn’t time for the slow tension of Alien (in this regard, it feels more like Covenant with the aliens just running around going haywire). There’s a cave-in at the start that didn’t feel necessary (it could have been replaced by something that happens with Toru later on that sparks the alien aspect). As such, the novel just took too long to get started, as we had all this backstory exposition that was a bit info-dumpy. There is an “explore forerunner ruins” aspect (a trope I love), but while it ties in heavily to Covenant and Prometheus it didn't expand on the ideas from those movies and felt a bit just thrown in there.

That being said, there are some great scenes in the book (the fall of a certain city and escape from it was really excellent), and the “family” aspect of the main characters made me care about them on a deeper level than if they had just been a bunch of soldiers.

Overall, while I liked what the story was trying to say, it had too much else going on that the poignant aspects were a little muddled. Had there been less characters, I think the tension could have been ramped up considerably.

Still, I enjoyed the novel and do recommend it to fans of the Alien franchise.

[Kaisersoze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing the recent trend in this series, this was a very middle of the road Alien novel that had moments of greatness after a too-long first act setting up the characters and plot. Minor characters are named and sketched in, only to disappear from the narrative without their fates ever being described. Other antagonists are given a send off which is puzzling in its lack of cathartic detail.

Yet Ballantine excels at bringing life to the mining family at the centre of events and is not shy at placing them in, shall we say, considerable peril. The other major POV character f, Mae Hendrinks, represents the evolving canon perspective so Inferno's Fall keeps its place in this linked series of books. Ballantine also makes a point of weaving various LGBTIQA+ characters into the narrative (and even one in a thruple relationship), but does not draw excessive attention to these factors about them. Which is a refreshing vision for the future.

This novel also incorporates more from the original Alien and Prometheus films than I was expecting, throwing a couple of welcome curve balls into the narrative.

Overall, Alien's Inferno is worth a read for fans of the series, being better than some of the novels, but a long way short of the best of the series.

3 Re-Programmed Pleasure Synths for Inferno's Fall.

[cosmic_truthseeker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is only just a four-star for me. Technically, a 3.5, I suppose. I think the emotional connection is what did it - I cared about the cast of characters, this close-knit family trying to survive.

That was well-done, and certainly the main strength of the novel.

And to those complaining it's "too woke" - there are only the briefest mentions of LGBTQ elements that never really crop up again. A character is introduced, that detail is mentioned, the story moves on. You're a bunch of snowflakes if that affected your enjoyment of this novel.

Especially when there was something far more egregious to be bothered by: the major errors in the function/effects of the "black goo". Minimal spoilers, but the "goo" does not - I repeat DOES NOT - turn things into Xenomorph-XX121. It mutates, yes. There are, perhaps, some traits in common (because the "goo" was most likely derived from the "seed" Xenomorph-XX121 implants into new hosts - therefore the modified/synthesised "goo" is sort of trying to return to its original form) but initial exposure does not turn someone into a Xenomorph-XX121 specimen.

I know this is probably linked to the inconsistencies in portrayal of the "goo" across Alien media...but this book gets it so, so wrong - which is so disappointing because isn't Clara one of the lore consultants? It really shakes my faith in the "official canon" - and I already have my issues with it.

Lore aside, though, I think this was a decent story. Survival stories tend to work well in the Alien Universe, and Toru's efforts to protect her family and try to get everyone out alive were engaging. There was a strong sense of "no one is safe" that was delivered upon regularly, but you never knew who would be next.

The monsters, when lore is overlooked a little, were very interesting in terms of being mutated native fauna. There was a good scene earlier on that provided the necessary foreshadowing by showing the animals before mutation.

I do think, though, that the pacing was a little off, and in some places the story felt unfocused. There was a lot being set up for the next book, I think, so several plot points just seem to go nowhere. One of the big instigators of the main plotline is just casually swept aside and not mentioned again until near the end.

And I did feel that the ending, too, was abrupt and rushed.

Without the connection to Toru and "The Knot" (her family), this would be a 3-star book, certainly, but wanting them to make it out bumps it up. Mae, the sentient synthetic, was an interesting POV, but also one that didn't seem to go far (aside from her character development, which whilst good just wasn't something I was as invested in compared to The Knot) - her whole presence certainly felt like setup for the next book.

I just wish this OFFICIAL ENTRY IN THE ALIEN UNIVERSE hadn't fumbled the lore so badly, but it's something I'm noticing with anything that tries to incorporate the concepts of Prometheus and Covenant to the wider narrative (with the exception of Fireteam: Elite, which seems to have done it right - although I haven't played the Pathogen DLC yet).

