Reviews

Aliens: Infiltrator by Weston Ochse

twicomb's review

2.0

Listened to this after Cold Forge and it was very disappointing. Cold Forge was tremendous. This was flat, rushed, and used gore as an excuse for describing the characters’ actual emotions as fear.

Not sure how to evoke terror? Just put in more descriptions of blood spraying on walls! /sarcasm

Um, no. Gore =/= terror. (As an aside, if you’re looking for gory Aliens books which I know some readers like, you’re going to love this one.)

Also, the narrator of the audiobook is painful - he doesn’t take breaths between his sentences or at least it’s edited that way so when you’re listening everything just becomes one endless sentence as he tells you that the alien leapt down from the rafters the man grabbed a knife but it was too late the alien was coming straight for him the table nearby was solid metal so he rolled underneath hoping it would protect him in another instant the alien was on top of the table ramming it with its claws he gripped the knife tighter knowing he could do nothing but still unwilling to die without trying to fight for his life globs of alien spittle rained down on every side….
DUDE, take a breath!! It’s exhausting listening to this narrator.

I love all things Alien but this book is quite low on that list.

davidcrow's review

5.0

I was expecting a lot less from a novel claiming to be a prequel to the video game. It's a self contained story and very enjoyable.

rastonwarriorrobot's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

orion1225's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

mferrante83's review

4.0

I enjoyed this one a bit more than Cold Forge. Ochse lingers a bit more on the experiments being performed and overall laid out a more defined setting here.

parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

quite possibly the worst experience I ever had reading an Alien(s) tie-in novel. And I've read like 6 of them by now. It's got everything: military worship, a complete mismatch with how the xenomorph hive functions in basically every other Alien(s) Thing ever,

the dense white genius protagonist is the lone survivor at the end while the two named black characters die

, sexism, generally juvenile writing, every character is kind of a caricature, and the

MC's ex girlfriend spawning a xeno is treated as some kind of karmic justice?

Also

the girlfriend is a serial killer

for no discernible reason to justify the misogyny? just. ugh.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, and Gore

spinnerdriver's review

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

skaldhart's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

virago's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 

This might be my favorite story, and cast of characters (not counting Aliens) of the series. While it was another secret lab stashed in deep space, the characters made it so much more interesting. 

There were scientists with sordid pasts, colonial marines turned scientist, private security, and of course, the always douchey Weyland-Yutani corporate stooge throwing monkey wrenches left and right. 

As always the company stashed the scientists in the middle of nowhere (for safety and secrecy) to perform experiments on Xenomorphs. They are tasked with trying to understand the creatures as well as to try to monetize their findings. 

Scientists, being too smart for their own good, managed to make the Xenomorphs even more dangerous with their experiments. Then they all escape their cages, wreak havoc on the station, and kill pretty much everyone. Sadly, the only people who learned a lesson were the ones who died for the sake of making the company richer. 

Excellent listen; the narrator was amazing! 

bookschief_managed's review

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I’ve always loved all the Alien movies, so I’m excited to start making my way through all the books. This one was great, your typical Alien story, lots of death by Xenomorphs, of course.

The one thing I didn’t like was how quickly everything ended. The ending felt rushed and I felt like an additional 50 pages or so would’ve been nice.

All in all, it was a good read and definitely had me hooked.