Alien: Uncivil War

A Novel

By: Brendan Deneen

Narrated by: Austin Rising

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

War will always find a man like you.

This ALIEN story begins where most end: with a xenomorph loose on a damaged spaceship hurtling through space. Once a highly decorated marine, Chris Temple, a recently widowed single father to two young daughters, Jane, 11, and Emma, 8, is onboard. Despite his particular set of skills, Chris doesn’t get involved in the fight with the alien, instead focusing on keeping his children safe as the ship comes in for a crash landing.

The family land safely on an idyllic outpost planet, where Chris is told that the ship has been destroyed beyond recognition and nothing could have survived the crash. That’s only the first lie. Chris and his daughters love their new life, but something doesn’t feel right. Chris is a paranoid type, but just because he’s paranoid, doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

There are nasty surprises in store as Chris investigates the web of lies and conspiracies. After leaving a ruined Earth, it seems Chris and his daughters have crash-landed on a planet on the verge of all-out civil war. Chris will have to call on the battle skills he never wanted to use again in order to protect his daughters, deal with violence-hungry marines, and battle the xenomorph that’s killing people regardless of which side of the civil war they’re on.

©2024 Brendan Deneen (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing

It's not Alien

Most of the book has nothing to do with the xenomorph. Too many miraculous saves near the end.

just like everyone said not enough aliens

a little boring not enough alien interactions it's supposed to be an alien book for areason

Gimme summa’ that REDNECK ALIEN!

I have to admit, there’s only a little bit of redneck in the story, and I’m not completely sure if what there is might not be due to the narrator’s performance. But there’s one quasi-comic scene which, along with the narrator’s choice of interpretation, made me decide to use this title for my review. I enjoyed this new addition to the alien series. It had realistic characters, a complicated plot that continuously delighted me and a quadruple-layered frightening environment to add even more delight to this writer/editor.

There is the essential synthetic human character, but one that is very different from nearly every Alien story I’ve heard/read. There are 2 children - both daughters of a widowed ex-military special forces officer. Those are the good guys. The others vary in the way threaten this small family. Yes, the synth is part of the family,

As for the narration, it was excellent except for the problem many male narrators have when portraying women. The “femme fatale” has the voice of a 50-year old, chain smoking bar fly. It’s incredible that his characterization of young girls and a variety of other characters was so perfect - yet this one was so, so far off. In a way I could see how the character might have a voice like that - but at 2/3s of the story. Every time that character said something the least bit seductively it put my teeth on edge. It’s really tragic that such an amazing narrator has this one flaw, which impacts such an important character in the story.

But this is no reason not to listen to this outstanding work of sci-fi horror in the alien universe. Or to completely dismiss the very talented interpretation by the narrator. I highly suggest this audiobook for anyone who enjoys horror and/or science fiction.

More Aliens, please!

I rated this story a 4 because I felt that the storyline needed more aliens. The opening scene grabs your right away but then we don’t hear from the aliens until about the middle of the the story. After that, they only are mentioned a handful of times.

Love it!

Great storyline. Left wanting more. Expect the unexpected. listened to it over and over. highly recommend it

Same as the Rest.

Not much going for it in the aspect of Aliens themselves but an overall good book regardless

Not really an Alien novel

A good human antagonist adds a lot to an Aliens story (see The Cold Forge) but this book might as well not even have had Xenos in it at all. They have no meaningful impact on the plot after the prologue and make very few appearances.

Also, this Aliens expert that Titan supposedly has (mentioned in the author's notes) should assign somebody to make sure the authors know what a pulse rifle is in-universe. It's not a ray gun. just listen to the Larry Correia contribution to Bug Hunt so you don't sound clueless about an iconic element of the universe. The same thing pops up in the excellent River of Pain and a few other novels.

I love the Alien Universe

This book was another amazing addition to the Alien Universe and was very enjoyable to listen to. I wish there has been a little more Alien and gore but that is just a preference! Great book and definitely recommend!

My father’s love

It was nice to hear a bit of the continuation side story from Alien 4 But I enjoyed the father’s love for his daughters. He would do anything for them. The great story and it has a fantastic pace. I was never bored or I never lost track of what was going on at all times.

boring tale with occasional xenomorph

The story is well narrated and the beginning is awesome. Soon though, it gets boring with SuperDad corralling kids and playing James Bond.
I love the Alien universe. I love hard scifi. If you're tastes are similar, than this book is a bigger disappointment than Romulus.