Alien: The Cold Forge

Alien: The Cold Forge gets what works about the first three Alien movies (yes, I think Alien 3 has plenty of stuff in it that works), and the Alien: Isolation video game, and continues in the same vein to tell a story about obsession, espionage, and the will to survive. Alex White understands that the scariest monster in this universe is and always has been Man, and goes about showing that the sort of cold, corporate, greed-driven evil represented by Weyland-Yutani and Seegson can also give birth to evils much more intimate and personal. This is not a happy book ... but most of the media set in this world doesn't tell happy stories, even if it sometimes gives you semi-happy endings. Another reviewer compared this book to works like David Fincher's Seven, and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, in terms of tone, and I wouldn't disagree. I happen to like both of those works very much, and I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I loved this story's protagonist, Blue, because I didn't particularly like her. She's not all that more sympathetic than the primary antagonist (the most sympathetic characters in the book are an android named Marcus and a couple of the secondary Cold Forge workers who are just trying to do their jobs). Crippled by a progressive genetic disease, Blue is bedridden for a large portion of the novel, which sets her up with some extreme difficulties to overcome once things, as they inevitably do in this universe, all go to hell. She uses a combination of wits and will to survive, and I found myself rooting for her despite her negative character traits. She's no Ellen (or Amanda) Ripley, but that's OK ... we've already gotten to know those characters, and don't need them recycled. What I didn't like quite as much was the primary antagonist. I don't think I've ever seen someone quite like Blue in a book before. I've seen people like Dorian, whose ruthless corporate efficiency moves toward sadism and psychopathy in a way that I don't think will surprise many readers. He's still compelling and extremely fun to root against, so I'm not knocking a star off or anything, but I'd liked to have seen just a little bit more in his character that felt new. The writing's great--I think even better than White's first novel, which I also enjoyed--and the pacing is perfect. Everything hums along and keeps you reading until the bitter end. There's enough tech, science, and medicine to keep things feeling grounded without causing your eyes to glaze over, and I thought the descriptions of the Cold Forge itself really helped set the scene. If you're a fan of the universe or just of dark Sci-Fi in general, this one's a strong recommend.

I had never read an Alien novel outside of the movie novelizations before. This one came recommended, and I agree it’s a well written novel inside the Alien universe. On a secret space station orbiting a star, scientists are researching dangerous programs, including one regarding the use of aliens. A company auditor arrives, a sociopath as dangerous as the xenomorphs being studied. The doctor (dying of a rare disease and needing control of an android to work) in charge of the Alien program despises him on sight, and a war of wills begins. Of course things go wrong, and we get plenty of horror and action. Memorable characters make this novel go.

This book was a breath of fresh air. Normally, I can’t stand franchise fiction. Branded books tend to be bottom of the barrel in quality, just absolute trash. Not this book. Alex White’s writing is intelligent, artistic, powerful and clean. Not only is it poetic and passionate enough to really make you feel things, it’s gripping. The story is well told. Also, I haven’t found a single typo in the whole book, which is amazing because most books from big name publishers these days have at least 7-8 minor typos in them. I was honestly so impressed by the writing in this book that before I was even halfway finished reading it, I ordered two more of White’s books so I can plow through them at lightspeed as well.

