Aliens: Labyrinth

Aliens / Predator / Prometheus Universe

by S.D. Perry

The space station Innominata has one problem: men die there. Only no one really knows it - or at least, no one who counts. Certainly Colonel Doctor Tony Crespi has no idea; he is simply eager to work with the infamous Doctor Paul Church, who believes that a mutated strain of alien can be made to obey human will.

Church's captive creatures live in a warren of tunnels. Inside that labyrinth, Crespi and Lieutenant Sharon McGuinness are about to find the true meaning of Church's experiments. With a chamber of all-too-human horrors at its dark heart, the labyrinth is a death trap - designed by a man who is attempting what no other person in the universe would dare: to bring human and alien together as one!

Genres: Aliens, Science Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Novels, Comics

248 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

SD Perry (Stephani Danelle, by the way, though she prefers SD or Danelle) has been writing novelizations and tie-ins for most of her adult life. Best known for her work in the shared multiverses of Resident Evil, Star Trek, and Aliens, SD is a horror nerd and an introvert. Her father is acclaimed science fiction author Steve Perry. SD lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Ana Mardoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aliens Novels: Book 6, Labyrinth / 0-553-57491-4

After suffering through the poorly written and almost-identical-to-one-another "Genocide" and "Alien Harvest", I have to praise "Labyrinth" for returning to the basics of the first three books of the series and for understanding what really drives the suspense and terror in the alien universe. "Labyrinth" has the closed spaces and the inability to escape that is so crucial for suspense. When a space inhabited by aliens isn't closed, but rather entered into voluntarily (see "Genocide" and "Alien Harvest"), the reader doesn't feel pity for the victims so much as open contempt, doubly so if the reasons for deliberately exposing themselves to such danger are stupid, greedy, and ill-conceived. Perry seems to recognize this, and returns us back to the basics of "Nightmare Asylum" and "Alien Resurrection" by giving us a mad scientist intent on betraying his own race by feeding his fellow humans to the aliens for 'breeding' purposes.

This sense of betrayal and horror is crucial to the series; a fact that all the aliens movies explored thoroughly. As horrific as the aliens are, there reaches a point of saturation, where the prospect of being eaten or used as a breeder is no longer as frightening as it once was, at least in part because the shock aspect has dissipated. A mad scientist who mutilates his subjects in horrific ways provides much-needed shock value, plus the added horror of being used as an experiment against your will, unable to die (even breeders have the certainty that eventually their suffering will end), and that even if you somehow find a way to die, your body would still be horribly desecrated. Add to that the potent sense of outrage, that a human would so deeply betray his race, whilst other humans would meekly facilitate his madness, and you have the nice makings of a thriller. Stick all that on a remote space station, add a thick layer of mystery to the whole proceedings, and your book practically writes itself.

Unfortunately, Perry's writing style in this novel seems extremely mediocre. The style is jumpy and self-conscious, often trying to manufacture suspense by simply not telling the reader what is going on. Scenes of discovery read like something akin to (paraphrase): "She walked into the room and her heart suddenly leapt into her chest. All her worst nightmares had come true. He really was insane, a madman, and this proved it. She just couldn't believe what she saw. No, really, this is huge - very, very big - and you are just going to die when you read what she saw. Are you ready? Ok, here it is..." and so on. Perry doesn't trust the reader enough to reveal terrors openly and without a fake "suspenseful" buildup, a technique that becomes tiresome quickly.

Perry has also tackled the classic "Why isn't the main character catching on when the reader already has" hurdle that writers so often face by falling back on the standby of making the main character too stupid to tie his own shoes. Really, you can't have your main villain doing the literary equivalent of cackling frequently, twirling his mustache, and insisting that people call him *DOCTOR EVIL*, and then have your main character just totally fail to catch on without him looking like a complete moron. I understand the intent, the desire to set up a dichotomy where we are forced to confront the advantages of immoral research versus the importance of doing the right thing, but it just doesn't work and the writing comes off as blunt and ham-fisted.

This is probably as good a time as any to note that Perry also seems strangely interested in sexual violence and violence against women. She is very fond of using the concept of rape in hyperbole, as in "his nose was raped by the stench". That's.....one way to put it, I guess. She's also very intent on having the (often hysterical and screaming, despite being a trained marine) heroine being physically choked and lifted by more powerful men, particularly if they have a sexual interest in her. As a reader, I could have done without this recurring aspect of the novel.

