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Alien The Cold Forge

You'll have to forgive the terrible cover art, because what lies inside is superb.

Back in April, Titan Books released a new Alien novel, The Cold Forge by Alex White. For a long time it sat unread on my shelf, chiefly because I had such a large backlog of other novels that I'd yet to start. That meant I didn't pick it up until recently, but I finally got around to finishing it.

And it is absolutely excellent.

The really glaring difference between this and the other Alien novels I've read is that this isn't just a good Alien book — it's a damn good book full-stop. Great concepts, engaging characters and fantastic writing from White result in a brilliant novel that manages to be so much more than its run-of-the-mill synopsis suggests. Reading the back cover, we're led to believe this will be yet another rote tale about company scientists researching Xenomorphs on a secret space station yadda yadda... But the story White actually delivers manages to utterly surpass these humble foundations and become something truly memorable.

Take, for instance, the villain of the piece — Dorian Sudler. A slimy company stooge. We've seen his type countless times in the Alien franchise before. But good God, he turns out to be the single most exquisitely hateful bad guy I can ever recall reading about in a book, and his gradual descent from malicious sociopath to complete and utter madman was both superbly done and completely engrossing. Heroine Blue Marsalis is also by far the most interesting protagonist of any Alien novel I've read before — severely handicapped by a debilitating degenerative disease, she is almost totally feeble in her own body and forced to commandeer the station's synthetic Marcus in order to go about her daily business. Not only did her disability and the limitations it placed upon her bring so much to the story, the manner in which she lives her life through a synthetic surrogate was likewise refreshingly new and interesting.

Some superbly tense and scary sequences — in particular, a scene where Dorian hides in a cupboard while another of the station's staff is attacked in front of him was genuinely heart-racing. This is a book very obviously influenced by the wonderful Alien: Isolation, with its cast of largely unarmed survivors having to resort to ingenuity and stealth to survive. I also really liked that the Xenomorphs themselves were almost incidental for a lot of the story — after so many novels where they seem to spend most of the tale swarming the heroes and getting killed for their troubles, it was a refreshing change to read one where they were just kind of there doing their thing in the background, yet losing none of their threat, menace and intelligence in the process. The reduced focus on the creatures also gave the human characters a chance to shine.

If I had any criticisms at all of the book, it's that I thought the very final scene was a bit of a disappointing cliché, although it did at least leave room for a follow-up, which I'd welcome. Dorian's ultimate fate also felt like a bit of a let-down — he was so loathsome that I dearly wanted him to suffer a far more awful end, but upon reflection, there's no denying that what we get serves as a perfect conclusion to how his character develops over the course of the story. The fact I was rooting for him to suffer more is also a testament to how well White writes such a despicable character. In the grand scheme though, these criticisms are such minor quibbles they pale in comparison to everything I loved about the book.

In summary, I cannot praise this novel enough. While there are other Alien novels I have always held a special affection for (Rogue, Berserker), this one is almost certainly the best of the lot. I would go so far as to suggest it is quite simply required reading for any fan of the series. It's that good.

So if you haven't already — get out there and buy a copy!

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