Still, I love the franchise, so I'll hold out hope that they clear things up in future.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to mention some spoilers, but I'll hide those behind spoiler tags.

The long and short is that this book was kind of underwhelming. It's not bad exactly, but I do view it as one of the weaker Aliens novels. Why? Because it took so freaking long to get where it was going. Once it was there, it was fantastic.

I also have to address some of the common complaints brought up in reviews. The two main complaints are as follows: (And yes, I'm putting this more nicely than some of the reviews out there have)

* The representation in the book felt gratuitous and forced.
* The Xenomorphs in the book did not appear to follow typical Xeno rules, nor did the Plagiarus praepotens.

First, the LGBT and representation. I'm aware that there is a small but visible portion of the reading world and Alien fandom that would complain at any given sign of someone not resembling what they would deem "acceptable" - ie, someone not being like Ripley or a LGBT person having any or too large of a role. For those, I doubt anything would really be acceptable even if they were very well written. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt that there are some who don't care but felt that the representation was forced. I don't think that the representation was forced, but I do think it was clumsily handled. For long stretches of the book nothing much happens, which makes the weak parts of the book stand out that much more. I don't know how much of this was the author and how much of this was due to the Powers That Be. Let's not fool ourselves: while the authors are given leeway, the Aliens novels are a lucrative part of the Aliens franchise. The PTB have a vision for what they want the series to have, do, and be, so they almost certainly have a general outline for how they want the series to progress. Sort of akin to how authors have to follow a script when writing a movie novelization.

I think that Ballantine was given a list of characters and an outline, as well as the general fates of who would and wouldn't survive. In order to make the deaths of minor characters more interesting, she tried fleshing them out by discussing their personal lives. Unfortunately it just didn't really work that well since otherwise many of them felt paper thin and to be honest, pretty unnecessary. I think that the author could have halved the characters with any major "screen time" and the story would have been stronger for it. For example, I found Nathan to be largely irrelevant. His girlfriend could have chosen to stick around purely because she was a good person. There was also no need to have him go to town to discuss the Engineer/Builder door (ie, to sell the info so they could get out of bondage) since that went nowhere. I do think it may have been included for a future series plot point, but there could have been other ways to do that. He was also used as a way of infodumping content about the critters on the planet, but again, other ways to do this. Many characters felt unnecessary like that. They were given very brief glimpses and when they were killed, there wasn't any emotional payoff. Unfortunately it just felt kind of boring and forced at times because it wasn't all that interesting, not when we've getting teased about more exciting things like an alien door, possible Xenomorph sightings, and so on.

Next is the Xeno stuff. To that I just have to say that what happened in the book wasn't unreasonable. There are several short stories that address what happens when facehuggers implant embryos in the bodies of various planetary "bugs". They do have Xeno characteristics, but overall they largely take on the look and physical characteristics of the critter. Now when it comes to the black goo, there's not a lot of info about this out there and I think it depends on the amount, the person/organism, and the type of black goo. The doomed and wonderful Blue Marsallis turned into a Xenomorph herself, keeping her mind only because of her iron will - and only somewhat successfully at that. Into Charybdis showed that there were people who "grew" Xenomorph creatures on their body, so it looks like the goo reacts differently or can be engineered to be different. You also have to figure that whomever was attacking the planet clearly had access to Engineer tech. The Engineers are clearly able to use the Xenos as guard creatures for themselves, so who's to say that they couldn't engineer the goo to do whatever they want? And if so, then what's to stop whomever grabbed the tech from using this to their advantage?

Now all that said and overlooked, the main issue I had here is that the first half was just so darn slow. This really should have been a novella or short story because it just didn't feel like there was enough plot to justify it being a full length novel. I think that the big reveal about the ship that it wasn't piloted by Engineers and was instead piloted by a SYNTH, who may or may not have been under the control of someone else was the main reason this was turned into a full length, since they want to make sure that people are aware of this plot point. Mae's existence and the animosity levied at her by other\ synths is another factor and one I found incredibly interesting. There's a lot of potential there for future strife if it ends up that the synths weren't operating under human control.

I suppose I was also irritated with the narrator as well. For the first half of the book she read with a soothing bedtime story/ASMR voice, which only really changed once the action picked up. The woman is clearly talented, but her narration style didn't fit the first half of the book.