My final criticism of Perry's writing style is that she seems not to understand the concept of Chekhov's gun: that if an object or concept is introduced in a story, it must be utilized by the end of the story, or else it ought not have been there in the first place. Perry provides the good guys at the very beginning with a perfect trump card: they have complete and total backing by the military hierarchy to investigate the mad scientist and do whatever they deem necessary to stop him, which is a big change from the usual 'little guy bucks the evil establishment' theme. However, the fact that the good guys never use their trump card and indeed never even *consider* using their trump card, is incredibly frustrating and pointless. The fact is, the trump card is never again mentioned outside the opening chapter, so it should have been removed entirely. If a trump card is introduced it MUST be used, and if it is not, then there at least has to be a very good reason why not. This never-again-mentioned trump card also completely undermines the "bad" ending that this book ends on, because if the mad scientist was already under suspicion and investigation, he wouldn't escape detection indefinitely, nor would he be able to frame the good guys in any way that would 'stick' after a full investigation. So, basically, we get an unused trump card which makes the good guys look stupid (because they have forgotten its existence) and makes the ending completely implausible. Why?

Having said all that, here are the things I did like about this book: First, it was creepy and scary, like a good aliens book should be. There's a lot of good suspense, and the evil scientist surprises are pleasantly horrifying (even if the main characters do stubbornly refuse to recognize obvious evil for what it is). Second, the entire book moves at a good clip. There are a whole lot of flashbacks, but they are nicely done and with a plethora of skin-crawling details, so that's a plus. Third, the term "royal jelly" does not, to my knowledge appear anywhere in this book at all. I am so very glad to see that we've decided to drop that fruitless side-plot and get back to the basics: which is that being kept in suspended state, unrelieved by death, for all eternity in order to suffer horrible mutilations, gruesome experiments, and painful alien invasions on your body is extremely and satisfyingly creepy.

~ Ana Mardoll

[Bogdan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised because, overall, the story was quite interesting.

It has it`s piece of originality that really lacks in the latest Alien movies.

Also, the ending was unexpected, but nicely done.

The art was good.

And, let`s not forget, expect a lot of gore to be present in most of the scenes.

For me, definitely an above average effort in the Alien franchise!!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a re-read for me, because I originally read this all the way back when it came out, but I didn't remember it too well beyond just liking it. This is, once again, a novelization of the four issue comic series of the same name: Aliens: Labyrinth written by James Woodring. S.D. Perry and her father have worked on Aliens novels before and I'm happy to report that the daughter is just as good! Actually, I rather like Stephani's books a little bit more if I'm being perfectly honest and Labyrinth is no exception. She did an excellent job fleshing out the original story created by Woodring.

This is another mad scientist styled story in the Aliens universe and this story features one of my favorite mad scientists in the universe. I was getting rather tired of these characters in the series, but luckily we have one that steals the show. I really liked, the villain, Dr. Church in the comics, but Perry fleshed him out so well. The tension between all the characters was perfectly arranged and felt even more tense in this expanded form.

In the comics we meet two people, Dr. Crespi and Lt. McGuinness arriving on a covert military research station in some corner of galaxy. Crespi arrives to be a new assistant to Dr. Church who is conducting experiments on the Xenomorph. As usual with covert research facilities and the Aliens setting perhaps not everyone there is working for the best interest of the government research. In many instances some pharmaceutical company is often trying to infiltrate these facilities and steal research, and Labyrinth really isn't an exception to this concept that has been driven throughout the Aliens comics and novels so far.

If you liked the comic book, I imagine you'll like this novel. Sure, some might find this a cliché story to a certain degree, but given the source material I really think Perry did an awesome job. Far better than some of the other authors that have adapted other comic series in Aliens so far. So, I welcome her on the job and I really hope she is commissioned to do many more.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I've stated in previous reviews, after a while all of these Aliens novels seem to run together. Space station, military, evil scientist, horrible experiments, etc. That being said, they are still enjoyable. This one did throw me a curveball as I was not expecting the ending, but there was also some space left for a sequel. I'm not sure if this was ever followed up on or not.

