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

Very light spoilers to follow:

“As sharp as the butcher’s knife he’d used to cut into his own leg like some narcissistic cannibal.” This is my favorite sentence in the whole book and I think that it encapsulates everything you’ll find in this book: humour, dark; violence, lots; and metaphors, awesome.

This book literally kept me on the edge of my seat, I was so animated by it that the people on my commute thought I’d finally lost my mind as I kept yelling, quite vocally too, “go show more to the hospital, go to the damm hospital now.” I could barely breath from the tension that kept my every muscle locked up, only my hands free to turn pages. I almost got run over twice, because I was unwilling to put down the book even while crossing the street.

The book was told from three points of view, Perry Dawsey who is infected with the disease, and two of the people trying to fight it, Margaret Montoya and Agent Dew Phillips. Sigler does such a great job in developing them that Perry had me in tears for much of the story, mostly as I yelled at him to go to the hospital. He also has a spectacularly vivid way of describing everything that will leave you looking at every itch suspiciously, because you could be Infected. 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

Yes, it can get worse than you imagine

Pandemic by Scott Sigler (Crown, $26).

There’s a lot to like about Bay Area horrormeister Scott Sigler. For one, he’s as loyal to his fans as they are to him; the series that this new novel finishes began as a podcast, lo, these many years ago.

For another, he goes balls-to-the-wall when he’s dealing with fear. The first of this series, Infected, had as one of its heroes an ex-football player with anger issues who nonetheless had the chutzpah to cut show more off his own nuts when the aliens colonized his body.

And keep fighting after that, no less.

The third thing to like about Sigler is that guy does not flinch. It doesn’t seem to matter how out-there his story is (genetically engineered critters that eat their way out of their cow-mothers, for instance, in Ancestor), he keeps looking—and writing—even as the reader is saying to him- or herself, “HOLY SHIT, did that just happen?”

So, yes, some pretty serious stuff goes down in this final novel of his “Infected” trilogy—and no, you don’t have to read all of them for this to make sense, because Sigler quite wisely puts in backstory for the noobs, though not enough to bore those of us who’ve been reading him for awhile.

But here’s a question: Why would you want to miss the whole gory, terrifying story?

For those who are ready to dive right in, remember how at the end of Contagious, the second in the series, the orbiting alien craft had been hit and blown out of the sky, but a piece the size of a Coke can that landed in the bottom of Lake Michigan was still in one piece?

Yeah.

It’s been thinking.

And it’s thought of a new way to attack us.

And Montoya is so traumatized by all she’s been through that whether or not she’s up to this final task is open for discussion. And the Chinese have got a deep-cover techie-spy with a remote-controlled underwater robot that he’s sending down to get the last piece of alien hardware so his government can have it instead of ours.

So, yeah. If you’re serious about science fiction-horror, buy this book. Now. Then block out a chunk of time to read it, because once you start, you will not stop. It will grab you by the throat and hold you in place.

That would be another good thing about Scott Sigler.

(Published on 2/10/2014 on Lit/Rant: http://litrant.tumblr.com/post/76256786973/yes-it-can-get-worse-than-you-imagine... show less