5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic story!

F.O. · 16 February 2025

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } Thanks so much for this. It was a great story!A synthetic who wants to be human and humans who want to be synthetic while trying to dabble in stuff humans shouldn’t. As usual humans try to weaponize aliens, why don’t they ever learn that they can’t control anything? It was a fantastic read!

3.0 out of 5 stars Synthetics

J.D. · 15 February 2025

I liked the story, but there were too many gaps. Zula Hendricks and the Jackals are still out there and fighting the good fight against those who try to control and/or weaponise the Xenomorphs, but very recently she has been joined in the fight by her Synthetic "daughter", Mae Hendricks. Very few people know she is a Synthetic, for good reason-Davis, Zula's long-time right hand man and Synthetic himself, created her. Atop which, she is trying to be more human, which isn't easy.The good is that Zula and the Jackals are shown fighting the good fight, doing what they do and dealing with yet another catastrophe caused by attempts to control Xenomorphs. Yet again, it has failed-but they are on a space station and escape is VERY complicated this time, if they even can. The Aliens series is known to kill off major characters, after all...But, early on, Zula's ship crosses paths with what can only be an Engineer Dreadnaught, which has been attacking human colonies with the nanotech "plague" that was originally used to create the Xenomorphs by David in "Covenant". They find a lead, which leads them to Minos station, which claims they cannot board since they have an airlock malfunction even with the damaged ship docked for repairs. Zula offers to simply cut through the door, which suddenly becomes unnecessary...Then it becomes interesting. The oddity, which is complicated, is that while the story focuses on Mae Hendricks this time around, we see almost nothing of the Xenomorph Outbreak or the Jackals after a certain point. Also, a new Synthetic called Rook is introduced, who I think must be from another book I haven't read. He is also barely in the story.Sadly, Mae just isn't interesting enough in the story to really hold the attention by herself. I was hoping she would be far more like Zula than she turns out, although she is of course her own person. But...David, in the films, is magnetic as a Synthetic who is very likely out of his mind, almost certainly a psychopath and, clearly, insane the last time we see him. Ash was clever and ruthless and you wanted to know who and why.Mae just...isn't compelling. Maybe it's too early for her to be fully developed, but I had a hard time caring what happened to her.It was an interesting story. But Mae isn't a good focus, yet.

Evil Takes Many Forms

N.A.K. · 20 January 2025

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } The Alien universe has always been about humans vs. monsters. This book is a great reminder that the Xenomorphs are a biological nightmare, but humans can be monsters themselves. Ballantine maintains a fluid storyline that inhabits multiple locations, introduces sympathetic heroes, returns several characters from her last read, and invites new villains to the story. Corporate greed has always been an underpinning of these stories, and the Extractors are a wonderful personification of this apathy. This book is well-paced, action-filled, and super hard to put down. Definitely worth the time. Can't wait for the next one!

Alien series

S. · 23 January 2025

Another great addition to the Alien seriesHighly recommend

Not your typical alien novel

F. · 22 February 2025

This book starts out good but then plateaus out a bit, dealing mainly with the evil machinations of the companies and less of the xenos, which is the reason I read the books. It takes a while to get interesting and overall its a good read. A lot of references are made from prior alien novels so if your not a fan you might not get some of this book. I give only 4 stars due to the lack of xenos.

Barely an Alien novel

j.h. · 17 January 2025

If you love Sythetics and constant reminders that the main character is one, this is the novel for you.If you love Xenomorphs, you are entirely out of luck as they barely show up as a sideshow that lack all of the horror elements or mystery of previous entries in these novels.The novel jumps all over from different points of time without so much as a marker and you are left constantly flipping back pages and scratching your head how any of this matters. Zula Hendricks is featured and she is the single most boring person to have ever existed if you go by the writing in this book. And finally, the errors. The constant, grating errors that basic fans will notice and yet this novel claims to have been co-authored by a lore expert. Did they take the week off when this was written? Plot points are introduced then discarded with a flick of the wrist and that is if the author manages to care to keep the continuity on top of the egregious time jumps chapter to chapter.You're better off skipping this novel if you want to read about horror and Xenomorphs, this novel forgot those elements were the whole reason anyone bought it.

Second worst alien novel available.

C.H. · 22 January 2025

Way better than Inferno's fall but still pretty bad. The addition of Rook into.the story helps and Mae is better but I think I'm gonna pass on anymore of Ballatine's alien books. I couldn't have been more bored ... Nothing happens of any note until the last quarter. The author still doesn't know how to develop characters. I don't expect high art for a scifi book but jeez, the characters are lifeless. I still didn't care if any of them died.