Overall a good read that moved right along at a fast pace, but I also feel like the story isn't quite done yet. Hopefully that was rectified at a later date.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colonel Doctor Tony Crespi wakes up from artificial sleep after a yea ready to start his assignment on a researchstation Innominata which is being the new assistant for the renowned Doctor Paul Church. However, Crespi's real mission is to investigate Church and his activities, as his superiors have become concerned that the doctor's methods may be unethical and not quite what is being advertised. Lieutenant Sharon McGuinness is a member of the small group of Marines send to the reseachstation but she has a similar reason as Crespi to come to this station only hers are far more personal.
The research done on the station is upon the behaviour of the Alien drones and how to use them, but Church might just have a different idea about the real subject of research. As always the question is who are the monsters and the screaming and running starts.

A decent Aliens book without the likes of anybody known from the Alien movie franchise, it shows an enhanced world beyond the movie series. It is a well written book with a decent plot that certainly not outlasts its welcome.

Nice addition to the universe of Alien/Aliens.

[Sebastian · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a few things I expect from the “Alien” franchise. If it’s a movie, I expect an unsettling exploration of how our species fares when looking into the abyssal otherness of the enormous, uncaring Universe that surrounds it, wrapped in a cozy, exciting genre story. If it’s a tie-in novel, I expect penny-dreadful thrills and chills with two-dimensional characters, xenomorphs aplenty and an ocean of blood, acidic or not, that has a storyline so predictable I don’t really care that the writing is generally third-rate. Well, this book delivers on none of it.

The writing is so bad it actively irritated me, the plot makes no sense, the characters want to be made of cardboard, but they all flip-flop around with no sense of who they are, what they want, or what they are doing, and the xenomorphs, I’m sorry, but fighting one off, no matter how weakened, with a lighter and a can of hair spray, no, sorry, those are most certainly not xenomorphs (and what the HELL is a can of hairspray doing casually lounging around on a table in a lab on a top-secret space station). I honestly expect more from the Alien franchise, even if it is just a cheap tie-in, and what’s even worse, I expect more from S.D. Perry, who has proven to be a better writer in some other volumes.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not know how I feel about this book/story. It has a few (general) similarities to Aliens: Rogue i.e. – an isolated ‘space station/laboratory’ [only the one in this book is actually on a space station floating in space instead of on the surface of an airless planet(oid?)], a “mad scientist” of sorts who appears to ‘love’ (or values) the aliens more than he does humans and dotes on them, experiments being done to somehow “merge” humans and aliens (on some level), spy cameras/devices EVERYWHERE!!!!!, a potential industrial spy, and somebody trying to ‘uncover what is going on’ underneath all of the secrecy that stood out to me and which made this book seem vaguely familiar at first, but the sense of ‘familiarity’ did quickly vanish. It is quite dark and disturbing in parts; it has an element of horror to it, but I felt some of that horror was not influenced or induced by the presence of the alien drones in the book (at least, not in the ‘present’ storyline). It did move at a quick pace; it felt like more of a ‘barebones’ adaptation as opposed to the author expanding upon the original storyline. The character development is so-so; there are three primary characters, one “important” secondary character, and an assortment of minor characters who are barely developed at all.

Colonel Doctor Paul Church is a villain who has been written in such a way to be sympathetic as well as . . . either ‘evil’ or ‘insane’ or something. He is a complicated character with possibly complicated motivations. He had something extremely traumatic happen to him when he was twenty, and it shaped him and transformed him in the years to come to become who he ‘is today.’ Part of me wanted to see him killed, and part of me wanted to know how much of his story that was revealed was ‘the TRUTH’ and how much of it was just a pack of twisted lies. We discover in a series of flashbacks that he grew up traveling the stars with his parents, who were terraformers. While they were transporting some passengers to another colony planet (RLW1289), they stopped off at another smaller planetoid which Church’s parents had started the initial stages of terraforming approximately thirty-five years previously (around when Church was five years old or so). It was on this terraformed planetoid that they discovered another ship sitting there that should not have been there and were captured by a batch of alien drones from a hive on the planet. Church ended up being the only survivor and had to bury parts of his humanity to survive. He also discovered biological means by which he was able to kill off the remnants of the hive and survive before he himself was rescued by the Colonial Marines. His knowledge that he gained about these Xenomorphs during his captivity allowed him to have a blank check and no checks/balances on his work after he returned to civilization.

