Alien: Uncivil War

A Novel

De: Brendan Deneen

Narrado por: Austin Rising

War will always find a man like you.

This ALIEN story begins where most end: with a xenomorph loose on a damaged spaceship hurtling through space. Once a highly decorated marine, Chris Temple, a recently widowed single father to two young daughters, Jane, 11, and Emma, 8, is onboard. Despite his particular set of skills, Chris doesn’t get involved in the fight with the alien, instead focusing on keeping his children safe as the ship comes in for a crash landing.

The family land safely on an idyllic outpost planet, where Chris is told that the ship has been destroyed beyond recognition and nothing could have survived the crash. That’s only the first lie. Chris and his daughters love their new life, but something doesn’t feel right. Chris is a paranoid type, but just because he’s paranoid, doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

There are nasty surprises in store as Chris investigates the web of lies and conspiracies. After leaving a ruined Earth, it seems Chris and his daughters have crash-landed on a planet on the verge of all-out civil war. Chris will have to call on the battle skills he never wanted to use again in order to protect his daughters, deal with violence-hungry marines, and battle the xenomorph that’s killing people regardless of which side of the civil war they’re on.

©2024 Brendan Deneen (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing

Same as the Rest.

Not much going for it in the aspect of Aliens themselves but an overall good book regardless

it's an original story with new characters

The narrator was amazing! He really brought the characters to life. I do wish the story was more focused on the xenos, however. Overall, I did like the book.

Love it!

Great storyline. Left wanting more. Expect the unexpected. listened to it over and over. highly recommend it

Slow burn but worth it

Not to be too pedantic, but this was written in a very passive voice that just didn't exude the tension and intensity I expect from an Aliens book.

The characters were enjoyable enough but I had a hard time suspending belief about far too many aspects of Chris Temple's inner thoughts and treatment of his daughters. That said, the kids were the most believable kids I've read in an aliens book, not that there are many.

I ended up feeling like the intrigue took too long to evolve and far too much time was spent showing how perfect everything in the settlement was. Creating suspicion earlier may have added to the intensity when so little excitement was happening.

Likewise, the introduction of the USM crew was far too lacking in drama and focused on how good things were. It was supposed to build a connection with the characters but felt too forced.

Ultimately, the story was solid and I felt like I needed to let this thing develop to see where it was going but I wasn't compelled I could have put it down and walked away and I was curious where this Bever Cleaver colony was going to end up. The near lack of Xenonorph activity in the book really made me question if I was actually listening to an aliens story. While the story was solid, it lacked the punch it needed, and felt like it was written for a PG audience, like a family friendly Disney adaptation of Aliens.

Gimme summa’ that REDNECK ALIEN!

I have to admit, there’s only a little bit of redneck in the story, and I’m not completely sure if what there is might not be due to the narrator’s performance. But there’s one quasi-comic scene which, along with the narrator’s choice of interpretation, made me decide to use this title for my review. I enjoyed this new addition to the alien series. It had realistic characters, a complicated plot that continuously delighted me and a quadruple-layered frightening environment to add even more delight to this writer/editor.

There is the essential synthetic human character, but one that is very different from nearly every Alien story I’ve heard/read. There are 2 children - both daughters of a widowed ex-military special forces officer. Those are the good guys. The others vary in the way threaten this small family. Yes, the synth is part of the family,

As for the narration, it was excellent except for the problem many male narrators have when portraying women. The “femme fatale” has the voice of a 50-year old, chain smoking bar fly. It’s incredible that his characterization of young girls and a variety of other characters was so perfect - yet this one was so, so far off. In a way I could see how the character might have a voice like that - but at 2/3s of the story. Every time that character said something the least bit seductively it put my teeth on edge. It’s really tragic that such an amazing narrator has this one flaw, which impacts such an important character in the story.

But this is no reason not to listen to this outstanding work of sci-fi horror in the alien universe. Or to completely dismiss the very talented interpretation by the narrator. I highly suggest this audiobook for anyone who enjoys horror and/or science fiction.