Alien: Colony War

By: David M. Barnett

Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio

Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Political conflicts on Earth erupt into open hostilities between their colonies in space, with Xenomorphs as the ultimate weapon.

On Earth, political tensions boil over between the United Americas, Union of Progressive Peoples, and Three World Empire. Conflict spreads to the outer fringes, and the UK colony of New Albion breaks with the Three World Empire. This could lead to a Colony War.

Trapped in the middle are journalist Cher Hunt, scientist Chad McLaren, and the synthetic Davis. Cher, seeking to discover who caused the death of her sister, Shy Hunt, uncovers a far bigger story. McLaren’s mission, fought alongside his wife, Amanda Ripley, is to stop the militarization of the deadliest weapon of all—the Xenomorph.

Their trail leads to a drilling facility on LV-187. Someone or something has destroyed it, killing the personnel, and the British are blamed. Colonial forces arrive, combat erupts, then both groups are overwhelmed by an alien swarm. Their only hope may lie with the Royal Marines unit known as “God’s Hammer”.

©2022 David Barnett (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

good

I liked the book I enjoyed the continuation of Davis's story. fun build up. definitely enjoyed the ending where it left off at. could make for an interesting next few books.

The synthetic dog is the best part.

It’s just…blah. The synthetic dog is the one element of the story that I think would transfer really well to screen. The rest is meandering and dare I say…boring? The menace of the beast is blunted and made mundane by the narrative. Better than some Aliens stories…but not great either.

Not the worst

Not one of the worst books. There were some grand politics in it and it seems a bit short. I liked it.

Ok story

The narrator is phenomenal. The story line was good- I would like more aliens though.

Really cool

Great characters and a fun story. Really nice to know Shy Hunt has a sister that’s looking for the truth. It felt short but I probably just went through it too quick. Shiromi is growing me!

Not what I expected

I love Allen’s.
And know tons of nerdy stuff and trivia about the whole Aliens universe and I hold anything related to it to very high standards.
I this book didn’t even make
It close to satisfying my me Alien content cravings

One of the better Alien novels!

Alien novels are a guilty pleasure of mine and the quality varies, but I really was into this one. I feel like the author gets what makes xenomorphs scarry, there were some very likeable characters I was genuinely rooting for, and it was an all around engaging narrative.

I also liked the side trips into the political meta narrative that give a glimpse into the wider happenings of the Alien universe. They gave a sense of context and of larger things going on, and I'm looking forward to future novels exploring an ongoing persistent story.

The narrator does a good job, I always had a good sense of which character was speaking.

Decent, but could've been better.

Perhaps a tad bit too political for my taste, usually I prefer more Xenomorphs in my Alien books, but it is what it is. The Narrator is fantastic per usual. She has a nice range, good with accents, and easily distinguishable voice that makes the characters feel alive and independent.
I did enjoy having Davis the A.I. from the Comics, who partnered with Zula Hendricks join, but unfortunately, the ending (for me) did not work. I hate that they just kill him off randomly, so I'll use my head canon to pretend the writer didn't ruin one of the better Alien comic's characters. Plus, last we knew, he was with Zula working as a Security officer on a remote colony in the Necromorph book, then all of the sudden, he's with this new McLaren guy we've never heard of and Zula is mysteriously gone? Strange choice, Mr. Writer...
I give a 3.5 out of 5 because Sheromi really carries the story for me.

Great news story lines!

The excellent characters, plot twists and turns, and the new political intrigue of governments at war. Excellent!

needed more development and editing

more than a few head scratching plot twists and turns made this a weaker story than it might otherwise have been. Not nearly as good as the Alex white alien novels, which I highly recommend. fantastic narrator.