Because of how much he lies during the book, the reader has no real idea how much of what he says is the truth and how much of it is lies and how much of it is a ‘twisted truth’ because he no longer correctly remembers all that happened to him in that alien hive. According to the tale he tells Col. Tony Crespi and Lt. Sharon McGuinness, he started taking on tasks that he could perform to assist the aliens, which included force-feeding his former friends, family, and passengers the dead flesh of rotting, decaying corpses as well as forcing them to drink from a solution the aliens were trying to create to help heal their bodies from some sickness. He also realized that the aliens were sick, that they were dying, and were performing their own experiments to come up with a solution that would help heal them, help them to recover and survive. He was able to sabotage their efforts and kill them, in the end. We really do not know what happened, except that he probably was the only survivor of his crew and that he removed the alien threat to the planetoid and future human existence on the terraformed celestial body (we assume). The author keeps mentioning throughout the book that he has suffered some kind of traumatic event that he tries to hide and cope with, but it is up to the reader to belief if what the tale he told is true, or how much of it is true. It does seem to have affected him to the point that he no longer sees himself as being human, that he sees himself as being more than human because of his experiences and what he had to ingest (including the various “alien serums and solutions”) in order to survive.

He was a disturbing individual who seemed broken and not-quite-but-almost-helpless and “child-like,” at times. A broken genius, of sorts. I do not know if that was the author’s intent or not in this book to portray him this way, but if so, she did a great job giving him that sense about him. I have not read the mini-series this book is based on, so I cannot say how well the author did in putting the comic book character into a printed from or describing him in light of the comics, so it is entirely possible he comes across much differently in the comic series.

We “learn” that alien drones are fond of pigs – very fond. They love to eat them, to devour them (54 – 56). Never knew that before; I always wondered what aliens ate, to be able to grow as big as they do. I may have to find copies of the novelizations of the first two movies; I thought a theory was mentioned in one of them as to what the aliens ate. In any case, this book has the alien(s) feeding on pigs and humans.

Of course, learning how much aliens love to eat pigs and that they eat humans made me wonder something else, having to do with that terraformed planetoid visited by Church and his family and crew. The small moon is a veritable garden paradise; however, there are NO ANIMALS on the planet (85). What they do find is another ship that had apparently landed on the small moon several years ago and is now deserted but with plenty of supplies onboard (80 – 81, 82, 84). Paul, his family, and their passengers momentarily disembark, ponder the mystery, and then prepare to leave when they are attacked by alien drones (85). At least sixteen drones capture them and take them back to the hive (85, 119 – 120). The hive appears as an enormous vegetation-covered hill (120). Since the planetoid/moon was uninhabited by any animal life, it does make one wonder how any aliens could have been 'born' let alone survived a lack of food source or living animals. As it turns out, the smugglers how had landed on the planet 'some years before' had been 'bug smugglers' and intending to set up a 'bug farm' of some sort (183) and it seems their 'cash crop' got the best of them. Now, it does make one wonder why any human would be stupid enough to want to farm bugs, to 'grow' these Xenomorphs, considering how dangerous they are. Regardless, even if there were twelve smugglers, it still seems hard to believe that the hive could have 'grown' as big as it did, with the number of drones, considering there was no source of life for the alien embryos to be implanted and birthed. So, what did the aliens eat in order to survive during the time on the planet between when the smugglers arrived and died and when Church and his group arrived?

I did have some 'issues' with the story. One had to do with the aerosol can found in the lab buy Crespi. Why is there an aerosol can in the laboratory, conveniently sitting on a table waiting to be used by Crespi after Crespi is attacked by an alien drone(134)? Not only that, but why would it be a can of hair spray that is sitting in the lab (135)? The question crossed my mind, as it seemed odd that it was ‘just sitting there’ on the table and it makes absolutely no sense for it to be there.

