Scott Sigler

Aliens: Phalanx is a solid, well-constructed entry in the Alien franchise, but it ultimately wasn’t aligned with what I personally look for in these stories.

Set in a pre-industrial society that interprets xenomorphs as “devils,” the novel takes an inventive approach to the universe. The worldbuilding is thoughtful, and the idea of humans developing their own warrior culture in response to the creatures is interesting. Scott Sigler clearly puts effort into making the setting feel show more coherent and lived-in, and the audiobook narration is strong.

However, the story leans heavily into military thinking, weaponry, and tactical problem-solving. Much of the focus is on how to fight, organize, and defeat the creatures. While this will likely appeal to readers who enjoy action-oriented science fiction, it wasn’t what I was hoping for.

What I tend to enjoy most in Alien stories is learning more about the xenomorphs themselves, the psychological impact of living under constant threat, and how people survive in environments where understanding is limited and fear is constant. Here, the aliens function more as enemies to be confronted than as an unknowable, existential presence.

Because of that, the experience felt competent but emotionally distant. I never disliked the book, but I also never felt deeply engaged. It moved smoothly, did what it set out to do, and then ended.

This is a good choice for readers who want an action-forward Alien story with inventive setting design and clear stakes. For readers more interested in atmosphere, survival psychology, and xenobiology, it may feel somewhat surface-level. show less

This novel is the concluding chapter to the author’s trilogy which began with Infected and followed up with Contagious. While it may not be strictly necessary to read the previous two novels in the series prior to reading this work (there are frequent information dumps for those that haven’t), I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t read the first two before the finale.

In Infected, an alien construct implants “seeds” into human hosts which mature into “hatchlings”. The hatchlings show more then leave their human hosts and proceed to build a device for interstellar transport of the alien species to Earth. In Contagious, the construct begins making modifications to its strategy, in response to the actions of the American doctors and military personnel tasked with stopping it, seeking to inject an element of transmission between hosts (hence the title). That novel details the political, strategic, medical and military responses to each succeeding refinement of the alien construct, culminating in a suspenseful and well-crafted climax.

In this conclusion to the trilogy, we fast forward several years, as the American Navy seeks to recover what remains of the alien construct on the floor of Lake Michigan. As you might imagine, they uncover more than they bargained for. The genie is once again out of the bottle and many of our old friends are pressed back into service in an attempt to save mankind.

The warning I would have for a potential reader of this novel is that it is incredibly violent, graphic and many times disgusting in its description of the process by which the “aliens” take charge of their hosts and the resulting behavior of those “infected” and “converted”. I’ve probably never read a more descriptive account of biological processes and responses than I encountered in this book. However, if you read Infected and Contagious, you know what I’m talking about. If you enjoyed the first two books, there is nothing in this sequel that will disappoint you.

In any event, I found this to be a good conclusion to the trilogy, though not quite up to the standards of its predecessor. Some of the actions and especially the dialogue became a little bit over the top and tiresome after having read over 1,000 pages. Okay, I get it, Clarence loves his wife. Move on. Most engaging to me was the story line involving the domestic and geo-political ramifications faced by the President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other department heads at cabinet level. I could have done with much more of the macro level action.

It bears noting that the author certainly makes an extreme effort to demonstrate his commitment to gender, racial and sexual preference equality (well, I’d say well beyond “equality”). Virtually every major character is a woman, Hispanic, African-American, a lesbian, part of a mixed race couple or a combination of all of the above. Most of the white males are Cold War dinosaurs, incompetents or clowns. I’m all for equality, but I’m not sure how many admirals, generals, Presidents, Chiefs of Staff and cabinet level staff are women/minorities; in this novel, they all are. When it goes so far overboard that it becomes a distraction, you might want to dial it back a bit. show less

The Alien franchise is a storied thing. Over the past 40+ years, it has been loaded with enough studs, duds, and middling material to fill several libraries. This means that innovating with the Alien franchise is no small ask, especially when it has to compete with the greats like the two first movies. But in spite of all of this, Phalanx doesn't just innovate, it completely reinvents what the Alien franchise could look like.