This isn't a bad book, but I think that some of the criticisms were probably levied at it because of the super slow first half and because of how long it took for the payoff to arrive in the second, which moved much faster but was still sort of slower. I do think that some of the people were complaining because they don't want LGBT representation in books at all, which I find incredibly stupid. Stuff like that (politics, sexuality, etc) has ALWAYS been part of science fiction and a huge way of discussing these topics in a "safe" way. (In other words, when they talk about war between alien civilizations it's a way of discussing war and strife between countries and races. Same as when you have super sexy alien people appearing during a time when sexuality in general was not really all that acceptable.)

[Darren F. Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed in this book and almost put it away several time during the very slow first half. The second half got better but was also disappointing. The female characters were written well but the male characters, including the male from the family that the book focuses on, were written in a way that seemed one dimensional and relying on common male cliché. The last few chapters of the book were good and seems to have set up for a sequel but I don’t know if I am interested enough to pick that one up.

[clumsyplankton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this is the longest it’s taken for me to read something in days because I didn’t like it that much

[ALI · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars rounded down!

[David Lasby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Alien: Inferno’s Fall
Authors: Philippa Ballantine (Story by: Philippa Ballantine and Člara Carija)
Publisher: Titan Books, 20th Century Studios
Release Date: July 2022

The following review contains mild spoilers.

The latest Alien novel from Titan Books and 20th Century Studios is the second novel in a loosely connected trilogy. Alien: Inferno’s Fall comes after the events of Alien: Colony War and leads into the upcoming novel Alien: Enemy of My Enemy, written by Mary SanGiovanni, set to release in February 2023.

Fans may also enjoy reading Alien: Prototype, which fills in the backstory of Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks and her synthetic partner Davis.

Synopsis

After the events of Alien: Colony War, conflict rages among the settlements of the Weyland Isles Sector. On the planet Shānmén, the Jùtóu Combine (a corporation-like entity within the UPP) owns a mining operation, harvesting the valuable fuel material Eitr from deep beneath the ground. The mine is largely operated by indentured workers who lack basic freedoms and are forced to pay exorbitant fees for necessities, essentially keeping them indebted forever.

The novel focuses on two main story arcs:

-the fate of “the Knot,” a family of choice group from all walks of life, forced to work for the Jùtóu Combine

-the journey of self-discovery for Mae, a synthetic person who is the unexpected daughter of the synthetic Davis and Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks

As the tension ramps up, an Engineer ship appears in the skies of Shānmén, hovering over the city of New Luhansk. The pathogen bombs fall, and all hell breaks loose as the planet is overrun by pathogen creatures. The novel follows the fate of the Knot as they fight for survival while Zula Hendricks and her team of Jackals attempt a daring rescue.

What the Novel Does Well

This is quite simply one of the best written novels in the Alien franchise. Philippa Ballantine’s highly skilled narrative techniques maintain tension within the story while allowing readers to form emotional bonds with the characters whose lives become endangered. The combination is powerful and one that yields fruit as the novel unfolds.

This task was no simple one in that Inferno’s Fall follows a large number of individuals. In the hands of a lesser writer, the characters would have become indistinguishable from one another and readers would struggle to care as the protagonists meet their various fates. However Ballantine masterfully develops these interests, setting the plights of individuals desperate for connection and belonging against the sociological forces of greed and inhumanity.

Ballantine’s skill is most apparent with the handling of the Xenomorph (and its pathogen forms). Certain other novels within the franchise missed the mark by treating the creatures as overgrown pests or troublesome bugs. Not only does Ballantine avoid doing so in the novel, but she is highly selective and intentional in her descriptions of the creatures, often limiting the reader’s glimpse to a tail whip or reaching claw. The effect is not unlike the franchise’s original horror film, which largely hid the Xenomorph from viewers until the very end. The effect in Alien: Inferno’s Fall is powerful and instills a fear in readers, rightly connecting the novel to its horror roots.

It’s clear from start to finish that the story is well planned out by Ballantine and Carija. The two are a powerful team that creates character-centered narratives, using the terrifying creatures as tools for crafting story rather than cheap drivers of plot.

"She’d never planned on being a mother, but [they] were everything to her now. That she hadn’t birthed them from her own body didn’t negate the love. It was magic. Maybe the only kind in the universe.” -Jīn Huā, member of the Knot.

Perhaps the most compelling aspects of the novel are the explorations of family. Mae’s struggle to form her own identity and win the approval of her human mother, despite facing constant judgement from humans and other AI’s is moving. It represents the best of what science-fiction can do, exploring our own humanity through the guise of what’s not yet possible.

