This is more like it... trash, for sure, but better than a franchise spin-off probably has any right to be, and something I very much enjoyed. While more or less throwaway soap horror, it still functions as a nice bit of character-driven science fiction that's severed from the events of the films. Curiously, it's written in present tense, which does allow for more immediacy in the telling and works well for the more action-orientated sequences, but it adds little to the early portion of the book.

Weyland Yutani have their research station for the Xenomorph at this point and the bulk of the narrative centres around the power play that happens during a major audit, alongside some background espionage. The dynamics between characters are well rendered and two of the most interesting are an evil corporate suit with an artistic side and a dying woman who is forced to conduct her research by transferring her consciousness into a male android shell. The presence of a malicious virus in development also presents a security risk, and I'm sure you can guess where that leads in a facility that relies on technology to keep deadly aliens safely distant.

So, eventually, as can probably be expected in a book based on a horror franchise, things take a turn for the gory. Action and death take centre stage. But, because White takes the time to set up characters and flesh out relationships, it's actually quite thrilling when we see the lives of these people threatened. Nearly everyone here is an asshole though, so it's less of a fear for their safety as it is a hope that they get what's coming to them in the right manner and at the right time. The descriptions are outrageous and hilarious but really do add to the experience. Often this sort of thing will irk me, but in this context, it worked in the book's favour.

"He's praying... maybe he's imagining the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den. But there is no god here. There is only the devil, the all-consuming fire of a raging star and the infinite blackness."

( )

If you're a fan of the whole Aliens universe like me you'll enjoy most of the tie-in novels, but Cold Forge really is a cut above the rest. At the heart of the novel are well drawn, complex characters who you find yourself rooting for even though they're difficult to like. It's well paced and the author's clearly gone to great lengths to make the scientific explorations within the book believable and consistent with the canonical Aliens sources. Highly recommended. ( )

My rating is based solely on my displeasure of the end for one particularly horrible character.

These stories are weird in that they regurgitate lines and plot devices from the movies. They're fascinating in that the company keeps finding new and ingenious ways at failing to tame xenomorphs, while their, poor dumbass employees think company loyalty will actually save them.

This story was packed with intrigue, betrayal, murder, carnage, and of course, xenomorph shenanigans.

A good listen. ( )

Sometimes you have to start a review with: in all fairness.

In all fairness you can actually compare airport novels to literary works. Here's why. I have a friend who is a very good and well established poet. She will frequently say: the reason I can't write fiction is because I don't have that knack to make the magic trick work, the one where from the first sentence you transport someone into a different world and won't let them go until it's all said and done.

Sure, you probably won't learn anything about the depths of the human soul. But do we really need to? We already have millions and millions of books trying to do just that. In fact, at least with a novel like this you won't have a life lesson forced down your throat (pun sort of intended).

You may think that I'm trying to defend this novel in some way by disparaging works of heavy literature. I'm not, I'm trying to make the point that those writers who create spinoff-novels, off-shoots and novelizations might actually know very well what they are doing. Maybe even more so than someone writing an article for let's say Antioch or Granta. Why? Because pieces published in literary journals don't have to have that magic trick, it's ok if people who read the pieces know it's a literary piece. In fact it helps.

Over the hundreds of books I've read and thousands of short stories submitted to the literary journal I was an editor of, I've come to greatly appreciate the authors like Tim Waggoner or Tim Lebbon or Alex White. They have mastered their craft and they are making a contribution to entertainment. They are keeping our minds occupied and entertained and that's quite a compliment. ( )

Imagine, if you will, an Alien novel in that takes place on the Icarus II. On this ship, Norman Bates works for the Company and serves as the antagonist for Dr. Grace Augustine. Only Dr. Augustine is no longer 'just' a woman - she is a physically disabled, black, lesbian woman with fluid gender presentation. In other words, she is everything MRAs, GamerGaters, and incels hate and fear.

I love her to pieces.

The premise is that Blue (Dr. Augustine) is a scientist hired by W-Y to study the Xenos and figure out all the ways to weaponize them. Instead, Blue is attempting to extract black goo from facehuggers and use it to create a panacea for all genetic disorders - including her own. Because of this disorder that's slowly killing her and robbing her of her physical faculties, Blue operates primarily through remote-controlling an android called Marcus. Dorian (Norman Bates) is an auditor sent to Cold Forge (Icarus II) to make it more efficient and profitable. He is a sociopath obsessed with status (if you haven't guessed already) that gets off on manipulating, hurting, and yes, killing people. Through his machinations, he discovers Blue's duplicity. Aliens escape, and Blue and Dorian play a brutal game of cat and mouse as they try to escape.

Blue was very well-written. I dug her Robin Hood-style steal from the rich to give to the poor schitck (though its obviously not a purely selfless act). Blue can be petty and bitchy at times, but possesses inordinate determination and focus. Her moral compass is pretty straight. Despite my initial snark, she doesn't feel like pandering to a demographic - she isn't a caricature whose race/gender/orientation define her, and she struggles the entire book to not be defined by her disability. She isn't a stereotype or token. It was a welcome breath of fresh air.

Dorian, by contrast, is much shallower. He starts out as a believable asshole, but as the story moves forward, he becomes more and more cartoonish. Part of this is due to his contact with the Xenos basically driving him mad with worship and euphoria, but a good part felt evil to be evil.

Marcus the android was interesting. He's a character in his own right, but also set dressing. I would have liked him to have more screen time, perhaps see a bit more derangement after Blue uses him to euthanize someone.

Overall, its a fun, creepy romp that feels at home in the Aliens universe. ( )