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joshgauthier's review
5.0
White absolutely knows how deliver and Alien novel, delivering a new story that showcases all the hallmarks of the franchise while also carving out inventive new territory. Into Charybdis is loosely a follow-up to White's The Cold Forge with some references to familiar characters and events--as well as other pieces from the franchise movies. However, no real knowledge is necessary to dive into this newest installment which functions both as an excellent Alien story and a great sci-fi horror novel in its own right.
The Alien franchise has always recognized some core things, corporate greed, violence, fear, animalistic tendencies, and basic survival. White delivers all of these elements in bold display amidst the clash of unchecked corporate interests and military expansion. However, they also ground the narrative in richly complex and human characters, voices who refuse to simply take part in the bloodshed around them. It's engaging thematic work that gets its point across in story itself, never needing to linger in order to be remembered.
And as the Aliens are unleashed and the bodies hit the floor, White does much more than rehash familiar story beats. Expanding the universe with new players, new environments, and several key surprises, Alien: Into Charybdis is a delightfully thrilling novel of people, monsters, and the sometimes blurry line between those two categories.
The Alien franchise has always recognized some core things, corporate greed, violence, fear, animalistic tendencies, and basic survival. White delivers all of these elements in bold display amidst the clash of unchecked corporate interests and military expansion. However, they also ground the narrative in richly complex and human characters, voices who refuse to simply take part in the bloodshed around them. It's engaging thematic work that gets its point across in story itself, never needing to linger in order to be remembered.
And as the Aliens are unleashed and the bodies hit the floor, White does much more than rehash familiar story beats. Expanding the universe with new players, new environments, and several key surprises, Alien: Into Charybdis is a delightfully thrilling novel of people, monsters, and the sometimes blurry line between those two categories.
readwithanna's review against another edition
2.5
On the one hand I think this is better than the other Alex White book I've read (alien: the cold forge) I also found this to be pretty forgettable.
There are many characters and it's hard to keep track of them all.
The plot is muddled and while at first I liked that the book took time to set up the characters and the plot before introducing the xenomorphs, eventually it started to feel like this was an alien book without aliens. And I'm still fuzzy on how the xenomorphs are even where they are. I must have missed something.
It's a shame because I really like the alien franchise.
There are many characters and it's hard to keep track of them all.
The plot is muddled and while at first I liked that the book took time to set up the characters and the plot before introducing the xenomorphs, eventually it started to feel like this was an alien book without aliens. And I'm still fuzzy on how the xenomorphs are even where they are. I must have missed something.
It's a shame because I really like the alien franchise.
hexmurphy's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
nermutbundaloy's review
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mferrante83's review
4.0
This might be my favorite of the new Aliens novels to have come out. There are a handful of characters to root for, corporate chicanery, and an interesting cliffhanger that I hope any future novels play off.
parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Confinement and Drug use
Minor: Racism, Sexual violence, and Islamophobia
itcamefromthepage's review
5.0
Such an absolute delight to read.
This was my second read and it still holds up amazingly well.
My favourite book I read in 2021.
This was my second read and it still holds up amazingly well.
My favourite book I read in 2021.
alexalily's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Torture
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Drug use, Confinement, and Gun violence
Minor: Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Sexual violence
michestb's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gore
siena_j_p's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book absolutely DESTROYED me in the best way possible. It was filled with twists and turns, kept me on the edge of my seat, and ended with the sense of dawning horror that is, in my opinion, both the hardest to do well but also the absolute best part of horror as a genre. Initially, we begin with two narrators, Shy Hunt and Kamran Afghanzadeh. Shy works for an American tech company hired by Hasanova Data Solutions, an Iranian company which has built a colony on a planet over a mysterious pit known as Charybdis (dude, these people had it coming living somewhere named Charybdis. Learn your mythology). Kamran works for Hasanova, and after a workplace accident his command structure is thrown into chaos as he’s expected to take on a new set of responsibilities, including managing Shy’s team. However, things go horribly wrong, leading a member of Shy’s team to send a distress signal to the American military. Because you know. That always goes so well. It’s at about this point that the point of view begins to fragment, bringing in perspectives from members of the marine team that arrives, the Iranian civilians, and some assorted others. And everything generally begins to spiral out of control. Now, I struggled a bit to get into this at first, probably because this is only one part of a slightly convoluted extension of the Alien/Predator/Prometheus film universe and this happens to be the point that I picked up at but I honestly have no idea if it was the right place to start? But the good news is, there were definitely references I didn’t pick up on but I was still very much able to enjoy the overall plot and points of the story. Because of the nature of the genre (very much action/horror, in the vein of the original Alien), I didn’t necessarily connect to the characters either, but again, that isn’t really the point of the genre. It was more an exploration of accountability, nationalism, and pride as seen in a situation that tears people apart in part because of their own actions. In a word, it was brilliant. The ending filled me with rage but because of the horror and depressingness of it, not because of how it was written. If I was missing one thing it was probably further exploration of the synthetics – it was touched on a lot but never fully developed. I suspect other books in this series deal with it more, but there were really specific relationships that I really would have liked to see more of. I also want to make a quick observation – this book is very conscious of most cultural elements it dealt with, so it was really frustrating to see it lean into the evil East Asian scientist trope. Without getting too spoilery, there’s one Japanese character who works with the marines, is power-hungry, and a huge coward. I think this character might have been previously introduced in a different piece of the universe? But nonetheless, this trope is really tired and frustrating, and I don’t even see the value that this character added to the story. He could be cut out and it would hardly make a difference. So that was probably my biggest issue with this book. Other than that slip of judgment, though, this was a very very good critique of militarization, colonialism, and patriotism.