Similarly, Ballantine and Carija explore the notion of family through the Knot, a collection of individuals from different races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. The Knot accept one another as family and protect each other at all costs, often putting the needs of the group above self. Like the exploration of synthetic life, the Knot represent the best of what’s possible; humanity has the ability to overcome artificial boundaries and divisions, even if we often fail to do so. The result is incredibly moving.

A Connected World

Fans of all things Alien will appreciate the way Inferno’s Fall connects with the larger narrative universe. Ballantine and Carija continue to expand the storytelling horizon, building off the political turmoil in the Weyland Isles Sector, featured in David Barnett’s Alien: Colony War.

In Barnett’s novel, the mysterious Black Goo bombings in the colonies existed as rumors floating at the edge of the conflict. Ballantine and Carija dive deep into the chaos of the weaponized pathogen and in so doing develop the reader’s sense of immersion while expanding the narrative universe in a satisfying way.

In fact, Alien: Inferno’s Fall feels like a love letter to the rich history of the franchise, containing iconic lines and situations from the early films while embracing the recent explosion of content. Perhaps most exciting for me personally were the ties to Aliens: Fireteam Elite. The authors specifically thank Cold Iron Studios in their acknowledgements for “helping [them] discern the finer details in Olivia [Shipp]’s history and arming [the] UPP soldiers with the latest weaponry.” That Titan Books and 20th Century Studios remain committed to building canonized stories while developing the lore of the pathogen and Engineers is thrilling.

Like Alien: Colony War before it and the upcoming Alien: Enemy of My Enemy, this novel also contains a bonus scenario for the ALIEN tabletop role-playing game from Free League Publishing. Sure, the inclusion is ingenious marketing and capitalistic at its core, but what an absolute treat for longtime fans of the franchise. For those of us who have been here since the beginning, we’ve endured the dry years; having an abundance of content across mediums is a reality to be savored.

Final Score

In the name of professionalism and honest practice, I always reserve a section for where the particular novel falls short. But in this review, I omitted that section entirely; the truth is that Alien: Inferno’s Fall is as close to a perfect novel as I’ve read from this franchise. There are a few moments near the end when the action might have been paced differently, but that’s really nitpicking.

Alien: Inferno’s Fall is a welcome addition to the growing franchise and Philippa Ballantine and Člara Carija are the fresh voices needed to take the narrative universe forward. I cannot wait to see what these two do next and certainly hope Titan Books recruits them to do more novels. (Can we take a moment to appreciate how good this novel would be as a film? Disney are you paying attention?)

I am proud to score Alien: Inferno’s Fall a perfect five stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.

David Lasby is the Editor-in-Chief for Boss Rush Network. His favorite video games are The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and the Aliens franchise. You can find him on Twitter to talk all things Nintendo, sci-fi / fantasy, and creative writing.

[Seanik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reviews for this were mixed and after the frankly disappointing Colony War my expectations were low going into this one. However, at the end of it, I found this to be a compelling and action-packed entry. It builds on the lore and continues the over arching story from the previous novels in the series while introducing us to some new and interesting characters who are mostly dealt with in typical Alien fashion, which is high marks in my book. Alien is not Star Wars or Star Trek.

What I enjoyed most about this book is how it took elements from and was inspired by all of the films. We have the working-class / blue-collar mining family stuck out in the back end of space getting screwed by the company a la alien, We have black goo, ancient engineers and Android feelings a la Prometheus/covenant, Decent space marine action and corrupt executives a la Aliens and a dash of Alien 3 with a community trapped underground battling an enemy without any proper weapons or training.

The attention to detail and respect for the universe/lore shines through on nearly every page, as a fan it is a genuinely nice feeling to know the Authors at least made the effort and understand the job at hand in writing these kinds of books.

I really only have a few qualms and one of them is not really the fault of the Authors. Firstly for those expecting a Zula Hendricks novel you will likely be disappointed, I wish she was more involved and had more page space. Secondly, there were a lot of characters introduced very quickly upfront and I got lost with who was who, especially concerning the familial relations of the "Knot mining family". Lastly, having read all the new Titan novels I felt like I had missed one or maybe there was something done in a comic or videogame because where we left Zula in Prototype and Davis in Colony War to where things stand in this novel seemed like quite a jump, though that could just be my memory.

If you are a fan I highly recommend this entry, it is a massive improvement over Colony War. The characters are well developed and the action is executed well. On reflection I also enjoyed everything to do with the synthetics. How they explored the synthetic characters, the various types of synthetic we come across and the role they might be playing in the larger lore/story.

