Aliens: Phalanx

4.5 out of 5."Silence is strength.""When death comes, see the beauty in life."You'd think taking Xenomorphs and putting them in a medieval/stone age-esque era wouldn't work, but Scott Sigler took that wild concept and pulled it off big time!I love how the iconic Xenomorph is portrayed as a literal, world-ending threat here. Their presence gives the story a constant air of dread and anxiety, even during the down-time moments. You really get the feeling the people of Ataegina are living on borrowed time in a world where the apocalypse already happened, and unless they find a way to fight back against the Xenomorphs (or 'demons' as they're called here), said apocalypse will repeat itself, and humanity will officially go extinct.As for the rest of the book, while it took some time for me to get fully invested in the world, story and characters, once everything kicked into gear I didn't want to stop reading.Our three main leads, Ahiliyah (Liyah for short), Creen, and Brandun were lovable with understandable motives (though I imagine it'll take readers some time to warm up to Creen), the world and lore of Ataegina was great, the action and horror elements were nothing short of amazing, the medieval battle tactics used to fight against the 'demons' were fascinating to read about, and finally, the book got surprisingly emotional at points. On top of the themes of sheer hopelessness, and humanity's selfish ambitions and tendencies, this story does not hold back on character deaths, with many we get to know dying left and right when it hits the fan. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears when this happened, and had me wondering if humanity had any chance at all of surviving this threat.The only reason I won't give this book a full 5 stars are due to a few small issues. I forgot the term for it, but the Hold where our three main leads live in is very sexist, with women unable to become warriors, and having to work harder than the men unless they serve as literal breeding machines as young as 14 years old. This unfortunate fact is hammered over everyone's heads, especially during the first 110 pages (said pages suffer from slow pacing I might add), and it gets annoying and depressing real quick.Ahiliyah's relationship with her 'lover', Tolio, felt non-existent, only there to get some hormones out. Tolio coming off as an unlikable twat despite his attempts to understand his girlfriend more certainly didn't help.Finally, the book pulls a 'new character is introduced solely to spout exposition and then die', which is a trope that absolutely infuriates me. To the book's credit, at least the way this plot element was done wasn't too rage-inducing.Overall though, none of these issues change the fact Aliens: Phalanx was an amazing, addicting read, and easily the best Alien/Aliens novel I've read thus far!Possible minor spoiler, but if this book had an end credits song, it would be "Now We Are Free" from Gladiator. After everything that happened, I thought the song fit so well.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wasn't disappointed with this book. I was excited to see a young woman as the hero in this novel, and loved the way the villains were written in; villains you love to hate, and I'm not just talking about the xenomorphs. The pacing was perfect, and kept me turning the virtual “page” from the beginning all the way up until that last page that left me wanting more. I fell in love with the characters, and even felt the gut wrenching hatred one feels for a well written male chauvinistic bad guy, that makes you want to walk up and throat-punch him. This book does have some foul language and some gore, but to be honest, I thought it was well done, and listened to the audio version with my husband and nineteen-year-old son who both thought it was excellent.I read the kindle version of this book on day one, and loved it!! I also have the audio version, and just finished it yesterday on a long drive from SF to LA. My only gripe is with the audio version, and one of Bronson Pinchot’s character voices, other than that, Bronson’s narration was excellent, and was a joy to listen to. It made me feel all of the feels, and is definitely going in my, “Will-listen-to-again” file.

This is my first Aliens novel, and I just had a blast reading through it! The characters are fun and memorable, the setting is unique and original, and the Xenomorphs, as always, are terrifying! If you're a fan of horror, knights, Aliens, or just a good time, pick this one up. It's well worth the read!

If you enjoy the alien universe then this novel is a great read - thanks to Mr. Sigler for writing with such vivid characters and situations - scary place to be - but wow - it is so nice to have such a creative mind to scare the hell out of us readers.

I must say, I was hesitant when I read the premise for the story but after reading the book....I have to say that this, for me, was probably one of the best alien novels I’ve read. Maybe even over cold forge, maybe..The 500 page book really fleshes out not only characters but the overall world of Ateagina. I became completely immersed in the book. Now, I don’t read these type of books so maybe that’s one of the many reasons I liked it.I don’t have one bad thing to say about this book! The writing was great and kept me turning the pages constantly. I loves the relationship between Aaliyah, Brandun and Creen and couldn’t get enough of the three of them, when together, on page. The history of the “holds” was informative but not so much where I got bored. The author layed the blueprint down and I got the jist of it. I could’ve easily read more.Seriously, I could go on about this book and just how fresh and refreshing the author took this alien concept to a whole new level, and actually succeeded.

A amazing read for anyone that likes aliens. Well paced very likeable and believable characters. Give it a try. Won't regret reading it.

This book was amazing. It hit all the right notes and seemed to rise up from it being a YA and set in someone else's universe. The lead character was not perfect but somehow the fighting the aliens without gunpowder or guns at all was captivating and enthralling. Then they went off to work. I would highly recommend this book because it was very well constructed. It straddled the line between it being original and of a fandom. I would highly recommend it to all!

This book had me in the edge of my seat for a good portion of it. I found myself engrossed in the lore of Ataegina almost instantly. The only detractors were the frequent typos and minor contradictions. Most of these typos occur in the first ten chapters and the author's use of cardinal directions make no sense at times, but if you look past all this, you'll find a great tale of adventure, horror, and triumph.

The premise seemed odd in the beginning but well worth giving a chance. Truly enjoyed the entire story.If you're a fan of Aliens and Raised by Wolves you will enjoy this too. Great edition to the expanded universe.

I love the movies, the stories are simple but its the atmosphere, acting, effects and directing that makes them amazing. Here, its the story. Its the best Alien story told so far.

At the moment I‘m at page 143 of 508. I‘m reading five books in a month since I was little. I think I already know after some chapters what I can expect from a book.Usually I don‘t buy books based on movies or games. Most of them are crap. As I‘m a big fan of the first Alien movie and the whole concept of the alien creator nightmare mastermind H. R. Giger, I gave it a try due to i good ratings. But past taught me you can‘t rely on it on amazon. The book still can be crap.What annoys me the most when the story lacks of layers and world building, get a look in someones had. Thats what make written words so special. You can see what going on deep inside. Not many achieve that to trick us, these worlds could really exist.Scott Sigler has a talent to give us pieces in words and we can also picture the effect of a specific situation on some of his characters. He even doesn‘t need to write it down - he leads us and let us think. I love that. Makes me laugh or causes other reactions while reading. Readers arn‘t stupid. It makes the characters and setting so much more alive. I love that.The book is not challenging th, easy to read, still provides a quality you won‘t find that often in this genre.

This story was a blast, and really a page turner. If you are an alien fan you need to read this book. It is amazing.

This book is refreshing ! For once the scene is not in a spaceship and there is no sophisticated weapons available to fight the beasts...I recommend.Ps : this book is totally readable by learners of English having reached the level B2 or higher.