aliens-omnibusThe Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume One
Steve Perry & Stephani Perry
Titan Books
January, 2016
Reviewed by Jess Landry

The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume One is a whole lot of book. Clocking in at over 800 pages, it collects three novels from the Alien universe: Earth Hive, Nightmare Asylum, and The Female War.

Earth Hive by Steve Perry (no, not the guy from Journey) originally came out in 1992, and is an adaptation of Mark Verheiden’s original Aliens comic book from 1989. The story takes place after the events of Aliens and follows a young woman named Billie and a Colonial Marine named Wilks. The two have been sent off by the Weyland-Yutani Corp to a xenomorph-infested planet to collect a live specimen. To complicate matters, someone’s trying to kill them, while some religious zealots back on earth decide to unleash some aliens there to wipe out the population. Smart move.

The novel was actually originally released as a tie-in to Aliens 3, so at first Billie and Wilks were Newt and Hicks. However the novelization ended up going in a different direction than the film, so to avoid confusion though, the characters were renamed. Not to worry though, a few familiar names do pop up from time to time.

Nightmare Asylum (again authored by Perry) is the 1993 sequel to Earth Hive, and is also adapted from the comic book series. Without giving anything away, the premise picks up where Earth Hive cliffhanger left off. Same thing goes with the third novel, The Female War. It’s the final chapter in this saga, authored again by Perry but also with his daughter, Stephani (S.D.) Perry.

These three novels are the perfect fix for any Alien fan that has yet to read them. If you’ve got a whole lot of time to dedicate to one book, one series, look no further than the Aliens Omnibus Volume One. And it’s best to pick up your copy now, as Titan Books already has Volumes 2 through 7 in the docket.