I would gladly pick up another Alien novel by Philippa Ballantine, especially if it carries on the story of a particular combat synthetic from this novel.

[Andrew Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly this was a real letdown of a book.
I didn’t even mind Colony War and where this overarching story was heading, wasn’t in love with it but happy to go along for the ride, but this book was a real wasted opportunity.
* On almost every page the author includes a throwaway line about life back on earth. It really shatters the immersion when Australia and New Zealand are name dropped constantly in an escapist ALIEN novel
* Rather than show us how cool/strong/tough the characters are, the story keeps assuring us that they are by referencing some apocalypse in Canberra. It’s not relevant to the story at all and I wish this time was spent exploring the characters instead.
* The story itself really had nothing to do with xenomorphs sadly. The few times they appear it’s usually only very short and other than saying “they’re red”, the aliens are hardly described. The Xenos could’ve been swapped out with generic monster and the book would stay the same
* The author introduced WAY too many characters, especially since so little time is spent on any of them and it’s such a short book.
* Plot hole: what the hell happened to drop ship 1? The bridge for some reason aren’t even keeping in contact with it. But when they finally realise it’s gone silent and just drifting slowly, they don’t send EITHER of the other two ships to investigate. What the hell?
* The proof reading was really lacking. Here’s an example: “He unlocked from himself from the bridge’s wall”
* Why was Zulu Hendricks shoehorned in the book, in which she did absolutely nothing. This “amazing” character that keeps getting teased spent the whole book sitting in the bridge contributing nothing and giving us no character development. How many books are you going to waste selling us this character that you haven’t shown is interesting in any way?
* Finally, to put the only actual story progression in the epilogue is outrageous and an insult to the reader who just finished the main story.
The author clearly wanted to write a dystopian disaster book set in Canberra, but sadly had to write an alien book instead and make do. I don’t like the direction these novels are heading in, it would be much safer to stick with the contained stories

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my weakness is always expecting the Alien books to knock me completely out of the park, but unfortunately the last few have not.

I will say that Infernos Fall was far more enjoyable to read than Colony War. I like the idea of being stuck down in a mine and the introduction to the “Knot” and how these groups work within the company structure, interesting and fresh.

I personally have never liked the character of Zulu Hendricks and was surprised to see her show up, yet again with not much to do. Other than the group of the “knot” family, everyone else was completely forgettable with normal cliches.

The book, for me, seems to lose it towards the last 200 pages or so. It felt like the authors were told to include several things and then rushed all of those suggestions, into those last pages.

Overall though, I enjoyed it, especially the first half to 2/3rds. One of the great things about this was they finally, finally addressed the character of David and what he could have started at the end of Covenant.

[Max · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever zoned out so many times. Skipping back and zoning out again because there was just never anything interesting enough to keep me engaged.
Dull characters, dull conversations. Lack of engaging plot.
I’m trying to hold off on negativity, but I feel like I’ve just had my time wasted.

[Ash · Rating 1 out of 5]

The authors really wanted you to know about everyone's sexuality and NEWZEALANDNEWZEALAND that there isn't actually much about the Xenimorphs or Weyland Yutani.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like a 3 comes in a little lower than this deserves but there are some legitimate things that I felt inhibited my more robust enjoyment of this book. I’m going to start her with what worked and then circle back to what didn’t.

Ballantine and Carija did a very solid job of integrating the last few books starting with Cold Forge and beyond into the framing of this narrative. I feel like this is all slow-playing towards a reveal that David from the films has been manipulating this ongoing war and panic around the black goo bombardments of various worlds, all as a result of his desire to continue testing on the genetic formula created by the engineers/space jockeys. I have yet to read the Darkhorse comics featuring Zula, but I was glad her connection to David was honored in the portrayal of Mae. So far, none of these books have really learned that hard into legacy characters (given how few seem to ever survive a book), so I’m curious to see where things go from here. As I liked White’s decision to bring in some much needed diversity to Into Charybdis, I thought the authorial pairing here did a not-quite-as-good-but-still-valiant job with the Knot as ex-pats or more accurately, indentured labor who once called New Zealand home. Toru was the most compelling, with Nathan and Carter shortly behind.