It 'bugged' me that Colonel Crespi was sent to the space station to investigate abnormalities going on there and that he supposedly had the full backing of the upper chain of command, and he never used that power. Also, one might have thought he would have had some kind of 'back-up' with him, or orders in writing that confirmed his new status upon arrival. As it was, he never acted upon this authority or took advantage of the 'power' his authority gave him. I realize he is supposed to be on the outskirts of known space and isolated, but it would seem that if the higher-ups suspected foul play of some kind (which they clearly did) that they would have sent more help with him to back him up, that they would have sent him some kind of additional support. His 'higher authority' and their 'backing/support' was made to be such a big deal in the beginning of the story and it turned out to be nothing at all, just a big 'smokescreen' of some kind to distract the reader and really reinforce how stupid and incompetent this guy had to be to not take advantage of every amount of leverage he had at his disposal to ensure he got the job done. I find it hard to believe they would have sent somebody as incompetent as he turned out to be on 'such an important fact-finding mission' (at least, that is the impression I got, from the reading, that his mission was of vital enough importance he could take command if he deemed it a necessity).

Also, Church's supposed time in the hive: I realize we can only take his word on what happened as being true, but by his own admission (throughout the story), he has chosen to not remember things clearly and has lied to himself and to officials about what happened in hopes of forgetting. So, we do not know that what he shared is really what happened. So, with that caveat, on to my grouse about his supposed "capture" by the aliens and being experimented upon during his captivity. The statement is made that the smuggler's ship had not been boarded in several years (based on the dust on the floor of the vessel); yet their bodies are still supposedly 'alive' inside the alien hive? How does that work? How were the aliens able to keep the human bodies alive-yet-dead for so long? (I suppose they could have been 'altered' by the aliens over time as the aliens performed their own sets of experiments upon the human bodies.)

Also, he had been trapped inside of the hive for forty-three days (182). Fine; whatever. He also had to perform some kind of operation on himself to remove the dead alien embryo from inside his chest; he performed the seven-hour operation on his own (183). Now, both his parents' vessel and the smugglers' vessel were filled with supplies. Why would he not have gathered as many supplies as he possibly could have for his convalescence after his self-surgery? He makes the remark that a rescue team/force of Colonial Marines arrived thirty days after he sent his request to be rescued, and that when they found him, he was pretty atrophied by that point in time (183); the implication I received was that it was from malnourishment, from lack of food, which should not have been the case!

Finally, he claims that the hive was destroyed before he had a chance to tell the Marines to hold off because of the 'biological treasure trove' it presented the human race (183). Part of me wants to cry, "BS!" to this claim, especially in regard to the toxic mold and the colloid leeches. I do not think that would have happened; I would think that the Marines would first have wanted to have known how he survived and if there were any more dangers lurking around before they destroyed the remnants of the hive. I do not believe any commanding officer of the Colonial Marines would have been so stupid as to destroy something that could have made such a difference to the long-term survival of the human race and this dangerous species. Samples would have been and should have been taken; the remnants of the hive and dead aliens would have been a treasure trove for scientists to study to come up with new measures to kill the aliens. So, yeah, I cry 'bunk and baloney!" to this claim on Church's part (and the author of the comics as well) for continuing the idiotic stereotype that all Marines (or anybody else in a military uniform) has to be stupid and incompetent and short-sighted.

One other thing that 'kinda bugged me' was that Sharon McGuinness was able to hack into the space station's security systems and computer systems, but she never figured out that there were cameras and other recording devices NEARLY EVERYWHERE!???!?!! I did not believe that about her, either, that she would fail to notice all of the security cameras and whatnot around the station, or that they were equally quite prevalent in the living/private quarters as they were in the public sections of the station.

There were some oddly humorous moments in the book that made me kinda chuckle (probably more because of Church's apparent incompetence when it came to social interactions), but they also seemed odd and out-of-place when taken into consideration with 'future revelations' later in the book. I liked Colonel Doctor Tony Crespi's character, and I liked Lt. Sharon McGuinness's character, too. The way the book ends (which, apparently, is different than the comic series, I have been told) definitely sets things up for some kind of sequel. At this point, I doubt it will ever be acted upon, though, which is fine.

There are some pretty 'dark moments' in the book, that is for sure! I felt some of the 'darker moments' involved humans more than humans interacting with the aliens, but that is fine. It was a dark and twisted story, all around, with a few disturbing moments in it.

