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A review by itcamefromthepage
Aliens: Vasquez by V. Castro
4.0
This is for the most part an extremely strong book. This is actually my first V. Castro book but it will by no means be my last.
We get some outstanding background to the life of Vasquez in the first 80 pages of this book and it really makes a strong character study. In the film Aliens the character is written by a white man and portrayed by a woman in brownface, as such Castro manages to transform a caricature into a fully fleshed out character.
Once we get into the life of her kids it gets even better. Castro delves into the Alien universe in a deeper, more compelling way than the usual snapshots we get. It reminded me a lot of one of my favourite Alien books 'Alien: Covenant - Origins' which delved into the universe in such a rich way without having a single Alien in it.
Therein lies the problem with the last 60 pages, this feels like two books shoved together with an entire typical Alien story crammed into the last portion of the book. We didn't need the Xenomorphs to really appear at all in this story and while there are a few cool portions of action, it all starts to feel super rushed.
Make no mistake I LOVE the vast majority of this book, it's just a shame at how rushed the finale feels.
We get some outstanding background to the life of Vasquez in the first 80 pages of this book and it really makes a strong character study. In the film Aliens the character is written by a white man and portrayed by a woman in brownface, as such Castro manages to transform a caricature into a fully fleshed out character.
Once we get into the life of her kids it gets even better. Castro delves into the Alien universe in a deeper, more compelling way than the usual snapshots we get. It reminded me a lot of one of my favourite Alien books 'Alien: Covenant - Origins' which delved into the universe in such a rich way without having a single Alien in it.
Therein lies the problem with the last 60 pages, this feels like two books shoved together with an entire typical Alien story crammed into the last portion of the book. We didn't need the Xenomorphs to really appear at all in this story and while there are a few cool portions of action, it all starts to feel super rushed.
Make no mistake I LOVE the vast majority of this book, it's just a shame at how rushed the finale feels.