Here’s where I’ll make the jump to some criticisms. The rest of the Knot weren’t fleshed out sufficiently. They were totally flat characters, but I didn’t really feel a ton when any of them died, especially since of their deaths starting occurring midway into the book. The final major death also felt a little weak — I can see some gender politics at play, and it’s not that I was anything conformist or normative — it just didn’t feel right given the dynamic of the surviving characters. Not every Alien novel needs to end with some weird sacrifice (at this point, playing into convention FEELS normative). The xenomorphs were painted SO broadly in their descriptions that, for all their new forms, I rarely felt like I had any basis to imagine what they looked like. There’s a hanging thread or two where you expect a twist — a synthetic reveal, a character return, the arrival of a chestburster — and none of these ever arrive or pay off. The first drop ship that gets destroyed is last seen moving slowly away from its last location — what was that all about? I fully expected that these Eitr-laced xenos might fuse with the craft, but we never find out what the fate was so I guess the implication of an explosion caused by…the plot? I don’t know. And I’m the grand scheme of things, I’m not sure what this book ADDS to the EU at work here. If I skipped this, what would I have really missed?

I’m short — some interesting characters and solid pacing in the back half don’t really overcome a slow opening and some shallow writing peppered with all sorts of weird editing issues (lots of missing words, or words repeated unnecessarily in close proximity that disrupt the basic grammar). I’d be curious to see what t use two authors do with something else in the SFF sandbox, but maybe not with this franchise.

[Evan Yarema · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was... it was okay...

I don't want to dogpile with what other people have said about this book. I don't expect to be blown away by pulpy franchise-inspired sci-fi books to begin with. Some Alien novels have really pleasantly surprised me, and some merely met my expectations. This one... this was probably among the weaker novels I've read.

In general, I liked the premise-- a group of miners retreating into a mine and blowing the entrances to live underground in the hopes of surviving the horrors on the surface. That was great! As was the adventure that took place underground.

I found the slow start a bit boring, and tedious. I get that the author needed to establish characters, the world, and the situation. But I was disappointed in the characters. The author was really pushing a female empowerment narrative, which is totally expected for the Alien universe, where characters like Ripley, Vasquez, etc, are beloved and iconic. The problem is, the author *tells* us that a character is "tough" instead of *showing* us. In fact, Ballantine does that with most characters. "This is the main character-- she's cool, and strong, and experienced." "This is the mine manager. He sucks. Remember that, because every time he appears, I'll tell you again that he sucks." That style doesn't define characters. I would prefer to be shown, through their own actions, that they are who the author wants to present them as. The result was that none of the characters had any kind of arc, and they all sort of fell flat. The book ended with most characters being exactly the same as how they started.

A lot of reviewers have described the characters as being too "woke". I'm going to try to say it in a way that might be more palatable. There were too many characters who were too marginalized. Having a trans character is fine, or anyone from the LGBT+ community is perfectly acceptable. Same goes for immigrants, orphans, or anyone else who has struggled with hardships or societal pressures. The issue, however, was that they were so many extremely marginalized individuals, that for an average Joe, like myself, there was nobody for me to relate to. I imagine that the average reader felt the same, and the end result was that instead of being pulled into the story by a few characters I could see myself as, I was alienated from the story to the point where I didn't much care.

Okay, characters aside. My other issue with the plot was that I felt that the author had a lot of great ideas, but never saw them through. The Colonial Marines seemed unnecessary to the plot, and their presence felt rushed and unremarkable. Zula Hendricks felt rushed, forgettable, and contributed little, as though Ballantine abandoned the subplot with her halfway through writing the story. Same goes for the synthetic who was programmed as her daughter. I was interested, but her character arc, like most dissolved into a morass. Each element of the book started with so much potential, then sort of faded into abandonment.

I feel like I'm being too harsh, and I don't intend to be. This really wasn't a bad story, and it had its elements that I really enjoyed... but this one took me a lot longer to get through, simply because I felt bored and detached.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I enjoyed Inferno’s Fall. The mining family unit at the core of the story were compelling characters. Made up of both blood and found family, referring to themselves as The Knot, their story of survival against the harsh environment of a mine and xenomorphs really got to me. A huge fan of the series, I knew very few of them would survive, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel it when they started dying.

The xenomorphs are not the standard ones, if you can even use that phrase, but a hybrid made of the black goo and the planet’s alien life form. This adds an extra element of fear to the situation as the miners were already terrified of the native life form.

We explore further Alien universe’s mythology with the creators involvement in creating life and the black goo. I enjoyed the references to the Davids being recalled due to programming issues. I loved Prometheus and Alien Covenant so I picked up on all these little nods to what has gone before, but you don’t have to have watched these to get it. The Jackals are also in this story, an off-the-books marine unit fighting the xenomorphs. Again you don’t need to have read everything about them to access Inferno’s Fall as the author gives a good back ground.

