With the failure of the Hadley’s Hope, Weyland-Yutani has suffered a devastating defeat—the loss of the Aliens. Yet there’s a reason the company rose to the top, and they have a redundancy already in place. Remote station RB-323 abruptly becomes their greatest hope for weaponizing the Xenomorph, but there’s a spy aboard—someone who doesn’t necessarily act in the company’s best interests. If discovered, this person may have no choice but to destroy RB-323… and everyone on board. That is, if the Xenomorphs don’t do the job first. 

Like so many people, I completely fell under the spell of Alex White’s writing with A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe. Needless to say, I was fucking pumped to find out they had previously written a tie-in book for the Alien franchise, one that I’ve loved for so many years! Truthfully, this is the first time I’ve ever explored anything Alien-related, outside of the films (Prometheus is my favorite don’t @ me), and I think it was an awesome place to start! The Cold Forge was a blast!!

The book takes place at a secret Weyland-Yutani research station, where various scientists work to effectively weaponize the Xenomorphs. A company auditor, Dorian Sudler, is sent to look things over, and make any necessary cuts to the staff. Only…Sudler is a fucking sociopath. For real, he is depraved and cold and chilling and just…an awful, awful human being. And he’s one of the two main POV characters. So calling him unlikable would be a vast understatement. He’s deplorable, manipulative, vile…just…ugh. 

Our other main POV character is Dr. Blue Marsalis, a brilliant geneticist working to harness a certain aspect of the Xenomorph anatomy which may hold the key to curing many different diseases. Like her own. Blue is gravely ill, severely mobility-impaired as a result, and “pilots” an android named Marcus to do most of her work. 

There are quite a few minor characters that flesh out the story, some more compelling than others. What’s not surprising (in light of A Big Ship…) is how incredibly diverse this cast of characters is. There’s characters of all races & sexual orientations, and I think having disabled representation in one of the main characters is just…really fucking important. 

There were parts of The Cold Forge that, early on, confused me. I had a bit of trouble differentiating between the various projects & what they all did, & also the computer viruses…everything has a code name like Glitter Edifice, Silversmile, Rose Eagle, Titus….and for one reason or another, it was just difficult for me to keep track of. 

But no worries. Because it’s an Alien novel. Which means shit gets crazy. And when it gets crazy…it gets seriously fucking crazy. 

There are so many moments in the movies (particularly the first) that are as much horror as they are science fiction, and Alex White gladly plays in this fucked-up pool…there is some intensely gruesome shit happening here, and I loved it!! The Xenomorphs are brilliantly captured in all their toothy, dripping, snarling glory by White!

This was a really cool book & I’m glad to have finally gone outside the movies and explored the Alien franchise a bit further! Alex White is a tremendously gifted author, and I really enjoyed their inspired & diverse take on this beloved franchise!