As any fan of the ALIEN franchise knows, the stories extend well beyond just the movies, into video games, comics, and in this case, books. This recent release, Aliens: Bug Hunt, delves deep into the the Colonial Marines, the brave few who stand up against these creatures, and delivers a book of short tales that has more misses than hits.

 

Putting these folks front and center, we are treated to a more human side of the story than we are used to in the ALIEN franchise. The first story short of set the tone for me, with a generic “marines find xenomorphs and shit goes south real quick” plot line that made me dread the rest of the collection.

 

That said, not ALL of the stories were like this, and there were even a few stand outs. Getting to learn a bit more of Burke’s backstory, and what happened to him after ALIENS, was a real treat. DEEP BLACK, from the collections’ editor, also served a nice connection to ALIENS 3 that I very much enjoyed. Hell, some of the stories even introduced new versions of the xenomorph’s we know and love, and really took things to the next level.

 

But at the end of the day, most of the stories were fairly forgettable, and I am honestly having a hard time recalling any more at the time of this writing. Your mileage may vary on this, but depending on how much you love the Colonial Marines may be the determining factor on if you would enjoy this book.

 

 

Another thing to note is that some of the stories (most notably DARK MOTHER) contain editor’s notes. Literal editor’s notes. These are things that were meant for the author alone, but apparently not taken out before publication. It took me a few tries of re-reading some of these to understand what they were, but it struck me as odd that a book based on a huge franchise didn’t edit to the best of their ability. 

 

Either way, if you are a fan of the ALIEN franchise, you would more than likely enjoy this book. As it stands, though, I can only give it a half recommendation, as only half the stories really were appealing. Here’s hoping that ALIEN: COVENANT is a bit better!