I also have to talk about Mae and Carter, the two synthetics in story. Mae is a synthetic created by another synthetic and the next evolution of artificial life form. She is an isolated character as neither the humans nor the synthetics understand her. But while the humans try to understand, adapting to her, the Jackal’s ship’s AI is threatened by her. Mae’s growth over the book was as compelling as the miners survival story. Carter is a pleasure synthetic, deliberately beautiful to please his owners, but he’s been reprogrammed to help the miners. He is more a traditional synthetic in that he obeys commands unlike Mae who can decide for herself, but he is just as divisive as her due to his original function and Toru’s feelings for him meaning she sometimes forgets he isn’t human.

It wasn’t a perfect story for me. Opening act with the arrival of the horse shoe ship and the release of the black goo was something else. I was there in the moment of panic and fear, and when the first deaths happened, I was shocked because i was already rooting for the characters. But that didn’t last.

The first reason was there were just too many characters to care about all of them and rather than staying in Toru’s head, The Knot’s leader, so we feel her pain as people start dying, we get info dumps of a named character before they die. For me, only a couple of characters had enough background before their death to make me care.

The second is the intense action scenes didn’t continue. It’s almost as though there was a page limit and showing had to give way to telling to fit the story in.

Overall, I found this to be a good story, holding my attention and encouraging me to stay up late to finish it.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, Alien books are always just fun to read. I love anything Alien. This one was another fun one to read, my only gripe with it was that there were a lot of characters and I would have been more interested to read separate books about the soldier aboard the Fury and their experiences fighting xenomorphs. The people of the Knot were nice to read, it is always great to read stories where the experiences of common people with the xenomorph threat, but there were also a lot of characters to keep track of, though that dwindled through the course of the book naturally.

By far, my favorite character was Mae, the synthetic. She was charming and was that perfect balance of trying to balance being a new artificial life form discovering mortality and interacting with humans. I would honestly love to read more alien books focused on her and her discoveries of who created the xeno-pathogen (especially if it leads her to a fellow synth like David since I believe this book takes place in the Prometheus/Covenant timeline, whose different views than her would prove very fascinating to read her character interacting with).

There felt like there was some inconsistencies with the way xenomorphs are created from the pathogen, but I think that maybe it's a headcanon idea or it is easy to assume that the pathogen has evolved throughout the books since the franchise does have a history of being all over the place when it comes to xenomorph morphology and if they are always parasitoids or not.

Here's hoping that this won't be a one-shot book because out of the recent Alien books I've read, this one has been the one where I want the story to continue past the Epilogue (hopefully following Mae!!!) which felt like a setup for another book!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the one and only Alien novel that I've read so far, and I thought it was pretty good given that I'm not actually a huge fan of horror as a genre

For anyone else coming to this without having read previous books (or seeing all the movies), there are basically two intersecting stories here. The main one is self-contained within the novel. It features a bunch of blue-collar workers dealing with blue-collar issues in a dystopian future who then find themselves thrust into the horror of encountering xenomorphs. All the typical elements I'd expect from an Alien story end up in the mix.

The second story is one that apparently features characters from a previous book or books and some plot threads that should continue on into a future book or books. I did not find that this distracted much from the ability to enjoy reading the novel on its own.

The reason I actually bought the novel is the short adventure in the back for the Alien RPG. I needed a one-shot I could run at our local Game Day mini-con, and it looks like it will fill that need nicely. It does the heavy lifting on prepping a one shot with four pre-generated PCs, listing of events, locations, some new gear, and stats for some of the new xenomorph types introduced in the novel. I did have to go online to find a printable copy of the map provided (something the publisher ought to do to make the product more usable), but that was easy enough.

I don't regret the purchase, and will likely end up getting other novels that have adventures in the back.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so Alien

This was a struggle to read, there was a lot of gibberish going on through the book, the xenos aren't well described, you don't get a sense of how much of a nightmare they are or much build up of the horror and tenseness they would introduce if you came across them. The xenos take a long time to appear, Zula (who's on the cover) and the horseshoe ship (also on the cover), are mentioned in a couple of brief chapters but they don't have much going on - would be fine with this, but it's on the cover.

At various points, I was tempted to drop it, but since it's an alien book, I kept sticking with it, but really, it barely covers the xenos. There were some places where the characters ended up, where they could have introduced new lore to the alien universe, but the characters rushed through these parts.