Overall, I am glad that I took the time to read the book. The 'stupidity' of the heroes really annoyed me, though, and ruined it, in some respects. I think if I were to rate parts of it, some of it would be 4 stars while other parts would be either 1-star or 2-stars; Church really set the tone for the story, I think, because one never knew what one could believe when it came to Church. In any case, the sheer and utter stupidity and incompetence of the heroes ruined it for me, I think. Two-stars it is.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

With the last book, Rogue, I started making a list of elements that (apparently) have to be included in every Aliens books. With Labyrinth, I remembered one more:

4. Dream sequence and/or flashback involving previous encounters.

Here, Perry includes a chapter-long flashback early in the book without making it clear we're about to jump back to some years before. No, we just get an introduction to a few characters, and then a sudden leap back to earlier in one of their lives. It was pretty abrupt, enough so that I thought it must have been a dream sequence (see rule #4), but it went on for so long that I started to doubt myself.

There's nothing new to this story. We get more military, more cold sleep, and more of the incessant military banter that's steeped so much in testosterone and masculinity. We get a token female character, but by the end of the book, she's less a military character and more a damsel in distress, who cries and breaks down far more than one would expect for someone who's career military and should be a bit more accustomed to death.

Speaking of military, Perry uses a handful of acronyms in the book, but doesn't explain what they mean. It's fairly easy to understand them by way of context -- TS is a standard Earth year, and NI is some sort of intelligence group -- but the never defines them, and I can't come up with what they're supposed to stand for. Is TS Terran Standard? If so, then standard what? Why isn't it TSY if that's what it means?

Also of note is the use of a can of hairspray and a lighter to kill one of the aliens. Aside from the fact that I'm not convinced that setup would create enough fire to kill one of them, what is a can of hairspray doing in a science lab on a military base?

Labyrinth isn't as stupid as some of the books that preceded it, but it's not a smart story, either. I'm having regrets at starting this series of books, because the best I've been able to give any of them so far is two stars.

[Jean-Francois Boivin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novelization of the graphic novel by Jim Woodring, this is Stephani Danelle Perry's 3rd ALIENS novel, although the previous 2 (ALIENS BOOK 3: THE FEMALE WAR and ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: PREY) were co-written with her father Steve Perry.

This is very aptly written for sure, reads very well. But it's a very straightforward adaptation. The low page count (240) could have been padded a bit more with new scenes or new characters. Previous adaptations of ALIENS comics always had expanded bits and new elements (not always successfully as with ALIENS: ALIEN HARVEST) created by the writer to expand on the short comic story. This book would have benefited for that.

But overall a quick read, with good descriptions and dialogue. The antics of the mad scientist (once again) Col. Doctor Paul Church and the attempts to thwart his "research" by Col. Doctor Tony Crespi and Lt. Sharon McGuinness are very well depicted. The best part of the story (both comic and novel) is the harrowing backstory of Paul Church some 40 years in the past, when he and his family were taken into a diseased and rotting alien hive and subjected to horrible breeding exercises... chilling.

NOTE: The graphic novel was originally published as a 4-issue series by Dark Horse Comics, and included a 16-page preview story from the anthology DARK HORSE COMICS #12-13.

[The Honest Book Reviewer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Aliens novel didn't hit the mark for me. I found the writing style not to my liking, and the plot just repeated itself for a while, with one of our heroes flip-flopping from one side to another constantly and with little provocation. It was like watching a child be told something and believe it without question - every single time. The motivation of this character didn't feel solid. The villain of the piece - just a bit too Scooby-Doo. He had a pure motivation, but the author was over-eager to express how sinister he was and it had the reverse impact for me.

This novel had a lot of plot elements found in Rogue, however Rogue was far better plotted and written. I think this novel may have been served better with a better story editor.

Having said that, the ending is surprising. Maybe a few more surprises such as this during the novel would have lifted the story from being, in my eyes, mediocre.

[Hodgey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Labyrinth is one of the best the old EU has to offer for Aliens stories. It's punchy, dark, and horrifying. I think this novel has the most sickening, depraved depiction of an alien hive in the entire EU. How the aliens are written in this book will stick with you. There are no winners in this story, just a bunch of grief stricken people. Crepsi can come off like a bit of an idiot. His flip flopping between Church and McGuinness is just so sudden and not really believable. It's kinda hand waved in the writing by saying "people fuck up and make bad choices". That's really the only complaint about this book. The rest is so hauntingly scary and sad, Labyrinth is Alien firing on all cylinders!

[Carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not the best book in the Aliens franchise. I've always liked Perry's writing, but I think she misses the mark on this one. It's an interesting story with evocative descriptions, but the characters (including the aliens) don't really seem believable. Props for the most disturbing entry in the franchise I've encountered though, I guess.

To be fair to Perry, she was limited by the source material of the comics the book was based on (which I didn't realize when I originally read the book not long after it came out). I realize a paycheck is a paycheck, but some projects should just be refused.

[Dane Erbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything one would want in an Alien book—space ships, dark motives, moral ambiguity, and bugs—but also added other little details to the universe. The story was intriguing and kept me reading, especially the flashbacks, which were disturbing and haunting. I read the comic along with this book, which clarified some of the scenes that were harder to visualize. The comic art is amazing, but the pacing was too fast; the novelization slowed things down to a perfect pace add squeezed in not just motivation but even more gory details.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if I’ve ever been more angry at an ending. Completely unexpected and just pissed me off. Started off a little slow, picked up super quick out of nowhere. The last quarter was a good and intense read I couldn’t put the book down. Then almost threw the book when I read the first paragraph of the last chapter. If the next book of the series doesn’t pick up from where this book left off I will be more angry

[GoodOfMagic · Rating 1 out of 5]

2 types of edgy

There's edgy in a way to show off an awesome or badass scene with little care of the sensibilities of the reader (like the Elric series),
or theres the how can I disgust you in the most vile way possible without any payment of catharsis or any awesome scene for the viewer to enjoy (like most of Garth Ennis work)

This does the latter.

[Valerio Pastore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, not exactly compelling. There's some good idea and an original approach (which is no easy task by now, it must be conceded!), but the characters are...bland, somehow, ranging from plain vanilla to caricatural. I was almost tempted to DNF when I saw Evil Scientist walking in with a Drone at the leash!
Readable story, nothing memorable.

[Danny Dahms · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d give this 4.5 stars if I could. It’s one of the better aliens novels I’ve gotten through so far and it was really good - the only reason it’s not 5 stars is because the premise is so similar to the book that comes immediately before this one.

It also would’ve been nice to see Church get his comeuppance, but maybe that’s to be seen in another book I haven’t gotten to yet.

[Vincen A · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reads like abecedarian first-draft fan-fiction that was not proof-read, peer-reviewed, or edited, leaving it wracked with atrocious grammar and obfuscating sentences. Lurking within the malformation is a mundane story that occasionally reaches heights of mediocrity.

[Jonathan Harbour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding writing! The best alien graphic novel I’ve read from Dark Horse, and I believe I’ve read most of them now. Excellent story. I started to feel the original dread from the time I watched the first film at my aunt’s house at age 7, sometime in 1978.

[Iain Dalziel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was absolute drivel. I’m a big fan of Alien books and read many over the years but boy o boy this was rubbish. Stupid and poor writing to top it off. If you have any sense do not start reading this mince.

[Grace Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Highly enjoyed this short little Aliens book. The ending was very good and I really wish the female MC, McGuinness had another book. And Doctor Church is just so infuriating, but I also want to know more about his research and where it gets him. Overall, very enticing.

[mariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.25) a decent alien horror book. parts of the plot and writing were ehhhhh but i enjoyed reading all the gruesome icky parts that’s always explored within the franchise and just learning more about the xenomorphs !

[Charlie Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading. Good adventure. I feel a lot more interested in how the ALIENS novels are continuing the story in contrast to the film sequels.

[Erica Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually read hprro, but I love the Alien movies so I bought all the books and this is terrifying if you put yourself in their shoes. I love it!

[Bruce Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite Aliens books. i loved the idea of how similar it is to the minotaur maze.

[Exanimis · Rating 5 out of 5]

S.D.Perry did it again, another great entry into the franchise.
Franchise book #16
First novel series #7

[Andrew Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine, as far as these things go. It's better-written than some of the others, but story-wise it's pretty standard. Mad scientist, weird experiments, alien attacks, yadda yadda.

[Zoran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and fun read for a casual alien fan who never had a chance to read alien graphic novels.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different from the others. Very dark, but enjoyable book

[Bo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally an Aliens book that doesn't feature the queen or any derivative.