To make a long story short, Alien: Phalanx takes the classic Alien show more plot of "Weak, squishy humans trapped somewhere with horrible beings that are a cross between panthers and wasps" but applies it to an entire pseudo-medieval planet, where the most advanced level of weaponry are heavy crossbows instead of automatic machine guns with target tracking. Humanity in Phalanx isn't just outclassed by the xenomorphs, they are utterly dominated by them. To avoid being eaten alive, most of humanity is forced underground into mountain holdds and behind layers of lethal traps, dividing them into scheming factions united only by their siege mentality. The only reliable sources of accurate information, trade, and supplies is handled by youthful runners with a predictably high mortality rate.

In other words, Sigler doesn't just run well with all of these amazing set-ups and concepts, he hauls amazing levels of ass with it. You can really tell he wanted worldbuilding and characters that pulls you in and carries you away like a xenomorph on the hunt.

For example, one highlight of the novel is how the infamous acidic blood of xenomorphs is depicted. In addition to creating an unsustainable loss exchange ratio between xenomorphs versus humans in conflicts, winning a fight with a xenomorph is not a promise even the best-trained fighters will come away unscathed. Luckily, this unsustainable exchange ratio is handled in a very organic and clever way later on, but to avoid spoilers I won't mention what it is. But before that reveal, the brain-boiling tension and hopelessness this induces with every xenomorph encounter is astounding. Also, the use of accurate, ass-clenching formation-based tactics and strategy is hype as hell. Such a thing is weirdly absent from many fantasy-based/adjacent fiction where everybody is individually dueling for some reason in large-scale fights.

Even though I have a lot of praise for Phalanx, there are a few things I didn't like.

The first thing is that I don't think the relationship between the main character, Ahiliyah Cooper, and her boyfriend, Tolio, is a worthwhile addition to the narrative. He just sorta seems like A Guy Over There compared to the much better characters of Creen and Brandun, who Ahiliyah has actual chemistry and real, serious history with.

Another thing is that I am a little baffled by is the difference in runs required by the men (Only five) and women (Ten runs) of Lemeth Hold where Ahiliyah Cooper lives. On one hand, it makes sense that a deeply patriarchal culture would manufacture systems that disadvantage women while providing unearned privileges to men. That's patriarchy 101. But on the other hand, not only allowing but also forcing women to undertake more exposure from one the riskiest jobs of the setting is a little odd to me. However, I suppose this system is balanced out by the implicit "suggestion" the women of Lemeth Hold stay pregnant as long and as often as they can to avoid such a risky job.

Lastly, I wanted a little more from the third and final arc of Phalanx. Rather than an extended campaign where Ahiliyah and everybody else gives the xenomorphs a black eye for everything they did to them, there was only around two or three major engagements before the end that also felt a little compressed, but not exactly rushed. Seeing Ahiliyah grow into her own as a competent commander over many battles would've been nice, but what I got was quite serviceable. show less

A young girl wakes up in an enclosed space and with no memory. She claws her way out to find herself in a room full of the same kinds of enclosures or ‘coffins’ as she was in. There is a brass plate on the coffin with the name M. Savage on it. Soon, Em will discover that she is not alone and that she will have to lead others who, like her, have no memory of who or where they are on a quest for answers that will test them to the very limits of their abilities.

Alive is written by author show more Scott Sigler and, at the end of the book, he asks that reviewers not reveal ‘spoilers’ so I will try to avoid doing so. Let me just say that, if you read his Infection series, you might have some idea what to expect. I don’t mean it’s the same story rewritten for a YA audience – not even close – but Alive is full of twists and turns and just when you think you know what’s going on, you discover real quick that you’re not even close. It’s the kind of story where up could be down or sideways or a whole ‘nother dimension, where no one is safe and violence is just around the next corner or the next always hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce.

The characters, here, and there are a lot, tend to be more than your usual stock scifi kiddies – they struggle and grow; they have flaws and fears; and they don’t always act like we, the reader, expects. The story is told in the first person by Em and she is not always the most trustworthy of narrators – after all, like most of us, she wants others not to mention herself to see her in a positive light. And, since this is Sigler, it’s probably not a good idea to get too attached to any character because he is not above killing off even the most likeable of his creations – just sayin’.

Is this a perfect book? No, at times Em’s self-doubts became somewhat annoying but, hey, she’s a teen and what would a teen be without at least a little angst. Thing is, lately I have become tired of most YA series which too often have been teen romances masquerading as scifi or fantasy. I had pretty much given up on the genre and, was I not already a fan of Sigler’s writing, I might have passed this one up when I saw it offered on Netgalley. I am so glad I didn’t. I am already looking forward to book 2 in the series because I really want to know what happens next. show less