I’m a total sucker for “Alien”-franchise books, and Alien: The Cold Forge, by Alex White, is just the right blend of sci-fi and horror. Dorian Sudler, the director of special resources for Weyland-Yutani, is on his way to a space station to audit them. Dorian loves firing people and finding ways to save money, and he’s already anticipating just how much fun this trip will be. The station is actually being run by a skeleton staff because it’s host to just three projects, all of which are highly secretive. One is Glitter Edifice, which is being run by Dr. Blue Marsalis. She’s supposed to be weaponizing the xenomorphs, but she’s secretly blowing through the face-huggers in an attempt to find a substance they inject into the host bodies that’s capable of rewriting DNA. She has a nasty genetic illness that she won’t survive much longer if she can’t make it work. And if Dorian finds out she’s running her own experiments using the almost priceless, limited supply of xenomorph eggs, he’ll cancel her project and she’ll die in short order. Then, the product of one of the other projects “escapes”–a program that’s built to enter a network and be as destructive as possible–cyber-warfare, basically. Blue and Dorian are the two point-of-view characters and it’s fascinating. Dorian is pretty clearly a psychopath, but not your average psychopath. He makes decisions and takes actions that, once you’ve seen his reasoning, make sense, but are unexpected. Blue is rather self-centered for her part, but I mean, when you’ve been dying for a decade and you’re running out of time to stop it, that makes some sense. And I like the fact that she isn’t perfect and pure. Blue is also a disabled heroine, and that is handled extremely well. She isn’t paralyzed or completely incapable of walking, which is great–almost all media focused on the disabled show that either you need a wheelchair or you don’t, and there’s no partially-mobile middle ground. That depiction has done a lot of harm to disabled people who are capable of standing up and taking a few steps, only to have people around them insist that means they aren’t disabled. Blue needs a lot of medications and a lot of care. Marcus is a synthetic, and he’s Blue’s arms and legs in a sense. Blue can “pilot” Marcus, taking him over entirely, and in that state she’s basically superhuman. But it also damages the relationships she might have had with the crew, leaving them not entirely trusting of her or interested in helping her out. Marcus also handles things like Blue’s meds and the care of her colostomy bag and catheter–the presence of which is, again, handled very well. Blue still has a lot of interaction with the story on her own, not just through Marcus. He isn’t used as a magical escape to make Blue essentially non-disabled, and he’s both a help and a hindrance. The xenomorphs are seen very soon after the book starts–Blue has already hatched quite a few of them. Once Silversmile, the aggressive program, escapes, it’s inevitable that the xenomorphs will somehow escape. At first I thought they were going to entirely elide the how of their escape, because we seem to go straight from them being trapped to them being on the loose. But the story unfolds later in the tale, when our characters are finding out certain secrets. Many of the side characters have interest as well. Some we never find out a lot about, but hey, someone has to die first! And even in the brief interactions with some of them there’s always a touch of personality. The pacing is also top-notch, with plenty of action building up throughout the book. If, like me, you love the combination of sci-fi and horror that the Alien franchise has practically trademarked, then I think you’ll love this book! Content note: abstracted sex scene; blood and gore.

Wie "immer" passiert was passieren muß, aber unter durchaus spannenden Rahmenbedingungen. Der "Held" zB ist körperlich eingeschränkt was durchaus eine Herausforderung ist wenn man überlegt was in Alien 2 passiert :-) ich weiß, ich weiß "absichtlich" ein unerfahrener Offizier usw. führten dort zur Katastrophe... Empfehle das Buch auch jenen die alle anderen Bücher kennen

Thoroughly enjoyed this book as a huge fan of the Alien franchise. The story is set out well with clearly defined stakes and motivations, the two lead characters are very memorable (especially Dorian) and the are some moments that are amongst the best in the franchise. The best part of the book for me is the perverse descriptive detail the author gives to the violence, it really brought it off the page. Unfortunately I'm not sure that the final two chapters stick the landing for the story, it had such a fantastic build up and escalating tension in the second half of the book i was a bit disappointed with how it concluded. But criticism aside its a fantastic self contained Alien story that explores the darkest parts of human nature and embodies the words of Ellen Ripley in Aliens "I dont know which species is worse". Well worth your time and money.

Great read, shows the dark side of the company and got me into the franchise once again, and reading! Haha

The Cold Forge Doctor Marsalis is someone I'm going to remember in the years to come, when I look back at the good Alien stories that have well defined protagonists and antagonists. Something that's started with David/Walter in Covenant for me personally and continues with Marcus in this is, a feeling that these Synthetics deserved better, they were more virtuous and humane than the humans they tried and failed to help. I really didn't expect Seegson to play as large of a role as they did, whilst being totally compatible with the story being told- not feeling like a tie in or just a cameo, in this way it almost feels like a quasi-sequel to Alien Isolation. If Alien Isolation is "closing the book" despite taking place between Alien and Aliens, is more appropriately viewed/played after Alien 3 is taken into context- then The Cold Forge is absolutely best read after the reader has at least experienced one of Ridley Scott's prequels. It must be commended for really being a white-knuckle-type gripping book, especially near the end where it's using it's established use of POV changes to leave you on a never-ending stream of constant cliff hangers. Even though I have some contention with Dorian, namely the Alien admiration is becoming old hat with now individuals (David, Dr Church, Tribes Scientist-) and cults, although the latter is more tolerable, he still is excellently fleshed out and exquisitely despicable. Almost gets off too easy if you ask me, although I wouldn't rob that ending as it's written. The real gem of the story isn't really the Alien itself, but the way it causes tensions to turn to stampede and the Snatchers serve an excellent purpose in that regard, where in any moment they may shear their way through the paragraph to the character you've been following and unless you've got a magic matchstick up your sleeve, well... The story ends satisfactorily on it's own terms and if it doesn't get a sequel, it at least deserves a hardback.

I thought it as comics book of avp series.But it was a novel.Not completed it but it looks somehow interesting.