The xeno action was worse than Colony Wars, Colony Wars had a lot more going on, I didn't mind the authors politics (it's not as bad as some of the reviews make out). The story itself is quite good, it's just been told in a way that, to me, at least was dull and boring - which is a first for an alien book.

If you're reading the trilogy and managed to get through the first part of Colony Wars, you could probably get through this as well, but it could be skipped as it doesn't add much. The next book in the trilogy, enemy of my enemy, is light years ahead of both (I read them out of order).

[Sigourney Cleaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this novel and it was absolutely terrific. It did a great job focusing on developing rich relationships between the main cast of characters while also hinting and foreshadowing at things that don't bode well, which really amplified the tension when things turn South and made each death along the way feel like a real loss. Another reviewer called it "a slow burn with a short fuse" which is very accurate. I loved how the cast is a majority BIPOC with a lot of representation of Australian/New Zealand heritage, some nice bits of LGBT+ representation, and plenty of strong female figures along the way, most notably the tough-as-nails grandmother Toru McClintock-Riley. The scenes with Xenomorphs felt very pitched and desperate as appropriate, and in my opinion handle the strange discoveries well where the reader only sees through the characters' scared eyes, so of course things are hectic and make little sense (they kind of have bigger fish to fry).

By far the best Alien novel I have read to date that truly stands on its own legs. It's is also fueling a lot of inspiration for future Alien RPG games, so great collaboration with Free League there. 5 of 5 stars; highly recommend ⭐

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly amusing, highly enjoyable!!! In essence, it's a book about survival. Not just on Shanmen, but in the mines, in the past and future too. I really liked that. Without going into too much detail, I greatly enjoyed the way this books builds up. We learn about the Knot first, then the Combine, the *actual* situation in/on the mines and all that. The pov stays like that for a while and then shifts to another group, currently not on Shanmen at all (but they will be!)

Once shit starts going down, it was hard to put the book down. The fact that there is so much more going on than just people getting slaughtered by aliens is so so so nice. It makes a super simple premise feel well-thought-out and calculated. This is supported by the light hints and references to other books. Thus, the universe feels very well-established and robust.

Maybe my favourite part however, was the easy, natural inclusion of (gender)queer characters. They were just there. Nobody made a big deal out of it. It wasn't especially relevant to the plot. But it feels good to read a book like that, because we're all just people who live, pay taxes, and die, and everything in between.

I genuinely hope that this writer will bless us with another Alien book, because I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[SteveL · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the mining world of Shanmen an alien ship without warning begins to drop a black substance that begins to mutate the inhabitants. The survivors are forced to try and survive, while waiting for rescue from the Righteous Fury, a ship filled with soldiers trained for one thing, hunting xenomorphs.

I got this one via Audible, making sure I finished it before it left the membership library, and it felt a bit out of place. It felt like it was a book in a series and not a stand alone. While the book primarily deals with a team of miners trapped on the planet and that stands alone, there are a lot of chapters dedicated to Zula Hendricks and her daughter, recurring characters who have a large story going on. Their chapters really throw off the pace and feels more shoehorned in then an important part to the plot.

I did appreciate how this novel tied in things from Prometheus to a more prominent connection to the Aliens franchise. While the cover of the book has a variant of the Deacon from Prometheus fighting Colonial Marines, this fight doesn't actually happen in the book but the Deacons are featured along with the builders. I didn't like it as much as I had hoped, but it did enough right that it hasn't put me off other Alien novels.

[Darcy Manderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve tried 5 times to get into this book. You can tell the author is an angry activist. It’s seeps into all the characters and development. It’s preachy in its story telling. Telling rather than showing. In only the first chapter you can tell author absolutely hates all men.
All the WOMEN are SO strong SO smart and SO talented. Even the main characters son, they are constantly shake their head at his fool hardiness. The cooperation is the patriarchy that she stands up to. The lesbian daughter are the best parents. I couldn’t care less. But again, You’re told. Not shown. So added to the rest it’s just so much being shoved down your throat.
It wouldn’t be obvious if it was shown, and would work fine as a story outline. But the preaching at you style. Makes you stop after each paragraph and barf.
I’ve read over 1000 books. This could be one of the worst so far.
I’d love to meet with the author and see how angry of a person she actually is.

I’m starting to feel women don’t know how to write string women. They just come across as condescending bitches. Compared to say, Scott Siglers alien phalanx one of the best books I’ve read (minus all the spelling errors) that was a strong woman, kind and smart.